#18 - Ozzy Osbourne

Maybe the most iconic character in heavy metal music, Ozzy's solo career started way back in 1979, after having been unceremoniously fired by his band of over 10 years, the legendary Black Sabbath.  A lot of his notoriety comes from the dozens of stories of legendary, Spinal Tap-like rock-madness: the dove, the bat, the Alamo...  and of course a lot of it comes from his family's pioneering and highly successful reality television show.  His goofiness, age (he's 66 as of this writing) and devil-may-care attitude make him easy to overlook as an artist, but I, for one, don't believe his 45+ year career, his legions of fans and his enormous influence on just about every heavy metal band in history can fairly be disregarded as dumb luck.

Probably the main ingredient in Ozzy's illustrious career has been his charisma, both as a personality and as a singer.  He's extremely likable and very down-to-earth, and it comes through in his vocal performance, not to mention his on-stage persona.  One of his trademarks, dating back to the late 60's, is his double-tracking of his vocal lines, often in unison, which, when coupled with his helium-infused voice, achieves a haunting affect: desperate, paranoid and especially human.

Nearly an equal source of his success has been the in the selection of supporting musicians; especially guitarists.  Burbank's own Randy Rhoads, who had already developed a local following with his band Quiet Riot, joined Ozzy in 1979 and went on to influence countless guitarists with his neo-classical soloing, heavy use of extended techniques and under-appreciated and inventive rhythm playing.  Randy helped define Ozzy's sound as a solo artist and their chemistry was undeniable.  Following Randy's death in 1982, Ozzy was accompanied by very competent shredders Brad Gillis and Jake E. Lee, before settling on the great Zakk Wylde in 1987, who still seems to serve as Ozzy's on-call guitarist when needed.

If you haven't heard Ozzy's first two albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, shame on you.  You should correct that as soon as possible.  Beside being terrific works start to finish, they're foundational pieces of the art and history of metal music.  It's hard to choose one song from that era to play for you, but I want to give you a taste of the later stuff too.  The title track from the second album is probably my favorite Ozzy Osbourne song, but I'm going to forego it in favor of one of my favorite guitar studio performances of all time, "Mr. Crowley" from Blizzard of Ozz.  Randy's soloing on this track is inspired.

And a live recording of "Bark at the Moon" from the 1983 album of the same name, recorded much later (1997 I think) with Zakk on guitar and Mike Bordin of Faith No More on Drums.

#19 - Aghora

Aghora is the unique brainchild of Miami-based Venezuelan composer, guitarist, Berklee alum and martial artist Santiago Dobles.  I mention the martial arts because Dobles' music is heavily informed by his immersion in yoga and qigong, and the spiritual philosophy surrounding them.  Aside from the eastern musical and lyrical influences, Aghora's sound is an assortment of heavy, peaceful, shredding, jazzy, technical and beautiful all at once, and somehow manages to sound cohesive and clear of purpose through it all.

The first, eponymous album featured the legendary rhythm section of the Seans (bassist Malone and drummer Reinert), and is worth the listen on that merit alone.  But Dobles' guitar work is almost equally impressive (and that's saying a lot), and unknown vocalist Danishta Rivero's Indian-influenced singing is arresting, if a bit unpolished.  I highly recommend this album as well as the follow-up, Formless, which featured new members in impressive bassist Alan Goldstein and the more refined (but less unusual) Diana Serra on vocals and improved production by the great Neil Kernon.  Both are unconventional and interesting works, expertly performed, with the common thread being Santiago Dobles' unique blend of ethereal world music, modal jazz fusion and technical progressive metal and his impressive soloing.  Here's one song from each of the releases for you to compare and enjoy.

#20 - Pantera

The third band in the last seven from the Texas Triangle (along with tech-prog wizards Blotted Science and Power of Omens), post-thrashers Pantera hailed from Arlington, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.  Scraping by for the duration of the 80's, they started out emulating the popular sound of the decade, glam metal.  While not completely terrible, and despite some proficient and interesting guitar playing by then-Diamond (later Dimebag) Darrell Abbott, their first four albums didn't really stand out from the crowded field.  It wasn't until 1990 that they broke out (in a big way) with what's commonly regarded as their real debut, Cowboys From Hell, having evolved their sound into something far heavier, thrash-influenced and really unique for the time.  As it turned out, that sound was also highly influential, as it seems every American metal band of the subsequent two and a half decades claims them as an influence.

I remember first hearing "Cemetary Gates" from that album, which was getting heavy rotation on So Cal's metal station, KNAC, and not knowing what to make of it.  It was both melodic and percussive, kind of funky and super heavy.  Because of the later armies of emulators, it sounds more commonplace now, but at the time it was striking music.  The next album, Vulgar Display of Power, is my favorite of theirs, and takes their trademark "groove metal" sound a step further with Darrell's crushing riffs and lightning solos, rock-solid rhythm section playing by Darrell's brother Vinnie Paul Abbott on drums and bassist Rex Brown, and the versatile half sung, half shouted vocals of Phil Anselmo.  Below is the opener, "Mouth For War", which is an exemplar of the band at its height.  The riffs are as good as any in rock, and the pocket is palpable.  Following that is a live performance of one of my favorites from the "debut" entitled "Domination", which was the heaviest thing I had ever heard in 1990.

#21 - Crisis

Grindcore is definitely not one of my favorite metal genres.  The shorter, less complex compositions, the screamed vocals, the loose ensemble playing and the lack of showoff-y instrumental work and solos are all characteristics diametrically opposed to some of the qualities I generally value most in metal.  That said, New York's Crisis is such a fantastic specimen that they're not only the lone example of the genre in my top 100 bands - they're near the top at number 21.

There's no denying a distinct hardcore punk influence, nor the Anthrax-ian thrash that belies their geographic origins.  But Crisis weaves in abrupt tempo changes, from syncopated, hard-charging thrash to bone-crushing doom and back again, as well as an arty experimental approach akin to Mr. Bungle.  There are also occasional progressive hints, with some longer than typical songs and odd meters cropping up from time to time.  The musicianship in general is pretty strong, and the energy is breathtaking.  But what really pushes this band into the conversation as a topnotch metal act are the astonishing capabilities and expressiveness of vocalist Karyn Crisis.

I first came across Karyn and the band during a phase when I was looking for bands with female vocalists, trying to disprove the inclination I had at the time that metal could only be convincingly performed by men.  What can I say?  I was young.  And female-fronted metal wasn't easy to come by.  You've already heard a few of my discoveries from that time, but Karyn (along with Anneke van Giersbergen and somebody else you'll be hearing from later) remains one of my absolute favorites.  Her vocal approach attacks gender stereotypes viciously, slipping between an almost childlike-sounding clean tone, hardcore screams (sometimes pitched and sometimes completely chaotic), death growls and grunts and ear-piercing shrieks with jaw-dropping effortlessness and frightening earnestness.

Here's a favorite of mine, "Prisoner Scavenger", from their breakthrough sophomore release, Deathshead Extermination, the whole of which is as consistently enjoyable as it is astounding.  Make sure you listen to the fast middle section starting at 1:30 to witness some mindblowing vocal schizophrenia.  Following is a early live performance from just before that album's release which, while not of pristine A/V quality, demonstrates that Crisis wasn't just studio magic which is pretty hard to believe when you hear them.

#22 - Power of Omens

There are so many things to like about this terrific Prog Metal band from San Antonio, Texas.  1. Their chops are as formidable as just about any band of their genre, which is saying a lot when it comes to the ambitions of progressive metal.  2. There's a decent amount of flamenco-style guitar in the mix, which, while not completely unique, is pretty unusual, and, although I'm a layperson when it comes to flamenco music, band leader/guitarist David Gallegos sounds pretty legit to me.  3. Vocalist Chris Salinas is pretty much a dead ringer for one of the greatest metal vocalists of all time, Queensrÿche's brilliant Geoff Tate.  4. The drumming is so note-y and varied, both of their two albums (especially the first) sound like a percussion solo work with band accompaniment.  I mean it's completely unique, impressive and bizarre drumming.  5. Everyone likes the underdog right?  How many other predominantly Latino progressive metal bands do you know?  None, right?  Plus, they released on tiny labels Elevate and Metal Ages, and they hail from the musical Mecca of San Antone.

I came across Power of Omens just after the release of their second album, Rooms of Anguish, in 2003 thanks, I think, to the late great website mp3.com.  At that time, I think they had about six or seven songs available for download between the two albums, and I remember being blown away by progressive masterpieces "Word on a Line", "My Best to Be", "A Toast to Mankind", "With These Words" and the on of my favorite metal epics of all time, "Test of Wills".  I immediately bought the album and scoured the internet trying to find a copy of the debut, Eyes of the Oracle.  It was tough to find; I even sent an email to David who basically told me "good luck".  I eventually found a copy on Ebay for less than $40 and snatched it up.  Unfortunately, they split up a couple years later, but at least they left behind two classics of the genre and some of the most complex, densely orchestrated melodic metal I've ever heard.  Here's the studio version of "A Toast to Mankind" which illustrates some of the unique characteristics I mentioned above, followed by some terrific footage of the band playing that terrific epic, "Test of Wills" live at a bar in San Antonio, which is almost comical due to the juxtaposition of the proficiency of the musicians, the complexity of the music and the dramatic presentation against the ordinary, everyday setting.

#23 - Rage Against the Machine

I don't listen to them all that often, but whenever this Los Angeles quartet gets into my rotation, I always come away impressed and glad I gave them yet another listen.  Like with Mr. Bungle, I was introduced to Rage Against the Machine by a trumpet playing college friend who had great taste in music that was then woefully under-appreciated by me.  He came from more of an alt-rock background and... let's just say that I hope I'm more open-minded to different musical perspectives now than I was in the early 90's.  As a result, it took me a few years before I really gave their 1992 self-titled debut a chance.  Better late than never.

RAtM is often referenced as the pinnacle of rap-metal and the chief influence of the nu-metal genre that took off in the late 90's, and while those plaudits are true, I think they sell the band a bit short.  You can definitely hear the influences of earlier rap-punk bands Beastie Boys and Urban Dance Squad, as well as those of metal acts Anthrax and Faith No More, but you can also hear a distinct beatnik jazz influence in the vocal and instrumental rhythmic approach, and of course in the exaggerated, idealized poetry of the lyrics.  Add to that Tom Morello's unique approach to guitar solos, a super-stanky funk groove, and an extremely enthusiastic, energetic and earnest performance style, and you've got a wholly unique and convincing metal act.  Early on, I had a tough time with what I saw as outrageously over-the-top lyrical content, but over time I've come to appreciate it as, like a lot that I love about metal, an output of expressionist art that's simultaneously embarrassing and essential to the success of the music, and now they are to me a landmark band, as impressive and listenable today as they were over 20 years ago.  You probably remember the following songs, as they certainly weren't "underground", but they're a couple of favorites of mine, so here you go.  "Wake Up" was featured in transition to the closing credits of the great action/sci-fi film The Matrix, and besides a great groove and some interesting rhythmic shifts, features a spine-tingling crescendo to the coda where vocalist Zack de la Rocha screams desperately at the listener to "WAKE UP!".  And probably their most famous song, largely thanks to the shock value, "Killing in the Name" follows a similar formula - I'll close with a compelling live performance of it.  Just in case you somehow arrived here unawares and are sensitive to strong language, be warned: there is no hesitation on the part of this band to gleefully deploy f-bombs with frequency and heartfelt emotion.

#24 - Martyr

We're getting into the crème de la crème now, and at number 24 sits my favorite pure death metal band on this list.  We'll be coming to a few other bands in the coming posts who I've seen described as death metal, and who certainly exhibit some of the characteristics of the genre, but I can't think of anybody who would disagree with the assertion that Québec's brilliant technical death metal band Martyr fits firmly within its bounds (if any musical style truly has such things).  The extreme metal movement in that part of Canada is legendary, having produced, in addition to these guys, amazing technical death metal bands Cryptopsy and Gorguts (who would probably be on this list now if I had it to do over again) as well as legendary progressive thrashers Voivod.  Oddly enough, Martyr's mastermind and virtuoso guitarist Dan Mongrain has played in all three of those other bands.

I remember first hearing Martyr sometime around 2000, thanks (I think) to mp3.com, which was a gem back then for seekers of new music and bands eager to get their work heard.  Their album Warp Zone had just been released, and one or two of the tracks were available for download.  I can't remember what lead to me to giving them in particular a listen - probably that great online compendium, The BNR Metal Pages - but I know that I was blown away by what I heard.  The band's melodic approach is really unusual, especially for that time: angular and atonal, with frequent wide melodic intervals.  Rhythmically, like a lot of the genre, they're frenetic, complex and relentlessly aggressive.  Every one of the players is a master of his craft, especially Dan, who, when you hear him, makes perfectly obvious why he's been so in-demand as a guitarist.  As has become the custom, I'm including two clips here: a studio recording of the opener from their last (and best) album, 2006's Feeding the Abscess, and a live video from 2008 of a song from the same album called "Nameless, Faceless, Neverborn".  Both take some wildly unexpected turns; I hope you enjoy them.

#25 - Alice Cooper

One of the enduring enigmas of heavy rock: Is Alice Cooper a band or is Alice Cooper a person.  The answer, for any readers who aren't that well-versed in lore or music, is both.  But that never really seems quite right, because Alice (the man once known as Vincent Furnier) is such a large personality that he makes it hard to acknowledge anyone else sharing the stage with him, because Alice Cooper, the solo artist, released his first album only a year or so after the breakup of Alice Cooper, the band, and because the theatrical stage show and creepy storytelling are at least as defining as either of them.

Alice Cooper started as a group of high schoolers who could barely play their instruments in Phoenix, Arizona in the mid-60's, and managed to get signed by Frank Zappa to his indie label in 1968.  Their first two albums on his label, 1969's Pretties for You and 1970's Easy Action are loose and unpolished, but the somewhat avant-garde compositions and quirky arrangements give a hint about the creativity that would become clearer later when they developed the chops, funding and focus to more clearly showcase it.

1971's Love It to Death is a landmark album, Alice Cooper's last with Zappa's "Straight" label, and first with producer Bob Ezrin (who I consider to be an integral part of the band).  It was the band's first commercial success, and demonstrates enormous musical progress, particularly as instrumentalists.  The band went on to release four more albums in less than three years, a break-neck writing, recording and touring pace that, remarkably, resulted in a large catalog of consistently terrific music.  All of Killer, School's Out, Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle of Love are highly recommended.  Alice even managed one excellent album without his bandmates in 1975's Welcome to My Nightmare (still produced by Ezrin) before the quality of the output started to fade.

In the early 70's, Alice Cooper was an integral part of heavy metal's and glam rock's roots, but, perhaps even more importantly, they founded modern shock rock, and their influence can be seen decades later in the likes of Mercyful Fate, Gwar, White Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Ghost B.C., to name a few.  Despite their status as innovators, the music itself still holds up over 40 years later as progressive and powerful.  Here are a pair of clips, both from the Love It to Death album: the studio version of my favorite, "Black Juju" and a live for television performance of the eerie "Ballad of Dwight Fry".

#26 - Blotted Science

Kinda cheating, since you've already heard twice from mad metal scientist Ron Jarzombek with 80's tech-thrash pioneers WatchTower and his own project Spastic Ink, but I'm afraid I can't help but share this latest impressive band of his.  Like Ron's previous projects, they're progressive, and display breathtaking technical proficiency, but this instrumental offering is steeped in death metal, where his earlier forays were much thrashier.  Blotted Science also features bassist Alex Webster (of Cannibal Corpse and recently Conquering Dystopia) and have gone through a number of drummers, with Charlie Zeleny and Hannes Grossmann (of Obscura) appearing on their two recordings respectively.

Aside the obvious chops, Blotted Science also shows off an advanced understanding of music composition.  I'm going to show you both in the videos I was lucky enough to find at YouTube below, all from their most recent release, 2011's EP, The Animation of Entomology.  The first is an explanation and demonstration of the 12-tone row and its treatments in the song "Cretaceous Chasm".

If you enjoyed that music theory lesson, there's a similar one of one of the shorter songs from their first release, The Machinations of Dementia, entitled "Oscillation Cycles".  Next up is a mind-blowing video of drummer Hannes Grossmann recording his part for "Ingesting Blatteria" for the EP.

Finally, all of these songs (and indeed all 7 on the EP) are actually musical renditions of insect horror scenes from film - mostly B movies, which track exactly with the films, a la Pink Floyd's famous Dark Side of the Rainbow, but more complete and obviously intentional.  Here's the track "Vermicular Asphyxiation" synched up with some particularly grotesque video from B-movie homage, horror-comedy film Slither.  If you can stomach it, it's pretty impressive.

#27 - Megadeth

My favorite thrash metal band comes in at #27 overall.  Megadeth got started in Los Angeles in 1983, mere months after leader Dave Mustaine was unceremoniously dismissed from Metallica shortly before the recording of their first album.  I've read Dave's memoir, and it's clear that his entire life since has been colored by that firing, and he's been haunted by fears of inferiority, regret and envy ever since.  It's ironic to me, since I feel like he's done so much more as a leader than he ever could have done as the gunslinger of Metallica.  True, Megadeth has never had the commercial success that his former band had, but musically, I think they surpassed their rivals in inventiveness and virtuosity, if not sooner, then in 1990 with the recruiting of the longest lived Megadeth lineup and the release of their best work, Rust in Peace.

Dave, in the mid-80's, was a really good guitar player, playing faster and more aggressively than most of his contemporaries.  But the really smart thing he did with Megadeth was to swallow his (considerable) ego, and hire co-lead guitarists who were musically superior to him, particularly early on.  The guitar and drum positions in the band have mostly been revolving doors since the band's formation (probably chiefly due to Dave's abrasive personality), and have included such stellar musicians as fusion drummers Gar Samuelson and Vinnie Colaiuta, son of jazz musician Don Menza and drummer, Nick Menza, staple heavy rock drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, thrash metal pioneer Kerry King, fusion guitarists Chris Poland and Jeff Young, and shredders extraordinaire Marty Friedman and Al Pitrelli.  Like fellow thrashers Metallica, Megadeth always had a rhythmically progressive edge, playing in multiple and odd meters on occasion.  They just did it faster, tighter, and often better.  Here's my favorite selection from my favorite album of Megadeth's, "Holy Wars... the Punishment Due" from Rust in Peace.  Dave's solo near the end (beginning around 4:55) is one of my favorite guitar solos of all time.  I highly recommend the album as a whole.  It was rightly recognized with a Grammy nomination, as was its second track "Hangar 18", which features some fantastic soloing by guitarist Marty Friedman.  I remember playing the album for a friend back in the early 90's who listened exclusively to jazz, and, blown away by the musicianship, he immediately picked up his own copy.  In fact, I'm just going to put the whole album here.  "Holy Wars..." is the first track, so you have my permission to stop after that if you don't have 42 minutes to spare.  And any watchers of MTV News from the mid-to-late 80's will recognize the main riff from classic "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying", also below.

#28 - Beyond Twilight

Denmark's Beyond Twilight debuted in 2001 with a terrific prog metal album called The Devil's Hall of Fame, and followed it up with 2005's Section X and 2006's For the Love of Art and the Making, each of the three featuring a different vocalist, although their styles are similar, and all three are strong singers, coming out of the late 70's / early 80's hard rock style pioneered by the Deep Purple family tree.  Musically, Beyond Twilight showcases keyboards heavily, as the principal composer and songwriter is keyboardist Finn Zierler.  It's heavily orchestrated, and leans toward a film soundtrack kind of sound, with a bit of an insane carnival kind of mood, but super heavy (in a traditional metal kind of way) with a rock solid groove.  The third album is interesting in that it is a single piece of music comprised of 43 short tracks that the listener is invited to listen to in any order.

The first album featured one of my favorite vocalists, Norwegian singer Jørn Lande, in one of his two best performances that I've heard to date, and was released only four months after the other one, Ark's brilliant Burn the Sun.  Here's the first track from The Devil's Hall of Fame, entitled "Hellfire".  It's got a cheesy sci-fi intro that could have been done worse, and I dig the little gasp at the end of it that leads into the song.  You'll get a taste of the cinematic compositional approach, Jørn's unbelievable vocal performance, plus a tasty solo at the six minute mark by guitarist Anders Ericson Kragh and some equally tasty rhythm section playing throughout.  It's a great track, but the rest of the album is just as good.  If you like this one, check out the rest.

#29 - Primus

I distinctly remember first hearing Primus in 1991.  That summer, I bought a cassette tape of the soundtrack from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, partly because I liked the movie, but mostly because it had songs by Slaughter, Winger, Kiss, Richie Kotzen, Steve Vai, Faith No More, Megadeth and King's X, all acts I liked to varying degrees at the time.  It also had a couple of bands I hadn't heard before, among them a relatively unknown San Francisco trio who actually appeared in the film as one of the entries in the climactic Battle of the Bands.  The song, "Tommy the Cat", was buried somewhere in the middle of the album, and when I heard it, I was blown away.  I had never heard such virtuosic rock bass playing in my young life, and the band's unique, paradoxical sound of heavy and playful, tightly grooved and loosely sung, dry, humorous, soulful and of bizarre tonality.  It was easily the best song on the soundtrack, and I immediately picked up their album, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, from which "Tommy the Cat" was taken.  The album was great beginning to end, and I soon got its predecessor, Frizzle Fry and their debut, a live album called Suck on This.  I was completely hooked and throughout the 90s, I picked up each album as soon as it was released and witnessed them live twice, once in 1991 in Irvine as an opener for Public Enemy and Anthrax, and again in 1999 in Atlanta on the Ozzfest tour.  I can say from first-hand experience that bassist/vocalist Les Claypool is as mind-bogglingly proficient live as he is in the studio.

Primus got their start in the San Francisco bay area at a time when underground metal, particularly in that area, was starting to appear above the surface.  Metallica and Exodus were on the rise and with them, the young thrash metal movement.  In fact, believe it or not, both Claypool and guitarist Larry LaLonde flipflopped between the fledgling Primus and a local thrash band called Blind Illusion, and both appear on that band's 1988 album The Sane Asylum.  LaLonde was even a member of Possessed, often regarded as the first death metal band, and appears on their first three records between 1985 and 1987.  And Claypool auditioned to replace the late Cliff Burton in Metallica in 1986.  With all this foundation in extreme metal, you might expect a different sound than what you get in Primus.  Then again, no one sounds like Primus, and while they're difficult to label, I'd give them credit as an early influence in the experimental-, alternative- and funk-metal subgenres.

Since "Tommy the Cat" was my introduction to Primus, and because it had such an effect on me, I'm including that here for your listening pleasure.  Following that is a live recording from 2010 of my daughter Megan's favorite, "Harold of the Rocks", off of their studio debut of 20 years earlier.  It goes a bit "free form jazz odyssey" in the middle, but also gives you a chance to hear Ler LaLonde's unique melodic approach and the band's storytelling approach to songwriting, and anyway it's one of my favorites too (although I could probably say that about a good dozen or so).

#30 - Deep Purple

English legends, Deep Purple, formed in 1968 and quickly gained a following on the merits of their debut, Shades of Deep Purple, and its hit single, a cover of the Joe South song "Hush".  Back then, they were a psych-infused pop rock band in sound, but with a bold classical music references.  Their obvious chops and musical self-indulgence along with the psych and eventual hard rock leaning of their sound in that first incarnation are reminiscent of a band they toured with early on: Cream.  Purple really began to hit their stride when they recruited replacement bassist Roger Glover and vocalist Ian Gillan from the band Episode Six in 1969, and took a turn toward the heavy.  The "Mark II" lineup released four fantastic studio albums, one of the best live albums of all time, and the fascinating Concerto for Group and Orchestra over the four years that followed, cementing themselves as one of the greatest hard rock bands of their fertile time.  In the years after Gillan and Glover split again in 1973, Purple has produced some interesting music here and there, introducing vocalist David Coverdale to the world, reuniting the Mark II lineup in the mid 80's for a couple of decent prog/hard rock albums, and recruiting the amazing Steve Morse on lead guitar for the past 20 years, but their output during those four years in the early 70's was something special.

As I've been doing lately, I'm going to include two examples of their work below.  First is a live TV performance from 1970 of the progressive and heavy "Child in Time".  It illustrates the afore-mentioned self-indulgence, classical music influence, the cutting edge chops of keyboardist Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and the inimitable vocal stylings of the great Ian Gillan.

And a classic from their biggest record:

10 Best Progressive Metal Albums of 2014

For the past couple of months, I've been catching up on albums released last year, and I'm finally ready to give you a list of the best 10.

2014 was a good year for metal, with album releases by a number of long-time heavyweights and some of progressive favorites as well.  In the former category, Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Behemoth, Black Label Society, Blut Aus Nord, Body Count, Crowbar, Down, Exodus, Eyehategod, Godflesh, Judas Priest, Lacuna Coil, Machine Head, Overkill, Slipknot, Triptykon and Vader all had releases last year.  There was even a Grammy favorite tribute album to the late great Ronnie James Dio.  And some fantastic and well-established progressive metal bands also had 2014 releases: Agalloch, Animals as Leaders, Cynic, Mastodon, Opeth, Threshold, Devin Townsend and Vanden Plas.

Despite the albums put out by all of those excellent bands, my list of the 10 best come from relatively new, varied and underexposed acts.  I'm putting them in alphabetical order because they're too difficult to rank, but these 10 definitely stood out to me as the top of a great class.

Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution

This Canadian quartet achieves great balance between melodic and technical, brutal and progressive on this fantastic tech-death album.

Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia

Okay, so maybe it's not completely fair to call this a new or unknown act. I mean it is but guitarist Jeff Loomis has had a pretty full career playing with Nevermore among others. And bassist Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse is no hidden talent either. This album of instrumental metal features blistering neo-classical shredding atop tight, heavy and fast riff-oriented death metal. If instrumental music is your thing, check this out.  It's one of the best of that type I've ever heard.

Dimesland - Psychogenic Atrophy

This is zany, left-handed death metal a la Canadian greats Gorguts and Martyr, but originating from California's bay area.  There's plenty of jazz and thrash thrown in there too.  In fact the only thing you won't find is the kitchen sink... and the melody can be hard to find too.  Highly recommended for anyone who likes twisty, experimental music.


Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails

Another San Francisco band.  And another great technical death metal album, this one and Beyond Creation's (above) are the two most similar on this list.  This one is perhaps a bit more polished and not as overtly jazzy.

Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

Interesting and enjoyable mix of metal styles from Down Under with unusual prominence of the violin reminds me of a modernized and more varied Tristania.

Soen - Tellurian

Another "supergroup" like Conquering Dystopia, this excellent release features a rhythm section of drummer Martin Lopez (of Opeth) and bassist Steve DiGiorgio (of Death, Testament and Sadus) and sits solidly between legendary proggers Tool and Opeth.

Spires - The Whisperer

Grandiose extreme progressive metal from England features long compositions, strong playing, choral and string orchestrations and varied tone.  I'm not a fan of the clean vocals, which populate much of the album, but it's such a strong effort otherwise that they're more than made up for.

Troldhaugen - Obzkure Anekdotez for Maniakal Massez

Another Australian band, these guys are obviously having a bit of a laugh.  But besides being quirky and irreverent, it's interesting and well-played folk metal with some old-school video game influence thrown in.

Verse Vica - Endeavor

Unfortunately, this awesome band from North Carolina is probably the least-discovered here (along with the equally amazing Dimesland).  Their very proggy release is reminiscent of newer and highly successful bands, fellow NC'ers Between the Buried and Me and instrumental act Animals as Leaders.  I hope these guys can break out in terms of exposure.

Xerath - III

Another English band, this expansive, symphonic metal reminds me of a more interesting Devin Townsend, both compositionally and vocally.  As popular as Devin is, if you like him, check this out.  I think it's better.

#31 - Tenacious D

Ok, so the timing on this isn't very good.  It was just about a month ago that the Grammys once again completely offended the metal community, this time by awarding the "Best Metal Performance" of 2014 to the comedy duo, Tenacious D.  But bear with me here.  I think the Grammys might have been able to get away, generally, with granting their only award in the genre to The D if they hadn't done a number of other things wrong to lead to that moment.  Metal fans generally like Tenacious D.  They're pretty good musicians with an uncanny knack for mimicking the genre, while both parodying and paying homage to it.  Songs like "Dio" and "The Metal" do a great job of distilling the qualities of fervent, innocent loyalty, theatrical melodrama, zealous devotion to musical integrity and bombast that make metal equal parts ridiculous, endearing and impressive.  Plus, they're hilarious.

But the Grammys have a long history of insulting the metal community, mostly in that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences hasn't the faintest clue about the genre and refuses to make the slightest effort to learn, despite years of criticism and miscue after miscue.  It started when the award was first introduced in 1989.  In that year, Jethro Tull's unremarkable prog rock album Crest of a Knave (and I like Jethro Tull) beat out releases by Jane's Addiction, Iggy Pop, AC/DC and, shockingly, Metallica's fantastic ...And Justice for All.  They then overreacted to the blunder by awarding the next three Grammys in the genre to Metallica, including one for a cover of a Queen song, somewhat inappropriate in a genre where the recording artist's musical composition is at least as important as the recorded performance.  Overall, Metallica has won the award six times.  It seems the voters are just glad the one band they've heard of is nominated so they can quickly cast their votes and get back to Beyoncé.  Since that first fateful award, the recipients have generally been great bands, but the most widely recognizable names whenever there's the slightest piece of production by any of them: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead, Nine Inch Nails and Tool have won almost all of them and been nominated multiple times.  This year, Tenacious D's winner was a cover from a Dio tribute album from which another band (Anthrax) was also nominated.  Talk about lazy.  And again, neither of them actually wrote the music.

Back to The D.  First, let me warn you that the links and videos below are not for anyone offended by foul language or adolescent humor.  I first heard Tenacious D (or rather, saw them) back in 1997 when they first appeared on an HBO sketch comedy series called Mr. Show.  I was playing in a brass quintet + drummer in San Diego, and the drummer brought a VHS tape (remember those?) with the first episode on it to a rehearsal.  We all loved the show, but the best part was a ten minute skit at the end of the episode featuring none other than Tenacious D in "The Search for Inspirado".  They later appeared at the end of another episode with the equally hilarious "Angel In Disguise".  These two skits later combined for the first episode of their own, short-lived television series about a pair of delusional losers who believe themselves to be the soon-to-be-revealed Greatest Band In The World while meanwhile honing their craft at a sparsely attended open mic night at the local bar.  Their cluelessness and immature bravado are hilarious and over-the-top, but more subtle is their surprising musical understanding, nuance and chops, further revealed on their debut album in 2001.  The album featured many songs revamped from the TV series, performances by the brilliant Dave Grohl on drums and guitar and Page McConnell of Phish on keys plus some really funny short comedy bits.  I'm going to share with you my favorite, and probably the most popular, song on the album, "Tribute".  The song chronicles the duo's encounter with a demon who challenges them to a rock-off a la "Devil Went Down to Georgia", and tells of their musical masterpiece, "the greatest song in the world", composed and played on the spot to defeat the beast.  Unfortunately, they've forgotten the song and so wrote "Tribute" as an ode to that great song.  It's really funny and nails the rockin'-against-the-devil cliche, while simultaneously actually rocking, displaying some clever writing chops and paying a little "tribute" to Led Zeppelin.  The same clever understanding masked by sheer idiocy is also apparent in the opening sequence from their movie The Pick of Destiny.  The song, "Kickapoo", tells the story of a young Jack Black, raised in a conservative family environment where his passion and talent for the rock are woefully misunderstood.  Punished by his unappreciative father (played by Meatloaf), he cries out to the image of Ronnie James Dio on his wall poster, a surrogate father figure who charges him to follow his dream in the "land of Hollywood".  Unfortunately, he doesn't tell him that it's not Hollywood, Florida, nor is it Hollywood, North Carolina.  Now go my child, and ROCK!

#32 - Mr. Bungle

Mr. Bungle's a hard band to categorize, as their music traversed multiple genres, often within a single song.  And that's another thing: many of their "songs" aren't so much songs as sonic montages overlaid with maniacal vocal performances, particularly on their second release, Disco Volante.  One genre that can definitely be applied, although it's a broad one applicable to about any style, is "experimental".  Probably the next most appropriate tag is "alternative", followed by "metal".  So that's what we'll call them, experimental alternative metal, although you'll hear everything from techno to contemporary classical to ska, punk, lounge and jazz in their music too.  Mr. Bungle cultivated a schizophrenic sound that mixed eerily and coherently with their irreverent and satirical performance style, creepy and ironic lyrics, and evil-clown stage personas.

I'm going to share with you a track off of my favorite of Mr. Bungle's three equally compelling yet disparate albums, their self titled debut from 1991.  I like it because it's the most song-oriented, the most metal and consistently uses a two saxophone horn section, something not often heard in rock music, particularly of the heavy variety.  I think this album was the beginning of vocalist Mike Patton's long collaborative relationship with avant-garde composer and saxophonist John Zorn, and his contribution as producer may be part of what makes this album so interesting and enjoyable.  But make no mistake, these guys are smoking musicians in their own right, and they pull off some amazingly complex and difficult music as though it's second nature.  And this was before there was a whole lot of experimental metal around.  Here's "Carousel" from Mr. Bungle's first and great album, followed by a live performance of "Stubb A Dub" from the same period so you can get a taste of their weird stage show.

#33 - Judas Priest

One of the earliest and most important bands in the history of metal, Judas Priest not so much burst as eased on to the scene in and throughout the 1970's, starting with their foundation as a bar band in Birmingham, England in 1969 and culminating in their breakthrough record, British Steel in 1980, which featured mega-hits "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law and also my daughter's favorite Priest song, "You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise"  (She's a year older than I was when that album was released!)  The band stayed at its commercial peak for a few years, which included album gems Point of Entry, Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith, and singles "Heading out to the Highway", "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", "Electric Eye" and "Freewheel Burning".  As great as their output over those years was, I don't think I'd be that big a fan if it wasn't for their preceding and following phases.  In the 70's, they mixed all kinds of styles, covering songs by Joan Baez, Spooky Tooth and Fleetwood Mac, with a pioneering twin guitar sound and, for the time, astounding vocal range and vibrato.  Those early years influenced a host of thrash and NWOBHM bands for years that followed.  In the 90's, they recruited speed metal band Racer X's drummer, Scott Travis, whose level of technique was well beyond the rest of the band's, and twenty years after their formation, guitarists K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton buckled down and learned advanced lead guitar solo playing - particularly sweep picking - and upped the proficiency level of the band by a wide margin.  I've always been really impressed that they took the kind of time and expended the kind of effort that it must have taken to do that so late in their already successful careers, and that's one of the reasons I admire them as much as I do.

I mentioned Judas Priest's transformation over the years, and also their fantastic lead vocalist Rob Halford, who is unquestionably one of the most influential and talented singers in the history of heavy metal.  I'm going to give you a taste of both, with one of my favorites from their second album, 1976's Sad Wings of Destiny, "Victim of Changes" followed by one of their best from the first post-Scott Travis addition album, the title track to 1990's Painkiller.  Enjoy the classic progressive and the blistering speed metal of this seminal band.

#34 - Metallica

For any of you wondering when you were going to get a band you've heard of, here you go.  Metallica may be the biggest name metal band of all time, and not without reason.  One of the earliest thrash metal bands, they generated considerable buzz in the burgeoning underground metal scene in 1982 thanks largely to their enormous energy on both stage and record.  Like a lot of people, I didn't hear Metallica until they already had three albums in the can, one of them certified gold, and had played shows for tens of thousands despite minimal radio play and having never (yet) released a music video during MTV's heyday.  Metallica wasn't just speed and bluster though.  Their first four albums, aside from their huge influence on the decades of heavy rock that have passed since, were musically inventive and flirted with some of the characteristics that became associated with progressive metal, specifically longer and more elaborate compositional forms, and use of mixed meters.  With their fifth album in 1992, Metallica changed direction, aiming for a more accessible and commercially viable sound, more obviously embracing their punk and alternative musical influences and the widespread acclaim that had built up around them.  I kind of lost interest in them soon after that, but for their fantastic first four albums and the fact that most modern metal has their stamp in it, Metallica remains one of my all-time favorite bands.

A lot of people view 1986's Master of Puppets album as Metallica's pinnacle, and I think an argument could probably be made for any of their first four.  For me, their recording career highlight is 1988's ...And Justice for All, probably because it's the most progressive of their releases.  The songs are long with frequent tempo changes, and the production is colder and more clinical sounding than on their earlier albums.  My favorite song on it, and probably my favorite in their entire catalog, was their biggest hit to date when it was released.  It's hard to imagine a song like this having the kind of popularity on release that it did then.  It's just too demanding of the listener.  "One" tells the story of a soldier horribly maimed in battle awakening from his coma to the realization that he's been left with no limbs or means of communication with the world around him.  The music tells the story as much as the lyrics, beginning peacefully, somewhat blearily, and rising to despair, desperation and finally rage perhaps tinged with madness.  It's a rare work, one in which popularity and art somehow managed to meet in the same place at the same time.  Give it a listen below, and I'll also include an old live performance from before their first album to give you a sense of why these guys were so infectious in their formative years.  As you watch it, contrast with what you can remember listening to in early 1983 (if you can remember that far back).

#35 - Dream Theater

When one thinks of "Progressive Metal", if one knows that that actually is a thing, the first band one probably thinks of is the enormously influential New York band Dream Theater.  The last of the proverbial "Big Three" (along with prog metal godfathers Queensrÿche and Fates Warning), Dream Theater blew open the commercial doors typically closed to progressive metal in 1992, with their surprise hit "Pull Me Under" off of their second album, Images and Words.  Between their initial release, When Dream and Day Unite, and this follow up, they had jettisoned their first singer, Charlie Dominici, and settled on an approach with relatively wide appeal, embracing occasional rock ballads, occasional AOR anthems and, less occasionally, mind-boggling feats of musical acrobatics alike.

I've always held some ambivalence about Dream Theater.  There's no denying their incredible musicianship and technical prowess.  They've done as much as anyone in popularizing challenging rock music.  Aesthetically, though, I have a tough time with some of their music.  Some of it is just too croon-y and light for my taste.  I think my biggest problem is with long-time vocalist James LaBrie.  He's a gifted singer, no doubt, but his at-times breathy delivery is tough for me to take.  On the other hand, there are moments of true metal heaviness... in fact, pretty much all of the album Train of Thought rocks extremely hard, and is still rhythmically and formally imaginative.  And almost all of their albums at least have moments like that.  When they're good, they're among the best in the business.  Even when they're not, they're in the conversation.  For me, their highlights include the afore-mentioned Train of Thought, most of their third release Awake, and especially their EP A Change of Seasons, which follows.  As ever, all five members of the band are in rare form on this song.  In particular, you'll get a taste of band leader Mike Portnoy's soloistic drumming style (although he left the band in 2010).  It also features a lot of twisty instrumental ensemble sections and solos by smoking guitarist John Petrucci and personal favorite keyboardist and fellow Burbank resident Derek Sherinian.  It's my favorite DT moment (if you can call a 23 minute epic a "moment"), but every one of their thirteen albums is recommended, and for the best live video recording of a rock band I've ever seen, check out Live at Budokan.  Without further ado, here's the progressive metal masterpiece "A Change of Seasons".

#36 - Pride and Glory

The first rock concert I ever went to was on August 3, 1989 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in the town to which I would move a year later to attend college, Irvine, California.  I, a high school senior, went to this concert with a recent grad friend of mine, Nick Gozdiff and another friend of his, whose name eludes me but who I can remember got drunk at the show and hit on a 12-year-old before passing out in the back seat of my car.  In retrospect, my willingness to drive was probably a big reason why these seasoned 18-year-olds were willing to go to a show with a lowly high schooler, in dumb awe of just about everything he witnessed that night.  Nick had been a school band member, a trombonist in fact, and a metal fan, so perhaps our similarities made it possible for him to tolerate my woeful lack of experience and sophistication.  The lineup for the night included openers, all-female hair band Vixen, all-male hair band White Lion and finally, headliner Ozzy Osbourne.  There are a handful of memorable stories from that fateful, magical night, but most memorable was the performance of another youngster, the then-22-year-old and relatively unknown guitarist in Ozzy's band, Zakk Wylde.

Zakk was (and is) a ridiculously good player with an enormous, crushing sound, unique approach to scalar soloing, impeccable technique, and that irresistible wailing harmonic squeal.  While his style certainly descends from legendary guitarists Randy Rhoads and Duane Allman, until 1988's No Rest For The Wicked album, no one had heard playing quite like his.

In 1991, Zakk started a side project with two guys from that tour that I was lucky enough to attend, bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Greg D'Angelo from White Lion.  They went on to produce one eponymous album in 1994 and a couple of contributions to compilations under Zakk's name prior to that, far too little output for what was truly a unique and highly talented band.  Their style was one I really haven't heard anywhere else, a sort of southern metal reminiscent simultaneously of country blues and classic heavy metal.  I can't recommend the album highly enough; Zakk's playing is top-notch and his vocals are surprisingly soulful, nuanced and capable.  He even plays banjo, mandolin and harmonica on it, and there are a couple of string orchestra accompaniments performed by the Seattle Symphony.  I'm including my favorite from the album, "Shine On", mainly my favorite because it features a monster jam with guitar solo for the second half of the track.  I'm also throwing in, as a bonus, "Farm Fiddlin'" from the Guitars That Rule The World compilation of 1991 because it's so much fun.

#37 - Age of Nemesis

One of the more obscure acts on this long list of obscure acts, Hungarian prog-metal band Age of Nemesis released their first few albums domestically only, as not much of the outside listening world would have flocked to an album sung in Magyar.  Many of their works have since been translated into and recorded in English, and as far as I know, they've had three albums released internationally by Sensory and Magna Carta Records, two big fish labels in the small pond of progressive metal.  Nemesis is a bit of an anomaly, in that their albums are so polished they sound like a major player in the genre, but one can easily find references to so many small stage performances and cover versions of the metal standards, an inference can be made that they're essentially a really, really good cover band that has managed to get decent distribution on some of their original work.  As for their musical style, they're firmly in the prog vein... heavy on the keyboards, soaring and powerful high-pitched clean vocals, and impressively technical playing, particularly from guitarist and founder Zoltán Fábián.  While not particularly unique, I think they do it better than just about anyone else, and they tend toward a more driving rock sound than many others, recalling greats Deep Purple and Iron Maiden, and resulting in a sound that is just plain fun to listen to.

Age of Nemesis has grown more polished over the years, and the track I'm going to share is the opener from their third and most recent album (the English language version), Terra Incognita.  The song is called "Tree of Life" and, while not especially complex, is a fun listen, an impressive performance and a thoughtful composition.  I think the somewhat lengthy introduction does a nice job of setting up the vocal entrance and main song form.  I also like the variety of sounds you get from the guitar parts and to a lesser extent, the keys.  The vocals are really nicely done too, especially the multi-part harmonies in the chorus.  Check it out.  As I've been doing with some bands lately, I'm also going to throw in a cover of Deep Purple's "Burn", which not only rocks, but also cleverly offers a different interpretation of the main riff every time it's reintroduced throughout the song.  Again, a really fun recording.