729. Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power
Pantera
1992

Tracks
1. Mouth For War
2. New Level
3. Walk
4. Fucking Hostile
5. This Love
6. Rise
7. No Good (Attack The Radical)
8. Live In A Hole
9. Regular People (Conceit)
10. By Demons Be Driven
11. Hollow

There is way too much metal on the List. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll probably mention it on my death bed as well (don't worry, it will be speaking to a larger theme on the futility of life and hope). Yes, I think there is too much hip hop on the List as well, but at least most of those artists are doing something different with the genre, even if I don't like the results. 

This is just more of the same thrashy metal that never sounds original, even when they swap out the words they yell at us. They are just imitating Black Sabbath...and I don't really like Black Sabbath to begin with.

Entirely skippable.

RATING: 1/5

700. Arise

Arise
Sepultra
1991

Tracks
1. Arise
2. Dead Embryonic Cells
3. Desperate Cry
4. Murder
5. Subtraction
6. Altered State
7. Under Siege (Regnum Irae)
8. Meaningless Movements
9. Infected Voice
10. Orgasmatron

700! I wasn't looking forward to listening to an album with a track called "Orgasmatron," but I was looking forward to hitting this milestone. 700 feels like a big one. We can do this people!

Unfortunately, it will take listening to albums like this to reach our goal, with its overly long tracks and boring attempts at being offensive. The thrash metal genre is not my cup of tea. At least the cover art is kind of cool.

Only 301 albums to go!

RATING: 1/5

671. Rust in Peace

Rust in Peace
Megadeth
1990

Tracks
1. Holy Wars...the Punishment Due
2. Hangar 18
3. Take No Prisoners
4. Five Magics
5. Poison Was The Cure
6. Lucretia
7. Tornado Of Souls
8. Dawn Patrol
9. Rust In Peace...Polaris

I had convinced myself that metal had died in the 1980s, apparently we have to endure the death throes of this genre for a little longer, with yet another Megadeth album.

So it doesn't feel like Megadeth is doing anything different here, but I suppose it would be enjoyable enough for any metal fan. Even if the album cover looks like it's from a terrible 80s Atari game.

Entirely skippable unless you're a metalhead. 

RATING: 2/5

625. ...And Justice For All

...And Justice for All
Metallica
1988

Tracks
1. Blackened
2. ...And Justice For All
3. Eye Of The Beholder
4. One
5. The Shortest Straw
6. Harvester Of Sorrow
7. The Frayed Ends Of Sanity
8. To Live Is To Die
9. Dyers Eve

I can be tolerant of heavy metal music in small doses. Okay, maybe I would still bitch about it, but can we all agree that an hour and five minute long thrash metal album is a bit excessive? Part of the appeal (I think?) of metal music is its punchiness. This is not punchy.

It's no secret that I can't stand metal, but it feels like this would even disappoint fans of the genre. I am sure the denizens of that fan base would be happy to elect me their spokesperson, so I'll proceed. Apparently, they turned the bass completely down as a way of hazing the bassist, which is some serious white boy nonsense. 

Low quality and headache-inducing. In other words, a great way to start my day.

RATING: 2/5

586. Among the Living

Among the Living
Anthrax
1987

Tracks
1. Among The Living
2. Caught In A Mosh
3. I Am The Law
4. Efilkinufesin
5. A Skeleton In The Closet
6. Indians
7. One World
8. A.D.I. / Horror Of It All
9. Imitation Of Life

Welcome to 1987! We are once again greeted at the door with a heavy metal album. Thrash metal, to be more precise. I guess regular old metal just wasn't quite angry enough for Anthrax.

The lyrics in this album are rather appalling, not because of their audacity, but because of their sheer stupidity. I felt like I was listening to a teenaged boy get back at his strict parents. I can't exactly relate to Reddit Thread: The Concept Album.

I am perhaps making this sound worse than it was, which I will chalk up to the coronavirus crankies. There weren't very articulate in their anger, and thus not outright offensive. Just not my kind of music.

RATING: 3/5