This has become one of my favorite annual exercises on this site. Taking a look back at 25 albums that came out 25 years ago is a sometimes fascinating and humbling experience. Fascinating, because I more often than not, can’t believe these albums are actually 25 years old. Humbling because I feel privileged enough to say I was around and was a fan when they were released. As in years past this is not a “best of” list. It’s a list of 25 albums I can distinctly remember spending time with (some much more than others). I hope you rediscover an album you once loved, or discover something you may have missed.
Agents of Oblivion – Agents of Oblivion
One of my favorite bands of the ’90s was New Orleans’ Acid Bath. After the untimely death of their bass player the band split up and started/joined various other musical projects. Vocalist Dax Riggs eventually started up Agents of Oblivion which took all of the trad doom/stoner rock elements from Acid Bath and went knee deep into them. Led by Riggs on vocals (seriously one of the most underrated vocalists of our lifetimes), thick, melodic riffs, and some extremely depressing lyrics, this album could just wash me away to something close to a catatonic state every time I put it on. Agents of Oblivion only released one record before disbanding but to me it’s one of the most underrated and underappreciated albums, not just of the 2000s but of the last 25 years in general. How more people didn’t get on this album when it was released still mystifies me. An absolute stoner rock masterpiece and one I might have listened to more than any other in 2000.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1PxtrGRfxoHhK96BD0z7VP?autoplay=true
Cattle Press – Hordes to Abolish the Divine
You want to talk about bands that were ahead of their time, or bands that were simply more progressive than the scene they emerged from? You can start with New York’s Cattle Press. Born out of the NYC hardcore scene, Cattle Press took hardcore and punk aesthetics and bathed them in sludge, grind, doom, and death metal. The end result was an amazingly unique sound and one that should have resulted in a long and influential career path. Instead these guys broke up the following year and have been largely forgotten. That’s absolutely criminal. I remember seeing this band play a show with a bunch of hardcore bands and they were easily the heaviest, nastiest band on the bill. This record does a fantastic job of grabbing the heaviness of their live set and pummeling you with it. One of the greatest one-album bands in metal history in my mind.
https://cattlepress.bandcamp.com/album/hordes-to-abolish-the-divine
Cephalic Carnage – Exploiting Dysfunction
Was it just me or was there a run on bands adding “jazzy interludes” into their music throughout the late ’90s and early ’00s? (Spoiler alert, it wasn’t just me…) Listen, sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. For Cephalic Carnage and their brand of “Rocky Mountain Hydro Grind” it definitely worked. Mixing grind and death metal with weird time signatures and jazz-influenced breakdowns certainly wasn’t new in 2000, but Cephalic Carnage nailed it. Also, these are some of the most prescient lyrics you’ll ever read on a grind/death metal record revolving around a whole host of topics that sound like a science fiction film, but have actually come to fruition. Crazy stuff that matches the musical insanity on this record.
https://cephaliccarnage.bandcamp.com/album/exploiting-dysfunction
The Chasm – Procession to the Infraworld
I’ll die on the hill that one of the most underrated death metal bands to come out of the 1990s was/is Mexico’s The Chasm. Formed by original Cenotaph (another highly underrated Mexican act) vocalist Daniel Corchado, The Chasm spent the late ’90s carving out a pretty significant niche for themselves in the death metal underground, at least partly due to Corchado doing vocal and bass duties on arguably the best Incantation album, Diabolical Conquest in 1998. By 2000 this band was hitting on all cylinders, creating an album full of blistering, yet atmospheric, death metal. I’m not sure if I’m ready to crown this as The Chasm’s best album, but it’s damn close.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4CR4f60E6sf90KkdBjYSGD
Crowbar – Equilibrium
I already mentioned my undying love of Acid Bath, so it really shouldn’t shock you when I say that my favorite era of Crowbar was the three albums they did between 1998-2001 with former Acid Bath guitarist Sammy Pierre Duet in the fold. This was the middle of the three and if you like your riffs sludgier than an oil slick on a 90 degree day this album is going to be right up your alley. I don’t know if anyone from the Crowbar camp will ever admit how much of an impact Duet had on the songwriting, but to my ear it feels immense. Also, there’s a killer cover of ’70s soft rock classic “Dream Weaver” at the end of this record that’s a must-listen.
https://crowbar.bandcamp.com/album/equilibrium
Dio – Magica
Back in 2021 my son/radio show co-host and I did a Dio album rankings post and I had Magica ranked 5th out of 10 albums. That still sounds about right. Here’s what I had to say in that original post: “You honestly could not have asked for a better return to form after 1996’s Angry Machines than this album. It could have been very easy for Dio to continue down a dark path that would have lead this outfit to become a shell of themselves, instead Magica kicked off a new decade by returning to what made the classic Dio line-up so unstoppable – thick, crushing riffs, a steamroller rhythm section, and one of the best voices in metal history giving one of his most underrated performances.”
https://open.spotify.com/album/0qci9rhWkYauG5NJ4bs0J8?autoplay=true
Discordance Axis – The Inalienable Dreamless
This band didn’t play live much but I once got to see them just before this album was released in a squat that was run by a bunch of crust punk kids in Philadelphia. It was great, and as chaotic as the music held within this album. Discordance Axis has become something of a cult favorite in grindcore circles and this album is most likely why. It’s their magnum opus as it were and features some of their best material. This album is definitely not for everyone, but if you like grindcore at all you should get your hands on the reissue that Willowtip Records put out a few years ago.
https://discordanceaxis.bandcamp.com/album/the-inalienable-dreamless-reissue
Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
I’m not going to lie to you and say that this is my favorite Electric Wizard record (top 3 or 4 definitely though), but it remains the album that solidified this band as one of the most respected acts on the doom/stoner scene. There’s a reason this album has become a benchmark that so many other band of this ilk try to attain. As heavy as a bag of hammers, as sludgy as a New Orleans swamp, and filled with some of their most Sabbath-worshipping moments, this album is a riff-lovers dream.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1AxwLCMtx8rnIxkFQKU2LO
Enslaved – Mardraum: Beyond the Within
I feel like sometimes when a band has as long and as successful a run as Enslaved has had that some of their albums just kind of get lost in the shuffle. I feel like it’s rare for people to mention the Mardraum album when discussing Enslaved’s most influential or “best” work, and that’s a shame, because this is really the album where this band started to stretch their wings musically. We know Enslaved has become one of the most progressive and unique black metal bands the world over, and that their journey started with their Viking/Norse black metal roots. But there had to be a transition right? If you were to pinpoint the album that ended one era and simultaneously started them rocketing into the next it would be this one. Out of all the albums on this list I think I enjoyed revisiting this one the most simply because I too had forgotten the foresight this album showed us in terms of the amazing trajectory this band would take. This is one album that has aged really, really well.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3yybpj4kjYUA7EQ2IpvLM1
Exhumed – Slaughtercult
One of my favorite albums from 1998 was Exhumed’s Gore Metal, and I can remember thinking to myself, ‘man there is no way they are going to be able to match this record’. Wrong. Slaughtercult took all of the mayhem and brutality of their earlier releases (including some killer splits), ran it through slightly tighter playing and slightly better production, and what came out the other end of the meat grinder was an album that still stands as one of their best efforts. There’s a reason why this band still pulls songs from this album to play live – because some of their most memorable material lies within. This album still shreds faces no matter how many times I put it on.
https://exhumed.bandcamp.com/album/slaughtercult
Goatwhore – The Eclipse of Ages Into Black
This is still far and away one of my favorite Goatwhore albums because it’s the one most closely related to its black metal forefathers. While the band would add thrash elements over time in an effort to hearken back to black metal’s first wave, this album remains a shining example of pure, unadulterated USBM. That’s not a knock on later material at all, as I enjoy multiple records Goatwhore has released throughout the years, but this one just hits a little differently. It’s a little more atmospheric, a little more progressive, and has this sort of darkness that its completely shrouded in.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0G77AxN9BASYaFR2UzV8lu
Halford – Resurrection
As we’ll see a few entries down the list 2000 was a great year for comebacks, including one from (at the time) former Judas Priest front man and metal legend Rob Halford. After spending most of the ’90s fronting some pretty terrible projects (namely Fight and Two), Halford decided to launch a namesake band that would return him to his metal roots. Halford and his former band would trade albums after this one, culminating in Halford’s return to Judas Priest in 2003. I said to anyone who would listen at the time of this album’s release that this was the ‘best Judas Priest record’ of the last decade. The fact that this album absolutely obliterates Priest’s Demolition record released a year later was probably not lost on the band either. Is there filler on this record? Absolutely. But fans of late ’80s Judas Priest will find a lot to like here.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2ZsuTUZqxNUup2KFr4ORzI
High On Fire – The Art of Self Defense
I’m not sure there was a debut album from 2000 that got me as excited as this one. I had been a Sleep fan but from note one I was enamored with High On Fire in ways I had never been with Matt Pike’s previous band. And here we are 25 years later and this band is still putting out albums that are making my year-end list, and putting on live sets that are still some of the best you’ll see. This album was a precursor for a phenomenal career arc to come, and still contains a few of my favorite High On Fire tracks.
https://highonfire.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-self-defense-remixed-remastered
Immortal – Damned In Black
By the time the 2000s dawned Norway’s Immortal had already firmly established themselves as one of the most prominent second wave black metal bands in the world on the strength of five critically acclaimed albums released throughout the ’90s. This was never a band to rest on their laurels though, and 2000 saw them release an album that would further cement their place in black metal history books. While I personally like the records that came directly before (At The Heart of Winter) and after (Sons of Northern Darkness) better than this record, revisiting Damned In Black has given me a newfound appreciation for it. Like most of their material from their first two decades as a band it has stood the test of time amazingly well.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1BZyUaPqQrSfnK1OCSEFau
Impaled – The Dead Shall Remain Dead
Featuring current and former members of Exhumed, Ghoul, Murder Construct, Morbosidad, and a whole litany of other death/grind projects, and already sporting two killer splits with Cephalic Carnage and Engorged, Impaled certainly had the chops to come out swinging with one of the better full-length debuts of 2000. Filled with memorable riffs, even more memorable lyrics, and an overall aesthetic that had Carcass fans drooling on themselves like a comatose dental patient, this was easily one of 2000’s best death metal offerings. (Note: This album was re-recorded by the band in 2013, which is the link you have below. The only place I could find the original album/recording was people who ripped it on YouTube and I’m not linking to that. The rerecording is solid and worthy of your time as well.)
https://impaled.bandcamp.com/album/the-dead-still-dead-remain
Iron Maiden – Brave New World
Remember when I said 2000 was a big year for comebacks? Yeah, this was the biggest and best comeback of them all. Iron Maiden’s history is well-documented so I won’t rehash it all here. But for the uninitiated, this album marked the return of guitarist Adrian Smith and vocalist Bruce Dickinson who had left the band in 1990 and 1993 respectively, thus casting Iron Maiden into a fairly forgettable period for the remainder of the ’90s. I can remember when they released the single “Wickerman” before the album’s release. A video was made that even MTV featured and I sat in my dumpy little apartment just outside of Philadelphia losing my ever-loving mind. This was the Maiden I grew up with and the Maiden I remembered the fondest. As it turned out the rest of the record matched the lead single and Iron Maiden had once again returned to their rightful place atop the metal hierarchy. (Slightly over-dramatic retelling? Possibly, but when one of your favorite bands comes back from the dead and makes a record you still love 25 years later feel free to wax poetic about it.)
https://open.spotify.com/album/2WpEYn3iz3M8ph3EZmE1JS
Isis – Celestial
Can I admit something to you out loud dear reader? Isis was a band that I always preferred in the live setting than on record. Having emerged from the rich Boston hardcore/metal scene I had the privilege to see Isis live on multiple occasions (including a particularly memorable tour with Neurosis and Candiria) and their live shows were as legendary as old heads like myself constantly profess them to be. I just never felt their recorded output truly captured the heaviness and darkness held within their live shows. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting their debut full-length album so much that it might just send me back through their entire discography.
https://isistheband.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-2013-remaster
Kid Dynamite – Shorter, Faster, Louder
Easily one of my favorite hardcore/punk bands from this era was Philadelphia’s Kid Dynamite. Born out of the ashes of legendary New Jersey act Lifetime, Kid Dynamite was equal parts catchy and violent. Their presentation pulled from legendary acts like Minor Threat and Bad Brains, but coupled their musical angst with a knack for super catchy hooks and melodies. This was their second and final album of new material (over a way too brief three-year initial run), and I guess if you’re going to go out on top of your game you do it shorter, faster, and louder. Get ready to start circle pitting in your living room to this one.
https://kiddynamitephl.bandcamp.com/album/shorter-faster-louder
Krisiun – Conquerors of Armageddon
Back in the late ’90s Brazil’s Krisiun was definitely one of the hot new bands on the death metal scene, and had sent death-metal loving hearts aflutter with their first two albums, 1995’s Black Force Domain, and 1998’s Apocalyptic Revelations. The record label I was working for at the time was hot and heavy on signing this band and taking them to “the next level” worldwide. (Spoiler alert: they signed with Century Media instead) Signing with one of the metal world’s largest labels did nothing to dull their sound as Krisiun delivered yet another sweltering mass of bombastic, knock-your-teeth-out death metal. Fans of acts like Immolation, Deicide, and early Morbid Angel should be all over this record.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7AQftnyMjAOPXay4fohLPO
The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight – The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight
This is a deep cut and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the people reading this had either forgotten about or had never heard of The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight (or just Clearlight for brevity purposes). Known predominantly for being a side project of Jimmy Bower and Joe LaCaze (R.I.P.) of sludge legends Eyehategod, as well as other vets from the NOLA metal/hardcore scene, Clearlight played a funky, psychedelic brand of stoner rock that had as much in common with Dr. John as it did with any heavy stoner bands. But, man, did I love this record. The fact that it was instrumental made it the perfect record to put on while writing, working, cleaning, whatever. It was on all the time after its release. Unfortunately, this band would break up the following year when their gear was stolen while on tour opening for C.O.C., and they’d be kind of lost to the ages. (Case in point, my linking to a bootleg YouTube stream of the album, because it is nowhere to be found on any streaming services.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsk0WUZIbD0
Nasum – Human 2.0
If you asked me on any given day what my all-time favorite grindcore band is on most of those days I’d tell you it’s Sweden’s Nasum. Prior to the untimely death of front man Mieszko Talarczyk in 2004 this band was at the absolute pinnacle of the grindcore pyramid, and this album was a big reason why. Building on the success of 1998’s Inhale/Exhale, Nasum turned everything up to “11” and created an absolute masterwork of the genre. Fast and pissed, yet enough pit-inducing breakdowns to keep you from completely keeling over, this record has aged amazingly well.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1YOYVUg964ocNniFFZD0jd
Nile – Black Seeds of Vengeance
If their 1998 debut album Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka helped Nile burst onto the death metal scene, it was 2000’s Black Seeds of Vengeance that cemented them as one of the genre’s most promising acts. Everything about this album, from the production to the songwriting, seemed bigger and better than anything that had come before it. When looking back at the full Nile back catalogue, this album still stands as one of, if not possibly their best. Full of most riffs, and heavy on atmosphere, this album should be in every death metal fan’s collection.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4HezNdJaAs7VDtGwt1VbDe
Orange Goblin – The Big Black
Few stoner rock bands can claim the legacy and discography that England’s Orange Goblin can. Their first three full-length albums, this one being the third, firmly established them as one of the genre’s best bands (and during what was arguably stoner rock’s greatest era). Filled with kick ass rock-n-roll aesthetics and metal heaviness fans of everyone from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath to Motorhead fell for this album, and still do. It’s riffs still hit hard 25 years later, which is a true testament to the excellence of any stoner rock record.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4zfCuQTmfsBNxYL0GUhSg0
Saturnus – Martyre
If you’ve ever listened to The Metal Dad Radio Show you may have heard me espouse my love for this record. Hands down this is one of the most underrated metal albums of the early 2000s. Denmark’s Saturnus has been making exceptional melodic death/doom albums since the late ’90s and Martyre is one of their finest musical accomplishments. This album was released on a tiny Danish label called Euphonious Records and didn’t have much in the way of U.S. distribution (outside of labels like Relapse who had large mail order distros at that time). It’s such a shame that more people, especially on this side of the Atlantic didn’t catch on to this band and this album in 2000. It’s honestly as good if not better than anything the “Peaceville three” or any other death/doom bands were releasing at this time. I cannot recommend this record enough if gothic-inspired, atmospheric doom metal is your forte.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6zbN91UfrhvTWmgNby7OsF
Watain – Rabid Death’s Curse
We finish off this exercise with the debut album from one of the most influential black metal bands of the last 25 years. This is really where it all started for Sweden’s Watain. While their sound was not as developed as it would become on later releases, and of course the production is woefully lacking, this album is pure second wave black metal chaos. This album is a solid foundation, upon which the band has built quite the legacy. If you can work through the muddy production there are some absolute gems on this album that stand tall against anything else they’ve recorded since. (Note: link below is to the Season of Mist reissue that includes a bonus track at the end)
https://watainsom.bandcamp.com/album/rabid-deaths-curse
