Not my fave Van Halen, but my first. BMG Tape of the Month club, 2nd album I ever owned after ZZ Top Eliminator... So many great memories tied to this album, ranging from my one of my first beers while on a motorboat trip down the Colorado River to being my somewhat obvious sound track when Mrs COld and I visited Colombia's neighbor to the north two years ago. Thanks for the shred, the tapping and the tone, Eddie.

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BitterCOld Starvynth, nikarg, ScreamingSteelUS, RaduP, Daniell, Apothecary, Dream Taster

On the 9th of October I was grooving and passing out continously with this album on the background, hence the two days delay in celebrating the 20 years anniversary of this beast of an album.
This is considered by many to be the band's magnum opus and it's not difficult to see why given how songs like "Funeralopolis" have reached the status of modern classics. From catchy sludge tunes to drawn-out dirges of the drone variety, Dopethrone pummels through with dirty and distorted riffs, redefining the heavyness of stoner metal. Approach with caution, though:

When you get into one of these groups, there's only a couple of ways you can get out: one is death, the other is mental institutions...

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Mr. Doctor RaduP, musclassia

For generations, ever since his explosive debut with this legendary album, Eddie Van Halen has been synonymous with the electric guitar. With the runaway success of Van Halen and the wild, high-energy rock/metal combination the band purveyed in so many hit singles, Eddie became one of the most visible and respected shredders of the '70s and '80s; his most lasting contribution to the craft may be the popularization of tapping, especially of the two-handed variety, and he expressed a familiarity with pinch harmonics, sliding, vibrato, and other techniques that had yet to be fully mined by his genre, but beyond that he wrapped the spotlight around himself and pushed the art of guitar-playing into a new plane of excess. From his distinctive tone to his knack for riff-writing to his seemingly effortless facility with his instrument, Eddie was a monumental figure, the gold standard for hard rock and glam metal in his heyday and even now one of the faces of the guitar to the world at large. We shouldn't forget how he pushed the envelope even further with his daring use of synthesizers on "Jump" and his collaboration with Michael Jackson on "Beat It," but it is this album that more than any illustrates why people have always talked about Eddie Van Halen as a revelatory force.

"Eruption" is a notorious benchmark of technical prowess, as iconic as "Smoke On The Water" or "Iron Man" but for a higher skill set, and songs like "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Runnin' With The Devil" boast some of the most recognizable riffs of the decade; the name "Van Halen" itself has become an antonomasia to describe a musically skilled showman. Even the design of his trademark "Frankenstrat" has developed into an image and a brand all its own. I may not be the biggest Van Halen fan out there, but it's impossible to deny the status that Eddie enjoyed in the musical world and the sway he held over generations of players; I'm glad I was able to see him once and watch him live up to that reputation.

RIP Eddie.

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ScreamingSteelUS musclassia, D.T. Metal, RaduP, nikarg, BitterCOld, Daniell, Dream Taster, Starvynth, Pierre Tombale

I'd like to thank Dukatalon for giving me 10 years to recover from the beating I suffered at the hands of Saved By Fear. Cheers. Only took me 10 months this go around from the pummeling to recover enough strength to type a staff pick for Involuntary Action. Good, fun pounding music, just like Bob's Sludge Bunker, they play both kinds, fast and slow. Should be a voluntary action on your part to run to bandcamp and check this out.

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BitterCOld musclassia, Troy Killjoy, Mr. Doctor

Quite akin to the previous album I staff picked, this is a release by a band before they became metal. It would be another 10 years before the industrial part of Killing Joke's sound became rough enough to warrant the "industrial metal" tag, but even from the beginning their cold and mechanical post-punk oozed of the sounds of industrial music, though more focused on barrages of bass, cold and anxious atmospheres, and feverishly angry vocals. It laid the groundwork for industrial rock 40 years ago today, though its influence was even more far reaching than that, and you could say that it ranks among those albums who inspired everyone who heard them. Even if Killing Joke committed the cardinal sin of having two non-consecutive self-titled albums.

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RaduP BitterCOld, nikarg, Daniell, Darkside Momo

Don't judge a book by its cover. Apocalypse & Chill's title is a clear reference to the contemporary 'Netflix and Chill' trend, and the album cover is trying to depict our preoccupation to look gorgeous and take selfies while the world out there is on fire. Great idea, not so great execution. No matter what you think of the album cover and the antithesis it is trying to highlight, the music of Delain's latest is hitting the nail on the head; it takes modern metal guitar hooks that sound really heavy at times and adorns them with keyboards, chorals and symphonic elements in a very balanced manner. Apocalypse & Chill stays strong throughout its runtime, featuring its best material in the second half. Make sure to check out Charlotte's duet with Yannis Papadopoulos (Beast In Black) on "Vengeance", the super heavy "Creatures" with its chorus nodding to Queen's "The Show Must Go On", the absolutely epic "Masters Of Destiny" and the djenty (not joking) instrumental "Combustion".

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nikarg RaduP, D.T. Metal, Ag Fox, Dream Taster

Not only did we miss this album's 30th anniversary by a couple of days, but this is also an album from before the band became metal (the opposite of what most bands are doing). Though Fields Of The Nephilim would start becoming more "brutal" with the next albums, it can't be understated how influential their gothic rock phase was to the soon-to-emerge gothic metal scene (which they would eventually join in a feedback loop of influence). Elizium is the apex of Fields Of The Nephilim's gothic rock sound, and honestly of gothic rock in general, at least out of the bits we have here. Dark, ominous, romantic, and magick. And even by goth rock standards, very atmospheric. It isn't hard to get why this was so influential, and why Fields Of The Nephilim have a Metal Storm page (and might've still had one even without their later albums) and The Sisters Of Mercy don't. All while we hope there would be another record sometime in the future.

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RaduP Mr. Doctor, nikarg, Daniell, BitterCOld

A bit later than expected, but we finally have the second part of the Phanerozoic project from The Ocean, and a worthy sibling to Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic it is. "Jurassic | Cretaceous" in particular is a fantastic demonstration of what this collective are capable of.

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musclassia RaduP, Ivor, Dream Taster, Ag Fox, Pierre Tombale

Exactly 30 years ago, on September 24th, Rust In Peace was unleashed upon the world and had the impact of an atomic bomb. Just before thrash metal's demise, Megadeth released a magnificent masterpiece that was at the same time so aggressive yet dexterous, so catchy yet progressive, so melodic yet gritty, that it would be considered groundbreaking even if it was released today. Alongside the two Daves, Rust in Peace was the first Megadeth album to feature lead guitarist Marty Friedman and the late Nick Menza on drums, thus undoubtedly forming the most talented line-up the band ever had. Titles like "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", "Hangar 18", and "Tornado Of Souls" are carved with golden letters on the Book of Thrash's Legendary Tracks. To be consumed incessantly and irresponsibly until nuclear warfare wipes us off the face of this planet.

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nikarg RaduP, Starvynth, ScreamingSteelUS, Troy Killjoy, Dream Taster, Darkside Momo, Daniell, Pierre Tombale, Redel

I wouldn't want to crowd the main page with three anniversary staff picks, but Lee Kerslake's passing just one day shy of this album's 40th anniversary led me to realize how much Ozzy Osbourne struck gold with the lineup of this album. Kickstarting a career that would lead him from metal pioneer to Prince Of Darkness, Blizzard Of Ozz not only has some of the best songs of his career (but some questionable ones too), but also some of the best musicians: Randy Rhoads just a few years before his untimely passing, Don Airey, Bob Daisley, and, though his Uriah Heep career might be the more interesting of the bunch, there's no denying how much Lee Kerslake's drumming elevates this album as well.

That said, what the hell is a "bone movie"?

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RaduP nikarg, Daniell, Redel

It has now been 50 years since Hendrix's passing, in September of 1970. Several months prior, at the Fillmore East with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles, he recorded the now legendary Band Of Gypsys live album. In contrast to the heavier psychedelic rock approach of his earlier material, the music on Band Of Gypsys saw Hendrix embrace a much funkier approach, more free roaming and a lot groovier in its delivery. This is as good a hint of where the man's sound may have gone had he lived on if any, into more expansive territory oozing of soul and jazz influence. Give it a whirl and mourn the planned Hendrix/Miles Davis collaborative album that never was.

Rest In Power, Jimi.

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Apothecary RaduP, ScreamingSteelUS, nikarg, Dream Taster, Fat & Sassy!, Daniell

I'm not going to go to the same effort that I did to mark the half-centenary of Black Sabbath, but I do think that Paranoid is the superior album by far - it was one of my first metal albums (mine and the rest of the world's) and it remains one of my favorites. The guitars, bass, and drums on this album are simply flawless, and the vocals are pretty good, too. I would tentatively say that heavy metal has not yet produced another work as instrumentally well-rounded and complete as "War Pigs." Every groove of this album is the very essence of metal incarnate, and while you are correct in noting that we mostly use the Staff Picks feature just to mark anniversaries nowadays, there are few albums worth celebrating as much as Paranoid. It boggles the mind to consider that this album has been in the world for 50 years and it is still looked upon as a masterpiece.

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ScreamingSteelUS Mr. Doctor, Starvynth, RaduP, Apothecary, nikarg, Fat & Sassy!, BitterCOld, Abattoir, Daniell, Redel

Colin Marston is mostly known for producing dissonant tech death, but he is surprisingly great at bringing SVNTH's post-black metal sound to new heights as well. The sound may not be at the height of popularity it once was, but SVNTH reminds us why the serene post-rock/shoegaze sound contrasted so well with the raw and visceral black metal one. And with most of the songs being over the 10-minutes-mark, you know you'll get your worth of contrasting sounds.

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RaduP

30 years ago, on September 3, 1990, Judas Priest released the perfect heavy metal album. Not A perfect heavy metal album - THE perfect heavy metal album, a nonstop death machine bristling with power and speed that puts all competition to shame. The title track really says it all: it's iconic from head to toe, opening with Scott Travis's merciless drum volley and closing with Rob's peremptory shriek of "PAIN!!", with some of the greatest shredding ever committed to wax in between. But the album doesn't end there; for 47 minutes, Painkiller holds its listeners captive with stratospheric screeching, face-melting guitar solos, and the sleekest, heaviest, most brutally effective solution of thrash-laced heavy metal that the world has ever heard. The snarling evil of "Night Crawler," the pummeling metallic frenzy of "Metal Meltdown," the epic and intimidating groove of "Hell Patrol" - every track is a guaranteed killer from one of the most legendary bands ever to give meaning to the phrase "heavy metal." I love the myriad styles of metal music and I embrace it in all its deathly, blackened, doomy, thrashy, folksy, grindy, djenty extremity, but when it comes to the grand tradition, the classic sound, the stuff that "heavy metal" in its purest form is made of, there is nothing better than Painkiller.

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ScreamingSteelUS RaduP, nikarg, Troy Killjoy, Dream Taster, Abattoir, Redel

Though Brazil's Kaatayra has released four genre defying black metal releases in the past two years, two of them just this year, it is Só quem viu o relâmpago à sua direita sabe that stuck with me most, mostly because it was both the first one I listened to and the one that shook things up the most. Completely defying metal's longest held rule: it must have electric guitars; Só quem viu o relâmpago à sua direita sabe instead sometimes sounds like Botanist lite or like atmospheric black metal with acoustic instruments instead of electric ones, but the Brazilian folk embeddings and their layering makes it sound like more than just its gimmick, showcasing great skill and ambition for a one-man band that successfully made black metal sound natural. Though if you miss the electric guitars, you can hear them in the other album they've released since: Toda história pela frente.

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RaduP musclassia, ScreamingSteelUS, Mr. Doctor, Starvynth