Albums Ranked: Amon Amarth

Amon Amarth are a favorite of mine. Not only are they one of the most consistent bands to have ever existed, but one of the consistently great bands. If you’ve heard a couple Amon Amarth songs then you’ll have a good idea what every other song will be like. Unlike many bands that tend to evolve or experiment, Amon Amarth began with a style of heaviness and melody and have stuck to it. The only real change has been in production quality since their early albums and perhaps their ability to write memorable melodies and sing along choruses. I doubt I will have much to say about individual albums given that their sound has been so similar from album to album, but I can at least point out the highlights. So come along and take a journey with me into the cold northern lands of the vikings.

How this works; Songs are rated on a 5 star rating with each star having a value that is averaged together for the album rating.  Average album rating will equal the band’s rating

1 star=0, I hate it!  The world would be better off without this.

2 stars=25,  I don’t like it but it could be worse

3 stars= 50, decent song but not special

4 stars=75, good song but is missing something that might make it amazing

5 stars=100,  Amazing!

Live albums, demos, cover albums and EP’s are not included.

Note: Popular doesn’t mean great and importance doesn’t mean it’s good either.  A chart topping song only means it is watered down enough for a mainstream audience.

#12

The Great Heathen Army - 88.888%

This album along with the previous three they released (Berserker and Jomsviking) Feel more intended for a good time festival vibe. The albums have more focus on melody than heaviness where previously both aspects where strong. There also seems to be more emphasis on sing along crowd interaction songs. This album continues that trend. This album picks up in the latter half, but the opening songs are weaker ones.

The Good - “Find A Way or Make One” has some Accept vibes to it. It is a more sing along Amon Amarth song, but the lyrics are great and really pushes a feel of resoluteness. For this reason it’s actually one of my favorite Amon Amarth songs. “Dawn of the Norsemen” is also good. “Saxons and Vikings” is incredible. They brought in Biff from Saxon as guest vocalist and he sounds killer for the song. It’s an absolutely legendary collaboration. This is followed by another great track “Skagul Rides With Me”. “The Serpent's Trail” closes out the album strong. On more recent albums Amon Amarth as begun the trend of having symphonic elements on their closing tracks, and this one firmly follows that trend.

The Bad - I think this is the only Amon Amarth Album where the opening track didn’t get 5 stars. That’s normally not a good sign. Despite Hegg sounding great on the title track, its otherwise not their best work. “Heidrun” is a good song, but still not 5 stars. “Oden Owns You All” although heavy isn’t to exciting, the melody keeps it at 4 stars, but otherwise might be only a 3.

#11

Jomsviking - 90%

Given that my current avarage album ranking of every album I’ve ranked (including many that are not yet listed) is around 82% and Amon Amarth’s lowest ranked album is 90% that should tell you the quality of the band. This album feels like the most mainstream of any of their albums. Almost like their traditional metal influences shine through a bit more than normal. We also get the metal queen Doro with guest vocals on “A Dream That Cannot Be”.

The Good - “The Way of the Vikings” is probably my favorite from this one. “At Dawn’s First Light” is maybe the most Iron Maiden sounding harmony wise, but I’ve often called Amon Amarth the Iron Maiden of Death Metal given their melodic nature.

The Bad - Nothing less than 4 stars, although I’m not the biggest fan of “Raise Your Horns” which is more of a sing along song that sounds intended for crowed participation at live shows. I didn’t mention Doro doing guest vocals. I think Doro is great and refer to her as the metal queen, but as cool as it is for her to appear here I don’t think the song show cases her at her best; still 4 stars.

#10

The Crusher - 91.666%

Amon Amarth’s third album and as with the previous two, these three albums don’t have as great of production as any after them. Despite being the third I actually think the production is a bit better on their first and second albums.

The Good - “The Sound Of Eight Hooves” despite only being close to 5 minutes long feels like going on a long epic journey. “Risen From the Sea (2000)”, a re-recored version of a song from their previously unreleased early demo, shows up hear and is a great song worthy of the release. Like some of their other early stuff it has At The Gates vibes while being distinctively Amon Amarth. “As Long As the Raven Flies” has some great melodies driving it. Speaking of driving, “A Fury Divine” is probably the most intense of the album with blistering double bass and a quick tempo. The Album closes strong with “The Fall Through Ginnungagap” and “Releasing Surtur’s Fire”.
(If you have the bonus track version there is also a killer Possessed cover as a bonus track)

The Bad - The two opening tracks aren’t the strongest on the album which is never a good choice; still 4 star songs. “Annihilation of Hammerfest” starts strong but has some sections that drop off and is maybe a bit long for what it offers. Still a solid 4 star song.

#9

Surtur Rising - 92.5%

This album has some symphonic elements on the outro for a few songs and the closing track is strait up Symphonic Melodic Death Metal. This isn’t one of the albums I go back to often, but it has some great songs.

The Good - The album opens strong with “War of the Gods”. “Destroyer of the Universe” and “For Victory or Death” are the most memorable and maybe my favorites on the album. “Wrath of the Norsemen” has some of Hegg’s lowest vocals which is cool. “Slaves of Fear” is another one I really like. “Life Without Regrets” I tend to forget about, but it’s very good and reminds me a bit of the Fate of Norns album. “A Beast am I” feels like the climax of the album, being the most intense song on the album.

The Bad - I have no complaints, a few songs are only 4 stars. I think the Symphonic closing “Doom Over Dead Man” had potential to be better. It’s a good song with great sections, but some more bland sections to get through for them.

#8

The Avenger - 92.857%

Amon Amarth’s second and shortest album. This is a good one and I would almost call it black metal adjacent. This could be in part to the production sounding a bit more raw on their early albums, but I find that early Amon Amarth tends to have a black metal vibe although I would still call it Melodic Death.

The Good - The album opens strong with “Bleed For the Ancient Gods”, “The Last with Pagan Blood”, and “North Sea Storm”. “God, His Son and Holy Whore”, and the closing “Legend of a Banished Man” Are also 5 star tracks.

The Bad - The title track “Avenger” and “Metalwrath” I only gave 4 stars, but still good songs.

#7

Once Sent From the Golden Hall - 93.75%

Amon Amarth’s first album and one that consistently gets rated high in their catalogue. Compared to later albums the melodies are less in your face and more ambient. This could probably be said about all their early albums, but this one in particular has an atmosphere to that is easy to get lost in. I also think the production of this album is better than their two follow up albums despite being their first.

The Good - There’s a lot of good stuff on this album, but “Victorious March” is probably my favorite. I’m also a big fan of Hegg’s shouting on this album which this song showcases well. He dese it on other albums, but for some reason it sounds more visceral on this. The opener “Ride for Vengeance” is really good. Despite the weird drumming on “Friends of the Suncross” it’s actually really cool. “Without Fear” is another one that showcases Hegg’s shouts. “Abandoned” is another one with some weird drumming, but still cool.

The Bad - “Amon Amarth” drags being both one of their slowest songs and their longest from any album. It does picks up in the second half of it and gets 4 stars though, but it’s my least favorite track.

#6

Versus The World - 94.44%

Here is an album I absolutely love, yet Amon Amarth has so many great album it still sits this low in the rankings. After first hearing Amon Amarth in 2004 or 2005, this album was one I was looking everywhere for, but was difficult to find. Lucky in the modern online world we live in cds are easier to find than ever. So when you go looking for this one you’ll have way less trouble finding it than I did.

The Good - “Death and Fire” makes a great opener for this album, and “Vs. The Word” is a great title track. “Across the Rainbow Bridge” gives us an fantastically epic riff. “Down the Slopes of Death” has a great driving feel which continues with “Thousand Years of Oppression”. “...and Soon the World Will Cease to Be” is a fantastic closing track. The intro is a bit bland, but it turns out to be an amazing song if not one of the best on the album.

The Bad - “Bloodshed” is a driving but slower track. Good chorus but a bit more dull comparatively; only 4 stars from me. “For the Stabwounds in Our Backs” also only got 4 stars.

#5

With Oden On Our Side - 94.444%

Tied with Versus the World, I’ll give the edge to this album. The production is better and I think the songs are more memorable. This was the first album that was released after I discovered Amon Amarth which is always an exciting experience. I remember first seeing a video (Cry of The Black Birds, I think") from the album on some fancy channel that a friend of my had and was stoked. This was part of Amon Amarth’s peak period and a very highly praised album not just from me.

The Good - “Valhall Awaits Me” opens the album and is one of the strongest tracks on the album. “Gods of War Arise” is another great one. “Cry of The Blackbirds” has a bit of a weaker start, but kicks in soon enough proving to be another one of the best tracks.

The Bad - There’s a couple 4 star tracks, but nothing really bad on the album.

#4

Deceiver of the Gods - 95%

This is the last of the peak era Amon Amarth albums for me which I think started with Versus the World. This album balances melody, intensity and heaviness. It doesn’t sound like it is catering to festival or a more mainstream audience, but is simply Amon Amarth being Amon Amarth.

The Good - The album starts strong with three great opening tracks “Deceiver of the Gods”, “As Loke Falls”, and “Father of the Wolf”. “Under Siege” is a longer one that picks up in the second half to a better song than it begins as. “Blood Eagle” picks up the intensity while remaining melodic yet reminiscent of Slayer. “We Will Destroy” slows down the tempo a bit and instead is a crushing force driving forth. “The album closes strong with “Coming of the Tide” and “Warriors of the North” which is their longest song yet.

The Bad - I have no complaints about this album, it’s among my favorites. “Shapeshifter” and “Hel” while both good songs aren’t quite 5 star tracks. Despite “Hel” featuring guest vocalist Messiah of Candlemass fame (whom I like a great amount), the song otherwise isn’t their best.

#3

Berserker - 95.8333%

I’ll start this off by saying despite the relatively high ranking it’s not one of my personal favorites. Berserker is Amon Amarth’s longest album to date. The album’s opening tracks tend to be more melodic than heavy and intense which is fine at times, but isn’t want I go to Amon Amarth for. Although it’s packed full of great songs, it isn’t until track 5 that it feels like classic Amon Amarth. Despite the high ranking, This album isn’t as memorable to me. Perhaps that is simply because it’s newer. Over all it is maybe more melodic than many but sacrifices heaviness and intensity to that end.

The Good - “Valkyria” is the first song on the album where it feels like classic Amon Amarth.
“The Berserker At Stamford Bridge” is probably my favorite on the album. Despite not the fastest or even heaviest, it has an intensity to it. Hegg sounds as powerful as ever on it. Speaking of vocals, Hegg actual does clean bass vocals on “Ironside”, which is different and cool. Really his vocals in general are great on this album.

The Bad - This album is plenty melodic but not as heavy as many others. I also think that there are a lot of sections that are reminiscent of previous Amon Amarth songs, so the album feels a bit unoriginal comparatively. “When Once Again We Can Set Our Sails” is a good example of that. The strongest parts of the song sound like I heard them from Amon Amarth previously.
I’m also not huge fan of songs that sound designed for crowd participation, and “Shield Wall” certainly does. Write a great song and people will participate, When a song is designed for it feels disingenuous and forced. It’s a fine song, but It’s not getting 5 stars.

#2

Twilight of the Thunder God - 97.5%

This is a near perfect album containing some of Amon Amarth’s best and most memorable songs. Easily a favorite album of mine from any band.

The Good - basically every thing, The album opens with the title track “Twilight of the Thunder God” which is probably my favorite Amon Amarth song. “Where is Your God?” is the most intense song on the album. “Varyags of Miklagaard” isn’t a title that rolls of the tongue, but easily one of the most memorable for fantastic melody and drive.

The Bad - “Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags” is as close to 5 stars as a 4 star song can be, but it doesn’t quite get there for me. Still a great song.

#1

Fate of Norns - 100%

I love this album to a great degree. It’s not necessarily the most exciting album. It’s not even packed completely with Amon Amarth’s most memorable songs. There is something about the atmosphere of this album that no others have. It certainly has some of their best songs but more importantly every song contributes to a consistent mood to the album which is a bit meloncholic but heroic. It is an album I often find myself listening to during rainy days and days of funerals. It rings of grief and battle with a strength to overcome.

The Good - “Fate of Norns” and the popular “The Pursuit of Vikings” are the highlights of the album for me.

The Bad - For me this is a perfect album, with that being said it might not be my go to for every mood. I’m much more likely to pull out one of the other top albums when the occasional happier or more celebratory. “Once Sealed in Blood” is the weakest track for me and barely gets the 5 stars. I think a different track might have been a better closer.

Albums Ranked: Arch Enemy

Arch Enemy is one of my all time favorite bands. They are a band that seem to get a lot of hate in the death metal community. The fact is that Arch Enemy are a band based on melody and not brutality. Arch Enemy may not be for everybody but they combine heaviness with melody in an amazing way. Among melodic death metal bands they have their own sound which is an important thing many bands don’t do. Arch Enemy started a bit later than the early pioneers of melodic death metal and this is because back then Michael Amott was busy helping lay the foundation for melodic death metal with Carcass. From there he took what he had started and continued it with Arch Enemy.

How this works; Songs are rated on a 5 star rating with each star having a value that is averaged together for the album rating.  Average album rating will equal the band’s rating

1 star=0, I hate it!  The world would be better off without this.

2 stars=25,  I don’t like it but it could be worse

3 stars= 50, decent song but not special

4 stars=75, good song but is missing something that might make it amazing

5 stars=100,  Amazing!

Live albums, demos, cover albums and EP’s are not included.

Note: Popular doesn’t mean great and importance doesn’t mean it’s good either.  A chart topping song only means it is watered down enough for a mainstream audience.

Why pretend otherwise?

Note:
Arch Enemy uses short guitar intros on many albums. Unless they are stand alone pieces rather than an intro track I won’t add them into the rating.

#12

Black Earth - 77.778%

This was the first album from Arch Enemy. It starts to make the bridge between the Carcass sound into what Arch Enemy would finally get to. It is for sure the most raw sounding album. This is also one of the least melodic albums and has more of a Swedish death sound at times similar to bands like Entombed or Dismember.

The Good - There are some great melodies and grooves through out this album. My favorite tracks are “Bury Me An Angel”, “Cosmic Retribution”, and “Fields of Desolation”.

The Bad - The vocals. Some people actually prefer Arch Enemy’s first vocalist, but for me he’s always sounded more like a hardcore guy than a death metal guy, particularly on this album. Like I mentioned this album is less melodic than later ones and the vocals not being very guttural hurt the more brutal songs on the album.

#11

Stigmata - 81.25%

Their second album is an improvement from the first but for the most part it still toes the line between the Carcass sound and the Arc Enemy sound without being as enjoyable as either carcass or later Arch Enemy.

The Good - In general the riffing and melodies are more interesting on this album. The first two tracks “Beast of Man” and “Stigmata” are my favorites… “Stigmata” is instrumental.

The Bad - This album isn’t as brutal as the first and isn’t as melodic as later albums so it ends up lacking on both fronts. The vocals are still bad.

#10

Khaos Legions - 84.09%

This a a good album but certainly not one of their bests. For me this album’s best parts sounded to much like the previous albums but not quite as good. If a band is going to put out something very similar to their last than it really needs to push the sound to a new level. This one just seems like inspired relative to the previous albums. This albums has some amazing melodies as always but in general the riffing just seem lacking energy.

The Good - The melodies scattered through out this album are great even when generally everything else is kinda bland. Favorite songs on this one tend to be the fast ones, “Bloodstained Cross”, and “Vengeance is Mine”. “Yesterday is Dead and Gone” has one of my favorite melodies on the album.

The Bad - In general the riffing and songs overall seem uninspired and a re-tread of previous ideas used on the few preceding albums.

#9

Will To Power - 87.5%

I think Alissa is a great vocalist but unfortunately the songs she has been given to sing are a downgrade from previous albums. By no means is this a bad album but compared to previous albums it doesn’t stand out as particularly amazing. The sad thing about this album is that it has Jeff Loomis on guitar both him and Michael are two of my favorite guitarists and I was really hoping for something magic.

The Good - Solid album, favorite tracks are “First Day in Hell” and “A Fight I must Win”

The Bad - “Reason To Believe” the only 3 star track on here. It is also happens to feature Alissa doing clean vocals but this is in no way bad. She’s a great singer and I like her clean singing. For me it’s just not that great of a song. It’s one of those songs that has a message and for me is cringey. It’s like “Hear N’ Aid” cringe for me.

#8

Deceivers - 90%

Now Alissa’s third album with the band. This album doesn’t start out so great with the opening track featuring some of Alissa’s clean vocals again, and suffers similarly the some bad writing to go along with it. However the album picks up over the next couple songs and by the fourth track on this album is firing on all cylinders and kicks total ass.

The Good - “The Watcher” and “Poisoned Arrow” are probably my favorite of the tracks. “The Watcher” has probably some of the best melodies on the album, and I love the guitar slides in “Poisoned Arrow”.

The Bad - Really the first track “Hand Shake With Hell” is the worse it has the most “clean” vocals and I’m not of fan of how they are used. The bridge of the song breaks with some really cliché lyrics that really kill what moment the song has. The clean vocals aren’t bad here but suffer from bad writing. The next two songs are a pick up but the album doesn’t really hit its stride till track four.

#7

Burning Bridges - 90.625%

This is the third album and the last with Johan on vocals. Although I’m not a big fan of him I think he was much better on this album than the first two. This album seems like Arch Enemy really started to hit their stride and figure out their sound.

The Good - This is a shorter album with only 8 tracks and for me the first 5 songs are all fantastic.

The Bad - The last three tracks don’t seem quite as amazing as the other songs but I wouldn’t consider them bad.

#6

War Eternal - 93.18%

We all were probably nervous when we found out Angela had stepped down from vocals, but Alissa did not disappoint. I feel she has a bit of a lower register than Angela. With Burning Bridges Arch Enemy probed you can put out a good album even if you don’t have the best vocalist so what is most important here is that the songs are incredible. The opening track kicks you square in the chest with blasting drums which aren’t typical for the band. The intensity remains consistent with scattered melodies as good as any.

The Good - It would be quicker to name the weak points because so much of this album is complexly awesome.

The Bad - “Stolen Life”, “Down To Nothing” and the instrumental “Not Long For This World” are the only songs that didn’t get five stars. (excluding the intro track and guitar track “Graveyard of Dreams”.

#5

Blood Dynasty - 95

The most recent Album from Arch Enemy at this time and solid entry into their cataloged. That album is packed full of great riffs and great melodies and without some of weaker attempts at writing in Alissa’s clean vocals. Here she sounds great on every song and every songs and even when venturing into cleans it takes nothing away from the songs and I would say actually accentuates them. Time will tell how classic this album might be, but here I have it ranked higher than any previous album featuring Alissa. This one also features a new guitarist on lead, and as a big Jeff Loomis fan, I can so his departure hasn’t hurt the band at all.

The Good - All around great riffs and great melodies through out this album. “March of the Miscreants” was one of the first ones to grow on me with it’s groove style main riff and verses. “Blood Dynasty” probably is the most melodic and is a fantastic title track.

The Bad - The opening and closing tracks although good don’t quite stand up to the level of the inner songs in my opinion, but are still good.

#4

Wages of Sin - 95.45%

The first album featuring Angela on vocals, this one is an album I know a lot of people really love. It is packed with great songs but I find I don’t go back and listen to it as much as many of the others because the production isn’t the best. It’s a shame, and I would love this one to get remastered.

The Good - Fantastic songs on this album and improved vocals

The Bad - Production isn’t very good, there’s to much high end.

#3

Anthems of Rebellion - 97.27%

This album is a must own for Arch Enemy fans. If there is such a thing, this album is the most mainstream with songs that are easy to scream along to. Memorable songs that are easy to sing along to and you get a classic album. It is one of the albums I go back to the most maybe even more so than the two albums ranked higher on this list. If I used “Marching on a Dead End Road” in the rating for this album, it actually would bring it up slightly and push this album to #2.

The Good - Awesome memorable songs and the ones I find myself singing along to the most.

The Bad - “Saints and Sinners” is the only song that didn’t get five stars from me but is close and still a great song.

#2

Doomsday Machine - 97.72%

This one edges out Anthems by less than a percentage and it could go either way for me. With that said this album was my first Arch Enemy album so I’m probably slightly biased toward it. I know for some this album isn’t as good as others. This album just sound incredibly tight and the production is very smooth and warm. That actually has a lot to do with why I like this album so much; it gives it an atmosphere that sucks you in. Although this album might not have vocal lines as memorable as Anthems, I think the riffing is just as memorable if not more so and the guitars are thicker and smoother than ever.

The Good - The production makes even songs that might not otherwise be as good compared to some from other albums but the guitars sound so thick and smooth that it makes this album just incredible to listen to. This is absolute one of my favorite albums when it comes to guitar tone.

The Bad - There are certainly amazing and memorable songs on this album but perhaps to a lesser extent as some others. But, as I said before other qualities of the album make up for it.

#1

Rise of the Tyrant - 100%

This album is flooring, kick you in the teeth intensity with some of the most beautiful and memorable melodies. Harmonized melodies under great vocal lines make this album just overwhelmingly amazing. I don’t know If I should sing to the vocal lines, guitar melodies, sit with my mouth a gape, or just cry from the shear incredible maelstrom that is this album.

The Good - Everything, this is one of the best metal albums every produced.

The Bad - The only thing bad about this album is that it’s impossible for Arch Enemy to every top it. This is a true masterpiece.

Albums Ranked: Shadows Fall

Shadows Fall are special among the metal-core bands because out of all of them they are the most accepted by metalheads who generally dislike metal-core. Their earliest stuff is often considered melodic death and their later stuff would showcase more of their thrash and traditional influences all while still being metal-core. They are a band that manages to walk the line between metal and metal-core in a way that made them one of the most popular bands at the time because they had fans on both sides of the spectrum. A lot of their core sound can even be chalked up as Pantera influence because of the similarities between some types of hardcore and groove metal (although I haven’t done the Shadows Fall family tree at the time of writing this.) The main thing that marks them as metal core is the combination of clean and harsh vocals. When Brian Fair came in as the vocalist on the second album his style pushed this farther in the metal-core direction. It should also be said their sound even when melodic death had heavier sections that sound more like non-melodic death. They are a band that really do mix a lot of elements to create a unique sound. On a more personal note, Shadows Fall was the first band that I embraced that had really harsh vocals. Musically they at the time they were pretty thrashy and had incredible leads and it allowed me to get past the vocals. This allowed me to get into all sorts of extreme metal that I completely love today.

How this works; Songs are rated on a 5 star rating with each star having a value that is averaged together for the album rating.  Average album rating will equal the band’s rating

1 star=0, I hate it!  The world would be better off without this.

2 stars=25,  I don’t like it but it could be worse

3 stars= 50, decent song but not special

4 stars=75, good song but is missing something that might make it amazing

5 stars=100,  Amazing!

Live albums, demos, cover albums and EP’s are not included.

Note: Popular doesn’t mean great and importance doesn’t mean it’s good either.  A chart topping song only means it is watered down enough for a mainstream audience.

#7

Somber Eyes to the Sky - 65%

The first album from shadows fall and the only one with original vocalist Phil Labonte who would go on to join All That Remains. This album is more of an American attempt at melodic death than their later albums would be. It mixes a lot of sounds to create something unique but at the same time this album sounds very unrefined. It sounds more like an experiment in a way. Although this is the least metal-core album there are still many similarities to the metal-core sound.

The Good - This album manages to mix diverse influences to create something unique even if ill defined.

The Bad - As I’ve said it sounds experimental and at this point they hadn’t found the proper blend of the influences they’ve injected.

#6

Fire From the Sky - 72.91%

The last album done by Shadows Fall has some great stuff but at of the album is plagued with boring riffs and poppy vocal lines/harmonies. I’ll use “Blind Faith as an example. It’s full of some amazing even melodic death style riffs but then the chorus is a bland guitar riff with vocals that verge on the whiney. It’s the type of vocals that make metal-heads hate metal-core. It’s the type of vocals that are more reminiscent of 90’s pop punk and emo rather than anything metal. Shadows Fall has always had clean vocals similar to this but something about this album just push them to far for me to enjoy most of the time. Maybe it’s their placement, melodies, or more harmonization but it’s different from earlier albums.

The Good - There are some amazing riffs and some great songs on this album such as the title track “Fire From the Sky” which reminds me of Behemoth. “Save Your Soul” and “The Unknown” are good songs as well but even they aren’t without some of the vocals I have complained about. The vocals aren’t Bullet For My Valentine bad but they are certainly pushing that direction. Thankfully the music has enough redeeming qualities to keep this album from being a complete pile of shit.

The Bad - Again there are a lot of whiney sounding vocals on this album which is a big disappointment. “Divide and Conquer” is just terrible. It’s heavy parts are boring and hardcore sounding, the chorus is displays more weak vocals; at least the bland breakdown is short.

#5

Of One Blood - 77.77%

The second album from shadows fall and first with Brian Fair on vocals. While there are some who consider this one melodic death, the vocals are metal-core. Musically it may be more melodic death sounding than their first but because of the vocals I don’t consider it melodic death.

The Good - Again musically this album is very melodic death at times. A couple of my favorites on here are “Of One Blood” and “To Ashes”.

The Bad - Occasionally there are some more bland sounding parts that are on the groove or hard core side of the spectrum.

#4

Threads of Life - 84.09%

Compared to the to Of One Blood this album is a lot more thrash and this is pretty consistent with the rest of the albums on this list. This album is a mix of really great parts and really bland parts that hold some songs back. If there is one thing Shadows Fall suffers from it’s song writing. They can write some absolutely amazing parts and then mix with bland parts that pull the song’s quality down. This is maybe the best example of this to me. It also followed to extremely great albums so in comparison it is a bit of a let down, although it’s certainly not a bad album.

The Good - Some of my favorites on here are “Redemption” and “Failure of the Devout”. The ladder of which is probably the darkest and most intense song on the album. On the softer side “Another Hero Lost” is more of a ballad but is very well done.

The Bad - A lot of bland parts hold back what could be a better album. “Forevermore” is a great example of this. The song opens with some amazing parts that almost sound like something off of Painkiller but then it they complete kill the flow with some mediocre parts. It’s an example of great riff writing but bad song writing. What should be a 5 star song is crammed full of 3 star parts making it only a 4 star song.

#3

Retribution - 90%

This is a solid album with a lot of good songs. The first half album is especially good. It seems like they put most of the better songs on the front half. This album came out after a lot of the hype around Shadows Fall had died down which is a shame because this album it’s a great album that probably didn’t get the attention it deserved.

The Good - I gave the first five songs 5 stars along with “Embrace Annihilation”. Heavy when it needs to be memorable choruses and a good mix of thrash and melodic death influences.

The Bad - This is a solid album although the second half does seem to fall short of the first half.

#2

The Art of Balance - 95% (this rating doesn’t include the Pink Floyd cover. Although it would lower the rating, it would not change it’s position on the list.)

This album really is the first where shadows fall was able to take all their ideas and actually make some really solid songs. You can say it’s the first one where they found the balance of all the styles they were trying to combine. It is probably the most thrash sounding album but a lot of melodic death has always incorporated thrash into the sound. They have some amazing guitar interlude tracks with “Casting Shade” and “Prelude to Disaster” both of which lead into the best tracks on the album, The thrasher “Stepping Outside The Circle”, and “A Fire in Babylon” which is very melodic death sounding” Both songs are my favorite Shadows Fall songs.

The Good - As the title suggest this album manages to balance their diverse influences into a masterpiece. Incredible riffing and harmonies galore with memorable songs.

The Bad - I have no complaints. The only song I didn’t give 5 stars was “Destroyer of Scenes” which is the more hardcore sounding track. They typically have at least one per album.

#1

The War Within - 100%

This album is fantastic. Great shredding with a mix of thrashy and melodic death style riffing with catchy choruses. The solos area balance of shred and melody all delivered with incredible tone. This album refines the balance they figured out with the previous album. I remember when this album came out it was one of the most talked about albums at the time. All the praise was rightfully given.

The Good: The opening and closing tracks “The Light That Blinds” and “Those Who Cannot Speak” are among my favorite Shadows Fall songs. This album is a masterpiece.

The Bad - The only thing bad about this album is that people don’t talk about it enough. There are always those few albums people praise constantly until everyone is sick of hearing it and this one deserves no less.

Bonus

Fallout From the War - 68.75%

This is technically and EP. 3/11 tracks are covers and if I include the covers in the rating doesn’t change a full percentage. This album is full of all the songs that weren’t good enough to be on The War Within. They were written at the same time and thankfully they saved them for a second release instead cramming in the songs that would have ruined a masterpiece.

The Good - Despite being leftovers this album still has some gems with “Effigy” and the cover of “Mark of the Squealer”.

The Bad - There is a whole lot of bland songs and songs that sound like subpar copies of songs that were done on The War Within.

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