Top 10: Metal Albums of 2002

2002 or 200True? Although not remembered for being such, the third year of the new millennium was a big one for traditional metal acts, both old and new. Even the extreme metal albums of that year (with some exceptions) paid homage to the raw honesty of the sound’s mid 80s heyday, as you’ll see on both this list and its accompanying honorable mentions. After a solid decade of death and black metal becoming more technical, melodic, progressive, atmospheric, and so forth, this new crop was ready and willing to strip it down to its bare essentials: speed, force, and aggression. Find out which bands did it best, and which veterans kept the torch ablaze, in our Top 10 Metal Albums of 2002.

10. L.A. Guns – Waking the Dead

As unfashionable as traditional metal was in the late 90s and early 00s, glam metal was downright vilified. At least Iron Maiden’s reunion run saw them headlining the same arenas they did in the 80s. Quiet Riot’s reunion around the same time? Dive bars. That isn’t to say this crop had nothing left in the tank creatively come the new century. Now by our own admission, L.A. Guns had far less in common with the “glam metal” crop they were lumped into. There’s perhaps no better proof of this than Waking the Dead, which on the surface, is just a kickass classic heavy metal and hard rock album. Much like on their earliest outings, L.A. Guns melds the sleaze of Aerosmith, high octane riffage of Judas Priest, and ferocity of Motörhead with their own signature take no prisoners attitude. There’s nothing “modern” or “nu” about Waking the Dead, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

9. High on Fire – Surrounded by Thieves

When High on Fire formed out of the ashes of Sleep in 1998, the stoner/doom/sludge realm had largely become defined by painstakingly slow tempos and one-dimensional riffs, as if the approach was “Black Sabbath minus the memorability”. Guitarist/frontman Matt Pike said, “To hell with that!” Having spent the past decade “dropped out of life with bong in hand”, Pike snorted a lethal line of Lemmy powder (AKA speed) and raced head first into the 00s with High on Fire. While their debut, The Art of Self Defense (2000), was a strong opening statement, it was Surrounded By Thieves that kicked listeners in the teeth, with its skull-crushing stoner riffs played at neck-snapping thrasher speed. Songs like “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered”, “Speedwolf”, and “The Yeti” remain staples of HoF’s live shows to this day.

8. Immolation – Unholy Cult

No death metal band, old or new, could touch Immolation in the late 90s and early 00s. Every album was guaranteed to be a top tier offering of pure death at its absolute most dismal. The same can be said for Unholy Cult. While the tried and true Immolation formula established on Here in After (1996) remains the same, the songs are longer, the riffs are bleaker, and overall atmosphere is just…more sinister. Yet even during the most complex and dissonant compositions (i.e. “Of Martyrs and Men”, the title track, etc.), hooks prevail. This wasn’t pretentious pseudo-prog death for the sake of pretentiousness, no sir. This was Immolation continuing to spread their wicked wings and devouring the very souls of any mortal who dared step in their direction.

7. Witchtrap – Sorceress Bitch

After a massive year for thrash metal in 2001 that saw now classic releases from Absu, Destruction, and Sodom, 2002 kept the thrashing going, albeit with emphasis on the blackened side of things. While many of these acts hailed from Australia (What on earth is in their water?), it was a power trio from Colombia that took the thrash metal cake this year, Witchtrap. Picking up where Destruction left off on Infernal Overkill, Witchtrap unleashed a raw, infernal blackened thrash attack on their debut album, Sorceress Bitch. There’s no frills to be heard here, only “Ripping Torment”. Every cut on here is unforgettably primal and savage with a true thrash attitude straight out of ’85. You can’t ask for much more from a thrash album!

6. Porcupine Tree – In absentia

Soon after collaborating with Opeth on their fifth album, Blackwater Park (2001), Steven Wilson co-opted the band’s metallic riffing and arrangements for his own band, Porcupine Tree. The end result was In absentia: An hour plus exploration of the mental imbalances responsible for the evil that man do. Set this to a dizzying soundtrack which blurs the line between prog rock, metal, alt, and electronica, and you’ve got perhaps the prog crown jewel of this century. Throughout In asbentia, one hears shades of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and yes, even Opeth. However, these are merely reference points. In absentia stands on its own as an emotionally intense work of brilliance, cementing Porcupine Tree as modern prog demigods.

5. Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera

If you’re Blind Guardian, how do you top Nightfall in Middle-Earth? Simple; you don’t. Granted, last year’s incredible The God Machine came close, but still. There’s only one Nightfall. In the same breath, there’s only one A Night at the Opera. It’s no coincidence that this album shares a title with the 1975 Queen album of the same name. For this outing, Hansi and the gang put power metal in the rearview mirror, instead doubling down on the symphonic and pomp elements experimented on Nightfall and characteristic of, you guessed it, Queen. The result is an album that I consider to be an unsung gem of the BG canon. Emboldened by cuts like “Precious Jerusalem”, “Sadly Sings Destiny”, and “And Then There Was Silence”, A Night at the Opera is the pinnacle of symphonic metal.

4. Dio – Killing the Dragon

When Dio released their 9th album, Killing the Dragon, the band’s namesake singer was 2 months shy of his 60th birthday. This isn’t too shocking by today’s standards, where the average classic thrash and death metal artist is roughly 60, and most of Dio’s peers are now well into their 70s. In 2002, it was a testament to the iconic singer’s longevity. Here was somebody who had defined the genre from its earliest days, still releasing top notch metal in the early 2000s with Killing the Dragon. After 2 well intended but uneven albums in Angry Machines (1996) and Magica (2000), Killing the Dragon felt like a successor to The Last in Line (1984). It was as if the songwriting team of Dio and Jimmy Bain zeroed in on the finest tropes of their 70s and 80s heyday, damning the ageist naysayers to hell in a fiery blast of old school metal bliss.

3. Opeth – Deliverance

Even if I had excluded Porcupine Tree’s In absentia from this list on the basis of it being more prog than metal, there was no way Steven Wilson wouldn’t make his way on here. His creative bromance with Mikael Åkerfeldt established a year earlier on Opeth’s Blackwater Park further grew on its follow up, Deliverance. The progressive death metal gone progressive rock formula that the band now specialized in had reached a peak of ambitiousness, with nearly every song on Deliverance surpassing 10 minutes. And yet, like every great prog band before them, Opeth had a knack for making 10+ minutes feel like no time at all. From the punishing “Wreath” to the schizophrenic “By the Pain I See in Others”, Deliverance is a masterclass in songwriting and musicianship for any prog minded act.

2. Cauldron Born – …and Rome Shall Fall

Is Queensrÿche’s self titled 1983 EP the greatest in metal history? While I’m personally leaning towards yes, it’s the one EP that I’ve heard countless wonder aloud, “What if it were a full length?” If it were, chances are it would sound like Cauldron Born’s …and Rome Shall Fall. Formed in the 90s by accomplished musician/author Howie Bentley, Cauldron Born first caught the collective attention of what was left of the traditional metal underground in 1997 with their debut album, Born of the Cauldron. Fast forward 5 years later and the band remained invigorated as ever with their explosive sophomore album, …and Rome Shall Fall. Armed to the teeth with a Geoff Tate vocal doppelganger (David Loudon), dark, virtuosic musicianship, and unstoppable power, Cauldron Born held traditional metal by the balls in ’02!

1. Bathory – Nordland I

The 90s were a curious decade for Bathory. Things started strong with Hammerheart (1990) and Twilight of the Gods (1991): Two albums that further expanded upon the epic viking leanings of Blood Fire Death (1988). And then, things got…interesting. Quorthon shifted gears entirely, opting to release two uneven thrash albums, Requiem (1994) and Octagon (1995), under the Bathory moniker. The long awaited release of Blood on Ice in ’96 got the underground talking again, especially considering it was intended to be released in ’89. However, it wasn’t long before Quorthon got to tinkering around again, under both the Bathory moniker and his own namesake. Many wondered if they would ever hear the “classic” Bathory again. Come 2002, they did.

Nordland I took the songwriting, musicianship, and atmosphere of Bathory’s early 90s output, and elevated it to a new realm of brilliance. It was as of Quorthon knew this would be his final artistic expression, hence the urgency to spread these hymns across two separate tomes (more on the latter in 2003). Words can’t describe the feelings evoked within these melodies and arrangements, especially when heard over a high quality pair of headphones at maximum volume. There’s a sense of somberness throughout, especially considering Quorthon’s eventual demise, yet an air of heroic triumph. Vallhalla lay nigh. One can sense it on the greatest metal album of 2002, Nordland I.

Honorable Mentions

• Atomizer – Death – Mutation – Disease – Annihilation
• Gospel of the Horns – A Call to Arms
• Manilla Road – Spiral Castle
• Vomitor – Bleeding the Priest
• Witchmaster – Masochistic Devil Worship