Heavy Music Starters!

   Hi!

   In this post I'm going to talk about some albums that are good starting points for anyone who is interested in getting into some heavier music. These aren't necessarily my favourites by any means, but I will be suggesting gateway albums to a number of the different genres that can be found in "heavy music". Hopefully these help to open up a different landscape of music.

   1) Symbolic - Death

   Death are one of the most famous early originators of the death metal genre, and their 1995 album Symbolic is definitely my favourite album of theirs, as well as being representative of both the band and the genre at it's highest functioning form. The band's earlier albums are also great, but like I said this album is just as good as it gets in terms of sussing out exactly what death metal is all about and what it sounds like at it's best. The Possessed album Seven Churches from 10 years earlier is also great for getting an insight into the genre, it being one of the earliest examples of what death metal became and still is more or less today. 

   2) All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us - Architects

   Metalcore is a genre that tends to get trashed by the rest of the metal community, and a lot of the time it is hard to argue with the nay-sayers; metalcore is a breeding ground for derivative, copy cat bands that follow the same scream-sing-scream-sing formula while trying to fit in the heaviest breakdown (or three) in there somewhere, no matter how jarring or out of place. But amongst the crap there are more than plenty of bands that explore the genre in exciting and rewarding ways - last year's All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us by UK band Architects is one of the best metalcore albums in recent memory and a fantastic place to start. A quick research into the album's context will also provide an emotionally potent vantage point for the listener. Other great metalcore albums are August Burns Red's Rescue & Restore, Bring Me The Horizon's There Is A Hell... and Silent Planet's Everything Was Sound.

   3) Define the Great Line - Underoath

   Underoath have had a monumental impact on alternative and underground music, and this is largely due to their breakout fifth album Define the Great Line which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 charts in 2006. Underoath's sound shifted dramatically over their career (and may now continue to after a recent reformation), and settled at a brand of post-hardcore/screamo that they continued to refine on 2008's Lost In The Sound Of Separation (arguably their most accomplished album, and a personal favourite) and 2010's Ø (Disambiguation). Define the Great Line is a staple in underground music, the defining moment in the band's career, and a flag-bearer in the post-MTV world of popular heavy music. There is a power and weight to this record that is completely tangible and absolutely unforgettable. The Youth To Become by Stories is reminiscent of Define and also an awesome introduction to post-hardcore.

   4) The Satanist - Behemoth

   The Satanist is an absolutely titanic offering of the blackest of black metal that manages to be brutal, evil and crushing while stunningly beautiful and poetic. Certainly not a genre for everyone, and a sound that can be difficult to get into, if you can get your teeth into this it is incredibly rewarding. Be careful though, before you know it you may soon find yourself dressing in all black and lighting scented candles in your room.

   5) Blackwater Park - Opeth

   No one does progressive metal better than Swedish titans Opeth, and Blackwater Park is arguably their greatest album - some would say it is one of the great albums of all time. Opeth have been sliding from death metal to King Crimson-esque prog rock over the course of 12 albums, combining stunning musicianship and beautiful songwriting with ferocity and cut-throat brutality. The balance between these two worlds hit the perfect sweet spot in 2001's Blackwater Park; not much else comes close to the soaring highs this incredible record reaches again and again. The winding, sprawling compositions are as ambitious as they are subdued, and singer/guitarist/main songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt simultaneously explores the depths of brutality in disarmingly warm and deep growls and delicate icicles of beauty with the voice of an angel (see "Dirge For November" in particular). 

   6) Wildlife - La Dispute

   La Dispute are part of a self-proclaimed group of post-hardcore bands called "The New Wave of Post-Hardcore", shortened to "The Wave", with other artists like Defeater, Make Do And Mend, Pianos Become The Teeth and Touché Amoré (all of which are worth listening to). These groups explore avenues of post-hardcore incorporating things like jazz, blues, screamo, progressive rock, post-rock and hardcore punk; where I think La Dispute peg themselves slightly above their contemporaries is in vocalist Jordan Dreyer's lyrics and delivery. La Dispute's music often plays out like a short film or novel, due to Dreyer's foundation in poetry and literature. He paints incredibly vivid landscapes that come to life in the diverse and exciting instrumentation that has become softer and less abrasive with each release. Wildlife is the band's most compelling and affecting collection of short stories, bound together by an ingenious concept. If Wildlife doesn't drag you into one of the more diverse and dynamic corners of heavy music then nothing will. 

   Hopefully some of these provide you with a platform to go and explore more music in these styles, and hopefully I can facilitate discoveries of new favourite bands or awesome albums! Feel free to leave a comment if you think I missed an essential "heavy" album (there are so many worth mentioning!), if you liked any of these or if there's an album you want to hear my thoughts on. 

   Happy listening.