My Favorites songs on drums…
A tribute to those great drummers…A Huge investigation about the name of those drummers and their best moments and songs

1.Rush - 2112

2.Van Halen - 1984

3.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

4.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

5.Dio - The Last In Line

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Right... Let's get this out of the way from the get-go. Alternative metal is hard to define. I guess that comes from it always wanting to experiment, explore and fuse heavy metal with non-metal music genres. It also makes it an ever changing and growing genre.

Also, before you guys flood me, yes my list contains a lot of Industrial & Nu Metal bands, as well as other genre.. As far as I'm concerned, my picks all fit quite well in the scope of an alternative metal list. Don't you agree? Wait... You disagree? Well, let's agree to disagree and move on.

As for the list itself, I'm going to try and list through time what I (me, myself & moi) consider as essential alternative albums. I will also limit myself to a maximum of 4 releases each year to prevent a messy list, which often makes it a difficult decision, especially in the early 2000's. So yes, it is possible your personal favourite won't be featured. You can tell me all about it in the comments below and we can discuss it, even argue it.

Now, have fun, enjoy my list and let me know what you think or would personally put in your favourite alt-metal list!

-Guib-

EDIT: I will now add my pick for best album of each year using the (best of xxxx) in the chosen album's description.

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Guib's Best Alternative Metal Album Picks

Best Of 2022
Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die

Best Of 2023
Mutoid Man - Mutants

Best of 2024 So Far
...tbd

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Last Updated: March 27th, 2024

1.Living Colour - Vivid

2.Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

3.Faith No More - The Real Thing

4.Godflesh - Streetcleaner

5.L7 - Smell The Magic

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Almost all album titles fall in one of two categories: The album shares the title with one of its songs (the title track) or, alternatively, the album title is independent from the songs (no title track).

However, there are examples of songs that have a central link to the album title without sharing the same name. In these cases, certain lyrics from the song were chosen as the album title.

This (alphabetical) list shows the names of these “hidden title tracks” and the central lyrics that gave the name to the corresponding album.

Please feel free to suggest more of your favorite metal/hard rock examples of these “hidden title tracks”.

1.40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sky

2.A Forest Of Stars - A Shadowplay For Yesterdays

3.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4.Agalloch - The Mantle

5.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

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1.Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal

2.Moonsorrow - Verisäkeet

3.Demon Hunter - The Triptych

4.Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness

5.Dark Tranquillity - Character

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1.Agalloch - Pale Folklore

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

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Subject to change from time to time. (Currently in a remaking process)

1.Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen

2.Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

3.Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil

4.Opeth - Still Life

5.Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

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The goats. The near perfect albums that never get old. Some are full of catchy bangers I'm always humming, and some are so full to the brim of details that I still haven't even uncovered them all.

A brief outline of my ratings:
8.5-9.0 = An excellent album with a few mild drawbacks (Weak song, slightly irritating vocals, odd flow)
9.0-9.5 = Perfect albums that haven't quite warranted the time-earnt 9.5+.
9.5-9.9 = Perfect albums that have stood the test of time, ranked by preference.
10 = I don't expect to hear another album like these, ever.

(I use 'perfect' lightly as it makes no sense for a man-made creation to be flawless. 'Perfect' is simply a term to outline how high a level of enjoyment is, specifically the level of enjoyment when minor faults become insignificant.)

(I evaluate albums outside of metal vastly differently to the ones here, which explains the lack of representation of my other favourite genres. Blue Sky Mining is an exception due to being structured very similarly to my optimal metal album. I may add some picks from other genres down the line.)


STATS:
I know y'all don't look at my lists, so these are purely for my own interest.

-Decades
'10s: 37
'20s: 25
'00s: 7
'90s: 2

-Genres (By best fit or most prominent)
Prog: 35
Death: 11
Power: 9
Symphonic: 4
Black: 4
Soundtrack: 3
Contemporary: 2
Folk: 1
Doom: 1
Rock: 1

1.Devin Townsend - Empath

2.Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Persefone - Aathma

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These are the albums that got me into metal when I was a teenager.

1.Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine

2.Sepultura - Against

3.Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

4.Slipknot - Iowa

5.Korn - Issues

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The albums below is my definition of extreme metal music, regardless of their genre. Entire list is based only on my personal preferences in metal.
Rules:
1. One album per band
2. 305 groups/305 albums

1.In Flames - Clayman

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Chimaira - Chimaira

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Testament - The New Order

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Must Listen: The First 11

1.System Of A Down - Mezmerize

2.Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

3.System Of A Down - Hypnotize

4.Sentenced - The Funeral Album

5.Primal Fear - Seven Seals

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Stuff

1.Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine

2.Alestorm - Curse Of The Crystal Coconut

3.Alestorm - Back Through Time

4.Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil

5.Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen

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1.All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals

2.Bleeding Through - The Truth

3.Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache

4.Dry Kill Logic - The Darker Side Of Nonsense

5.Evergreen Terrace - Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business

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1.Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

2.Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage

3.Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil

4.Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

5.Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen

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Metal albums that blow me away every time I hear them. Loosely ordered... list gets less organized as it goes on. My favorite song from each album is included.

1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Faith No More - Angel Dust

3.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

4.Tool - Ænima

5.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

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My first list! Woo. \o/

All this is going to be is a list of all my favourite albums. Probably of all time, but I dunno. It's going to be a mixture of metal and non-metal albums. Enjoy. I will try to avoid some of the big guns, but I may slip one or two in. This will probably just end up being a list of stuff I really just kind of like.

1.Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante

2.Aquilus - Griseus

3.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

4.Major Parkinson - Twilight Cinema

5.Muse - Origin of Symmetry

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