The Other Classics

The Other Classics
By Rory Bentley

We’ve all seen those click-baity lists of the top whatever of whatever, designed to prompt discourse and sew disharmony in the comments section with the twin-pronged attack of hot-takes and nostalgia. Heck – I’ve written a few myself over the years, but it’s often the same old faces when it comes to featuring ‘classic’ albums. To the newcomer into Metal it’s surely good to know that “Master of Puppets” is an S-tier album, or that “Perseverance” is a good place to start with Hatebreed, but sometimes there are bands whose catalogs are so consistent, or at least lengthy, that albums that would be hailed as other band’s best work don’t get the love they deserve. This is where ‘The Other Classics’ comes in.

I’m not focusing necessarily on maligned albums that deserve a proper reappraisal- your “Turbos” or your “Loads” etc (which actually get more coverage off the back of their controversy) – but albums that are clearly killer by popular consensus but have been eclipsed by a band’s more prominent works. Maybe they followed a seminal album, maybe there was no grand, marketable story behind their composition other than just being really good, or maybe they didn’t have that breakout song or groundbreaking change of direction that other entries to the respective band’s discography had. Whatever the reason, it is here we shout about these records with all the gusto they deserve but don’t always get. Let us know some of yours in the comments, but only if you’ve properly read the rules. If you start telling me “Risk” is good or whatever then I’ll just block you. Also don’t even think about bringing Iron Maiden up, nothing they’ve ever released has been underrated even when it’s been wank. Which it often has been.

Here are 5 wonderful full-lengths that are every bit as worth your time as their more publicly lauded siblings to get us started in what I hope will be a recurring feature.

Converge – No Heroes

Sandwiched between the phenomenal, gut-wrenching “You Fail Me” and the sprawling, collaborative “Axe To Fall” as well as in the long shadow of “Jane Doe” this album feels like the archetypical ‘Other Classic’. In many ways “No Heroes” is Converge’s bleakest and angriest release, boiling over with apoplectic rage and disappointment in humanity and Jacob Bannon’s self-loathing in places. The riffs retain their angular squeals and panic chords throughout, but there is a sludgier, bottom-heavy tone to Kurt Balou’s guitar work and Nate Newton’s distorted bass is positively oppressive. Songs like the title track and the crushing ‘Plagues’ feel more muscular and closer to straight-up Metal than on previous releases, which may have alienated the more Hardcore-leaning elements of the fanbase, and the addition of Stephen Brodsky contributing clean vocals (gasp!) on the cavernous epic “Grim Heart/Black Rose” may have been too much for both the Metal and Hardcore kids. At least the ones with little bitch ears anyway.

Whichever way you slice it though, “No Heroes” has been relegated to the background for too long. It might not have the iconic status of “Jane Doe” or a million guests on like “Axe To Fall” but you’re not telling me that an album that can casually toss in ‘Orphaned’ and ‘Lonewolves’ in the middle of its tracklist doesn’t deserve to be on a pedestal.

Machinehead- Bloodstone & Diamonds

Look, nobody’s arguing this is on the level of “The Blackening” or “Burn My Eyes”, but this album is criminally overlooked and gets nowhere near enough love. After the very good but ultimately inferior “Unto The Locust” suffered heavily in the wake of “The Blackening” by unfavourable comparison (because of course it did), not enough people gave Machinehead the kudos they deserved after delivering this fourth excellent release since coming back from the brink in 2003. Dig a little deeper though and this thing is loaded with absolute gems that are more than worthy of rubbing shoulders with your ‘Ten Ton Hammers’ and ‘Halos’ in the setlist. ‘Now We Die’ is a caustic riff storm bolstered by Jordan Fish’s string arrangements that is the band at their fist-pumping, anthemic best, ‘Killers and Kings’ is a Thrash masterpiece and ‘Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones’ has those creepy, almost Neurosis-like atmospherics that the band should get way more credit for.

Then you’ve got the raging ‘Night of the Long Knives’ which goes unbelievably hard both musically and thematically as it dissects the Manson Family murders in graphic detail and sees Robb at his most unhinged on the mic. Then of course there’s the filthy grooves of ‘Beneath The Silt’ that are as satisfying as a full English after waking up with a hangover. It’s around this time that the band started doing their ‘Evening With’ sets, playing 3 hour career spanning sets, which is very fitting considering this record runs the full gamut of the Machinehead sound, apart from the bargain bin Nu-Metal which would sadly crop up after this. Either way, this is a record worthy of the esteemed company of the band’s finest releases.

Deftones – Deftones

Another album that was a victim of its predecessor, the number of albums better than 2000s “White Pony” can be counted on one hand – and you wouldn’t need all your fingers. Despite this massive weight of expectation, the Sacramento Alt-Metal band’s fourth album is a stunning work that needs some respect put on its name! Not only does it sound absolutely massive thanks to an incredibly expensive production period, but it’s the first time that the soon to be huge elements of Shoegaze begin to make their presence fully felt in the band’s sound.

‘Minerva’ is a mountain-sized wall of guitars and shimmering reverb with a sublime, impassioned vocal from Chino and remains one of the finest singles of the noughties. We still get the serene Trip Hop moments of the previous album on the seductive ‘Lucky You’, while ‘Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event’ is pure lo-fi majesty that is the melancholic equal to the “White Pony” ballad ‘Teenager’. But don’t be fooled – this album contains some of the nastiest, most brutal songs in the Deftones oeuvre, and is probably the last time they sounded this feral.

‘When Girls Telephone Boy’ is like being dragged through broken glass with a banshee screaming in your ear, and ‘Bloody Cape’ has the kind of riff that makes festival crowds bounce and punch each other like they’ve contracted the rage virus. It’s also a small miracle that Chino can even speak to this day when you listen to the vocal abuse he puts himself through on ‘Hexagram’. 

I know everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but if you’re not down with this album I wouldn’t trust you around children or animals.

Testament – The Gathering

I’m not fucking around or rage-baiting here: this is the best Testament album. Sure it doesn’t have Alex Skolnick on it, but this version of the band is entirely populated by absolute ballers. Joining the core of Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson is the bass wizard Steve Di Giorgio, the shred hitman James Murphy of Death, Obituary and Disincarnate and Dave Fucking Lombardo! The results are distilled Thrash alchemy. 

As openers go, ‘D.N.R.’ is an all-timer that honestly makes me a danger to myself and others when it comes on. Chuck sounds phenomenal, the riffs are like a surgical blade scything through your ears, and the chemistry with Lombardo is immediately apparent. The band had leaned into a harder, more extreme style on the previous two records to decent effect, but that classic Thrash pace and song craft often felt missing. Here it is back big-style on the likes of ‘3 Days of Darkness’ and the brooding ‘Riding The Snake’, but combined with the weighty low-end and Chuck’s bellowing death growls they had added to their sound.

Look, I love the classic lineup reunion album “Formation of Damnation”, but to call it a comeback when it’s not as good as this doesn’t sit right with me. Show me something on there as good as ‘Legions of the Dead’ and we’ll talk!

The Dillinger Escape Plan- Option Paralysis

Like Converge, all of this band’s albums are great, but some albums are celebrated more than others. Quite rightly “Calculating Infinity” is held up as the classic, with “Ire Works” the mid-career peak and “Dissociation” hailed as the closing masterpiece. But what about the magnificent “Option Paralysis”? No Dillinger set is complete without the chaotic flailing limbs and soaring vocal acrobatics on ‘Farewell Mona Lisa’, and the creepy, unhinged ‘Gold Teeth on a Bum’, both featuring stronger choruses than should be possible on songs that sound like everyone on the band’s being electrocuted at random intervals.

Then there’s the unsettling semi-balladry of ‘Widower’ and the closer ‘Parasitic Twin’ where Greg Puciato goes from lounge lizard to screeching banshee at the drop of a hat, further cementing his legacy as the modern Mike Patton. While it may be slightly less eclectic than “Ire Works”, it is also more cohesive whilst blending that album’s sonic leaps. It will never be as impactful as ‘Calculating Infinity’, or the breathtaking career full stop of “Dissociation”, but as a standalone record it more than holds its own. What a band.

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