Kguillemette's Heavy Metal top 100 songs of all time. COMPLETE

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:14 AM, SNESNESCUBE64 said:

A7X's newest album is a bit odd compared to the rest of their stuff, but they have several pretty good songs. I'm not as much of a fan of them either, can't say I've heard that song. I would have figured if you were looking for a popular song from them you would have found "bat country" or "welcome to the family", which are pretty alright.

I just listened to "Bat Country". It's safe to say that this is a wee little bit out of my range of capabilities! You don't need to be a fan of Avenged, but damn The Rev was good at what he did!

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#64 Meshuggah- Bleed

I mentioned I'm a drummer, yes? When this song comes on, I tune everything else out. There is no guitar or vocals. Just a deceptively brilliant groove underlying the whole song. The herta is my favorite rudiment, so hearing a song like this where a double bass herta is the star of the whole show is beautiful to me. It sounds fast and simple, but it is deceptively complex. It's a masterclass in metal percussion composition. Tomas Haack is amazing no matter how I may feel about the rest of the band and its library of songs.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#63 Kamelot- March of Mephisto

 

Kamelot is another one of those bands that has grown on me. As much as I love a good power metal concept, most of the time they wind up sounding kinda samey. The Fourth Legacy and Dominion are two albums I've had since they were relatively new. I certainly enjoyed them, but they were quite forgettable. Then pandora a few years back shows me this little collaboration with the great Jens Johannson and Shagrath, and my inner kvultist got giddy. While Kamelot hasn't regarded my attention as a band, this song has stayed high on my repeat list, and for good reason!

[SNESNESCUBE64 | 554]

5 hours ago, Kguillemette said:

#63 Kamelot- March of Mephisto

 

Kamelot is another one of those bands that has grown on me. As much as I love a good power metal concept, most of the time they wind up sounding kinda samey. The Fourth Legacy and Dominion are two albums I've had since they were relatively new. I certainly enjoyed them, but they were quite forgettable. Then pandora a few years back shows me this little collaboration with the great Jens Johannson and Shagrath, and my inner kvultist got giddy. While Kamelot hasn't regarded my attention as a band, this song has stayed high on my repeat list, and for good reason!

Kamelot is cool. "When the lights are down" ane "Accross the highlands" are great songs. They are part of what really got me into power metal. I remember hearing a lot of them when I first got a pandora account in highschool.

You are right, it gets kind of generic sometimes, but if it has a good beat to it no harm no foul. Power metal in itself is like 80% crap, but then you get absolute gems like Gamma Ray, Helloween, Primal Fear, Twighlight Force, Sabaton (I think they are considered power metal), Avantasia, Iron Savior, and Angra (of which I've been enjoying a lot lately). The gems are what makes the genre so worth it. Even some of the lesser bands are a ton of fun. I like Dragonforce for example, a lot of their music is cheesy but it is fun sometimes.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

Kamelot has one of the best live albums in metal (One Cold Winter's Night)

They used a vocal track and a lookalike for Shagrath though 

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#62 For My Pain...- Dancer in the Dark

 

For My Pain... Is a supergroup assembled by the ever present Dan Swano to try and jump in on that HIM bandwagon when his other very similar band, Nightingale, wasn't taking off. Presumably anyway. All in all its very good Gothic crooning with catchy poppy riffs mixed in. Definitely worth a listen if Ghost or HIM is your thing.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#61 Finntroll- Trollhammeran

Did Finntroll invent the use of the Hurdy Gurdy in metal? Maybe? All I do know is that they are pretty spectacular. I just want to prance through the forests and aggressively climb trees and mountains. I can tell you that the map and compass app Alltrails notes my progress to be way faster when Fintroll is playing. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

Nice

Shout out to this Danny Elfman-esque number too

 

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#60 Mercyful Fate- Nightmare

 

It's understood that Melissa is a bona-fide classic of an album. It's among the first that openly embraced and sings about outright praising Satan and inspired good old fashion book burnings. While I'm not overly keen on the lyrical content, Mercyful Fate really caught my ear when I heard Don't Break the Oath. In my opinion, Melissa was a product of its time that mostly rode on the coat tails of the shock and controversy. Don't Break The Oath, however, is a masterpiece that was way ahead of its time. Hank Shermann and Michael Denner really put that doomy dueling guitar sound together that would come to define many of my favorites as well as an album that still holds up today as one of the greats. "Nightmare" is a great example of pushing metal forward and starting to leave the Pink Floydy prog rock roots behind.

Why is this only ranked 60 after heaping such praise?! I can only take so much King Diamond falsetto in my life!

Edited September 16, 2023 by Kguillemette

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#59 OSI- shutDOWN

 

Another one of those bubble "is it metal?" songs. Good thing it's my list and my rules! OSI is one of the many Dream Theater spinoffs that have popped up over the years. It's the brainchild of Kevin Moore and boy did he recruit some heavy hitting session musicians to join him. Mike Portnoy, Sean Malone(of Cynic), and Jim Mateos(sp? I can't be bothered to Google the proper spelling right now) of Fates Warning. And this song features the great Steve Wilson in addition! It's just amazing stuff all around. Nice slow jazzy buildup into a very heavy Toolesque finish. Great stuff here.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#58 Tristania- Beyond the Veil

 

So I have a pick for Dismal Euphony, ...And Oceans, Opera IX, and now Tristania! If one didn't know better, they might be thinking that I am putting together a primer for how to be a kvltist in 2002 with all these black metal bands that most black metal fans havent even heard of! Seriously though, Tristania is more of your doomy gothic metal with symphonic overtones rather than your typical blast beat black metal. They love to feature those beauty and the beast style vocals that were big with bands of the day. They are over the top, bombastic, and serious. It's the type of music that will make just about every type of music fan wonder aloud exactly what is being played.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#57 In Flames- Cloud Connected

One thing that typically separates the Gothenburg bands from the rest of your typical death metal is just how polished they all seem to be. Younger me(aka kvultist me. Shh, it was a phase!) shunned them in favor of the more raw Florida bands when I wanted some death metal in my life. Adult me now appreciates just how clean and smooth the Gothenburg bands really are, especially In Flames. Cloud Connected is a mini musical journey and it's approachable enough to sneak onto a playlist at work without being too offensive. It's a very very good song and In Flames, while not my absolute favorite MDM band, is among my most respected.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#56 Mr Bungle- Squeeze me Macaroni

Does music get more weird and fun than it does with Mr Bungle? The self titled debut is famously referred to as demented clown metal,  but it is so much more than that. After all, this is a masterpiece where Mike Patton raps blindingly fast about having sex with food with strange brass sections that somehow work? If you know, then you know. Or you just wonder wtf it was that you listened to.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

My coworker asked me what was wrong with me after sharing Mr. Bungle.

He's from Michigan and likes Kid Rock.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

3 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

My coworker asked me what was wrong with me after sharing Mr. Bungle.

He's from Michigan and likes Kid Rock.

Well at least we know what is wrong with him!

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#55 Shadow's Fall- The Light That Blinds

 

Shadow's Fall is pretty unique to me where they have this one song here that really hypes me up while having zero other things in their discography that have ever kept my interest. The lead track from War Within stayed with me while the rest of the album was disappointingly forgettable. I still do enjoy this song quite a bit though. It probably helps that I had a determination to get 5 stars in Guitar Hero anything that resembled metal, this song included giving it many repeats over the years.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

Hah, Guitar Hero II (and III).  Where they hid all the New England metalcore in the bonus songs or whatever 

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

10 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Hah, Guitar Hero II (and III).  Where they hid all the New England metalcore in the bonus songs or whatever 

Funnily enough being a New England growing up 45 minutes from Boston, the metalcore bands weren't super big with the other metal kids. They were much bigger with the NuMetal kids

 

Although All that remains came close to making my list...

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#54 Metallica- Seek and Destroy

I get it about Metallica. They are arguably the most successful metal band to ever exist. Pick whatever tangible statistic you want and Metallica will probably be atop the list. All that being said, I am not a particularly big Metallica fan. If I were to listen to their albums in a vacuum and ignore any of the prestige and reputation they have, they would have completely lost my interest well before the abomination that is St Anger. Obviously they are all fine musicians, but they lose more and more points every time I have to hear James Hetfields intentionally grating vocals. In fact, the only time his style really works is when it's packaged up into old school thrash metal. He should have stepped aside long ago for someone who can actually sing. So yes. Seek and Destroy is the best song they have ever made. Come at me you tens of millions of diehards! Tell me how wrong I am!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

Ouch!

I'm a RtL fanboy, but that'll be the extent of my complaining.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#53 System of a Down- Toxicity

Toxicity is a song and album that could not be escaped when it first came out. It still can't. This is one of the rare Nu-metal acts out there that found themselves respected and enjoyed almost universally. Even the most sceney of scenester like this song. The most metally of metalheads like this song. The boppiest of teenie bopper like this song. Why? It's just really good.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

On 9/22/2023 at 11:03 AM, Reed Rothchild said:

Ouch!

I'm a RtL fanboy, but that'll be the extent of my complaining.

If it's any consolation, "For Whom The Bell Tolls" or "One" would probably be somewhere in the 90s. Probably.

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#52 Mayhem- Freezing Moon

 

Ooh boy is there a horror story behind the release of this album. They go to record it and the vocalist, Dead, commits suicide. They recruit another vocalist, record a few tracks and the bass player murders the guitar player. Now the band belongs to the drummer, who also happens to be in my top 5 of metal drummers. Hellhammer is a beast! He dragged this album across the finish line and it against all off not only became completed, but it became a Black Metal classic. This song was written by a bunch of crazy dudes and held together by a drummer that's just happy to be there. Sounds like me every time I go into work!

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

#51 Katatonia- Dispossesion

What we have here is some sad music for sad people. Katatonia morphed from some of the proggy doom death that was big in the mid 90s to eventually become a more alternative metal band with real depressing overtones. The Last Fair Deal Gone Down album was a real high point in real low music. While Katatonia has remained very consistent since, this album remains their best with the opening track the strongest.

 

And with this entry, we have crossed the halfway point in my countdown! Thank you very much to everyone who has stayed with me so far! I have some real gems to reveal as we climb the top half of my list, and I look forward to pushing my way to the finish line!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

I was crucified by somebody for putting Katatonia "too low" at #68