It only took us a couple years, but we’ve reached our final Top 10 album list of the 21st century. What was the state of metal in 1999? By mainstream standards, all but dead. Bands like Korn, Rage Against the Machine, and Limp Bizkit were haphazardly celebrated as “the future of metal”. Meanwhile, the true remained steadfast in their ways, knowing damn well that these glorified rappers backed by bands with the musical ability of a chimp were anything but metal. It would be a rough battle into the early 2000s, before online forums and outlets really rekindled a collective underground metal community in the same manner as tape trading/zines in the 80s. These were the albums that got our defenders through the year. Without further ado, here’s our Top 10 Metal Albums of 1999.
10. Saxon – Metalhead
If traditional metal was dead in 1999, Saxon didn’t get the memo. The English metal legends celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album with yet another pummeling effort, the aptly titled Metalhead. Coming off the heels of 1997’s Unleash the Beast, Metalhead saw the band expand upon their newfound “classic metal with a modern metal production” formula. The riffs are dense and crunchy, characteristic of many acts of the era, but without sacrificing melody and musicianship. Look no further than the bombastic euro power metal of “Conquistador” and headbanging ecstasy of “All Guns Blazing” (not to be confused with the Priest song of the same name). I can’t help but think even Maiden and Priest took notice of what their peers were doing on this one. How could you not? Saxon was absolutely kicking ass, even in metal’s darkest days!
9. Mercyful Fate – 9
I promise you that I didn’t purposely put Mercyful Fate’s 9 at #9 to be meta. There just happens to be 8 better albums released that year, but I digress. While Mercyful Fate’s reunion output is rather hit or miss for me, I’ve always been a huge fan of 9. It’s the one reunion album they did that, to my ear, sounds closest lyrically, musically, and production-wise to their early 80s heyday, specifically Don’t Break the Oath. Cuts like “Last Rites”, “Sold My Soul”, and “Burn in Hell” are evil metal perfection, sounding as if they were taken straight from the Oath days. There’s also no shortage of doomy, progressive complexities on suites like “Church of Saint Anne” and “The Grave”. Even without Michael Denner in the fold, Hank Shermann and King Diamond could sure write some devilish delights.
8. Immolation – Failures for Gods
I don’t think anybody, not even Immolation themselves, expected the band’s resurgence come the release of 1996’s long awaited sophomore effort, Here in After. Yet here they were, one of the last remaining relics of the American death metal scene which dominated a decade earlier. Against all odds, the band persisted, and album #3, Failure for Gods, managed to be even darker and heavier than its predecessor. The guitars were tuned even lower. Ross Dolan’s growls were even deeper. And Alex Hernandez must’ve been using a drum made from the skins of dead humans, because that sickly, wet sounding bass drum is one of the most unsettling sounds I’ve ever heard. It’s little touches like this that take songs like “The Devil I Know” and the title track to a whole other level.
7. The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Twilight of the Idols
Whether you call them The Lord Weird Slough Feg, or simply Slough Feg, they’re one of the most exciting and adventurous US metal acts of the past 30 years. On any given release, this is a band who touches on facets of traditional metal, power metal, folk metal, black metal, and prog metal, and against all odds, manages to wrap all these elements up into one giant ball of metallic brilliance. Their second album, Twilight of the Idols, is no exception. With complete disregard for trends and mass appeal, Mike Scalzi and company chronicle one fantastical tale after the other with the same valor as epic overlords Brocas Helm and Manilla Road. What this album lacks in hooks and catchiness, it makes up for in musical heroics and lyricism on par with Tolkien.
6. Sabbat – Karisma
As arguably Japan’s first black metal band, Sabbat saw a lot change in their first 15 years. The first and second wave of black metal came and went. By the time they released their 6th studio album, Karisma, black metal was well into its oft debated third wave, characterized by acts like Dødheimsgard, Thorns, and Ved Buens Ende, who mixed black metal with elements of industrial and avant-garde music. Sabbat, on the other hand, stuck to their guns, cranking out the same raw, primal blackened thrash they specialized in from day one. Throw in the dark traditional metal influences of Angel Witch, Satan, and Mercyful Fate, and you’ve got one of the most unique black metal albums of the late 90s. Karisma proudly boasts the cryptic, ominous quality of the 80s that many forgot about in the 90s, becoming too preoccupied with screeching vocals, no-fi production, and aesthetics.
5. Angelcorpse – The Inexorable
Talk about striking while the iron is hot! Just a year and a half after the release of their classic sophomore album, Exterminate, black/death/thrash barbarians Angelcorpse came ripping back with their third full length offering, The Inexorable. Musically, there isn’t much difference between this album and its predecessor. It’s more or less a continuation, but of equal quality from a musical and songwriting perspective. While Slayer and Kreator were too busy hopping on the nu metal bandwagon, Angelcorpse took the tropes that made them so beloved, bastardizing them with a pulverizing blend of hellish black metal with a slight death metal twist. If all blackened death metal bands churned out material of this quality, my year end lists would likely look very different.
4. Sodom – Code Red
Unlike their peers in Kreator and Destruction, Sodom has never released a bad album. I know, shocking. In the same breath, there are definitely some Sodom albums that are better than others, like Code Red. After a series of “OK, but not quite there” forays into the world of crossover (The strongest of those being 1995’s Masquerade in Blood, just saying.), Sodom returned to no frills, brutal euro thrash of their late 80s prime with Code Red. Easily their strongest outing since the death metal inspired Tapping the Vein (1992), Code Red is a punishing listen from beginning to end. The riffs are brutal, the drumming is brutal, the vocals are brutal. Even the midtempo moments (i.e. “Tombstone”, “The Wolf & the Lamb”) are total mosh fuel.
3. Type O Negative – World Coming Down
Similar to my inclusion of Mercyful Fate’s 9, there is most certainly some personal bias in the inclusion of Type O Negative’s World Coming Down. Hey, unlike other metal webzines, I can admit it! Yes, we all know Carnivore is infinitely cooler, but I will never apologize for my love of the Drab Four, especially when it comes to this album. I’ll never forget buying this CD from my local Disc Replay in middle school, after discovering Type O Negative via, wait for it…VH1 Classic. As far as I’m concerned, World Coming Down showcases TON at their absolute darkest and doomiest. Perhaps they aren’t as misanthropic as they were on Slow, Deep and Hard (1991), but the erotic gothic beauty of Bloody Kisses (1993) and October Rust (1996) is gone. Instead, there’s a drug-fueled misery and ugliness, heard on cuts like the title track, “Everyone I Love is Dead”, and “White Slavery”, which really speaks for itself. It’s not an album for everyone, especially those of a tormented disposition, but the music on World Coming Down lives up to its title, too brooding and heavy to ignore.
2. Opeth – Still Life
Type O Negative wasn’t the only band specializing in moody, melancholic metal in 1999. So was Opeth, who continued their trek away from death metal and into progressive metal/rock territory with the release of their 4th album, Still Life. On this album, Mikael Åkerfeldt and the gang have fully embraced a clean, crisp production style, losing some of the kvlt mystique of their early releases. However, this isn’t to say that their songwriting abilities suffered. In fact, they grew even greater. By now, Opeth is composing full blown 70s progressive rock suites on par with Yes and Genesis that just happen to have metallic riffs and guttural vocals (i.e. “The Moor”, “Godhead’s Lament”, “White Cluster”). “Serenity Painted Death” is the only song with a truly progressive death metal feel, while the arrangements of “Moonlapse Vertigo” and “Face of Melinda” aren’t far removed from prog folk gods Jethro Tull and Renaissance. Semantics aside, Still Life is an incredible album that appeals to both headbangers and proggers alike.
- Testament – The Gathering
By the time 1999 rolled around, Testament were less Testament and more an extreme metal supergroup. Only singer Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson remained from the classic late 80s incarnation of the band. Joining them were former Death/Obituary/Cancer guitarist James Murphy, former Death/Sadus bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. Yet through one series of circumstances or another, these 5 managed to create the strongest Testament album since The New Order (1988) and the most brutal outing of their career to date.
While other US thrash bands neutered their sound for radio airplay, embracing the nu/alt metal trends of the time, Testament doubled down on extremity with The Gathering. Some could even brand this a death/thrash album, and you wouldn’t be wrong. “D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)”? “Legions of the Dead”? “Sewn Shut Eyes”? These songs are as deadly as anything Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse were releasing at the time, guttural vocals and all. Nearly 25 years on and Testament have yet to touch the bloodthirsty brilliance of this album. Perhaps Lombardo’s return to the band will change this? I’m not holding my breath, but until then, I’ll gladly enjoy the greatest metal album of 1999, The Gathering.
Honorable Mentions
- Emperor – IX Equilibrium
- Gamma Ray – Power Plant
- Overkill – Necroshine
- Root – The Book
- Summoning – Stronghold