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Speed Metal & Thrash |
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Artist:
Metallica
One of the defining albums of thrash metal, Master of Puppets is arguably Metallica's best album (as well as their last with bassist Cliff Burton). Focusing on the concept of power and abuses thereof, this is a collection of complex, intelligent music, played at about a hundred miles an hour. Not that these are short songs; this eight-song album clocks in at over an hour, which makes it all the more impressive that not one moment on this recording is boring. In tackling various approaches to their subject, Metallica is insightful lyrically as well as musically: "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is from the point of view of an institutionalised inmate and "Disposable Hero...
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £5.23
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Artist:
Mastodon
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £3.92
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Artist:
Metallica
Don't let that classical-guitar opening to "Fight Fire with Fire" fool you--Ride the Lightning packs a heavy-metal wallop. While not as ambitious as the subsequent Master of Puppets, this early Metallica album is indubitably one of their best. Thematically, it explores death and dying from myriad points of view: nuclear war ("Fight Fire with Fire"), electric-chair execution (the title track) and drowning ("Trapped Under Ice"). Interestingly, the best track on this album is probably "Fade to Black", a slower, more introspective song about suicide. There's also "Creeping Death", which remains a concert favourite. An excellent mix of rapid-fire guitar riffs, ri...
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £4.45
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Artist:
Slayer
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List Price: £5.99
Our Price: £3.89
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Artist:
Metallica,
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
As if to accentuate their fundamental hugeness, Metallica (arguably the most consistently innovative metal band of the 80s and 90s) stretched yet further into the arena of the titanic with this immense cohesion of the orchestral and the truly seismic. Recorded live at California's Berkeley Community Theatre with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of composer and arranger Michael Kamen, S & M showcases over two hours of the band's best known material including the muscular thrash of "Master Of Puppets" and the devastating power of "Enter Sandman". Also featuring a pair of brand new compositions--the pounding menace of "Human" and chest-beating ...
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £7.50
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Artist:
Metallica
Called "the Black Album" by many (due to its monochrome cover), Metallica marks the group's entrance into the mainstream, with shorter songs, simpler song structures and slower tempos overall. That said, this is an excellent album, featuring some of the best songwriting Metallica has ever done. "Enter Sandman", "Wherever I May Roam" and "God That Failed", despite being slower and more groove-oriented than the band's earlier work, feature the same heavy riffs and heavier rhythms that have always been a feature of Metallica's music. The band goes introspective with "Unforgiven" and proves that they can write a ballad with "Nothing Else Matters", which succeeds better...
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £3.99
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Artist:
Metallica
This record has so much good material that it's a shame the production is so shoddy. Song-wise, this is probably Metallica's most sophisticated album, exploring the theme of justice and perversions thereof with a vengeance. "One" is one of their best songs ever, building from a slow, edgy beginning into effortless overdrive. The title track is excellent and never boring, despite clocking in at more than nine minutes. It's the epic of the album, but all of the songs are long, displaying impressive chops and songwriting. Metallica took a commercial turn after ...And Justice for All, and it's interesting to speculate on what would have happened to their music had they...
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £3.80
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Artist:
System Of A Down
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List Price: £5.99
Our Price: £3.07
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Artist:
Pantera
Even those who scoff at the idea that rock & roll is the devil's music have to think twice when listening to Pantera. The pill-popping, strip-bar-ogling, beer-guzzling Texas combo takes Metallica's speed-metal cues to new heights of brutality and sacrilege. Fortunately, they're extremely good at what they do. The polyrhythmic complexity of Vinnie Paul's drumming in "Psycho Holiday" and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell's breathtaking solo in "Heresy" are examples of state-of-the-art metal musicianship. Vocalist Phil Anselmo often sounds like Metallica's James Hetfield, but his brooding croon on "Cemetery Gates" and his falsetto screams on the blindingly fast "Shattered" are mor...
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List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £2.25
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Artist:
System Of A Down
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List Price: £4.99
Our Price: £1.72
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