Kai vs RYM metal charts: 1991

    1991: The year a whole bunch of brainwashed Gen Xers (and to a lesser extent baby-boomers) thought Nevermind killed heavy metal, even though it didn't top the American Billboard charts until 1992.  What 1991 is known for in my opinion is peak death metal.  Just about every death metal band that could release an album, did release such in 1991.  Pretty much the only two that didn't this year were Deicide and Obituary.  With this notion in mind, the sub-genre has a stranglehold on the RYM top 10 for metal.  If any other sub-genre shows up, there's maybe one or two releases from it at best.  So let's go holy diving....



1. Death- Human

    My relationship with Death has been such: Thinking everything was great though some albums were better than others, only thinking the first two Death albums were great, then concluding only Scream Bloody Gore is essential while still filing Symbolic and Human under guilty pleasure.  The former....we'll get to that.  But Human is the most entertaining post 1987 Death album.  Given who is involved, I'd say this is more of a Cynic album before the fact than a Death album.  Re-listening to it years back for its anniversary, I was surprised how well it holds up.  But I don't know I would put this on a top 10 best death metal albums of 1991, let alone the metal album of 1991.

Should this be on a top 10: Debatable

Would this be on my top 10: No.



2. Dismember- Like An Everflowing Stream

    THIS on the other hand, I would absolutely place at the top of both categories.  Like An Ever Flowing Stream is the greatest Swedish death metal album of all time.  It took the blueprint Left Hand Path provided and considerably cranked up the violence as well as the catchiness. And bonus points for irking the ire of the British moral authority with SKIN HER FUCKING ALIVE!

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: Yes



3. Sepultura- Arise

    This album holds the distinction of having my two favorite Sepultura songs of all time: the title track and "Desperate Cry" ("Dead Embryonic Cells" is somewhere in the 6-10 range).

    Transitional albums are not uncommon in music, certainly not uncommon in metal.  Arise is clearly such between the riff-o-rama of Beneath The Remains and the second phase of the funky chaos of Chaos A.D. For many thrashers, Arise is where they say good-bye to Sepultura.  Max's ever-gruff vocals might cause some to file this under death metal (and to be fair that is the secondary sub-genre under this album's page), for me this is a perfect balance of thrash and groove.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: Yes



4. Suffocation- Effigy of the Forgotten

    Suffocation, and this album in particular, was always held in high regard.  But these days Effigy has taken on a life of its own due to modern metal's newfound autistic obsession with breakdowns. This has caused it to not age well for me.  Breakdowns mind you, have been a part of metal since Sad Wings Of Destiny, but there's a clear difference between the breakdowns on "Island of Domination" and "Tyrant" and the breakdowns on "Infecting The Crypts" and "Habitual Infamy."  You know, wasn't the whole point of Pantera "making the [breakdown] the whole song?"  Hard to understand why these core kids even bother with blast-beats and thrashing.  I personally prefer Pierced From Within.  Like I said earlier, Effigy of the Forgotten was a certified death metal classics before the emo kids with Ramos haircuts showed up.  So it's fine here.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: No



5. Autopsy- Mental Funeral

    Arguably five death metal albums in a row for the top half of RYM's top 10.  As far as I'm concerned, Mental Funeral is the best of the bunch, (but only the third best death metal album of the year). Not only does it push even further the idea of slow being ok in death metal, this album is just flat out terrifying.  If you want to know how you are supposed to use light and shade, dynamics in death metal, Mental Funeral is your masterclass.  Proof pudding of Black Sabbath's direct influence on death/extreme metal.  One of the greatest death metal albums ever made.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: Yes



6. Atheist- Unquestionable Presence

    Knowing what we now know, so called "progressive death metal" should have stopped right here. Progressive death metal should not mean trying to mix Simon & Garfunkel with Sentenced, it means mix Sentence with jazz and Captain Beefheart!  If you want groove and something resembling a stable beat, look elsewhere!  Unquestionable Presence is what Human (and every post Leprsoy Death album for that matter) wants to be, but Human just lacks the testosterone technique, the organized chaos, the BALLS.  If you want objects falling around you in one of them "don't move" Mario Maker levels while Kelly Hansen's gnarly vocals portend the apocalypse, Unquestionable Presence is your trip! 

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: No



7. Coroner- Mental Vortex

    Decent enough.  Not as vicious as No More Color (or any of the previous Coroner albums for that matter), but there is still enough killer riffs and songs for a solid listen.  And hey, after a few attempts at entertaining, but ultimately dumb covers, they snatch "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" right out from under the fucking Beatles. 

Should this be on a top 10: No

Would this be on my top 10: No 



8. Carcass- Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious

    The second best death metal album of the year (the 1st is Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick, which does not show up here.  boo).  It's also proof pudding how goddamn stupid metal fans can be sometimes. Necroticism is very much the natural pinnacle of what was started with Reek Of Putrefaction.  But because it's not Reek 3 (or Symphonies of Sickness 2), it's a sellout.  How is going from grindcore to death metal selling out?  I never saw that energy regarding Napalm Death. With Michael Amott in tow becoming a four piece, Necroticism is another instance of death metal being moved in a different, but related progressive direction, but the right kind of progress.  The kind of progress where hipster fuckheads don't think it's progressive because they're still talking about gore and death and violence as opposed to whatever the fuck Chuck was babbling about in the 90s.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: Yes



9. Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger

    "Ok, they are a metal band, there is no question about that"

-Ultraboris, M-A review


    "They were a great metal band!  Black Sabbath meets Led Zeppelin!"

-Bruce Dickinson, Vh1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock

    What's wacky is that Soundgarden had two solid albums before Badmaotorfinger that feel way more Metal Church before Nirvana (well, ok, NOTHING feels quite like Metal Church).  With this album though, yeah you do feel the "alternative" creeping in on the back half of the album.  Can be very uninspired at times.  Case in point, Black Sabbath rips off the beginning of "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" and fucking rules while doing it ("Sins of the Father" for those curious).  If you took the first four songs on here and put them on an EP, you would hands down have the best metal EP of the 90s.

    By the way, that Vh1 special aired 25 years ago. And yes it's on youtube.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10: No



10. Entombed- Clandestine

    I feel like everyone has a "denial, anger, acceptance" phase with Clandestine.  When you first hear it you think, "OMG SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE DEBUT!"  Then you find out LG Petrov doesn't do vocals, and you're all confused.  Then you noticed some of the groovier moments and think it's kinda weird.  You then ultimately conclude that while falling clearly in the "sophomore slump" category, it's still a decent slab of Swedish metal.  

Should this be on a top 10: No

Would this be on my top 10: No 


    Welp, that's the top 10 rated metal albums of RYM.com!  Like I said, very death metal heavy.  We got one or two thrash albums and arguably a trad/metal album.  Nothing much else, and particularly disappointing is not a single black metal release (Ok there was only about 4).  I guess black metal to those hipsters doesn't start until Kerrang feeds it to them via crime reports.

    Speaking of black, let's address a 500 lb snake in the room here.  I said it in the 1986 article, I'll repeat it here: most of you hipsters that think Master Of Puppets is the greatest thing ever wouldn't know a damn note of it without Metallica (a.k.a. The Black Album).  I go back and forth over whether metal is a better place with Metallica's existence, but I'm sick of these assholes trying to act cool picking a less popular album for reasons.  In this case because of puppet graves.  If you losers love Cliff Burton so much why don't you pick Ride The Lightning?  He's got the most songwriting credits on it.  Or Justice? That album cover at least sparks what people are feeling these days: tearing down problematic statues.  Not to mention that since RYM allows bolded songs now, and only the big hits are bolded.  Nothing Else Matters being bolded tells you all you need to know about these dumbfucks.


My alphabetical top 10:

AUTOPSY- MENTAL FUNERAL

CARCASS- NECROTICISM: DESCANTING THE INSALUBRIOUS

DISMEMBER- LIKE AN EVER FLOWING STREAM

MASTER'S HAMMER- RITUAL

MORBID ANGEL- BLESSED ARE THE SICK

MOTORHEAD- 1916

OVERKILL- HORRORSCOPE

OZZY OSBOURNE- NO MORE TEARS

RUNNING WILD- BLAZON STONE

SEPULTURA- ARISE





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