2011年 04月 30日 土曜日 02:19

Obviously this will be all my opinion and I will 'Leave out so many great albums', these are just a few albums I could not live without and would recommend to those new to the genre and to any metalcore fan in general. Really though this is just a listing of metalcore albums that made an impact on me. I tried to pick one album for each artists to avoid repeat artists, otherwise this would probably only include three artists, I wanted to have some diversity. So without further ado here are my Quintessential Metalcore albums:
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10. The Triptych – Demon Hunter
I started listening to DH when I found Summer Of Darkness, and was immediately pulled in, mainly because Ryan Clark’s voice is rather unique and awesome. However I only listened to Summer of Darkness for a while, meanwhile I found heavier bands and Summer Of Darkness started to get a little boring to me, but eventually I found The Triptych. The Triptych is a masterpiece. It showed me how heavy and aggressive this band can be and prepared me for The World Is A Thorn, which is almost as awesome as Triptych. Anyhow, this band stands out in my opinion.

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9. Deep Blue – Parkway Drive
Parkway Drive is a rather popular/hated band. I’d always been a bit indifferent about them. They are hated by many for their breakdowns, but they are also loved by many for having awesome breakdowns. Deep Blue was the first album I got from them, and it’s awesome. The lyrics are catchy, the production value is great and it pulled me more into this band. I’ll admit I need to listen to their older albums a bit more, but I don’t think anything will impress me as much as Deep Blue did.

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8. The Eternal Return – Darkest Hour
Darkest hour is another band I came late to the game on. I found them thanks to guitar hero actually. I think it was guitar hero 3 that had Demon(s) as a bonus track. Either way it was an awesome song. I picked up Eternal return when I saw it in Best Buy, basing the purchase off of the one song. And it was a great choice. Transcendance is one of my favorite metalcore songs and very catchy. Awesome stuff. Their latest album is fantastic too.

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7. The Darkest Red – The Agony Scene
I was addicted to this album. This was one of the first metal bands I got into. At the time this was probably the heaviest stuff I listened too. But even today The Darkest Red stands out. I know all the lyrics and can sit through the whole album easily. It’s both fast and brutal. Mike was a high screamer but it wasn’t the scream high it was vicious blood curdling screaming that grabbed your attention. Great stuff. I wish these guys hadn’t broken up, Get Damned wasn’t as good as TDR, but it was a great offering still. I would have liked to see another album.

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6. As Daylight Dies – Killswitch Engage
This album is still my favorite KSE album. It was the first one I found from them and the combination of Adam D’s guitar and Howard Jones’ awesome clean/scream vocals makes them stand out a bit for me. This is Absolution, My Curse, and the awesome Dio cover Holy Diver, are my favorite tracks from this album. It’s more ‘ballady’ overall for a metalcore album, but it works very well for them. Their latest album is great but definitely a bit different. Looking forward to the album they are supposed to have this year.

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5. Lost In The Sound Of Separation – Underoath
The first metal song I actually ever listened to, at least that I willingly listened to, was Reinventing Your Exit. I listened to it on repeat for the longest time. It’s an awesome song. However I found it just before Define The Great Line came out. That album was great and kept Underoath on my radar. Lost in the sound of separation though is a masterpiece. The album needs to be heard end to end. It’s got such a great sound, it starts off with a bang and end on a really beautiful somber note. I bought the special edition which came with a cool making of documentary which gave a little incite to the band themselves. Fantastic album, easy to listen to on repeat.

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4. Redeemer – Norma Jean
This one is tough because I listened to Oh God The Aftermath so many times when I first got it, but I listened to Redeemer equally I think and overall it’s got a better flow to it. There are a lot of people who like old NJ more and the same amount that like ‘new’ NJ more. I’d have to say I prefer ‘new’ but it’s very close. I think that The Chariot is better than the Older NJ stuff, but that’s a whole other conversation. Redeemer is a crazy and awesome album. Like Underoath’s Lost it starts out with a bang and ends on a slightly softer note. Although the end of No Passenger is a bit crazier. This album is probably my favorite NJ album. Anti-mother was a grower on me, and Meridonal is great, but Redeemer is the best.

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3. The Funeral Of God – Zao
I have this guy at work who probably will never remember me for this album. I was listening to Underoath and he asked me if I’d heard of Zao. Being new to metal at the time, I hadn’t but was very intrigued. Zao was a whole new level for me at first. It was dark, fast and heavy. It was awesome. The Funeral of God is another album that I can listen to end to end over and over. The rising end has awesome guitar work, psalm of the city of the dead is a great slower song, breath of the black muse is heavy, Praise the War Machine was my FPS jam song, every song on the album is great. Highly recommend everyone buy it. I was very disappointed with The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here, not for the writing but for the production quality. It made it almost unlistenable. I’m glad Awake? Was back to normal. I have high hopes for the new album, hopefully due out this year or early next.

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2. Thrill Seeker – August Burns Red
I like knowing I listened to ABR before they got really famous. I found Thrill Seeker when it first released. It impressed me a lot because I couldn’t believe how well made it was and how technically great the guys were. The album was fast, heavy, and had a really epic two part ending. And this was only their first album. Two albums later they’ve made their stake in the genre and have inspired quite a few bands. Constellations is probably my favorite album, but I have Thrill Seeker to thank for that. Also I love the album artwork, it might be the reason the album caught my eye in the first place. I can’t wait for Leveler this year.

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1. An Ocean Between Us – As I Lay Dying
I found As I Lay Dying when Shadows are security released. That album is fantastic and I remember listening to Darkest Nights and Empty Hearts soo many times. But when they were making AOBU, they posted Within Destruction on their myspace and it blew me away. They stepped their game up and definitely became my favorite metalcore band thanks to this album. It’s aggressive, technically impressive, sounds fantastic, and overall is amazing. Departed was my ringtone for a while too. This band gets better with each release though, so my favorite album is The Powerless Rise, but An Ocean Between Us made them my favorite band for sure. Also, The last two albums have had awesome album covers.

Honorable mentions:

The March – Unearth
Dreamer – Haste The Day
Blood In The Gears – The Showdown
Myself > Letting Go – To Speak Of Wolves
With Roots Above and Branches Below - The Devil Wears Prada

Hopefully the few people that read this will enjoy it. It was fun to write.