I recently posted my List Challenge Confessions of a Metalhead ( http://www.listchallenges.com/confessions-of-a-metalhead" rel="nofollow - link ) where I collected 450 albums that I'd never heard (well, 449, because I included one I'd completely forgot I had heard), but felt like, based on factors such as overall notability and personal taste, that I probably should have checked out by now.

This blog, concurrent to my The Great Collection Rediscovery blog, aims to correct some of these omissions, album by album, though perhaps not with the same frequency as I'm going through the CDs I own for the other blog.

Ticking an album off this list can only be done if it cane be streamed free and legally. Usually this will mean Spotify, on which I'm making a playlist of albums which can be accessed here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1TMZKQPz9V078nILohUqGW" rel="nofollow - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1TMZKQPz9V078nILohUqGW

Selection and order of the albums has been done using a randomizer.

Arckanum - Fran Marder

Sabbat - The Dwelling

Sadus - Illusions

Sigh - Scorn Defeat

Spirit Caravan - Jug Fulla Sun

Album: The Curse

Verdict: I've heard other Omen albums before and remember liking them to different degrees, but it's been a while. This one is fairly typical sounding USPM/heavy metal of the time period. Solid stuff, but it doesn't blow me away or get my blood boiling with meaty riffs the way the best USPM does.

Would I Buy it? If it was cheap enough, I guess. 

Album: The Outer Ones

Verdict: A quite recent one so not the most glaring omission on my part and I have heard some other Revocation, though they are a fairly recent one to be ticked off my bands to check out list. This one finds them much more in the tech death camp than they're known for, but it's a very solid tech-death album.

Would I Buy It? Yes, although not sure yet what my first choice for Revocation would be. They are certainly a band I'd like something by in my collection though. 

Album: Malleus Maleficarum

Verdict: I've had an up and down relationship to Pestilence in the past. I remember really enjoying Testimony of the Ancients, finding Spheres interesting and thought Doctrine was a piece of shit. Debut album Malleus Maleficarum finds them more in thrash metal mood and it's a pretty solid release.

What I Buy It? Possibly, but I'd prefer to get Testimony of the Ancients based on my memory of that album.

Ironically I didn't put that one on my list. Picked The Outer Ones, Deathless and Chaos of Forms. I'll still check out Great is Our Sin of course. 

Pestilence really smashed it out of the park with Consuming Impulse. I love it more than the albums either side of it.

Album: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part One

Verdict: Virgin Steele is one of those bands I had a phase with, but have since soured a lot on. Possibly due to their more recent records sucking so much. This one is from their USPM period, which is their best period, and I actually own Part 2 of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and have a high rating on it so obviously liked it at the time. This one seems merely OK though. Some excellent riffs here and there, but overall a very bloated 70 minute album.

Would I Buy It? Maybe if it was a £1 or something. 

Album: The Radial Covenant

Verdict: A very solid prog/tech death metal release that's always competent and sometimes displays a flair for brilliance. An act to pursue more. 

Would I Buy It? Yes. 

Album: The Gallery

Verdict: I have a couple of other Dark Tranquillity albums that I got in a second hand shop one time (although with Gorod's Leading Vision which was the real gem of that haul). Both are solid, but not as good as this one. I'm not the biggest fan of melodic death metal, but when done right it can be some real fist pumping stuff. This is done right.

Would I Buy It? Yes. 

Album: Angel Dust

Verdict: This wasn't on my original list that I based this long neglected blog on, but I forced myself to try something I'd usually actively avoid. There is some interesting music here, but for the most part the vocals aren't my cup of tea at all. Still I'm glad to have challenged myself and tried something different. 

Would I Buy It? No. 

If you're checking out things you ordinarily wouldn't, I'd be curious to see what you would think of this as you like folk metal:

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/dirty-shirt/letchology" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/dirty-shirt/letchology

It's nu metal mixed with Romanian folk music (and Palinca is the only song with any sort of rapping on it which I know is a dealbreaker)

I have this only because I bought a 5 disc set. I wouldn't have bought it on it's own.

Of the alt metal stuff on there I'm open to Tool's Lateralus (I own Ænima and don't love it or dislike it) and System of a Down's Toxicity (perhaps the only band lumped into nu metal at the time (however incorrectly) that I didn't mind back in the day). Of the rest there's a Converge album which won't be my first for them either and an Agalloch album which is the same deal. The Boris album may get a track or two, but I'm most sceptical of drone metal out of all the genres I don't normally follow. 

The funny thing is that System of a Down was nu metal in pretty much every way with their genre blending, heavy focus on groove and rhythm, and unique vocal variety, but since everyone liked them but hated nu metal historical revisionism called for taking that label away from them.

Personally my favorite SoaD album is either Steal This Album! or Mesmerise, and that nu/folk metal album I posted here shares some similarities to SoaD in the vocal department.

Edit: Open to trying any generally highly rated industrial metal?

I think the trouble with Nu is that many at the time didn't see it as a genre any different from its alt metal parent, instead thinking of it as a movement of popular alt metal bands (so I suppose by that definition you would have to include SOAD whether some like it or not) that had its day and died out, like the NWoBHM. Of course that's not actually true since you still get stuff tagged Nu released. 

RE: Industrial, it depends what it is. I can't say I'm super keen on the genre. I like a bit of Rammstein now and then but I don't play their stuff that often. My experience of the genre is limited beyond that but everything else I've tried has ended up low to mid rated. 

You like it = Alt

You hate it = Nu

Unless of course you were fully on the Nu bandwagon, then everything was Nu whether you liked a band or not. 

adg211288 wrote: I'm pretty sure you have a different definition of nu metal to everyone else Khaliq. Back in the day when I was first discovering metal and those were the bands getting a lot of airplay and media coverage, SOAD were absolutely not included beyond being mentioned in the same breath for sharing the spotlight of the time. It's not revisionism. To be honest metal as a whole could actually do with a ton of revisionism and not just in the alt/nu metal department. The lines between heavy / power / uspm / speed and even thrash are far more blurred than they need to be.

I'll be the first to admit that my definitions of certain genres are different, especially when it comes to early metal. However, the thing is that nu metal was always about metal bands with different influences and their own unique take while sharing some common ground with others, so very few bands sound exactly alike. Plus there's the misconception that it has to have an influence of rap/hip hop (though I'd say SoaD has some influence), when not every band did. As for the common themes among most bands, SoaD shared the often idiosyncratic vocals, focus on syncopation and rhythm in the guitar, few guitar solos, among others. Example, these two songs share some of these similarities:

Not looking to change anyone's opinion, but hopefully that maybe helps my reason make sense.

I'd recommend checking out the first few metal albums from Die Krupps or Oomph! in regards to industrial metal, as they're pretty close in sound to Rammstein.

Highlighted bit is completely true. SOAD didn't have the stupid downtuning and simplistic riffs, had a singer that could actually sing, and occasionally got out of second gear.

Stoner Metal (and Stoner Rock really)

Sludge Metal

Doom Metal (I know this best of these three, but I have a lot to hear)

Genres I know some stuff about but not extensively:

Thrash Metal (I'm always on power metal's team in the power v thrash war, but I do like to dabble in thrash every now and then)

Viking Metal

Folk Metal (you may find that hard to believe but most of my folk interest is within a set few bands)

Speed Metal

Avant-Garde Metal

Gothic Metal

Heavy Metal (there's a ton of classic heavy metal bands I've never listened to or certain key albums from those I have)

Death Metal (same situation as Heavy to be honest. Got a fair bit of tech death, some melodic, but years my only normal DM album owned was Death's Leprosy)

Genres I feel like I should force myself to try more:

Alternative Metal (parent)

Metalcore (+ subs though probably not Electronicore and Nintendocore)

Grindcore

As above but more apprehensive:

Drone Metal

Industrial Metal

Neoclassical Metal

Nu Metal (extensive rapping is a total deal breaker and occasional rapping a detraction - this is almost on the tier below)

No interest:

Rap Metal

Funk Metal

Glam Metal

Trance Metal

Now if anyone is the opposite of me and doesn't know much about Black, Power, Prog, USPM or Symphonic then I'm the one to talk to.