Das Perfekte Album

[Nightspirit]

I really liked that article. A lot of good alchemy goes into making a "good" album, let alone a perfect album. Consistency is so very important, especially when presenting a 30-70 minute program. Something needs to marginalize it away from other exemplars both within and without a catalog. This might be why certain albums almost take on an identity of their own away from the band itself. When the music becomes more memorable than the group making it, there has to be a merit behind it. Many of those aforementioned albums in the article actually do take on this unique identity. The unfortunate problem that I think artists face is to keep the creative genius flowing and constantly pump out new, fresh ideas.

I have a legitimate question to further this discussion: Has there ever been a band (beyond 3 albums) that has kept this pattern going, as in creating album after album that ranks into the metal-landmark/ A-list category for their entire career?

[infinitesimal]

I think there is another thread asking more or less the same question but nevertheless,
Summoning and to a to lesser extent the works of Rob Draken and Ildjarn are all that come to mind.

[istaros]

Agreed that Summoning, Graveland, and Ildjarn are pretty much it. The only addition that comes to my mind is Beherit - although they barely have three LP's, all of them but HV1.whatever are excellent, and they're spread out over a long (albeit interrupted) career. Strange that no death metal bands come to mind.

[WAAAAAAGH!]

Averse sefira sort of qualify. Their first release is not exactly A material. They did however improve on every release until disbanding. A rare quality.

I have not listening to any Bolt Thrower after ....for victory but they come to mind as being consistently excellent until that point at least.

[Grim Morrison]

The Chasm
Gorguts - across 4 albums
Manilla Road (pretty much everything across a 3 decade existence is gold)
Mortem from Peru - 4 releases so far, each one better than the one before.

Several (Immolation, Slayer, Bathory, King Diamond with Fate and solo in the 80s... spring immediately to mind) have released 4/5/6 good/great albums and then sort of lost the edge..

[hell]

I just saw the show of IMMOLATION, and confirms your questions.
 they are certainly within the first.

[istaros]

I considered Averse Sefira, The Chasm, and Manilla Road as well. All exist within the upper echelon of metal, but none within the incomparably uppermost tier. The Chasm had a couple of mediocre releases, so did Manilla Road(plus one AWFUL album that shouldn't have really been released under the band's name in the first place). It is true that all three maintained quality (overall) throughout their careers, though.

Immolation is squarely in the crap zone by now. Third Gorguts starts getting goofy, fourth is junk. I haven't listened to anything but snippets from Bolt Thrower after ...For Victory either, but it doesn't seem worth much; like WAAGH said, great up until then. There are innumerable death metal bands that followed this course; the question is which bands both a) had many releases and b) never deviated. That disqualifies Bathory, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Asphyx, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Massacra, Pestilence, Candlemass, Burzum, Enslaved, and countless others. Same goes for Darkthrone, by the way, who are specifically interesting because their descent was so gradual - everything up to Transilvanian Hunger was excellent, Panzerfaust was pretty good, and then the next couple of albums were OK... and then...

Although I did just remember another band that might be worth including: Skepticism.

[WAAAAAAGH!]

I can handle the new darkthrone under the influence of beer and comrades because I see them merely as entertainers these days.

Gorguts third album really reveals itself after multiple listens. Admittedly, I hated it for years. The following album is more immediately pleasing but falls flat on its face after a second or third spin. Well executed garbage.

When you really take the upper most tier of metal, every single one of them took a nose dive into horrible at some point. The most consistent bands never truly reached the summit. Neither did they drop mountaineering for lance Armstrong impersonators either.

[hell]

Could you be more specific with Immolation.
 In fact I thought of Bathory and also Marduk.

[WAAAAAAGH!]

Requiem destroyer of worlds and octagon are all completely disposable works by bathory. Not pandering low but nothing of measurable quality either. Perfect careers is the name of the game here. Marduk is just redundant. Its existence has not once managed to fill a single void to justify itself.

I feel like Inquisition should be considered for this list. At the very least in terms of consistent quality. The middle albums are the weakest while the most recent two are the best of their work thus far. I know these guys aren't fairly popular but I believe their work has merit.

[Discharged]

I feel like Inquisition should be considered for this list. At the very least in terms of consistent quality. The middle albums are the weakest while the most recent two are the best of their work thus far. I know these guys aren't fairly popular but I believe their work has merit.

they are like one the biggest metal bands around?? what do you mean not popular lol

[Examiner]

Inquisition doesn`t seem to get enough notice here, having carved a sound that can be easily distinguished from the rest of the modern metal ilk. This should itself be noteworthy at a moment when most metal either emulates the past in form and/or structure, or just churns out indie carnival music.

I would also argue that Mgła has been highly consistent, but so far its mainly been disregarded as rock music.

[Discharged]

Inquisition doesn`t seem to get enough notice here, having carved a sound that can be easily distinguished from the rest of the modern metal ilk. This should itself be noteworthy at a moment when most metal either emulates the past in form and/or structure, or just churns out indie carnival music.
\

I love OSDM and modern bands that work to achieve that same feel, but also I would much rather the newest wave of metal bands look forward to new directions in their playing style. INQUISITION is a 2 piece band that can emulate their studio sound in a live setting. The riffs that Dagon has written covers all octaves of both guitar and bass, something that is rare to hear.

Plus the fact that they started in Colombia as a Thrash Band then morphed into the more blasphemous black metal band they are now.

[Humanicide]

Though I personally do not enjoy Inquisition's music, I would say that their consistent stylistic development and avoidance of incorporating most "trendy" influences into their art qualifies them for an honorable mention in career-wide coherency.

[hell]

Black Sabbath (I hear about Eternal Idol now).