Ok, time to list your favorite "sounding" albums. I'm real into how an album sounds (as well as the song content).

I'm curious what other people come up with as favorites.

In my short time of listening to metal, here's my list.

Enslaved - Vertabrae
Mayhem - ordo ad chao
Thryfing - Hels Vite
Morbid Angel - Heretic
Meshuggah - Nothing (remastered)
Neurosis - Eye of Every Storm
Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi Francor
Rotting Christ - Theogonia
Primordial – To The Nameless Dead


GO!

Ildjarn - strength and anger

I don't care about production in metal. BUT, I hate overproduced metal to where it sounds too fake or digital sounding.

Edit: what an oxymoronic statement. Recent Examples of production I don't like: that pseudo pagan band equilibrium and new krisiun

any and all darkthrone
aeternus - beyond the wandering moon, ...and so the night became
walknut - graveforests and their shadows (electronic kit sounds realish)

I disagree. My opinion. I feel the sound sets the stage for the atmosphere and the message the band is trying to convey.

never any excuse for the tin can sound. but sometimes it works for me (i.e. judas iscariot)

I think atmosphere In black metal is created through that "underproduced" or oldschool sound - Transylvanian hunger or le secret from Alcest come to mind. Buy then again, it depends on the band's sound as well.
My take is production need not apply to certain types of metal.

Have I mentioned how much I love

Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi Francor ?


I fucking love this album. It is disgusting.

This is a good thread though; I'd have to sit and think about what albums stood out.

anything from Steven Wilson or Peter Tatgren

Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines
Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Amon Amarth - Versus the World
Acid Bath - When the Kite String Pops
Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn
Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse
Type O Negative - Slow Deep and Hard remaster
Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Burzum - Aske
Bathory - Hammerheart
Death - Human
Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstasy
Bloodbath - Breeding Death EP
Obituary - Cause of Death

basically anything gritty and underproduced.

First Danzig album
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Watain - Casus Luciferi

Dissection -Storm of the Lights Bane
Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Good thread!

Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
Young Widows - Old Wounds
MotA - Quietly
Breach - Kollapse
Convoj - Exceptionnel
Poison the Well - Versions
Trap Them - Sleepwell Deconstructor
Moutheater - Ornament
Arabrot - I Rove
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Pas Chic Chic - Au Contraire

stuff done at Machines With Magnets
-Battles
-Chinese Stars
-Denimvenom
-Fang Island

the new MAST album is gonna recorded at MWM Jan30-Feb10, so I'm sure it's gonna make my own list.

Backstreet Boys - Millenium

scott burns or GTFO

Death - Human is pretty goddamn heavy and awesome.

I feel like production doesn't matter unless it takes away from the music or the music can't be heard because of it. But goddamn if a perfect production doesn't give me a giant boner.

The drum sound on Orgone's The Goliath gets my dick twitching uncontrollably.

Behert - engram. Best sounding metal album ever.

Bathory -nordlands

usually bands try to imitate the ancient bathory sound fail miserably. Morrigan is an exception.

Agalloch - the mantle
cult of Luna - somewhere along the highway (my fav by them)
skepticism - alloy

Primordial - to the nameless dead is the best sounding metal album also. Ever.

Lots of fantastic sounding doom. Saturnus, My Dying Bride's new record...

Best sounding metal album to me, ever, is Breach - Kollapse. While it has some non-metal elements to it, it is by far the most competent recording I've heard is strictly heavy music because it captures exactly what the band should sound like if you are standing right in front of them on their best day. It does not squash any part of the aural spectrum and achieves its means in organic simplicity. For guitarists, the track "Mr. Marshall" should be enough to inspire envy.

No matter what system you play it through, it is unbelievably articulate, but through a really powerful system, is a true masterpiece. And the content of the album is genius.

Sodom's tapping the vain is delicious.

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st anger and dethmagneticzz drum sounds are amazingggggg

Tell this to Matt.

He's remastering it

bennyhillifier



bennyhillifier

I think it does matter. A shit ton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nY9j8Rxcrg

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oghiJpkQZgE

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s61vUKggL-Q



None of these songs and I could pop out a hundred more would be as awesome if they were not produced in the way they were. It is half the album/song etc.

He's remastering Kollapse?

Jesus Christ.

He should remaster the first part of the Perth Express "Discog" album. That could be killer.

i'll be remastering it if i can get my hands on a cd or wav files.

yeah murph, while i agree it's a perfect image of the craziness that band is, it still lacks a certain punch to me. it doesn't need much but a little something extra.

i'm even more eager to do this now to get your opinion.

Matt, I'll see if I can find you a dl link for Perth Express "Discography" because the 1st part of it is amazing, but could be so much more. I think it should be remixed as well, but, one can only do so much with what one is given (steals).

He needs to either get a CD or find a lossless version.

I have the CD because I support TDB and what not.

ah ha! actually, I do too, because you burned one for me about 2 years ago.

then that likely has an encoding

I probably did it with iTunes which degrades quality.

I can give it to him if he's interested.

yeah good one. the soloing wouldn't be half as powerful if not for the production.

production is always a key element to a record. always.

some of my favs of different production styles:

digital: Meshuggah - Obzen

analog: Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom

being a big Tool fan i find Ænima and 10,000 Days to be stellar recordings.

i also love the production on Pearl Jam - Vs and Stone Temple Pilots - Purple.

for any fans of electronic music check out Amon Tobin - Foley Room. he constructed all the samples with his own field recordings and created the compositions that way. not entirely original musical concept but the sonic quality is amazing and the songs are fantastic. it gives the "looping and electronic" elements of that genre an organic feel. he also puts on a awesome live show.

your a total twat for promoting our recording here and sucking the cock of machines with magnets... but i like your action.

i have to second moutheather and convoj. that shit sounds awesome.

I anticipate the Wehwalt "Total Caucasian Death" cassette (limited edition of one) that I will be presented with tonight to be the pinnacle of the genre.

no HTML on here you fucking faggkt chrost.

Almost anything mixed by Jacob Hansen (Communic, Mercenary, Tyr, Beyond Twilight, Anubis Gate, Invocator, Destinity, and a number of others)
Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World
Iced Earth - Something Wicked Part 1 (Framing Armageddon) and Part 2 (Crucible of Man)
Ensiferum - Iron

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to embed videos on this chrissaken site. The video button does not work (for me at least)

matt sways in the wind: props for the amon Tobin mention

In the same breath you should probably mention any of Boards Of Canada releases.

Also, check out Bibio's new album Ambivelance Avenue.

this mention will make aril at least temporarily sad

anyone that's heard this knows why I put it here. The production is so "bad" that it makes a wonderful album, full of emotions 99.9% other bands can't do.

It all depends on the bands sound. I love barely audible production to great studio production. I just don't like when it's polished too much. Metal is not meant to have pop-like production.

The God of Metal and the author of the Metal Constitution has spoken.

one person that is beyond over rated is Steve Austin, i've never heard anything that lives up to his legendary status. His production always sounds thin and empty to me.

Emporer-into the nightside eclipse
motorhead-1916
ramones-end of the century
slayer-reign and south
origin-the last album, can't remember the name
Anal Cunt-morbid florist, defenders of the hate
Nightstick-death to music

I - Between Two Worlds

a fucking masterpiece musically and especially production wise! There's so much depth and ambience to this recording. You can feel the environment of where each song is supposed to be located, in the forest, in a cavern, etc. Doesn't sound that original or groundbreaking, but it just is. Listen to it. Fucking rules.

listened to that recently... pretty rad

Mortal Decay - Forensic

Candiria - Process of Self Development

Bad Brains - I Against I

Most recently, Black Pyramid - S/T

Fuckfest

lol I was goin to crack a joke about that too... But I mean come on. There are some metal albums that sound like they belong in the top 40. Good riddance to that. Metal's roots define the genre.
I hold metal in a different regard than other types of music when it comes to production and mastering.

times a million.

Also, I love the production of Impiety's skull fucking armageddon and Avsky's Mass Destruction.
Marty's Feeding the abscess.

mastodon - remissions
converge - you fail me
norma jean - bless the martyr and kiss the child
high on fire - blessed black wings

You can put that in the review you're never going to write.

the only thing that bugs me about this is the vocals. the rest is killer though.

yes!!!! great album and by far one of my favorite 'heavy metal' albums!
Blinding days on the desert
Blinding sun in my eyes
Mighty cities before us
Ride with your heads held high!!

YOB-Illusion of Motion

you guys are crazy, those first ten perth tracks sound perfect! The rest of it could use a little help though haha

I saw jonah posted and said to myself "he's going to say perth"

Yeah, I love the first 10. I think Murph just got it backwards.

it's a great day for fire!
it's a great day for wrath!

Beherit's Engram record. I think there are about 20 guitar layers. I can seriously reach out and touch the guitar.

Also they did tons of subtractive EQ. You can this album up to 15 with no regrets or pain to ones ears.

Thread over

I prefer Anthems production over nightside

True as far as it goes, but it's a mistake to equate "good production" with "crystal clear and balancing all elements nicely" when "obscures and muddies up the whole thing pleasingly" is as often (if not more often the) better answer (and the one that actually adds something to a record rather than just limply reproducing the sounds from drums/amps/etc).

Band kind of sucks, but Molotov Solution's first album has the tightest, punchiest sound I have ever heard.

Illdjarn - strength & anger


/thread

Least favorite: the last 18 or so Behemoth records, Emperor IX Equilibrium, Demon Burger past PEM. SQUISH GLISTEN SQUISH REPEAT

As an example, Drudkh would not exist without the atmosphere that is provided with the number of different types of distortion/mud/reverbs. It was not implied that music has to be clean to be well produced. Songs need character.

Equilibrium almost sounds like a live album at parts.

Yeah, Anthems as an example - a lot of the instruments get lost in the mix sometimes, but it leaves more to the imagination. Blast beats are almost inaudible, but it lets your ears explore the whole picture. Quiet drums behind a mega-canyon riff can be more effective than having the drums balanced with the guitar.

It sounds straight-up turrible but that's their sound. If that album was crystal clear and sterilized through mixing it would probably suck.

fixd

if you haven't heard his ambient works - namely hardangervidda - check it out.

lol @ Drudkhspace. will do

I love most drudkh, but let's face it. they had over 15 unofficial myspaces at one point. it used to be real hard to find their first album when it came out. but they spread like wildfire through myspace. it's funny because astrofaes and hate forest never really did.

U MAD?

there's no getting around it, Saenko is a genius, Drudkh is his most accessible (folk), people caught on. Astrofaes and Hate Forest are too unfriendly for myspace.

funny thing though, don't try and start a conversation about Hate Forest with somebody wearing a Hate Forest shirt. They don't want to talk about Elder Race with the likes of me.

It's like girls showing the goods and not putting out, sort of.

Love the sound of these:

Meshuggah - Nothing, Obzen, I
Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm, A Sun That Never Sets
Aborted - Goremageddon
Nasum - Shift
Torche - Meanderthal, In Return, s/t
The Melvins - Stoner Witch
Baroness - The Red Album, The Blue Record
High On Fire - Death is This Communion
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
Dying Fetus - Destroy the Opposition
Misery Index - Dissent
Engineer - The Dregs
Soilent Green - A Deleted Symphony For the Beaten Down
Tragedy - Vengeance, Nerve Damage
Burnt By the Sun - The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good
Carcass - Heartwork
Contrastic - s/t
Ghengis Tron - Board Up the House
Skinless - Foreshadowing Our Demise
Boris - Pink, Smile
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Candiria - 300 Percent Density
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill
White Zombie - Astrocreep 2000
Overcast - Fight Ambition to Kill
VOD - s/t

There are more that I would add, that I just can't think of without looking at my collection, but these are all albums that I think sound amazing.

I like a lot of the filthy lo-fi sounding shit too, if it's appropriate to the band's sound. Otherwise, I find myself wishing things were recorded better.

The Beatles -Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane

Yeah, Masters of Reality is my pinnacle of Sabbath production.

Hum - Downward is Heavenward

Best production evar. Metal or not.

The production on Drudkh's Forgotten Legends is fucking flawless.

Ulver - Nattens Madrigal

Fucking wolven ferocity

i agree, but also hate shit where noone even bother to mix it and it just sounds like shit, but they play it off as 'old school' 'barbaric' or just 'dirty sounding.'

even worse production is shit like the new deicide and vital remains records, and yes krisiun. boooooooring...

Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky FTW
Negative Approach - Tied Down
Cro-Mags - Age of Quarrel
Agnostic Front - One Voice: so much meathead brocore started here, but the production on this one always blows me away. Dark Angel riffs set to two-stepping wigger beats = somehow amazing
9 Shocks Terror - Paying Ohmage: WTF. This is baby-punching music. Erba's bass sounds goddamn ridiculous.
Ensiferum - Iron: not sugary-sweet yet, still had balls but meatier than the self-titled

VR - Dawn of the Apocalypse: crushing

Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
Textbook example of crystalline production done right, with a band where it's appropriate.

Dawn- slaughtersun

Captures the correct essence of what melodic Swedish bm should sound like

Disfear - Soul Scars OR Misanthropic Generation (totally dissimilar, both fucking awesome)
Plutocracy - Sniping Pigz
Spazz - EVERYTHING
Warbringer - whatever the new one with the rad bassist is
Judas Priest - Painkiller

This album transports me to a seperate plane of existance unlike the one that I currently reside on.

actually off the top of my head i would add
judas priest - screamin for vengeance
neurosis - through silver and blood
slayer - reign in blood
electric wizard - dopethrone
incantation - mortal throne of nazarene
dark throne - a blaze in the northern sky
necromantia - scarlet evil, witching black
black sabbath - sabotage