Kai vs. Loudwire: The 3 greatest metal songs from each year of the '90s
Loudwire is a curious thing. On the one hand, they celebrate 40th and 50th anniversaries of classic records when during the prime of such records the idea of celebrating something 40 years old would have gotten scoffs and laughs. On the other hand, they're just as clickbaity and "modern" endorsing as most other terrible metal websites.
Well, they've put out a "best metal song of each year of the 90s" list. I did not click on it or read it, I just knew it would suck and whatever I crapped out would be better. Seriously, I have no idea what they picked for anything (although some of the album cover pictures on the header give me an idea of where they would come from). But rather than just give 1 for each year and call it a blogpost, I figured I'd go the extra mile and list the THREE best for each year.
Now, while there will be some personal bias for each entry/list, (as there is for everyone of these lists), I do want to have some objectivity for these lists, and have commercial success be somewhat weighted here. Cultural impact plays a role of course, which can't be quantified. I'm also not gonna take personal enjoyment out of the equation either, as Lemmy forbid someone not hear of one of these songs and discover a new favorite tune.
I'd say the #1 basic criteria is it can't be what I refer to as "in one ear, out the other, how does it go again" songs. A great song is something you can instantly identify as wheat from chaff, regardless of genre. Extremity does not exclude writing ability. For instance, there probably won't be any Demolition Hammer songs here, as whilst their two albums are S-tier death thrash, aside from a chorus here or there, it blends together. But there will likely be multiple Cannibal Corpse songs, as while they never in my opinion made an album filler free, they have absolutely crafted death metal's top tier anthems (that, more than anything else, is why they are the biggest name in death metal).
With all that said, let's go holy diving.....
1990:
The opening colony-drop title track instantly let the metal underground know that no, death metal is not exclusively a trans-atlantic deal. Putting Sweden on the map as a premier death metal country. And of course that iconic stealing repurposing of the "Phantasm" theme into a morbid, melancholic coda remains one of the most powerful moments in music. R.I.P. LG Petrov
I almost didn't include this, my reasoning being that while it resurrected Judas Priest's credibility (albeit briefly before Rob leaving took the wind out of their sales), did it really affect metal in general? And the answer is, yes it goddamn did! Not only was traditional metal/power metal transformed from it's influence (you pretty much can't make a heavy metal song without a heaping helping of double bass these days), but extreme metal itself had a fire lit under it's ass (see also Death's notable but inferior cover of same). "Painkiller" is Judas Priest's highest viewed song on youtube, and their second most streamed song on spotify, below "Breaking the Law," but above previous career makers such as "You've Got Another Thing Comin" and "Turbo Lover." Considered alienating, too extreme and trend hopping to the fans of the 80s at the time, Painkiller might have faltered in battle, but it won the war.
If you were to ask me what my favorite Megadeth song is, I would tell you "Tornado of Souls." Hell, "Holy Wars....The Punishment Due" itself is only my 3rd favorite song off of the king of all metal albums Rust In Peace. But here's the thing about this song: it is, while not necessarily Megadeth's most commercially successful track, it has managed to gain enough popularity to that no discussion of the greatest Megadeth song is completed without mentioning it. You simply can't. "Holy Wars" accomplishes this whilst breaking every rule of conventional songwriting: Vocals don't show up for almost a minute and a half; there is no verse-chorus structure here, Hell there's no chorus here period (and Megadeth are just as good at their choruses as anybody was); Dave decides to take a brief respite from religious observation to talk about comic anti-hero the Punisher, then to top it all off we get a brief but frantic and paranoid sermon about mind control, and you don't know which previous section it pertains too whilst tying the whole thing together. Really, the song takes three separate tangents and makes them all make sense within the context of one piece. Cutting social commentary still scary today. Lyrics matter, and its why when you have the debate between Painkiller and Rust In Peace, the latter is the clear winner because Mustaine became a better lyricist than Rob Halford. All this with the greatest guitar playing anyone ever heard in their life.
What really puts this over the top, is that "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" is not a deep cut. This was a single. This was the first song presented to the metal public, and not only was it a success, Rust In Peace became a success. That is why it's the best metal song of 1990, and possibly the decade itself.
Honorary mention: Pantera- Primal Concrete Sledge
Let me tell ya, reader, putting something like this together is agonizing, because there's stuff you leave out because you simply don't have a choice. Everyone loves to regale how Cowboys From Hell terraformed metal in a way that it's impact is still relevant today, the truth is, Pantera's influence doesn't begin until Vulgar Display of Power. Yes their songs were featured on Headbangers Ball, and their songs were good enough to be noticed by Rob Halford himself to be an opener for the Painkiller tour, but the hard fact is Cowboys From Hell merely set the stage. Vulgar Display of Power was the opera. But yeah, I'm giving this to "Primal Concrete Sledge" over the other songs due to the fact that no other song like this exists. Everyone rips off "Walk" or "I'm Broken," no one has dared to imitate that earth shattering snareless double bass assault, so powerful that concrete was falling all around the band as they were writing and rehearsing it, giving the song it's namesake.
1991:
Forewarning: Every year Running Wild put out an album, one of those songs goes on this top 3. Don't like it? Kiss my ass. I could put any one of the songs from the Super S tier Blazon Stone (my second favorite album from the 90 after Rust In Peace). But I'm picking this one because it's one of a very, very few songs that I might have to listen to multiple times. This song makes me cry from hype it's so god-damn good. Metal Schoolhouse Rock about George Custer. And a sad reminder of what a great vocalist of this timbre could have sounded like singing for Iron Maiden (i.e. Blaze)
A perfect concoction of brutality, groove and catchiness on the level of legendary death metal tracks like "Hammer Smashed Face," "Zombie Ritual," "Sacrificial Suicide," etc., etc., Cranky grindcore fans don't like Carcass having good production, but they're just annoyed production like this makes hits like 50 trucks. Ken Owen pens out of the great opening drum grooves to any metal song. 1991 was death metal's peak year, and this song stands atop the giant pile of corpses.
Ehp-ehp-ehp-ehp-ehp-I don't want to hear it. Look I'm as critical as Metallica as anyone, but the objective fact is, this blew the doors open for metal more than.....really any song ever. Which is kind of impressive considering the lyrics are pretty much power metal (no seriously, these are pretty much Hansi Kursch lyrics). But yea, the lowest you could put this at for a 1991 list is 2, and you better have some damn good reasoning for why whatever obscure Hungarian black metal song is better.
Honorary mention: Sepultura- Arise
I love my long epics as much as anybody, but there's something about when a band gets a short and sweet blast firepower exactly right (pretty much the sole reason Ace of Spades is as big as it is). After bouncing from extreme sub-genre to extreme sub-genre in the 80s, Sepultura stand squarely in thrash with this 1991 title track, albeit briefly.
1992:
There's no way this couldn't in a top 3, arguably #1. Death metal's greatest song. Everyone who knows death metal knows this song and loves it. They might not be fans of Cannibal Corpse per se, but they love this song. This song is so good Jim Carrey approved of it in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. No I'm not kidding.
I'm sort of breaking my own rule here by picking the first track of a sound rather than song quality, but the second wave of black metal is too important to ignore. As the first track of the legendary A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Kathaarian Life Code lets the metal underground know there's a challenger to death metal, and it's coming for that heavyweight champion like Clubber Lang in Rocky III.
I wasn't kidding. Running Wild's catalog during this decades smokes every last one of your favorite bands' of this decade, and it does so while wearing swag pirate hats you Jnco Jeans nostalgic asscakes. This fantastic epic closer to Pile Of Skulls, tells a truncated version of the Robert Louis Steven classic and grand, lengthy epic fashion. But it manages to do so whilst being minimal. That groove is maybe 80% of the song, but it slow builds with tension until a brief explosion of power before arresting you right back with the best 8-note hi string melody since "Sweet Child O' Mine." As far as I'm concerned, while of course Rolf Kasparek would compose many, many great songs after this, "Treasure Island" is his finest accomplishment. If you like classic metal, there's no excuse for you not to love this song. Now enjoy this bizarro Russian bootleg cartoon music video of it.
Honorary mention: Pantera- Regular People (Conceit)
Slob my knob, "Walk." You ain't got the balls, son. This song crushes the rush! It rules you fools! This song is the real "Walk" and everyone of those meat-heads knows it. This is pretty much Iron Maiden's Phantom Of the Opera with all it's progressive time changes done hi-fi Texas style, and it's HERE where the mouth of Pantera's testosterone volcano spews from. And Dimebag lays down two solos! Why? Cos fuck you that's why!
1993:
Yes, I know "The Sun No Longer Rises" is more popular, no I don't give a fuck. Yes I realize it's not about an actual Holocaust, making it insensitive in the cluelessly European way. No I don't give a fuck. I give a fuck about the fact that it takes the Imperial Death March and puts it to black metal use, which is absolutely perfect for black metal.
"Sober" was overall more commercially successful, "Black No. 1" had more sex appeal, but I'm gonna pick Refuse/Resist as the best commercially successful metal song. To me, slightly more so than Pantera, this song and Chaos A.D. was what set the groove metal boulder rolling down the hill. And, self-awareness time, listen, thrash was brought down on multiple fronts by 1993 (death metal, Metallica), and even if Vulgar Display of Power never happened, the second wave of black metal absolutely would have been the final nail in thrash's coffin. So just enjoy "Refuse/Resist" for what it is, the next logical step after Arise.
Best death/doom song ever. There were death/doom albums before Dance of December Souls, but none that crystalized it like such, similar to death metal being crystalized on Scream Bloody Gore.
Honorary Mention: Sleep- Dragonaut
It WaS rElEaSeD iN 1992! Well guess what, I looked at the back of my Sleep's Holy Mountain CD and guess what the trademark year was? 1993! So it's 1993 -O-O- deal with it. But yes, a seminal Sabbath worship song, and the single single from aforementioned Holy Mountain, not only does this song get the slow, heavy, fuzzy production right, it gets the speedy jazz interlude right. As do quite a few tracks on that album. Where the world first took notice of the living legend known as Matt Pike.
1994:
3. Pantera- I'm Broken
Vulgar Display of Power, along with said tour for Vulgar (and of course you can't count out the initial underground buzz of Cowboys) built up a lot of momentum for Pantera, and their follow-up. One might say nothing could stop it, but somehow I feel like putting out "Good Friends & A Bottle of Pills," as the first single, even as a shit-post, would have prevented Pantera from taking the mighty #1 spot on the Billboard 200. Pantera needed a very strong first sampler. One could debate whether or not this, "5 Minutes Alone" or "Becoming" would have done just as good of a job, but the fact is, "I'm Broken" was another iron-clad classic with another S-tier riff that can be filed under "riffs Tony Iommi is jealous he didn't write."
This Black Hand Inn track is a fucking steamroller, guaranteed to break necks and open up European pits the world over. Anyone cranky their favorite song isn't in this top 3 will look this up and immideatly get their face-smashed in. Either my second or third favorite Running Wild song, with some cutting lyrics written about a rather unsavory section of the planet today, written over 30 years ago.
For my money, the greatest black metal song of all time. One can argue whether or not Mayhem or De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was unfairly elevated by controversy and murder, but you can't deny after three or four listens of this song and you'll know every second of it. And that solo, who said Euronymous couldn't construct a great lead?
Honorary mention: Cannibal Corpse- Fucked With A Knife
Chris Barnes finally figures out that offensive lyrics and song-titles don't mean anything if the listener can't understand you, and holy fuck can you understand him here. Still one of the most disturbing songs ever written. There's another sexually violent yet stupidly catchy song like this on The Bleeding I could have picked, but this because it's fast and furious like most proper death metal should be.
1995:
Gamma Ray's "Rebellion In Dreamland" can very much be the "Sympathy for The Devil" of the 90s in many ways: first off, it.....wait what? Oh, that's right, Running Wild did but out an album this year didn't they? Looks like I've painted my self into a corner...
Well, ok, I can make this work. If the usual tropes of European power metal are questionable to you, and you doubt whether or not those wacky Germans's actually know how to rock, listen to "Rebel At Heart." If the American airwaves didn't erect a giant wall Donald Trump would be jealous of to power metal, this could have easily made the radio.....even though it's still 6 minutes long, but after hearing it, you won't want to cut a second of it.
I am not, and never will be, what you call a Phil Anselmo "fan." But you can't deny the man had talent and versatility. The NOLA album is unquestionably just as quality and just as important to metal as anything Pantera made, with this closing song being an instant "Kashmir." Hell, this sounds like something Metallica ripped off to try and make the laughable "Outlaw Torn." Come to think of it, you have to wonder if James ripped off that whole record to come up with Load.
"Blinded By Fear" was the single, but this title track to At The Gates' 1995 opus gained as much notoriety with said silver spoon hype. Bursting the doors open for what we now know as "melodic death metal" this song made a lasting impact on the metal underground still felt to this day. Even with the likes of Bradley Hall saying it's like At The Gates travel back in time to create the first metalcore album. All thanks to the greatest GO! in music history, which sadly will never be uttered again (R.I.P. Tomas Lindberg)
Honorary mention: Dissection- Where Dead Angels Lie
Speaking of melodic extreme music, this hi-fi fidelity track, while not the first to thumb a nose at the idea that black metal can only be lo-fi, but it's certainly the most popular. Necessitating it's own EP as a matter of fact. Any song from the legendary Storm of the Light's Bane could have been here, but I decided to make it easy on myself and pick the obvious.
1996:
You know what I'm real sick of hearing/being implied? That Motorhead isn't relevant after 1980/Fast Eddie leaving. Bullshit. The cold hard fact is, while 95% of their contemporaries from the 70s and 80s had just ran out of gas (this definitely applies to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest), Motorhead weren't just making great new music, they were maintaining heaviness and keeping pace with the Jones. This is just a timeless rock & roll marinated metal song that fits any mood your in. Proof pudding that Motorhead is immortal.
You know what other German power/trad metal song is glorious and infectious enough to be in stadium sporting events? This one. Hell if the Scotland United football team adopted this as their anthem in 1997*, they would have would have taken home the World Cup that year! But they didn't, so they had to wait until 1998 to win the World Cup. Serves em right.
The second year in a row to feature a black metal murderer (come to think of it, Mayhem involved a murder as well, though more on the receiving end), which, yes, absolutely elevated Burzum's status. But the fact of the matter is, "Dunkelheit" is the zenith and the canonical example of the new type of riff Count Grishnackt invented: Slow, hypnotic, repetitive, yet good enough to repeat for interminable yet, never tiring lengths on end. Also, did you know there was a music video for this song despite Varg being in prison?
Yeah, on Vh fucking 1. Whoever aired that was definitely fired afterwards. Dio bless them.
Honorary mention: Gorgoroth- Gorgoroth
When it comes to rocking songwriting in black metal, Gorgoroth are second only to Immortal. This s/t song, though not from a s/t album, Antichrist (which itself is barely long enough to qualify as a full-length) takes every great black metal songwriting idea and crystallizes them into a 10 on the video game grading scale. Hell, it takes my #1 pet peeve of modern extreme metal, mixing singing with gutturals and makes it a [pagan] megalith of a climax.
1997:
"Necrophobic? You mean that band I'm not supposed to care about after their first album? But that's from 1993?" In order, Yes, that band. No, you ARE supposed to care about them after their first album. Yes, their first album is from 1993. Darkside (my personal favorite Necrophobic album) shows the band following the Darkthrone route, (i.e. jumping ship from death metal to black metal) albeit much later to the party, but choosing the Dissection hi-fi route rather than the lo-fi route. This song in particular, while not well known, I'm pointing out because it manages to be black metal, yet chill. Yes, there are such things as chill black metal songs that don't resort to "atmospheric" or "depressive" or any of that other boring silly shit. Frankly this is more interesting of a song than anything on Anthems to The Welkin At Dusk or Eld.
I had considered forcing Gamma Ray songs into every list of a year applicable, but while the early 90s albums have solid songs, the band doesn't go S-tier until Kai re-configures himself as lead vocals ala Walls of Jericho. Running Wild has more great albums this decade anyway. For those of you who think singing about swords and dragons is cheesy and lame, fear not, Gamma Ray is still for you anyway because Kai prefers to write songs about space travel. And who doesn't love flying through space? This fast and furious speed metal serpent will certainly make you feel warp 7 G-force, just like proper power metal (i.e. speed metal should)
Alexi Laiho and company begins their legendary career this year with the Godly Something Wild album. While the most well known songs from this album are opener "Deadnight Warrior" and "Lake Bodom," I'm going for this penultimate suite as it perfectly encapsulates the golden gumbo that is Children of Bodom's sound: every extreme metal genre possible, with classical arrangements and more guitar solos to make up for America's sudden allergies to such.
Honorary mention: Judas Priest- Bullet Train
I'm gonna give this song props because it somehow managed to do the impossible: Get nominated for a Grammy despite a) being on an independent label, b) not having the 'real' singer, c) being a classic heavy metal band with the gall to even exist in 1997-1998. Granted, it lost to a Metallica song that they themselves don't even like ("Better Than You" and they've never played it live once, no seriously, go look it up at setlist.fm), but that's still an accomplishment. And not for nothing, it's Scott Travis's second most iconic drum performance (you figure out which is #1, here's a hint, it's listed in this article).
1998:
MESHUGGAH!!
POWER METAL THAT SOUNDS LIKE MESHUGGAH!! (No I'm not kidding).
Much to the chagrin of the fun police, Blind Guardian merge metal with madrigal. Flirtations with such had been done here and there, but never a 50/50 even split. Metal gets enough "Renissance Faire" chuckles to begin with, but this just revels in it. If you're going to pull such a stunt off, it better be a masterpiece. And goddammit, "Nightfall" is a masterpiece. This, along with "Mirror Mirror" and "Into the Storm," should have put Blind Guardian in arenas the world over. Even today these songs are mandatory singalongs at any metal festival.
Honorary Mention: Running Wild- The Rivalry
What do you mean I've already run out of room and can't talk about Bruce Dickinson, Incantation or Iced Earth songs? Sonofabitch. Well, thankfully this title track to Running Wild's final killer album has a screaming-death-from-above which gives way to 8.8 richter scale double bass insanity. Seriously people, I half named my blog after Rolf Kasparek for a reason. Fuckin listen to Running Wild and don't just listen to Death or Glory either.
1999:
Oh, look. The numbskulls in Korn finally remember there's these thing called riffs and not ridiculous drone noises that you're supposed to use to write metal songs with. This is the best nu-metal song anyone has ever written (unless you count Psychosocial I guess).
Forget the fact that the even if the vocals were in English, they're completely buried under feet of snow, dead bodies and broken weapons. This unsung black metal classic contains quite possibly the greatest keyboard/synth hook in existence. Yes better than Ace of Base's "The Sign." This bright but soul piercing track proves there was life in black metal beyond the convictions, the misplaced orchestras, the commercializations and Immortal (who were arguably entering the peak of their powers, I was yay close to putting "Withstand the Fall of Time" here).
I once went to high school with a Tool fan who thought Dream Theater had no soul. Well, while he was overall decent, he is still a silly doodyhead for not realizing this song's magnificence. This is one of the most emotionally moving songs in history. I've been moved to tears by "The Spirit Carries On" more than any other metal song in recent memory. Say what you want about Dream Theater, but with Scenes From a Memory they knocked it out of the park!
Honorary mention: Gamma Ray- It's A Sin [Pet Shop Boys cover]
Powerplant has a plethora of great songs, all of which could have been TRL Spring Break classics with the right management. But I'm gonna highlight this terraforming of the new-wave classic into a neck-splitting shredder that 100% made Pantera seethe that they didn't come up with it. Another reason why Gamma Ray were a cut above most power metal.
Well, there you have it, an objective correction with a few extra efforts along with it. I might try the 00s.
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