With this, the third installment of my 'A Hundred Albums' series, I decided to go all Too Extreme!
Just kidding.But yeah, here's a selection of extreme stuff, musically or otherwise. Loosely. My reactions, or the impact the album had on my life, might just be the extreme in there
As always, remember these albums are albums that mattered (and still matter) to me, and while all are great in their own right, this is not really a best-of list.
A note to the unwary, though: Quite a few of these albums are pretty intense on the emotional department - which is why they're so awesome to begin with - but, as Fear Factory said with one of the samples they used on Obsolete, 'listener discretion is advised'. Anyway, enjoy!
Special thanks to Killing Joke for the title, and to Morbid Angel for the song-so-awful-it-almost-became-a-meme.
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Ten albums, part three: Extremities, Dirt, And Various Repressed Emotions
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Ten albums, part three: Extremities, Dirt, And Various Repressed Emotions ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rhapsody (Of Fire) - Symphony Of Enchanted Lands (1998) You can't find more extremely cheesy - in a good, excellent way - in Power Metal than the mighty Rhapsody. And that album, released when I was in uni roleplaying my nights out with D&D (and others too), soon became quite a soundtrack! Now, raise your swords and sing along: "For the king, for the land, for the mountains..."  Link: here's a YouTube link. |  |
 | Dark Tranquillity - Damage Done (2002) If you read these lines now, it's because that album saved my life. Simple as that. In the depth of depression in summer 2002, Nightwish's Century Child might finish to drag me down (song titles like "Slaying The Dreamer" and "End Of All Hope" weren't what I really needed at the time - even if both are fantastic tracks I still love), but Damage Done, while darker, did help me endure and was that 'Something To Cling To' as I attached myself to it like a drowing guy holding on a piece of driftwood. "Hours Passed In Exile" and "Single Part Of Two" still hold a special place in my heart to this day. Many music fans who suffered from depression have that band who saved them; for some it's, say, Anathema, for me it was Dark Tranquillity. Eternal gratitude, guys! Link: there's a full YouTube stream here. |
| Strapping Young Lad - City (1997) You want extreme? There you are. This is a maelstrom of violence and rage, it's pure anger given music form. Think of whatever agressive metaphor you like to talk about this album; while totally relevant, this will only show how difficult it is to describe this beast. City is a one-of-a-kind marvel that'll leave you drained and exhausted after a listening session. Cathartic? Hell yes. Link: As always, YouTube is the place to go. |  |
 | Machine Head - Through The Ashes Of Empires (2003) This is Machine Head's turning point. After the trendy and shitty Supercharger, the band was lost. They found their salvation and a renewed energy in what's obviously Robb Flynn's most personal album and lyrics to date. The whole album drips with anger, rage and pain, particularly when Robb deals with his childhood's emotional scars. And while this album only hinted at better musical things to come (read that The Blackening), it's still my fave MH album by far, because of that sheer emotional impact. Link: another YouTube link |
| Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone (2005) They're death metal, pushed to a higher level of awesomeness by the addition of some seriously good black metal and an insanely great progressive, convoluted, songwriting flair. And if you ask me, no Akercocke album does it as well as WTGU,DTDU does. Just listen to "Shelter FromThe Sand" if you still doubt. Link: Find it on Bandcamp! |  |
 | Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale (2008) While my first - good! - contact with funeral doom was Ahab's The Call Of The Wretched Sea, Esoteric was like? Well it's difficult to describe this album anyway. Imagine a downward spiral of despair, hopelessness and depression sucking you in deeper and deeper for an hour and fourty minutes long ride? Yeah, that's about it, and that doesn't even scratch at the surface of the intense emotional trial this album proposes. Proceed with caution, as it's as dark as it's awesome (and God/Devil/Whatever awesome it is!) Link: Once again... Youtube |
| Dälek - Absence (2004) Hip-hop can be this dark and bleak? Oh yes! Sure it came as a surprise for me too. It's like, as a French reviewer once said, being tortured by a rusted razor blade, while being held by rusted manacles attached to a rusted staircase, in a basement in whatever rundown surburbia you can imagine. And yes, that's kinda what this album sounds like. It's hip-hop made the classic way, but with samples and inspiration coming from - mostly - the industrial scene. Impressive and surely not for the regular rap listener. Link: as usual, YouTube is the place to go. |  |
 | Breach - Kollapse (2001) Swansong of an great band - way to finish on high note! Sure, I myself discovered this gem while digging in Terra Tenebrosa's past? But wow! As far as post-hardcore goes, they give Neurosis a run for their money, and then some! For sure Breach mastered the art of build-ups that never explode? but balanced them on Kollapse with really aggressive hardcore tracks. Impressive. Link: another unofficial upload on YouTube |
| Death Grips - The Powers That B (2015) Now we're familiar with Dälek, let's see what we can do with electronically enhanced hip-hop gone over the edge. The Powers That B is one hell of a fucked-up answer to that. And while I'd REALLY recommend this to all adventurous music listeners, be warned: it mixes hip-hop, breakcore, electronica of all stripes, fucking emotional singing, punk, and Björk in a non-orthodox violent output. That was my first contact with Death Grips, and seriously, nothing they did before (even if the first one is great, granted) or after so far can compare with that mindfuck of an album? Link: YouTube again! |  |
 | John Zorn - Kristallnacht (1993) Yes, there's probably a trend going on when the last four albums here are not metal albums? but all are extreme in their own right. Anyway? To be honest, I listened to John Zorn's Kristallnacht only four times yet. The first one was enough to understand this was an album not to be trifled with. Its emotional impact is beyond all I've known in music so far, with only a few exceptions. Yes, we're talking about the historical Kristallnacht, for that's the way John Zorn chose to reconcile himself with his Jewish heritage. It's jazz. It's klezmer. It's totally industrial. That second track, "Never Again", is almost twelve minutes filled with noises of broken glass and terror - and the few respites won't help you calm down. And then, all the following tracks will have you deal with the aftermath, whether be it sorrow, pain, or more violence. You're shocked and assaulted by Kristallnacht? Does it hurt? If so, you probably still have a functionning heart, and that's good to know. Link: yet another YouTube upload |
Previously...
Part 1
Part 2
And next...
Anathema was it for me though, in dark times. DT was always more fun to me than anything else. I just had so much fun when I listened to that album and it's so headbangable.
, and really interesting, but probably a bit too minimalistic for me. That said, I'll be coming back to them, as after first listen, some songs ("guns.up", "Body & Blood"...) did really catch my ear. So thanks for the rec, even if they won't probably end up there in my personal top100 albums anytime soon 
