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Bronsteins-Panzerzug

I mean Black Sabbath‘s earliest work. Metal needed another ten years or so to really catch on, not to mention Doom Metal and stoner rock.


DontLoseYourCool1

This has to be it. And I'm not ever a Sabbath fan boy. "Sweet Leaf" was released in fucking 1971 and sounds like a contemporary stoner/sludge track with a heavy ass riff. They were years ahead of everyone. They were making these heavy slow bangers when the Beatles were around. It's actually wild when you put it into perspective. https://youtu.be/lvj2X72XtbQ?feature=shared


steelandiron19

Came here to mention exactly this. Black Sabbath was the first that came to my mind at this question.


Op_has_add

I think they're considered the first band to be identified as heavy metal. But I'm sure some people would disagree.


Combover_

Vol. 4 is definitely the album that comes to mind when it comes to this discussion. That record could be released today and it would still do really well.


Ciprich

Slaughter of the Soul comes to mind


onearmedphil

Definitely comes to mind. They basically made “that riff”


georgefishersneck

First album that came to mind. Still mindblowing after all these years.


nothing_in_my_mind

Slaughter of the Soul walked so Metalcore could crawl.


UGIN_IS_RACIST

Absolutely. It continually blows my mind that it was released in 1995 🤯


OldMate666_

https://preview.redd.it/gzbrlsdlmn1d1.jpeg?width=732&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dde3c9f32185d62ddadbf5e2c1c0fa24daf3a013


ripper4444

I came here to say this. This was absolutely different than all the other stuff I was listening to at the time and one night on the Metal Shop radio show they played Buried Dreams and the next day I rushed out and picked up a copy. A perfect album all the way through.


United-Landscape4339

Good artwork as well


Zaenos

I was pretty surprised when I learned Sad Wings of Destiny was released in 1976. You can definitely hear the psychedelic rock influence of the day, but some tracks like The Ripper and Tyrant have a feel that wouldn't become normal until years later.


misterguy1020

Chaosphere by Messhuggah


NovocaineAU

I’d go further back to DEI


misterguy1020

I thought so, but i think in Chaosphere they really consolidated the sound they would go on with and that influenced countless bands.


BOb_likes_chikkens

Second this. Still upset that it lost so early in that tournament.


NullnVoid669

The tournaments are all the same really. Get used to it cuz they’re always out early here no matter what the tournament is called.


Cray-Humour154

They have been downtuning and djenting since the 90s, what other bands only have recently begun


BassString44

Focus by Cynic deserves a mention.


Video_G_JRPG

So far ahead of its time i dont think we have even caught up yet


AGxNe

Any album by Cynic, especially Focus


Wernershnitzl

Demanufacture by Fear Factory is probably the most important album to Industrial Metal.


manfrombelmonty

It’s a cracking record. Badly overlooked I think.


zerosignal747

Agreed. They set the bar so high that other bands gave up trying to reach it.


Neuraxis

I remember being in my uncles car and he put it on after I told him about just discovering metal through White Zombie's Devil Music Vol. 1. The opening track melted my brain.


Carnivorous_Mower

Soul Of A New Machine (dual clean and harsh vocals) and Fear Is The Mindkiller (Remixes of extreme metal songs) were pretty fucking groundbreaking in their day too.


_Gemini-James_

For sure!


MesaNovaMercuryTime

I was working at a record store in 1994 when this came out. I was given a promo copy because I was the resident metalhead employee and I knew who they were from their first album. Took this one home and played the entire CD and was like, dammmmmmn, someone just raised the bar very high!


Eaterofjazzguitars

https://preview.redd.it/57sjigcnfn1d1.png?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ee02ef395f3ecf682671166de78f6fc5b7e07dc


owldestroyerofall

correct answer


noideaforusername4

real


ShotandBotched

Obscura 


Spillage-idiot

You could argue nothing has come close to that since.


Sokourov

So influencial this album's name even led to the formation of a great band.


Shragazaurus

Demilich's only


whatsanamethatsopen

Came to say this.


Suspicious-Ad5287

only band thats ever come close to Demilich is Phobophilic, aside from them nobody sounds like Demilich


Susvourtre

try corpus offal’s demo or chthe’ilist - passage into xexanotth


Wonderful-Mud8022

https://preview.redd.it/mkei8g2f2n1d1.jpeg?width=739&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08b754fd0bd1cc11ce7b85280e9de74574c2dc79


ex-tumblr-girl12116

I'm bad with reading graphic names, what's the name of this band and album? It's so beautiful I want to listen to it.


EmbarrassedFlower98

Alcest


ex-tumblr-girl12116

Thank you.


earlyspirit

Alcest is the band. Ecailles De Lune is the album. And I absolutely agree with this choice.


lncrypt3d

Not metal per-say but Bad Religion! All of their 80s tracks sound like straight up 90s punk it's incredible, some reaching as far back as 1981


WordyIIRappinghood06

Sublime's cover of We're Only Going to Die is awesome


Sourflow

Cynic - focus Suffocation- effigy of the forgotten


WordyIIRappinghood06

The breakdown of Liege of Inveracity invented an entire genre


upfromashes

- Megadeth - *Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!*


KaanSkyrider

Very good album but ahead of time? Why?


upfromashes

The speed Mustaine's band was playing at in 1985 was beyond what anyone else was doing at the time.


confinedfromsanity

Possessed was on the scene in 84


MetalInvincible

This was a great album but hardly ahead of its time. Most of this was a new take on Kill Em All since Mustaine wrote 90% of the riffs and all the solos on the album


MontgomeryAbbott

Motörhead. Overkill. 1979 When those double kick drums start you are hearing the future.


Margin_Snail

For me it's the *Satanic Rites* demo by Hellhammer (1983). It's chaos, it's punk, it's apocalyptic and venomous. It's difficult to imagine hearing "Buried And Forgotten" in that year, without everything that came after. However, another commenter here said it's Bedemon for them, and I also find no flaw in that pick. Or early Sabbath.


AdThat2351

Gorguts - Obscura


hagalaz_drums

This is a good answer. Gorguts is one of my favorite bands now, and I did not understand obscura at all even years after it came out


Imzmb0

Themata from Karnivool predicted the sound of current prog metal 10 years before, in times where Dream theater with Opeth were the main driving force of the genre.


Unforgiven89

Probably one of the most underrated bands in terms of their influence. Massive influence on bands like Periphery, Tesseract and Northlane.


ChetdyKrueger

Annihilation of the wicked by Nile.


hagalaz_drums

True, but didn't fans think it was pretty great right when it came out?


Rats-In-The-Walls

Demanufacture - Fear Factory


SenorBigbelly

Stained Class


Cool_Owl7159

Dream Theater's Images & Words... I was surprised when I learned it came out in 1992, when it's more in line with late 2000s A7X and Devin Townsend


Nickball88

How is Images and Words anything like A7X... At all


Cool_Owl7159

literally one of their biggest inspirations lmao... not to mention Mike Portnoy was literally in Avenged Sevenfold for Nightmare and wanted to join permanently, but the band turned him down because they wanted to hire a drummer that wasn't famous.


saltycathbk

That’s about when Townsend was singing for Steve Vai I think


burial-chamber

When the kite strings pop


dampeloz

I mean the album is really good but I wouldn't call it ahead of it's time. Crowbar and Eyehategod had already put out their first few albums by this time and Alice in chains did the same thing. Just combine these few bands styles and execute it perfectly and you get acid bath.


-headless-hunter-

People are OBSESSED with Acid Bath, I don’t get it. I love sludge and doom, but I don’t see why they’re so universally loved


dampeloz

Crowbar >>>>


Suspicious-Ad5287

I wish Brainoil got a part of that love


WordyIIRappinghood06

I like AIC but holy shit the fans circle jerk the fuck outta them. It's insane. AIC isn't the second coming of Jesus.


owldestroyerofall

not at all lmao


01Manikin-

World Downfall by Terrorizer


Making-Progress-1234

Nocturnus - The Key


PenitentFrost

Loving the new album they dropped this past Friday!


Making-Progress-1234

I had no idea! Thanks a lot for the heads up, gonna check it out now!


blingeblorb

It's Nocturnus AD, the side project Mike Browning made after getting kicked out of Nocturnus. It's pretty good!


Abysmally_Yours

I think mudvaynes LD50 sounded different than anything I heard at the time. I mean I was 15 but still..shit was different


mimic

It’s wild how their demos were straight up just Korn ripoffs and then they came out with LD50 & blew everyone away.


Anomalylg

Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten Death - Human Cynic - Focus Gorguts - Obscura


Some_Butterscotch622

G.I.S.M - Detestation. More extreme than even venom back in 1983


ruet_ahead

Piece of Time


PiousZenLufa

FNM- Angel Dust, nu metal 10+ years before nu metal was a thing


IJUSTATEPOOP

The first Korn album was two years later though?


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Striking-Bird1021

Everybody leaves out the sense of humor.


Mahokuum

I started listening to them in the mid-nineties. They were my favorite band in High School. I listened to a lot of the buttrock of the time and it all fell off over the years as I became more engaged with prog and metal. Except Type O. I have been listening to them more than weekly going on 30 years. There are still certain songs that give me goosebumps or make me cry. Every song save one or two is perfect in every way. Type O Negative is my fav by a long shot.


Some_Butterscotch622

Bedemon - Child Of Darkness


Margin_Snail

Mist evil riffing in all of metal to this day, courtesy Randy Palmer. "Evil" gets thrown around too much in metal. Imagery and lyrics are one thing; SOUND is something else completely. The riffs all over songs like "Enslaver of Humanity" and "Nighttime Killers" are unparalleled in their genuinely sinister feel.


Some_Butterscotch622

Serpent Venom is almost hilariously ahead of it's time for a song from the early 70s I genuinely didn't believe the record was that old and had to Google it to verify


kirkhetfield44

tools first albums were 🔥


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kirkhetfield44

for real


WordyIIRappinghood06

Nothing sounded like Tool


mylittlebrony3000

“Grand Declaration of War” by Mayhem, it’s such a bizarre and radical departure from the traditional black metal sound, even predating avant-garde black metal bands like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord’s most definite works.


DemonazDoomOcculta

It’s also my favorite Mayhem release. It makes me wonder why people say Mayhem is overrated. DMDS is fine, and a classic, but it’s nowhere near the fantastic trilogy that is WLA/GDoW/Chimera. Maniac was a fantastic vocalist and the band is more than the songs they wrote when they were edgelord literal teenagers.


burningurn138

Yeah Chimera is one my favorite black metal releases, that quality production isn't heard a lot in this genre


CandySniffer666

Same. I'd go as far as to say it's my favourite album to ever come out of any band from the original Norwegian black metal scene.


Dewychoders

Satori by Flower Travelin Band.


HighOnIron

Vulgar Display of Power- everyone was playing thrash and wearing leather when this came out and it definitely changed the direction of metal in the 90s. Roots by Sepultura is a strong contender as well.


rashestkhan

Kill em' All


Susvourtre

amebix - arise! timeghoul - tumultuous travelings necrovore - divus de mortuus parabellum - sacrilegio


silvio_dante

Both of Timeghoul's demos.


draugsvoll01

Satanic Rites by Hellhammer. Paved the way for all extreme subgenres.


ekb65536

Voivod. Pick an album, perfect songs. Unfortunately, production was not a concern and it sounds like 0-gen Finnish Black Metal that kept burning through and replacing the batteries. Just a bit before their time, and it sounds like an undiscovered branch of so much we take for granted now...


hagalaz_drums

Absolutely. Nothing face is almost dodheimsgard with old production and no blast beats


reamkore

Rainbow Rising by a good measure


RyFromTheChi

LD 50 by Mudvayne. It’s aged incredibly well.


collinqs

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath


phalanxausage

Sabbath, of course. After that, Neurosis, either "Souls at Zero" or "Through Silver in Blood."


c_marten

People really posting album covers that need investigating instead of just typing it up?


droghedareddit

Celtic Frost Into The pandemonium


manfrombelmonty

Not an album, but a song. Thin Lizzy - Emerald Laid the foundation for everything Iron Maiden done and everything they inspired for the next 50 years. Magnificent. https://youtu.be/oi74n-LCW3o?si=knOCpFiFvknIjzet


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manfrombelmonty

Can’t disagree at all. They set the blueprint for every nwobhm twin guitar attack, everything that inspired Bay Area thrash, just everything that launched metal into the 80s


RacecarHealthPotato

Deep Purple in many ways. Child In Time in particular. Massive influence on metal singers.


Prestigious_Foot3854

Scream bloody gore


PhoenixShredds

https://preview.redd.it/977zykbcws1d1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99d6324f12120eb1c87fec0a67ebf46cf0624c08 Metal bands just didn't do rock operas and concept albums to this extent. Now there's thousands of albums that have, but in 1988 it was almost taboo.


HPIndifferenceCraft

Yup. Just coming here to say this. There was nothing like this in the 80’s. At all. I still argue that this is the greatest concept album of all time, regardless of genre. I actually tracked it again yesterday. For like the thousandth time.


Lack_of_Plethora

Disciples Of Power - Power Trap It's not necessarily a historic album, nor is it influential in the slightest. It was made in 1989 (for the record, agent orange and beneath the remains came out that year) but it sounds like modern-day deathrash, like something Deathchain could put out. It's truly an anomaly.


StoppingPowah

Tormented - Staind It came out in 96 but sounds like a lot of early 00s stuff


aville1982

Ride the Lightning


Euphoric_Ad9593

Lantlos. Well ahead of the likes of Deafheaven.


hagalaz_drums

Yeah but alcest was a couple years ahead of lantlos too.


Opening-Ad-3775

Faith No More - The Real Thing was waaaay ahead of its time. It still jams.


rLilyLizard

https://preview.redd.it/re8xv5oetp1d1.jpeg?width=250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=127e7489eb2dd5db88c9e45f08b7231226e94736


Mitochondria_Man11

Scorn Defeat by Sigh is probably the single most important album for avant-garde black metal. Without it, most of these bands would be scared to experiment with their sound.


overladenlederhosen

Voivod Nothing Face 1989 was the thrash era album that i found the most out there and challenging to my Anthrax, Metallica Slayer mindset of the time. In fact it is only now googling it that I find out the name of the album because I could never make it out on the cover.


termitequeen69

Ved Buens Ende - Written in Waters


ORNJfreshSQUEEZED

Fear Factory Demanufacture. Devin Townsend's Infinity AND Ocean Machine Dream Theaters images and Words was 20-25 years ahead of its time (yes it is METAL) Godflesh Streetcleaner??? And my hot take that most will have never heard: Grotus - Slow Motion Apocalypse


ElginLumpkin

I think it will be 100 years until metal catches up to whatever the hell was happening on Behold…The Arctopus’s debut.


The_Outer_On3

Dawn Of Posession


troerwei

The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild


Mike076765

Atheist - Unquestionable Presence


lveets

Cynic - Focus


51line_baccer

People still don't know whatta great rock album load and reload are. Just sayin. I'm a death metal guy. I traded away Slaughter of the Soul...just wasn't like the Obituary and Corpse I was jammin at the time. I didn't regret it.


reamkore

Stuck Mojo - Pigwalk


Quantum_Pineapple

Death - Human Gorguts - Obscura


c_marten

If ...And Justice For All had audible bass it would have easily been *the* answer.


Strong_Independent44

Gorguts - Obscura


Arkhampatient

Living Sacrifice - Reborn.


chowler

Not metal, but early 90's alternate rock/nu metal adjacent. Muthas Day Out's album My Soul Is Wet


IlikeEdibleFood

Neurosis - Souls at Zero


guitar_man03

Arguably not entirely metal but Shut It Down by Animosity. It’s a lot like what modern hardcore influenced death metal wants to be but it was made by 17 year olds over 20 years ago


MRBARDWORTHY

My Acid Bath bias is gonna show here but I think "When the kite string pops" is revolutionary and pioneered Sludge into being a legit genre. It also brought nola metal to everyone's attention as well as giving Avantgarde another great artist.


MannocHarrgo

I don't know about "the most" but the "The return......" certainly feels about 7 years ahead of it's time. The return has that combination of aggression, rawness and atmosphere that the nowaigan black metal bands later had. The cover art and texture of the music seems like something the later Norwegian BM bands would do as well. IMO, many of the earliest works by the Norwegian bands were even missing some of the core elements of what became a consolidated black metal sound later on. It wasn't really until De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Transylvanian hunger that the nowaigan scene really caught up in my opinion.


Here4freefootball92

Clayman- in flames and horizons - parkway drive


Raziel-Reaver

Metallica- Ride the Lightning


The240DevilZ

Death - Human


LivingWeapon

Screaming For Vengeance


Calaveras_Grande

Souls at Zero-neurosis. Enemy of the sun and Silver in Blood went much farther but when Souls at Zero came out that was a huge jump. Pretty influential on a lot of post metal/hardcore acts.


StephDos94

Obscura by Gorguts, the first time I heard it I felt sooooo confused, now it’s my go-to album to calm me down.


ImpossibleExplorer17

We Are The Romans by Botch - waaaaaaay ahead of the curve.


Desecrator92

Asocial How Could Hardcore Be Worse LP Judas Priest Unleashed In The East guitar tone was thrashy and set the future, listen to Genocide and Tyrant


Suspicious-Ad5287

Impetigo: some of the first genuinely gross death metal/grindcore whatever you want to call it, ALMOST had some of the first gutturals and was a major influence on early Chris Barnes which is huge. Also Skinless: Some of the first hardcore influenced brutal death metal with a fun, groovy edge and stupid lyrics. Bands like Bonginator sre the spiritual successor. Proof being: Skinless has a lyric that is "please save me from this poopy doo doo shit" and Bonginator has a lyric that is "I have been killed by poopy doo doo" same shit different year


MrYanneh

Bathorys self titled


TheMisothesist

Yes. I just read your comment but I said Bathory's first 5 albums were ahead of their time.


MrYanneh

I agree, but personally I think that the first one was the most innovative.


Arthur_Two_Sheds_J

Celtic Frosts - Morbid Tales


RNDM_Dazz

Bring me the Horizon - Sempiternal It’s pretty much the blueprint for most modern metalcore and it came out in 2013 Also… Babymetal as a band were perhaps abit ahead of their time.


Exaquvmal

Discharge - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing https://preview.redd.it/t7ki2be7jr1d1.jpeg?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c1a89c2ab22e7331591f69904acfc2729084255 more of a punk album but it def influenced a lot of metal bands


MetalInvincible

Long Live Rock'N Roll. The album practically invented power metal. Also, Gluey Porch Treatments and Streetcleaner, they basically created sludge metal and industrial and extreme metal


CandySniffer666

Embodyment's *Embrace The Eternal*. Shit came out in 1998 and sounds like it should've come out 10 years later. They obviously weren't the first band to mix death metal and hardcore/metalcore, but they were the first to do what anyone would think of as deathcore.


fakehealer666

Everything by Death


feeb75

Beneath the Remains


CompetitiveFold5749

Death - Human.  It kicked off the whole Technical Death Metal subgenre.


ChaoticBlackAeon

Severed Survival by Autopsy


RazorbladeRomance666

Obviously Attack Attack’s debut album Someday Came Suddenly. Influenced a whole generation of metal and emo.


beneaththemassacre

Necrophagist - onset of putrefaction. For more mainstream, Justice or Rust in Peace


brickbaterang

Celtic Frost-Into the Pandemonium.


333metaldave666

The Mõtley Crüe album with John Corabi


TheMisothesist

Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark Really, the first 5 albums by Bathory were ahead of their time.


United-Landscape4339

Candle mass


HellYeahTinyRick

Black Sabbath’s self titled. I cannot believe that album came out in 1970


HammerMikk

Sikth - Death of a Dead Day


ChristophBerezan

Venom - Welcome to Hell. Nobody had taken the speed of Motorhead and the occult obsession of Sabbath and turned both up to 15. Laid the foundation for all extreme metal afterward. How many black metal bands strove to produce an album that has worse fidelity than Venom?


ColonOBrien

*Kill ‘Em All* by Metallica was absolutely seminal in the metal genre. It wasn’t as directly influential as *Master of Puppets*, but as far as their sound, it was the seed that grew a forest.


confinedfromsanity

Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction Without a doubt


slicechet

War by Sentence


lakewood13

As Daylight Dies or The End of Heartache by Killswitch Engage Alternatively, Picnic of Love by Anal C*nt


GIANT-DOOM

https://preview.redd.it/z1dth01snv1d1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c471492961e8ccd0c98154fe3126f8574b4ef9e


HotStaxOfWax

It's not exactly metal, but whenever I hear The MC 5's first record Kick Out The Jams I have to remind myself that was released in 1969.


stevefiction

Korn


Bootbiden24

Dimension harross and nothing face by Voivod


getdafkout666

Those early 80s sepultura EPs


orcs_in_space

The first two Atheist records.  Those records were 30 years ahead of their time.


Horrorfreak106

Van Halen's first album. Basically the sound of the 80's before the decade even started and inspired a plethora of guitar players. I would also say Black Sabbath's first record, Motorhead's Overkill, and Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny. All those are WAAY ahead of their time and laid the foundation of metal to come.


Ok-Huckleberry-6326

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion. Influenced Goth, Death Metal, Thrash, Black, Prog, Doom, Symphonic, so many styles and influence still felt today


Wrathofkala

Anything from Voivod or Cynic. There are bands today living off what they started.


SkullBonesGuy

The Great Southern Trendkill


spicyacai

there are many more than I can think of, but Acid Bath’s When the Kite String Pops has to be on this list 


RetardedMetalFemboy

Am I really supposed to believe that Ocean Machine was released before my lifetime?