Hall of Fame Countdown

On its own merits, entirely outside the context of the five masterworks to come, Calculating Infinity spits its own impressive fire and has most certainly made its own tempestuous mark on the heavy music of the past seventeen years.

In which we revisit …And Justice for All and rank the songs from worst to best. Justice is done.

To celebrate our recent induction of Saxon’s NWOBHM classic Wheels of Steel into our Hall of Fame, we ranked each song on the album from least this-rules to most this-rules.

For those of you looking to catch up on black metal classics that came before 1992, go ahead and spin Fallen Angel of Doom, Ritual and Anno Domini, but be sure to make some time for this essential serving of darkness as well.

A classic Viking metal album to end all Viking metal albums.

Because New Year countdowns are all the rage and never get boring, count down the songs on Plague Soundscapes with us.  Or against us.

A journey back to 1992, where cold winds blow.

Onward into the devouring depths.

Dive into the Infinity of Thoughts.

A look at each track on Neurosis’ game-changing 1996 Hall of Fame-inducted monolith hrough Silver in Blood

There are many reasons why Dying Fetus’ Destroy the Opposition rules, but one in particular stands (severed) head and shoulders above them all: the riffs. Slick, catchy and heavy as fuck, this is death metal that was written to be remembered. 

In honor of W.A.S.P.’s self-titled debut finally making it into our Hall of Fame, let’s take a detailed look at the album’s songs, ranked from least-this-is-amazing to most-this-is-amazing.

It’s weird to think of any Slayer album as “transitional,” as they all share the same basic sonic sensibilities (namely, the sound of your skin being flayed from your quaking bones), but if there’s any record that marks a clear turning point in their career, it’s 1988’s South of Heaven.

British black metal blasphemers Cradle of Filth recently joined forces with Cacophonous Records to release the original recording of Dusk…and Her Embrace (called The Original Sin, out July 8th). To celebrate, Decibel revisits the first collaboration between the band and label: 1994’s sanguinary trailblazer The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.

L7’s seminal third LP stands the test of time via its excellent songs, hefty production (courtesy of the legendary Butch Vig), pithy lyrics and general “go fuck yourself” attitude. Ranking these nasty jams from “worst to best” is a downright punchable offense, but let’s do it anyway.

Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka is a near-perfect death metal album—absolutely pummeling and technically astonishing, yet layered with unique instrumentation and musical phrasing that give it an ancient, otherworldly atmosphere. Ranking such a slab of awesomeness from “worst to best” is about as ridiculous as Sully Erna’s face tattoo, but that’s never stopped us before!

Nightfall‘s big brother may get most of the attention, but Candlemass’ sophomore LP has more than enough potency to sit on its own throne. Ranking the songs by merit is utter madness since it’s a stone cold masterpiece…but that’s never stopped us before!

You will be able to read our inside take on how Venom Inc. came together in the forthcoming May issue. In the meantime, we thought it was a perfect occasion to rank the songs on one of the most revered metal albums ever: Black Metal. 

With three rock-solid releases preceding it (one of which is an undeniable first-ballot classic) and two, shall we say, polarizing releases following it, Arise is the sound of Sepultura finding their sweet spot. Ranking the songs from “worst to best” is borderline insane as they all completely rip, but we did it anyway.

Twenty-two years later, Tiamat’s Wildhoney remains a marvel—a truly mighty bridge that countless bands have since crossed in an effort to meld the brutal with the otherworldly. We break down the 120th entry into our Hall of Fame over a big ol’ glass of Psilocybe tea.

In 1996, Cryptopsy bled out None So Vile, an album brimming with technical ability that nevertheless always feels a half-second away from fraying, fragmenting and falling apart.  That energy, along with all the musical acumen on display, made sure that None So Vile wound up in our Hall of Fame four years ago.

The Mantle is a superb front-to-back mood piece, a turn-of-the-millennium meditation on thoroughly American frontier sensibilities with a metallic foil.

King Diamond and crew are currently slaying their way across the U.S. playing Abigail in its entirety, so what better time to break down our 84th entry into the Hall of Fame?

Settle in for a completely unsatisfactory arrangement of Prowler’s tracks that is based entirely on my compulsive need for complete strangers to agree with my opinions.

For “Pestilence By Beemahr” — my short story detailing the grotesque comeuppance a mad perfumer-cum-exterminator receives at the tiny, multitudinous feet of a surprisingly sentient army of flesh-eating gypsy moth caterpillars amidst an egg-web festooned apocalypse, which is available today in the Grey Matter Press rock n’ roll-themed horror anthology Savage Beasts — I drew inspiration from the human-body-as-insect-incubator track “Out of the Body” from Pestilence’s towering sophomore album Consuming Impulse:

I was 7 years old when the ’Deth dropped their fourth LP in 1990, and my first experience with the thrash masterpiece was not a pleasant one. It was my friend Jason’s birthday party, and along with the obligatory Nerf products and Stüssy shirts, his gift haul included two cassette tapes: Iron Maiden’s No Prayer for the Dying and Megadeth’s Rust in Peace (inducted into the Decibel Hall of Fame in May 2012, buy the issue here).

Oceanic was truly magical, a confluence of songwriting and tone quality and pacing that signaled a new depth for this rapidly evolving musical collective.  Opinions will differ about the quality of what came next, but it’s hard to deny that Oceanic marked an exciting developmental stage for Isis, when burly distortion was still a thematic element rather than an accent piece and contemplative crescendos built themselves into stunning peaks.

1980 could have been a disaster for Black Sabbath. They had recently parted ways with Ozzy Osbourne, their batshit crazy yet undeniably entertaining frontman, and drummer Bill Ward’s Hemingway-esque boozing was threatening his very ability to play. Instead of accepting their inevitable slide into obscurity, band masterminds Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler knuckled down and wrote eight songs that expressed a variety of new dynamics, textures, and emotions. Oh, and they recruited a little ol’ singer named Ronnie James motherfucking Dio, whose previous work with Elf and Rainbow had already cemented him as one of rock’s premier wailers.