That Time I Wore a Cannibal Corpse T-Shirt to a Family Reunion and Grandma Actually Loved It
There are certain decisions in life that register as bad ideas even while you’re making them. Like that time I thought cutting my own hair...
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Bruce Dickinson’s ‘Accident of Birth’: The Solo Album That Was Better Than What Iron Maiden Was Doing at the Time
Let’s set the scene: 1997, and the heavy metal landscape was bleak at best, apocalyptic at worst. Grunge had come and gone, nu-metal was ascending,...
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Blind Guardian’s ‘Imaginations from the Other Side’: The Power Metal Masterpiece Americans Missed
I discovered Blind Guardian’s “Imaginations from the Other Side” through what can only be described as a series of extremely fortunate accidents in the summer...
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Bathory’s ‘Blood Fire Death’: The Album That Invented Viking Metal Before Vikings Were Cool
I found Bathory’s “Blood Fire Death” on a Tuesday afternoon in 1989 at a record store in Chicago that smelled like patchouli and desperation. I’d...
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At the Gates’ ‘Slaughter of the Soul’: The Album That Launched a Thousand Metalcore Bands
The first time I heard At the Gates’ “Slaughter of the Soul,” I was crammed into the back room of a record store in Stockholm...
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Machine Head’s ‘Burn My Eyes’: The Album That Kept Metal Heavy When Grunge Was King
I remember exactly where I was when I first heard Machine Head’s “Burn My Eyes.” Summer of ’94, crammed into my friend Dave’s Nissan Sentra...
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Led Zeppelin IV: The Classic Rock Album That Never Gets Old No Matter How Many Times You’ve Heard It
I can pinpoint the exact moment Led Zeppelin IV rewired my teenage brain. November 1984, sophomore year of high school. I was at my friend...
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Skid Row’s ‘Slave to the Grind’: The Hair Metal Album That Was Actually Heavier Than Most Thrash
I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Skid Row’s “Slave to the Grind.” It was June 1991, and I was driving...
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Poison’s ‘Open Up and Say…Ahh!’: The Hair Metal Album That Was Actually Fun to Like
I have a confession to make, and it’s one that would have gotten me mercilessly mocked in certain heavy metal circles circa 1988: I genuinely,...
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Rainbow’s ‘Rising’: When Ritchie Blackmore Found Ronnie James Dio and Heavy Metal Got Mystical
The first time I heard Rainbow’s “Rising,” I was thirteen years old, sitting cross-legged on my older cousin David’s bedroom floor while he performed what...
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Satyricon’s ‘Nemesis Divina’: Black Metal’s Perfect Balance of Raw and Refined
Summer 1996. Not exactly black metal season, right? The sun blazing through my apartment windows, Seattle actually experiencing something resembling heat, and everyone normal was...
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Savatage’s ‘Streets: A Rock Opera’: The Concept Album That Eventually Became Trans-Siberian Orchestra
The first time I heard Savatage’s “Streets: A Rock Opera,” I was sitting in my apartment with a massive hangover, nursing a lukewarm coffee and...