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1.
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Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
1996, takes power chord worship and actually couples it with good writing |
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2.
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Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone
2012, riff after riff after riff. Abeyance |
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3.
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Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome
2009, 'He Will Kill Again,' is that part writing I hear? |
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4.
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The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate
2003, Lord K proves once again that he actually knows what he's doing. Burn |
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5.
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Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders
2009, an inevitable choice, really. Tosin Abasi |
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6.
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Between The Buried And Me - Colors
2007, Paul Waggoner knows his shit, apparently. With power chords used purely to effect, good writing pervades |
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7.
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Ihsahn - AngL
2008, Ihsahn is one of my favorite guys in metal for a reason. |
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8.
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Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
2005, Talk about combining the proggier sentiments of Enemies of Reality and the hard hitting song structure of Dead Heart in a Dead World. Jeff Loomis knows how to write a riff |
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9.
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Orphaned Land - Mabool
2004, Layers, I'll say it again, layers. Sassi will tell you himself that the writing is complex and I'll attest. |
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10.
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Taake - ...Doedskvad
2005, Takes standard Norwegian black metal and adds folk ala Primordial. Think Immortal with more robust guitar work. |
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11.
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Wintersun - Time I
2012, Can Jari Maenpaa get enough praise? Seriously, this guy is good. |
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12.
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Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force
1984, One of the more notorious neoclassical guitarists, demonstrating, rather explicitly, that he can back it up. |
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13.
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Mendel - Subliminal Colors
2012, Of course, until the Dutch dude came along and made the truest neoclassical album I've ever heard. Bach would be impressed, seriously. |
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14.
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God Forbid - IV: Constitution Of Treason
2005, One of those bands unjustly placed alongside all of those other metalcore bands (along with Darkest Hour and BTBAM and perhaps even Trivium). They really do something different with their sound. |
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15.
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Dethklok - Dethalbum II
2009, Say what you will about the show or the lyrics or the satirical nature of the band, but Brendan Small knows his shit. |
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16.
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Cloudkicker - The Discovery
2008, some amazing prog (proto-djent?) courtesy of Ben Sharp. Feel the groove |
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17.
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The Sword - Warp Riders
2010, Now I'm feeling groove |
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18.
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Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain
1993, Old school Stoner/Sludge |
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19.
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Kyuss - Kyuss
1994, It's hard to groove much harder than this. |
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20.
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Meshuggah - Chaosphere
1998, Maybe these guys do it? Or on Obzen, give a focused listen to Pravus or the title track |
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21.
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The Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal
2007, I don't care what you think of the band as a band. The guitar work is incredible. |
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22.
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Scale The Summit - Carving Desert Canyons
2009, One word, Giants |
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23.
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King Crimson - Discipline
1981, There's a reason this album is a 10. Robert Fripp and his counterpoint. |
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24.
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Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil
2005, Another one of those, 'I don't care what you think of the band.' The back half of this is stellar. |
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25.
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Belphegor - Goatreich - Fleshcult
2005, From tight harmonies to tight harmonies, these guys don't change much. But they're doing it right. |
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26.
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Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
2009, I saw these guys in concert and Pat Loisel looks exactly like my old computer science teacher from high school. Also, they do good music. |
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27.
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Mastodon - Crack The Skye
2009, kind of a given. That Brent Hinds/Bill Kelliher duo. It's almost as awesome as BTBAM. |
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28.
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Megadeth - Endgame
2009, I chose this one for the solos. |
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29.
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Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King
1987, Criss Oliva was an incredible player. Thus, the riff driven Savatage is markedly better than the cringe-worthy rock opera Savatage (seriously, I love Jon Oliva's voice, but he does not know part writing) |
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30.
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Trivium - Ember To Inferno
2003, This one is fun. It shows a Trivium that wasn't trying to impress anyone. And they wrote a fugue that's *gasp* actually a fugue, well, sort of. |
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31.
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Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery
1995, How's this as a closer? Gothenburg melodeath at its finest. |
