METAL TOP 20

The Thing That Should Not Be

That Is How The Gods Had Fallen

KREATOR- Renewal (1999)
Mille Petrozza’s band in the 90s made its way as an unofficial advocate of European thrash metal. More progressive “Renewal” appeared to be an experiment which didn’t do any good to KREATOR. Hardcore riffs plus melodic vocals of Petrozza brought about an avalanche of severe criticism. But still, what’s interesting, the group didn’t get discouraged from further searching of new forms. We could experience it on “Endorama” and “Outcast”. But it’s “Renewal” which goes down as the symbol of KREATOR’s collapse.



MEGADETH- Risk (1999)
Redhead has never completely got over the fact of being kicked out of METALLICA. It is believed that with this album he wanted to prove his former fellows that he’s worthy his place in a metal society. Unfortunately, “Risk” not only didn’t reach the expected top but also exposed Mustaine to his fan’s discontent. They will always remember his attempt to sell out.






PARADISE LOST- Host (1999)
The gods of British doom metal scene fell foul of their followers recording album… in a DEPECHE MODE style. For the fans of traditional sound of PARADISE LOST and distinctive Greg Mackintosh’s leading guitar it was a hard shock. “Host” is dominated by electronics hated by the majority of metalheads. Nevertheless, in comparison to its tired out successor (“Believed In Nothing, 2001), it gathers many first-rate compositions. Previously only “Draconian Times” could pride itself with the number of hits.



DEICIDE- In Torment In Hell (2000)
Unbelievable but true. “In Torment In Hell” was created hastily and sloppy only to execute their contract duties towards hated Roadrunner Records. In this way Benton demonstrated his fox-cunningness and… absolute disrespect for his fans. This album isn’t the only DEICIDE’s fault anyway – let’s take the previous album „Insineratehymn” which showed that Americans are getting bored with playing death metal. And that’s the way it goes till now.




SEPULTURA - Nation (2001)
When Max left the band the Brazilians managed to record quite decent “Against” after which there came very miserable “Nation”. Tiresome, almost hour-long mixture of tribal thrash and core, monotonous yell of Derrick Green and murky compositions made up the weakest album in Canarinhos’ work. Elements which underlay the expressiveness of their style merged here in a dull mass. Although “Dante XXI” enabled the band to revive in glory, recently people have started to wonder if SEPULTURA without Brothers makes any sense. We’ll see.



CRADLE OF FILTH- Damnation And A Day (2003)
Expectations connected with this album raised the standards extremely high. Eventually, it ought to be their first (and as it soon turned out - the last) album for the bigwig Sony Music. The band supported by an impressive machine cockily announced the creation of the most powerful production in their career. As a result we got CRADLE OF FILTH almost completely deprived of aggression and energy which was distinctive in their previous releases. “Damnation And A Day” is nearly 80-minute sweetish smelling shit of remarkably gay tendencies.



METALLICA- St. Anger (2003)
It’s the album which can safely be included in the top list of heavy metal failures. Adjusting to the latest trends METALLICA decided to be emo and offered us over 75-minute ghastly production of shitty nu-core. They got rid of solos and actually of all those features for which the Four Raiders had been loved all over the world. As a bonus we got a horror entitled “Some Kind Of Monster” documenting precisely the worst period in the band’s history. Nowadays guys want to restore and keep recording with Rick Rubin who motivates them to….come back to the roots.



MORBID ANGEL- Heretic (2003)
Misunderstanding. And it’s still one of the gentlest ways to describe this album. Maybe the leading death metal band from Trinidad and Tobago wouldn’t despise some fragments of this album but it’s unacceptable for such high-ranked group as MORBID ANGEL to release such a shitty stuff. Fucked up sound and insipid Trey’s experiments prevailing on this stuff made “Heretic” look bland even in comparison with plastic „Formulas Fatal To The Flesh”. We’re still waiting for Azagthoth to stop shitting around and coming back for the right track.



ANNIHILATOR- All For You (2004)
It’s unimaginable what this superb Canadian musician did to himself on “All For You”. 2 years after really good “Waking The Fury” Jeff Waters wrote definitely the worst stuff in his career - lacking the inspiration and this distinctive thrash aggressiveness of his guitar, smelling like dirty-cheap perfumes which makes you retch. Anyway, even Jeff once admitted that “All For You” was the thing he’d preferably erase this album from his deeds. Soon, however, he redeemed himself with excellent “Schizo Deluxe”.



ARCTURUS- Sideshow Symphonies (2005)
If ARCTURUS would never record such stuff as „La Masquerade Infernale” or „The Sham Mirrors”, the title „Sideshow Symphonies” would pass as a next mediocre material. Unfortunately, such groups as ARCTURUS are required to present something more than just correctness and soon the uproar of discontent rose which caused Sverd to dissolve the band. What a pity that such a magnificent band abandoned the metal ship in such a pitiable fashion…