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For many, the best part of Decibel is the “Hall of Fame.” This column explores a classic record in depth by interviewing the band members who made it. The result is nerdiness of the highest order. Decibel editor Albert Mudrian has compiled and expanded 25 of these beasts into a book, Precious Metal, on Da Capo Press. It comes out on July 15, a week from today, but Amazon is already selling it
I’m giving away one copy of this book, a “silver metal” cover first edition. (Later editions will have a black cover.) For a chance to win it, email invisibleoranges at gmail dot com by midnight EST on Friday, July 10, with the subject header “Hall of Fame giveaway” and your full name and address. I will choose a winner randomly.
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What albums should Decibel feature in its Hall of Fame?
Keep in mind that the requirement of interviewing all relevant band members precludes albums by deceased musicians. Thus, no Pantera, Voivod, or Death. Also, no Faith No More, because Jim Martin isn’t up for it; no Neurosis, because the band isn’t up for it; and no Helmet, because the rest of the band hates Page Hamilton’s guts.
Below is the list of inducted albums to date.
At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
Atheist – Unquestionable Presence
Autopsy – Mental Funeral
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
Botch – We Are the Romans
Brutal Truth – Need to Control
Candlemass – Nightfall
Cannibal Corpse – Tomb of the Mutilated
Carcass – Necroticism: Descanting…
Cathedral – Forest of Equilibrium
Cave In – Until Your Heart Stops
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales
Coalesce – 0:12 Revolution…
Converge – Jane Doe
Cryptic Slaughter – Money Talks
Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Deadguy – Fixation on a Coworker
Diamond Head – Lightning to the Nations
Dillinger Escape Plan – Calculating Infinity
Discordance Axis – The Inalienable…
Down – NOLA
Electric Wizard -Dopethrone
Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse
Entombed – Left Hand Path
Eyehategod – Take as Needed for Pain
Incantation – Onward to Golgotha
Judge – Bringin’ It Down
Katatonia – Brave Murder Day
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Life of Agony – River Runs Red
Mastodon – Remission
Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve
Metallica – …And Justice for All
Monster Magnet – Dopes to Infinity
Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
My Dying Bride – Turn Loose the Swans
Napalm Death – Scum
Nile – Amongst the Catacombs…
Obituary – Cause of Death
Only Living Witness – Prone Mortal Form
Opeth – Orchid
Quicksand – Slip
Paradise Lost – Gothic
Repulsion – Horrified
Rollins Band – The End of Silence
Sepultura – Roots
Slayer – Reign in Blood
Sleep – Jerusalem
S.O.D. – Speak English or Die
Suffocation – Effigy of the Forgotten
Testament – The Legacy
Oh man oh man. I've got the issues covering Opeth and Converge. Good stuff. Gotta get my hands on the rest of this.
I don't know what kind of band politics (or deaths) might be making this impossible, but it's sort of weird/criminal that Melissa, Don't Break the Oath, or (if either of those two wouldn't work) Abigail aren't on here.
Ditto for Death and Voivod. Man, they should make an exception to their interview policy. Hold a seance or something. Have King Diamond hold the seance, when you call him in to interview him about Mercyful Fate.
Mercyful Fate is a good call. It would be nice to get some German thrash up in there, too. And even though I don't like the band that much, Dream Theater's Images and Words might actually be cool to do. Also, one of the first handful of Queensryche records. Khanate and Melvins also come to mind.
Godflesh – Streetcleaner needs to be on the list.
Bolt Thrower – Warmaster or The IVth Crusade: I'm partial to the latter, but that's merely personal preference.
Dark Angel – Darkness Descends
Fu Manchu – The Action is Go or King of the Road, two of stoner rock's best albums.
Here's my HOF wishlist:
Absu-Tara
Agnostic Front-Victim in Pain
Amebix-Arise!
Axegrinder-Rise of the Serpent Men
Beherit-Drawing Down the Moon
Bolt Thrower-In Battle There Is No Law
Burzum-Det Som Engar Var
Corrupted-Paso Inferior
Cro Mags-The Age of Quarrel
Cynic-Focus
Dismember-Like An Everflowing Stream
Enslaved-Below the Lights
Exhorder-Slaughter in the Vatican
Godflesh-Streetcleaner
King Diamond-Abigail
Kreator-Pleasure to Kill
Mercyful Fate-Don't Break the Oath
Melvins-Ozma
Neurosis-Through Silver and Blood
Pestilence-Consuming Impulse
Poison Idea-Feel the Darkness
Saint Vitus-Born Too Late
Samael-Worship him
Sarcofago-I.N.R.I.
Swans-The Great Annhialator
Thorr's Hammer-Domedagsnatt
Tormentor-Anno Domini
Ulver-Natten's Madrigal
Venom-Welcome to Hell
Von-Satanic Blood Angel
(original deleted and replaced to correct a typo)
Here are my additions, roughly in order:
High on Fire – "Death is this Communion." Probably way too early for this, but for my money, it's a stone-cold lock whenever it becomes eligible.
Bolt Thrower – Any metal hall of fame that doesn't include BT is just fucked up. Take your pick of albums.
Enslaved – Again, another band that is conspicuous in their absence. I'd go with either "Below the Lights" or "Monumension."
The Misfits – "Earth A.D." If could get them to do it, which is highly questionable I suppose.
Kreator – "Terrible Certainty." Simple, bloodthirsty death metal. Pure agression and hate. I love it. Plus, I hear the riff from the title track in so many modern death metal songs. It may be the single most recycled riff in the genre.
Soundgarden – "Badmotorfinger." These guys always seemed like the most ?metal? of the grunge era to me, and this record is a great example of what happens when you mix Sabbath with grunge. Plus, it was the last good Soundgarden record before they went Top 40. (I don?t begrudge them for trying to make money, I just don?t like the music.)
Killswitch Engage – "Alive or Just Breathing." Terrific songwriting on this record. Such a shame that the KSE formula got old. In a hurry.
Nocturnus – "The Key." This is a really fine album that is often overlooked. It's got such a unique sound for it's time, to go along with some excellent songs.
Arch Enemy – "Wages of Sin." Angela Gossow's vocals on this record have been accurately described as a "guttural blast from the sewers of purgatory" (Adam Bregman's review on Allmusic.com)
Mr. Bungle – S/T. This record is bizarre, fun, and disturbing on so many levels: lyrically, sonically, and stylistically. In my humble opinion, this is the pinnacle of Mike Patton's creative genius.
A few records worthy of consideration for a band's second induction:
Sepultura – "Beneath the Remains,"
Carcass – "Heartwork,"
Morbid Angel – "Covenant,"
Napalm Death – ?F.E.D.,?
Metallica – "Garage Days" (the upside ? great stories about the hazing of Newsted; the downside – yet another round of interviews with Lars and James.)
Man, I could go on and on with this for hours, but if you made me pick one, it?s ?Death is this Communion.?
Besides the rule that all members must be interviewed, how are these things picked? Is it the editorial staff who does it? Reader requests? A little bit of both? Are there criteria that factor into selection besides the fact that people like it? (It's weird to me, for example, that the Sepultura album they chose was Roots… but maybe I'm just the wrong demographic)
Anthony, I second your opinion on Roots wholeheartedly. I never understood why they chose that one, which is why I have "Beneath the Remains" on my list above.
I suspect that the decision is an editorial one, with thought given to which albums have an interesting story behind them.
Venom, Cynic, and Bolt Thrower are all good calls.
From what I gather, the decision is 100% editorial, though the editors certainly listen to reader input (see the Decibel forum).
I also understand that some HoF's take a long time to do, because of tracking down people, personality clashes, etc. Thus, what gets published in any given issue might be what got done in time for it.
Personality clashes might hamper some of your picks, bacon. For the Misfits, Danzig and Jerry Only probably couldn't stand to be in the same room together. Cro-Mags might have the same problem, as well as Consuming Impulse-era Pestilence.
Lou is probably right in that the back story behind an album figures into its selection. Burzum, for example, probably won't get in because that's an interview with just one guy.
Sepultura- Chaos A.D.
Weakling- Dead as Dreams
ISIS- Oceanic
although in fairness in some of the interviews they should do a better job of identifying who's who in the band. i remember the opeth one was complete greek to me because other than akerfeldt (sic) i have no idea who the people are or what instrument they play, so talking about the recording without knowing their instrument or what they do does nothing for the reader. sometimes the hall of fame is similar to reading wax poetics in that unless you know a bit about it already, you're going to get lost.
missed the quicksand issue unfortunately. hopefully some better HOF records get in there soon, because if you're picking judge you're getting close to the bottom of the barrel.
there needs to be a section of bands/records that would be in the HOF, but can't for varying reasons (ie voivod, early metallica, etc.)
I think there's a standing no on the Melvins and Godflesh is also a historical no.
DRI's Crossover needs to happen way before anything else!
Give them time folks. They don't do these in order of importance or anything. Just because JUDGE came out doesn't mean it ranks above anything that hasn't been in there yet. Lots of logistics are involved as well as band politics. If you go to the Decibel message board the editor of the magazine lists some that he wanted to do but couldn't for whatever reason (I believe it's the Hall of Fame book thread). Glenn won't do anything Misfits related or even his own S/T first album.
Also…just to avoid some confusion if folks aren't familiar with the rules, in addition to the no dead members rule, the albums have to be 5 years old or older. So no Crack The Skye or Death Is This Communion or RUUN's…don't waste your suggestions on anything in the last five years!
I am not a follower of magazines in general anymore so I had no idea about this list. Not only is it great to see some of my favorite albums on there, it's also interesting to see some albums I love but would not expect to see on an "extreme metal" list or even a metal list like Judge, Rollins Band, Quicksand and Bad Brains.
I will be looking in to this.
Although Streetcleaner is an excellent suggestion, I would push for:
Ministry's Psalm 69.
It wasn't the first industrial-metal crossover record, but it was the first one I can remember being successful on both Headbangers Ball and 120 Minutes. Such a punishing record.
GODFLESH won't be in. I can't remember which member won't do it for whatever reason.
Unfortunately, due to politics, Khanate probably wouldn't make the HOF. I would certainly be surprised and overjoyed, but that's in an ideal world, haha.
Hall of Fame, huh?
I'm shocked "Astral Zombie" isn't lobbying for one of the 600 Leviathan records released in the past week.
Word verification: Knive
No Godflesh? That's too bad, Streetcleaner is still all these years later one of the heaviest, most harrowing pieces of music ever recorded. Even Godflesh themselves recognized that, or at least I assume that's why they never tried to top it.
I'm shocked LHP dude isn't leading the charge for every uber-generic pointless super kvlt troo hipster BM album out there or Def Leppard's Pyromania…but nice try!
Enough snark though…on the Godflesh tip, Benny won't do it.
A Pyromania HoF would actually be pretty cool. But the problem with doing HoF's on huge bands like Def Leppard is that the popular press has already put them under the microscope. For example, Def Leppard has multiple books out on them. Part of the fun of HoF's is giving rockbio treatment to bands who would never otherwise get rockbios.
I'm still lobbying for pig destroyer's terrifyer.I guess steve won't do "temple of the morning star" but that would be a big one.
Agnostic Front-Victim in Pain
Cephalic Carnage-Lucid Interval
Cynic-Focus
Dying Fetus-Destroy The Opposition
Refused-The Shape of Punk To Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts
If vitek hadn't passed away I think Nihility would've been a good choice too.
Also, I almost forget, if Pig Destroyer's going in, isn't Prowler in the Yard a given?
One band who I think really needs consideration is CRISIS. They really opened doors for women in metal and their music is a fascinating stew of sludge, noise, post-rock, hardcore and death metal. I know Karyn doesn't like to talk about herself in relation to other female singers but that wouldn't have to necessarily be the conversation.
Any of their albums would do, though I lean most strongly towards "The Hollowing."