BraveWords.com's Top 30 Metal Blade Releases Of All Time - #21
January 25, 2012, 12 years ago
To commemorate the fine 30th Anniversary of metal’s most venerable and storied label, Metal Blade Records, the writers of BraveWords.com have gotten their metalheads together and come up with a list of the Top 30 coolest, most legendary, rockingest, most influential, most deserving of fame and notoriety, releases founder/CEO Brian Slagel and crew have issued since forging the fire way back in mom’s garage in 1982. As has become tradition ‘round here, we are presenting them – through January and February – in reverse order, leading eventually to the penultimate slab of iron ever to carry an esteemed Metal Blade catalogue number.
By Martin Popoff
Slagel loves his metal, but he also always had a deep appreciation for prog. Back in the mid-’80s, no one crashed together both solitudes better than FATES WARNING, given that QUEENSRŸCHE were quickly getting precious, and RUSH, poppy and synth-mad. Awaken The Guardian and sister album The Spectre Within are the storied classics from this Connecticut act, both appreciated for their mystical Ioannis artwork, the similarly dream-stated lyrics of JOHN ARCH, and the NWOBHM-influenced mensa metal enclosed. The friendship between Fates Warning and Metal Blade has resulted in most of the vast catalogue bearing the dependable imprint.
#30) FALCONER – Falconer (2001)
#29) KING’S X – Black Like Sunday (2003)
#28) LETHAL – Programmed (1990)
#27) SACRIFICE – Apocalypse Inside (1993)
#26) CANNIBAL CORPSE – Kill (2006)
#25) THE RED CHORD - Fed Through The Teeth Machine (2009)
#24) THE CROWN – Deathrace King (2000)
#23) VADER – Revelations (2002)
#22) GWAR – Scumdogs Of The Universe (1990)
#21) FATES WARNING – Awaken The Guardian (1987)
