Cloven Hoof infamously "remastered" Dominator around 10 years back. In fact, it was simply a repressing of an old worn vinyl. It was in that weird period where Russ was in and out of the band. The band got so much flak for it, and today the album is still not available on many streaming services. Most of the commentary around this seems to have been long buried on the internet today.

The jump in quality made me check if I had put in earplugs… Not a fan.

The 2015 remasters sound horrible when compared to the others. The 1998 ones sound a bit off in parts but decent. Those 2015 are horrible though, first time noticing really

I prefer the original. I feel like the remix focuses too much on making the guitars and drums more muscular, and pushes the keys back too much so that it loses some of the atmosphere and character of the original.

The infamous 2002 'remasters' of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman have the re-recorded bass and drums so are to be avoided unless you want to hear those particular bastardisations. The Bark at the Moon remaster also got a remix and uses some alternative takes for solos / lead parts, but I don't believe it was advertised as such.

This is one of those cases where I had to go with the 2015 remasters of Shotgun Justice and Open Hostility because I just couldn't get the originals despite trying for well over 10 years. I looked into getting the remaster of Violent Restitution too a few years later but came across this video showing the differences in sound, needless to say I kept my original.
This guy's videos and my growing awareness of "The Loudness Wars" and the Dynamic Range DB site has led me to going about replacing my remasters back to the originals that I wish I had never parted with.
Back when I first started getting remasters they would lure you in with promises of better, louder sound and expanded booklets and bonus tracks, well fuck that and fuck them.
Some other really bad examples of remasters were the Judas Priest and Queensryche one's, which are probably what people are having to listen to when they stream them.
Here's a video showing the differences in sound for Razor "Violent Restitution":
https://youtu.be/s_MMoYIOZJw?feature=shared
And here's a link to the Dynamic Range DB:
https://dr.loudness-war.info/

Yes, the last remasters of Painkiller and Defenders... are disgusting.
Some Priest remasters are better than others. The early 2000s remasters of British Steel, Stained Class and a couple others don't sound so bad to me, although they're obviously more compressed than the originals. But in the worse cases the remasters make the drums sound paper-thin because there's just not enough space in the waveform for them to poke through.

I'm mostly indifferent to remasters and remixes but the RIP Remaster is a certifiable crime against humanity. OP, if you have not heard the original you can track it down on Youtube. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen and relegate your remaster CD to a coaster.

I mentioned this on the previous page but I just really don't understand what people think is good about the original mix of Rust In Peace. It's no production masterpiece.

The Priest 2001 remasters are kinda compressed but I'm interested to hear what the boxset they put out recently sounded like, apparently that used the original masters but tweaked them a bit or something like that.

Production wise I think RIP is a big downgrade from Peace, but I think Dave was on a lot of smack and things were not given the attention they needed or something. RIP and SFGSW both have mediocre production. But not something that degrades the listening IMO. Just could be better.

Someone mentioned Death Human. That is a good one, as you can hear that bass a lot better.

I grabbed The Number of the Beast on vinyl a little while ago and thankfully it wasn't a remaster, it was from the original source tapes per discogs. Also grabbed the Walmart 40th anniversary reissue of Somewhere in Time on LP from Walmart. No note about any particular remastering.

Was just looking at the flac for a 1984 issue of Powerslave compared to the 1990's remasters in Audacity. Holy clipping Batman!

I like that it's understated which puts the focus more on the music. You're right that it could be better but it does a good enough job nonetheless.


I thought you typed it wrong but then I saw it actually is a 40th anniversary reissue two years early, WTF?

Listening to it right now and it's fuckin perfect, wouldn't change a thing about.
The remix/remaster is a travesty and a totally unnecessary one at that. The originals a work of art, why fuck with a masterpiece, just leave it the fuck alone. Once again I'm presuming that's what everyone's having to listen to when streaming. Should be considered a crime. Punishment due.

There's no bass on the original. It just sounds tinny.

the snare is also incredibly boxy and has no punch. i have no idea why they let it sound like that. the remix having a punchier snare is a big mark in its favor.

^Nah, I prefer my thrash and trad that way. That's what I grew up on back in the 80's. I like to be able to hear the bass guitar but I don't like bass heavy productions especially for that sorta stuff.

Interestingly, "Rust" was widely considered the "high water mark" for metal production/sound, at the time.

There's also the 2012 remaster of A Sultan's Ransom which is brickwalled to the point of being unlistenable. Released by High Roller too, which was extra disappointing.

I'm not even that much of an audiophile, but I had to go straight back to my old mp3s as soon as I bought it.

Whatever it is what it is, but I have to say I absolutely loathe, detest, hate and despise the trumpets in Into The Lungs Of Hell. Apparently they were always there but way back in the mix, and they should have fucking stayed there. That shit gave me an aneurysm.

Sometimes I like remastered versions (None So Vile - for example) but there are 2 records, which I hate with particular cold passion.

a) the remastered version of "Nothing" - Meshuggah. It sounds abhorrent compared to the original.

b) Flotsam and Jetsam - the re-recording of "No place for disgrace", an absolute disgrace.

Flotsam’s remix of “Doomsday” is sonic manna from heaven. A rare example of a metal album drastically improving due to remixing.