Global Domination | Lists of Domination | GD's Most Dominating Albums Of The 1990's (90-81)

Recent updates

Recent discussions

Lists of Domination

GD's Most Dominating Albums Of The 1990's (90-81)

29/03/07 || Global Domination

90. Massacre: From Beyond
^{Released: 1991}

This one was a kind of set-pacer for all bands that appeared afterwards. Rick Rozz’s guitars on “From Beyond” were an extremely solid piece of work at the time, and his crushing riffing still remains unequaled. The songs were not necessarily the best ones around, but they were written in the early period of death metal when today’s standards were nonexistent. Although the album is sloppy at times, it’s still a perfect example of metal done the right way. It’s hard to diminish its value because it included aspects that often go unseen/unheard of these days – dark and evil atmospheres surrounding the production. And it also contains “Cryptic Realms”, which is a tune that every new band dreams of having written themselves.

-Rafal

89. Malevolent Creation: Retribution
^{Released: 1992}

Malevolent Creation is another one of those American bands that played a crucial role in the development of the initial scene, helping to forge what would become the early blueprints for technical death metal, on the slightly brutal tip. They’ve released a substantial amount of albums, changed their line-up numerous times, earned the respect of many fans but somehow, they’ve always managed to remain in the shadow of more established bands like Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, etc. Do people still give a fuck about Malevolent Creation in 2007? Save your breath Nancy, it was a rhetorical question.

Interestingly enough, “Retribution” relied more on frequent tempo-changes and elaborate song-writing techniques rather than a full-on blastfest. Furthermore, the music gives the impression that it was written to accommodate Brett Hoffman’s vocals, instead of the other way around. His growls flow effortlessly over the compositions, as opposed to sounding forced into the melodies. 15 years later, although “Retribution” has begun to succumb to the proverbial sands of time, it looks pretty damn fine for its age. Remember, some of the alternatives for music in 1992 include The Spin Doctors, Tom Cochrane, The Lemonheads, Soul Asylum, Green Jelly, well you get the idea…

-Fishermane

88. Satyricon: Rebel Extravaganza
^{Released: 1999}

Satyricon are famous for being one of the forefathers of Norwegian black metal. Their “Nemesis Divina” album is praised by many metalheads, but it was “Rebel Extravaganza” that set a new standard in the music genre. No one ever thought that there was a way to record material that would be hyper-fast, chaotic, but still catchy as hell. Satyr and Frost must have absorbed serious drugs, smoked a lot of weed and listened to some transcendental voice coming from outer space. This album is sick. And beautiful. Combined. Simply avant-garde metal to the max.

-Rafal

87. Gorguts: Obscura
^{Released: 1998}

Gorguts were considered a somewhat notable band in the early 90s death metal scene, but they would probably be a mere footnote if it were not for their unorthodox renaissance in late 1990s. “Obscura”, with its discordant and darkly complex riffs, ushered in that new era for the band. There was really no distinct musical precedent for the snaking, time-change-filled slab of sound that Gorguts proffered with Obscura, aside from latter-era Pestilence, perhaps. This album bears little resemblance to the tech-death that has become so prevalent in the death metal scene today. It is mostly mid-paced, rather than a blazing-fast “Hey look what I can do!” wank-fest. “Obscura” contains oodles of stifling and dreary atmosphere, and that atmosphere is what makes the album a true avant-metal classic.

-Consumer

86. Pungent Stench: Dirty Rhymes and Psychotronic Beats
^{Released: 1993}

Nothing about Pungent Stench made much sense. 3 sickos from Vienna mixing death metal, dark humour, porn, latex and gimp masks together to create a rather gruesome concoction. Pungent, indeed. While their earlier recordings were highly significant in their own right, “Dirty Rhymes…” really established these Austrians in a class of their own. The kind of “special” class that rides their own bus to school. The original cover of this album was so offensive that it eventually spawned 3 different versions, each with various degrees of censorship. Fortunately, the music was left undisturbed. How lucky for us…

There is no sense in trying to paint a visual portrait of what this album represents. We’d all get nauseous. To appreciate “Dirty Rhymes…”, a casual listener requires a slight appreciation for groovy death metal (slightly on the rock tip), a dirty sense of humour and more importantly, a strong fucking stomach. Listening to El Cochino aka Grandmaster Flesh aka Martin Schirenc sing about pleasuring himself to the sight of a woman performing fellatio on a dead man is certainly not for the faint-hearted. He spits out the lyrics with so much conviction that you can almost feel and envy his level of excitement. Almost. Of course, to each his own. Pungent Stench never claimed to be politically correct and sing songs of praise for the masses. The bottom line is that these freaks managed to compose some excellent music, while purveying their fetishist ways in a fashion that’s almost classy. Almost. Did I mention the cover?

-Fishermane

[Full Review]

85. Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
^{Released: 1992}

If ever there was an album to light an obscenely huge joint and lean back into the sofa with your horns up to (cough), it’s this one. With a ridiculously low tuned guitar played through a bass amp that’s turned way up, vocals filtered through whiskey and cigarettes, solid rocking drums, bass, Sabbathy undertones and tons of desert dirt, it’s no wonder this thing grooves its way into a spot as a 90’s dominator. Along with having a sense of humour (“Thong Song”), the album possesses a more than decent understanding of the concept of buildup, as expressed in the intros of tracks like “Thumb” and “Freedom Run”, the former of which isn’t as long as the latter, but the latter of which showcases the band’s knowledge of all things psychedelic. Drugs? You betcha. Booze? You betcha. Groove? For damn sure. There’s no denying that this band was king of new retro, and this album just plain rocks with its balls flapping in the desert wind.

-Tash

84. Autopsy: Mental Funeral
^{Released: 1991}

“Mental Funeral” was one of the most influential albums for the gore-wing of the death metal camp. Widely considered to be Autopsy’s magnum opus, the album is tour de force of sloppy, dirty, nasty fucken metal—lyrically, vocally, and musically. Before starting Autopsy, drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert played drums on Death’s seminal debut, “Scream Bloody Gore”. Shortly thereafter, Reifert left Death to form Autopsy and proceeded to keep the gore-metal flame alive while Schuldiner was steering Death in a progressively less ghoulish (and eventually more tight and technical) direction. On “Mental Funeral”, which was Autopsy’s sophomore LP, Reifert and Co. took the Autopsy sound in a darker and slightly more refined direction, and in doing so achieved what many consider to be the best representation of the Autopsy sound, and perhaps the best representation of the early gore-death sound.

-Consumer

[Full Review]

Macabre: Sinister Sluaghter 83. Macabre: Sinister Slaughter
^{Released: 1993}

Do humour, metal, and serial killers mix? Macabre seems to think so, and they sure are correct. All the classic killers are here: the Night Stalker, Bundy, Dahmer, Kemper, Zodiak, Gacy, and Whitman. Combining death metal, speed metal, grindcore, and folk elements, Macabre put themselves ahead of game. The riffs on this disc are faster than Chuck Lidell knocking out your grandmother. So if you have a strong stomach and a morbid sense of humour, this album will soon be one of your favorites.

-Eric W

[Full Review]

82. Suffocation: Effigy of the Forgotten
^{Released: 1991}

Technically, Suffocation might not be the actual first metal band to employ vicious rhythmic techniques combined with complex song structures and violent blasting, but they will be for the sake of this list. While many consider “Pierced From Within” to be Suffocation’s magnum opus, us at GD thought to list their debut album “Effigy of the Forgotten” instead , mostly due to its radical redefining of the standard metal blueprints in 1991. As a drummer, Mike Smith was relentless behind the kit, managing to play at incredible speeds without sounding too monotonous and robotic. Frank Mullen provided some ridiculously low vocals, his guttural growls eventually becoming a trademark in the genre aptly labelled NYDM (New Yawk Death Metal). Despite the fact that many fans argued that their next recording “Breeding the Spawn” suffered from a flawed production often characterized as “too thin”, “Effigy…” sounded extremely good considering the time of release. As a result, this release still holds as a cornerstone in technical/brutal death metal even 15 years after it was originally released. It’s a shame that the band pics inside the booklet haven’t aged so gracefully…

-Fishermane

Brutal Truth: Sounds from the Animal Kingdom 81. Brutal Truth: Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
^{Released: 1997}

I know what you’re thinking. The production hasn’t exactly stood the test of time – but what they lack in that department, they more than make up for in range, ferocity, precision, experimentation, construction, and dirt. It’s fucken filthy (not to be confused with sloppy), and as savage as Satan’s scrotum. There’s also more to it than the usual one minute raw asshole experience that is typical grindcore. Of course, I’m not talking about the 11 second “Callous” or the couple of tracks that flirt with the one minute mark, but I’m referring more to the songs with average lengths, and the final track, “Prey”, which clocks in at 21 minutes or so, growing in intensity with every minute. Guaranteed to drive you to the door of madness itself, this amazingly well structured album is not only dripping brutality, but also courts catchiness, and in places is interesting enough to make you cock your head to one side and go “Hey?” with a decidedly unintelligent look on your face. If you’ve only heard the album once, and have no idea what I’m going on about, you should know it’s rather impossible to fathom the album’s complexities in one listening. Do it repeatedly, and the apocalyptic “Sounds of the Animal Kingdom” will open up to you like a lotus flower.

-Tash

Top 10 -lists