Bands With 5 Awesome Albums (or more?!)

Recommendations, discussions, questions & debates regarding the godly Metal of olde...
Post Reply
User avatar
Helm
Posts: 1465
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Beyond the Realms of Arcana!

Bands With 5 Awesome Albums (or more?!)

Post by Helm »

EPs, miniCDs, split records, live albums, compilations and demos do not count! You know the HM rules!

I've been thinking about this lots. There don't seem to be a lot of bands with 5 or more extremely good releases.

At the top of my head I can think of Manilla Road (who have more than 5, actually). Very consistent. I actually like Spiral Castle, or Voyager, as much as The Deluge or even Crystal Logic!

Of course Fates Warning from the debut up to Disconnected put out mostly essential material. A joy to follow their progression through the history of HM.

Anacrusis put out 5 records and they're all extremely solid in my opinion.

Motorhead are an interesting proposition, though I can certainly enjoy a lot of their records, they're not essential. Only Bomber, Overkill and Ace of Spades stand out to me. I'm sure you would disagree though.

I thought about Bolt Thrower but I don't think they have 5 essential records. More like 2 or 3.

Esoteric, I guess. Though I could live only with Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum. Very consistent band.

Some would claim Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or Black Sabath but I like about 2 records from each on the whole. Metallica? Barely 4 good records ones.

Surprisingly, Root is a band that has put out 5 or more records I consider all stellar. They don't easily come to mind though for some reason, I had to look at my music collection to get that one.

It's interesting to see that my most top records come from bands that did one great record, or perhaps two, three max. I glean that it's difficult to maintain a high standard when you write HM whereas for example in my non-HM listening habits I have a lot of artists with 5 or 6 great records like NoMeansNo, Fields of the Nephilim or even Loscil or Steve Reich.

What bands with 5 or more great albums can you think of? Is HM the sort of music you'd expect a great band to make an enduring career out of, or are you happy with just that one brilliant flash of steel in an otherwise mediocre or short lifespan of a band? Like, if we pit Bolt Thrower and Root and Anacrusis against one-or-two-record-wonders like Psychotic Waltz, Candlemass (heresy, I know), Brocas Helm or Mercyful Fate... do the occasionally brilliant stand on top of the consistently good, or is it just me? Perhaps the actual fact that some bands DON'T put out more than one or two great albums and then break up actually adds to our enjoyment of this material? Furthermore is it better or worse for a band to put out one or two good records and break up or to carry on making records (like Anvil) that are sub-par and spiral towards irrelevancy eventually?
Image
User avatar
peterott
Posts: 387
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:08 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by peterott »

Absu
Bathory (though not 5 in a row)
Bolt Thrower
Darkthrone (though not 5 in a row)
Slayer (though not 5 in a row)
User avatar
DMR
Posts: 617
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:38 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Post by DMR »

I suppose it's subjective what each person considers essential, and I know a lot of people will think my taste in music is odd (or really fucked up). But here it goes:

Gamma Ray - All of their albums (except Sigh No More and maybe No World Order!)
Helloween - Walls of Jericho, Keeper I and II, The Time of the Oath, Better Than Raw
Iron Maiden - first seven
Manowar - first seven
Blind Guardian - Follow the Blind, Tales From the Twilight World, Somewhere Far Beyond, Nightfall in Middle Earth, A Night At the Opera
Furthermore is it better or worse for a band to put out one or two good records and break up or to carry on making records (like Anvil) that are sub-par and spiral towards irrelevancy eventually?
It's probably better for a band to split up rather than make mediocre records, but I don't think it really matters that much. After all, I'm just going to listen to their one or two good albums anyway, whether or not bad ones exist. But a band that breaks up before sucking should have a better reputation. That way you can say "They're one of my favorite bands" instead of "They WERE one of my favorite bands, until..."
User avatar
bigfootkit
Posts: 3141
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Post by bigfootkit »

Sorry Helm, i have to argue with you about Sabbath, i reckon their debut, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath makes 5 utterly essential albums! I also (whisper it!), love "Never Say Die", but can see why others might not.
I think Voivod qualify for the 5 or more list too. If we can add a little proto-metal into the mix the 5 Budgie albums from their debut to "Bandolier", are never far from my hi-fi either.
I do however agree that there are very few bands who could legitimately make that list. In this day and age where bands are less likely to have lengthy careers i reckon the list of bands with essential back catalogues of the length of those bands of yore is unlikely to grow much either.
User avatar
The Knell
Posts: 4308
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:58 pm

Post by The Knell »

ZZ Top
now is the madness in hell
we're eat babies flesh
and suck the mothers blood next
we're perverse devils well
User avatar
nightsblood
Posts: 2427
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:11 pm

Post by nightsblood »

Some for me, without dbl-checking my collection:

Running wild- gates, branded, jolly, glory, inn, masq
Blind Guardian- fear, tales, beyond, imaginations, nightfall
Riot- thunder, privilege, city, breaker, storm (possibly more)
Candlemass- night, ancient, tales, sun, king, magick (new, but I love it)
Maiden- s/t, killers, beast, piece, 7th
Manowar- hammer, hail, fighting, kings, world (bit of a stretch maybe)

It's nice to have some consistently great, long-running bands, but I think such things are rare in many types of music

Misses-
Misfits- would probably make it IF they made 5 studio albums, but I think they only have 4 that count- walk, earth, psycho, famous
Savatage- 3 power, mt, street
Slayer- 3 mercy, heaven, abyss
Root- 3 temple, book, seal
Pentagram- 3 s/t, reckoning, forewarned
Metallica- 3 kill, ride, puppets
Priest- 3 destiny, defenders, pain
Sabbath- 3 s/t, reality, mob
Manilla- 2 crystal, gates
Summoning-X like their whole body of work but not sure any album(s) is essential
Nightwish- 2 ocean, century
Death- human, symbolic, individual
Motorhead- 0 (like plenty of songs, but no essential albums)
Voivod- 0 (not a fan)
Dragonforce- 2 sonic, beatdown
Gamma Ray- 2 space, free2
"I'm sorry Sam, we had real chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun, our love was too hot to live"
-Becky
User avatar
Helm
Posts: 1465
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Beyond the Realms of Arcana!

Post by Helm »

Absu have only put out one absolutely terrific album in my opinion, Tara. It's not that the other material is sub-par at any case, it's that Tara seems to encapture everything the band was ever going for so I don't play the other ones very often. This is why Fates Warning don't have any trouble because their material is diverse. You never feel they do the exact record they've been trying to do since forever and just keep that one.

Bathory... never a huge fan. I do appreciate the epic metal Bathory but again I prefer songs to full albums by them. Brainbiter once looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I said I couldn't listen to Hammerheart straight all the way through... it's true, sorry!

Bolt Thrower, again I think - and this is strange - their last album encaptures all they ever wanted to do so that's the keeper. And of course 'In Battle there is No Law' because it's different from what they became later.

Darkthrone, Slayer, not my taste can't comment.

DMR I do think it's odd that the whole Gamma Ray discography does it for you, heh. I did like Land of the Free at and still do to some extent - though the lyrics and aesthetics grate nowadays but... all of it? Is 'Powerplant' a great record? No offense, of course.

Helloween only put out one excellent album in my opinion and that's Walls of Jericho (I tend to put the Helloween EP along with it because that's how I bought the CD at the time... my first Hm cd more than 15 years ago). Keeper 1 and Keeper 2 make a GREAT cd if you cut out the sappier/sillier/slower stuff! Still, that's just 2.

Manowar - again, never could understand or appreciate.

Blind Guardian - We'd agree here if I could listen to all of the first 5 in completion but I tend to gravitate towards 'Follow the Blind' for speed metal, and Somewhere Far Beyond/Imagination from the Other Side for the fantasy stuff.

bigfootkit: I know I am in the minority on this but the only Black Sabbath record I cherish is the first one. It's just perfect in every way. Although the next records have a lot of great songs (and I'd say Vol 4 is great all the way through) I don't have much of a taste for the more hippyish lyrics that Ozzy was fond of. If I were to make an essential collection of Black Sabbath songs it'd be like, a double album at best. It would be 50% Ozzy, 30% Dio, 15% Martin and 5% Ian Gillan (mainly 'Disturbing the Priest' from Born Again!)

Voivod - yes! Let's see, Killing Technology, Hatross, Nothingface, Angel Rat, Outer Limits! That's 5, there we go. Good call.

Never heard Budgie, where should I start?

nightsblood: Running Wild... 5 albums? Same with Helloween for me, Branded and Exiled and Gates are great for speed metal hell and then it's best-of time with stuff from Black Hand, Under Jolly Roger, Death or Glory. Too much filler otherwise.

Riot's another close one for me but not 5 records straight through.
Image
User avatar
nightsblood
Posts: 2427
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:11 pm

Post by nightsblood »

Helm- it's really an opinion/question of taste. I can only get 2 for Fates Warning- guardian and parallels- but I can easily get 5 for Running Wild. Even sub-critical albums only adds 1 to my Fates Warning list- brocken.

Bathory I like overall but no albums are Essential IMO. Same for Bolt Thrower.
Helloween I'd give 3- walls, keys1, and keys2. EP is killer but EPs don't count

A little surprised no one's tried citing Opeth yet- can't stand 'em personally but so many worship their every note.
"I'm sorry Sam, we had real chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun, our love was too hot to live"
-Becky
big mouth
Posts: 504
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:52 am

Post by big mouth »

RUSH by far plus

MORBID ANGEL
SLAYER
User avatar
Stormspell
Posts: 2326
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:59 am
Location: Stormspell Records
Contact:

Post by Stormspell »

Besides the ones already mentioned,

KING DIAMOND
MEKONG DELTA
DEF LEPPARD
STORMWITCH, PRETTY MAIDS, METALLICA (those are arguable)
User avatar
Khnud
Posts: 2621
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:45 pm
Location: Lund, Sweden

Post by Khnud »

Reverend Bizarre
User avatar
ION BRITTON
Posts: 6645
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:07 pm

Post by ION BRITTON »

IRON MAIDEN - First 7
JUDAS PRIEST - Sad Wings - Stained Class - Screaming - Defenders - Painkiller
BLACK SABBATH - First 5 - Heaven and hell - Mob rules - Headless cross - Tyr
RUNNING WILD - Everything up to Black hand inn (8 albums)
BATHORY - Under the sign - Blood fire death - Hammerheart - Twillight of the gods - Blood on ice - Nordland I
FATES WARNING - No exit - Perfect symmetry - Parallels - Inside out - APSOG
MANILLA ROAD - Mark of the beast - Crystal logic - Open the gates - Deluge - Mystification
DEATH - Scream bloody gore - Leprosy - Human - Individual - Symbolic
SODOM - In the sign of evil - Obsessed by cruelty - Persecution mania - Agent orange - Tapping the vein
SAVATAGE - Sirens - Dungeons - Hall of the mountain - Gutter ballet - Edge of thorns
Good against Evil, Evil sure to win

"It really didn't matter if they liked it or not, i was going to give it to them straight down their throats" -John Stewart
User avatar
sagrotan
Posts: 877
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:28 pm
Location: Berlin

Post by sagrotan »

ACCEPT - Breaker, Restless and Wild, Balls to the Wall, Metal Heart, Russian Roulette

SCORPIONS - (some will again claim the 1st one, for me their awesome ones start with: ) Fly to the Rainbow, In Trance, Virgin Killer, Taken by Force, Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, Love at First Sting! (8, and in a row :shock: )

URIAH HEEP - Very 'eavy.. Very 'umble, Salisbury, Look at Yourself, Demons and Wizards, The Magician's Birthday
Down there in the Darkness
Centuries of Evil
And his Arms will take you deeper and deeper
User avatar
HamburgerBoy
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:50 pm

Post by HamburgerBoy »

Agreed on Fates Warning. Aside from their last album they have had a pretty consistent career, and especially for a progressive metal band.

I think that Coroner progressed their sound with every album up to their (half-compilation, half-new) S/T. Actually, it's a shame that they couldn't hold it together for a completely new last album, because I hold Shifter and The Golden Cashmere Sleeper in as high of regard as anything else they did. Punishment for Decadence is an exception being basically RIP v2, but that one is still very good.

Iron Maiden's first five albums are immortal. Judas Priest's too probably, and if a couple in that period aren't they certainly had a couple more in the 80's.
User avatar
msp
Posts: 1238
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:48 am
Location: Essex

Post by msp »

Solitude Aeturnus - all of their albums have been consistently excellent in my book.
Remember kids, only high priced rarities are true...
Post Reply