Crucially, it sounds like Metallica believe in these songs, and are invested in them, which can’t be said for everything on its predecessor. Refusing to go gently into the night however, Californian speed demons Dark Angel dropped a fourth album – the last before their break-up the following year – full of nightmarish raw power. New single The American Dream Is Killing Me drops tomorrow, but Green Day have also just played another brand-new song live for the first time! Initially there were doubts over whether the song would make the album at all, as it contained perhaps the most personal lyrics James Hetfield had written to that point. After the most raucously received debut LP in the history of hard rock, Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion records became its most fervently anticipated second (and third).

Metallica: The untold story of the album that changed… | Kerrang! Metallica: The untold story of the album that changed… | Kerrang!

Recorded in California, Paris and London – and produced by renowned Englishman Gil Norton – there’s a well-travelled flavour, from the woozily schizoid title-track ( Trompe Le Monde being a French phrase for Fool The World) to more poignant anthems like U-Mass and Letter To Memphis.The transition was far smoother than most could’ve imagined, with songs like Veronica Hates Me and Cindy's On Methadone becoming air-punching, instantly-infectious hits. Following up 1989’s prog-thrash masterpiece Nothingface, Canadian quartet Voivod refused to stand still, delivering a sixth album that delved into trippier, psychedelia-tinged territory. One of the conditions of reforming the band in 1991, laid down by vocalist Ben Weasel, was that they moved towards a more Ramones-ish straight punk sound. The release of One as a single and the band’s first-ever music video did boost their profile considerably, but the album’s twisting aggression and prog-like complexities ensured it would still have a limited appeal. Moving away from the more frenzied black metal influence of old, towards an epic doom sound closer to that of Candlemass, tracks like Through Blood By Thunder and Hammerheart (arriving an album late, apparently) swung with all the power of Mjölnir.

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In many ways, it’s a far cry from the despair that characterised the band’s celebrated debut album Disgusting, but the emotional impact is just as, if not more, profound. After a year hiatus, the Awards were relaunched in 2018, with notable guests that included Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, Tony Iommi, Corey Taylor, and Dave Grohl, among others. Forest Of Equilibrium – the debut LP from his legendary doom outfit Cathedral, formed in 1989 – put paid to that. Swapping the chaotic crossover thrash of old for a sometimes sludgier, often groovier, more heavyweight metal sound, the likes of Damned For All Time and Dance Of The Dead melded elements of Sabbath, Maiden and Metallica to confirm the Deep-Southerners were no fast-burning flash in the pan.If you’re in any doubt about the quality of music in 1991, bear in mind that all-time classic Ten only just snuck into our top five. Even beyond its pop-cultural importance, its one of the most riveting portraits of tortured genius in all of music. Seventh LP White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity is widely regarded as the start of the second period of their esteemed career, with tracks like Power And Sacrifice, We Will Survive and Song For The Sun subtly drawing on the sounds of their recent past while shaping them into an attack more coherently polished and forceful. Realists see it as the point they took over the world: the entrance for a legion of new fans into the Metallica familehhhh, and a defiant show of strength from The Four Horsemen, as the emergent grunge generation consigned so many of their contemporaries to the history books.

album, Humble As The Sun | Kerrang! Bob Vylan announce new album, Humble As The Sun | Kerrang!

It’s worth noting that, as with Bauhaus, some of the Sisters’ finest moments never made it to an album. The foursome were the undisputed biggest beast of the Big Four of thrash, but they harboured ambitions to ascend to something altogether grander in scope and scale. On another, it was a pivotal progression of the riot grrrl movement, with its title a slogan for girl power at the time, while Daddy’s Li’l Girl and Suck My Left One represented the sonic equivalent of spitting square in a misogynist’s face. Last album Modern Mirror was a lot sparklier, but their second full-length was arch, dramatic and decidedly dark, revolving around the UFO suicide cult Heaven’s Gate.Gothic music has a tendency to lean towards the dramatic and artistic, often with a literary or poetic bent. During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash metal and glam metal acts on the cover, including Tigertailz, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, and Venom. We did so many takes and Lars, no matter what shit anyone talks about him, I will always defend him,” grins Jason. It’s testament to the time that a band as wilfully silly and stridently progressive as Californian alt.