by Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild___ 

“The Great Cold Distance” is musically and lyrically superior to everything else produced in the first decade of the 22^nd century.

1.      Katatonia  - “The Great Cold Distance” (2006)

I feel that this album is the best of the decade. I feel that metal as a genre has grew and expanded beyond anybody’s expectations. “The Great Cold Distance” is musically and lyrically superior to everything else produced in the first decade of the 22^nd century. This album also launched their career in the United States. They went from supporting act to headliner in a matter of months. In the world of metal, there hasn’t been an album that has portrayed such dark and gloomy emotions since Black Sabbath invented the genre. Every single metaller should own this album. If you don’t like it now because it’s not aggressive enough, wait 5 years and you’ll be playing this CD constantly for a very long time.

2.      In Flames – “Clayman” (2000)                                                                                                                                          Many considered “Clayman” to be In Flames’s last great CD before sounding more like a modern rock band as opposed to a melodic death metal band out of Gothenburg. Nearly every song on this CD is a classic. This is quite the powerful CD that started off the decade. It’s also primarily responsible for my entrance to European metal that, in my opinion, dominated the decade.

3.      Nightwish – “Once” (2004)                                                                                                                                          I’m still not sure which sold more, this album or “Dark Passion Play” but “Once” was t heir big push toward the mainsteam. “Once” represented a giant step for metal as a genre when they incorporated an orchestra in nearly all of their songs on t his record. Dimmu Borgir incorporated and orchestra as well, on one track (that I know of), Metallica did it on a live CD, but for original music, Nightwish did it on the majority of the album. “Once” was hailed album of the year by multiple journalists throughout the world .It was technical, heavy, soft, and the lyrics were great. This album had it all. Operatic singing to growling. Ballads to mosh-pit worthy metal.

4.      Opeth – “Blackwater Park” (2002)                                                                                                                           I have gotten grief about this one already. I’ve had two friends say that “Ghost Reveries” is far better. Then I point out “The Drapery Falls” and its brilliance and usually the conversation usually ends. Up until this point, no one was doing this. Long, intricate songs, combined with the best death-metal singing and clean singing available. This album was the starting point, in my opinion, of Opeth’s popularity. Had this album not been successful, Opeth would still be an opening act. This is another CD where there isn’t a bad track at all.

5.      Lacuna Coil – “Comalies” (2002)                                                                                                                                          “Comalies” has sold more than any other Lacuna Coil album. This album, made them. This is the album that people think about when they think “Lacuna Coil” it’s their quintessential album. Nearly every song on here is a classic and is easily recognizable by anyone who’s ever heard the band. Lacuna Coil hundreds of bands with their music, many of whom heard it first from this album. They made their first music videos from this album. “Comalies” is a milestone of what happened in the first decade of the century.

6.      Soilwork – “Natural Born Chaos” (2002)                                                                                                                           Before 2002, if you mentioned Soilwork, you might have gotten, “who?” Back then, Soilwork was only known by the metal head that went out of his way to find underground bands that ripped. Soilwork had two decent albums before this one, “The Chainheart Machine” and “A Predator’s Portrait.” Yes, know…”Steelbath Suicide” and other demos, but I consider them a non-factor since they don’t reflect what the band has done since. Anyway. “Natural Born Chaos” has been heralded by everyone in the metal community as Soilwork’s best album. Sure, they’ve came out with two great ones since (you know which ones) but this album features Strid’s best singing, Wicher’s best solos, and lyric writing that was ahead of its time. This is also the album that turned the band into headliners. This album is another pillar of the decade of metal and another band from Gothenburg on this list.

7.      Rammstein – Mutter (2000)

To follow up “Sehnsucht” would not be an easy task. That album went double platinum in the U.S. and the song “Du Hast” became a staple of the last 90’s pop-culture with heavy video rotation everywhere. “Mutter” was a brilliant CD. In many ways it sounded superior to “Sehnsucht.” The songs were a tiny bit more complex with the exception of “Links.” They also made several videos for this album and they even made a movie appearance in “XXX” in which they looked and sounded tight! The songs on this album sounded more emotional than their past, and kicked off what the rest of the decade had to compete against.

8.      Testament – “Formation of Damnation” (2007)

There are no hits on this CD. It’s all one, gigantic, fuck of a heavy CD. I’ll go as far as saying that it’s the heaviest. It’s brutal and it’s Testament! Who would have ever thought that a band from the 80’s, who’ve gone through line-up change over line-up change, label after label, bounce back, and simply rip everyone’s face off. They got better with age.  The days of “Practice What You Preach” is over and “Formation of Damnation” sets the new standard of American heavy metal. Don’t be surprised if they get back what they had in the 80’s in the next decade. There’s more to come. I should also mention, this is the only (full) American band on this list.

9.      Sentenced – “The Cold White Light” (2002)

This album was popular enough to get the band to do a U.S. tour, in which the singer openly hated it. Aside from that, Sentenced grew as a band with this disc. Instead of their normal, doom, gloom, suicide routine, they went as far as to examine going on in life. They quoted Robert Frost in one of their songs even. This was another album where there weren’t any “filler” tracks. This was their album of the decade and it’s a shame they didn’t end their “recording association” with each other after this one because it’s a hell of a lot better than “The Funeral Album”

10.    King Diamond – “The Puppet Master” (2003)

For years, King Diamond played shows as kind of a novelty without relevance. Most people kind of viewed him as, “Oh yeah King Diamond, Abigail was an awesome album!” That Album came out in the 80’s. Some of his more popular follow-up albums after that “The Eye” and “Them” where okay, but never achieved the status of the legendary “Abigail.” He made other albums after the before mentioned but never gained popularity or were never heralded as great albums or anything significant. “The Puppet Master” came out and changed that. It put King Diamond back on the map. He had more than a few sold-out shows on his American tour and that album was heralded as the best since “Abigail.” In my opinion, it was better. King Diamond was now relevant again, but he needs one more ”great” album to secure this status. The album he did after “Give me your soul…please” was not great and started to venture back to the novelty role. That’s why “The Puppet Master” is listed in #10 instead of higher.

Some honourable mentions include:

                Dark Tranquillity “Damage Done” (2002)

                Node “Das Kapital” (2004)

                Paradise Lost “In Requiem” (2007)

                Sepultura “A-Lex” (2009)

                Samael “Reign of Light” (2005)

                The Lovecrave “The Angel and the Rain” (2006)

“Damage Done”  was a brilliant CD, it didn’t change or shape the genre or anything, it was just a great CD. It helped the band achieve a high status, but I wouldn’t put it in a top ten. Node’s “Das Kapital” could have changed the genre had it been marketed it a bit more and if they got on the “right” tours. Had they toured with Soilwork, Inflames, Machine Head or a band of that caliber, the band really would have taken off. “In Requiem” was the heaviest album Paradise Lost has ever came out with. It was very dark, and all the songs sounded just brilliant. But again, like Node, they never took off here in the U.S. they might be big in Europe, but they failed to make much headway here, which is a shame because they’re a fucking good band. “A-Lex” is a great CD. It came out earlier this year, but the band, again, failed to tour North America and do the proper promotions for it. Not to mention, not everybody accepts them as a legitimate band because the Cavalera brothers, the founders of the band are not longer in it. If people looked beyond that, they’d find an awesome CD. Samael’s “Reign of Light” is my favourite album from that group. It’s, yet, another CD that should have sold more. It should have did more than gain ambiguity. It’s one of my most favourite CDs in my vast collection and it’ll always remain in my personal top ten albums I’ve ever heard, but it didn’t shake the foundation of metal like the top ten did above. Had the Lovecrave came out with a follow-up album within a year or two after making this album, it might have been in my top ten. But the band didn’t do much of anything since it came out. They did a small European tour and played a few festivals, but that’s all. This is another example of, if they were just placed on the right tour, they would have became huge. If they toured with Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Epica, or Visions of Atlantis (Melissa Ferlaak era only) they would have taken off.

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