good call on the Savatage mention. they do have an extensive, varied - and of course excellent discog. dunno though - i dont get the same magical feel from their later stuff......

Hmm. I've heard you discuss your disdain for Beherit's electronic albums. And you'd also have to live with Cold Lake. Could you really live off of the Nihilist demos? So many questions!!

And Repulsion doesn't have enough material.... Nevermind, Horrified is enough.

Hrm, it's a very hard question, because there are 5 discographies I listen to extensively...

Well,

1. Megadeth: Easiest choice. I have never been bored of a Megadeth album. Ever. The only album I dislike is Risk, which is just bad, but I'll live with it so I can listen to Peace Sells, SF SG SW, KIMB, RIP, etc.

2. Kreator: Well, it's pretty simple really. I have never really been too disappointed with Kreator's output. Hell, if I had to listen to any discography, Kreator would probably give me the most semi-decent variety. Yeah, Industrial influences and shit, but still, if I want some industrial influence or some melodic thrash, it's easy to get!

3. Malevolent Creation: Yeah! I just love Malevolent Creation. I don't see any problem with them whatsoever, and the riffs are just so awesome. I personally like all of their albums... yes even Stillborn. Just a very reliable band.

Mentions:
Sadus: A very close runner up for the throne. I think if Out For Blood had been better, they'd cut out Kreator, but as it stands, Kreator tops them.

Suffocation: A good runner up. Honestly just very reliable and heavy death metal. Nothing more to say really.

Immolation: I really have just started getting into them, but I'm already loving their material. When I listen to more, I might include them

Exodus: Self - Explanatory, no?

Overkill: Good thrash, and good groove. Blitz and Verni. Easy.

Destruction: Ah man, really easy choice for runner up, but can't quite cut it. Eternal Devastation and Antichrist all the way!

Demolition Hammer: Another band that I'm just getting into. I've only heard Tortured Existence, but I'm loving what I hear.

Iron Maiden: Well, first and foremost, they are my favorite band. I enjoy every one of their albums, and their discography is huge. "Powerslave"

Immortal: Their discography isn't as large, but they still have 7 good to amazing albums. Plus their genre blending leads to more depth in terms genre (if that makes any sense). Plus "Sons of Northern Darkness" is one of my favorite albums.

Thin Lizzy: Two other bands (Opeth and Moonsorrow) almost had this slot. Thin Lizzy win it because of the size of their discography. These three bands are the ones I always tell people are the three bands that, for me, every single one of their albums are truly great. So Thin Lizzy wins 11 to 9 to 5.

If this is about all kinds of music, then In the Woods..., Ulver, Pink Floyd easily.

If we're just talking about metal, I'd say ITW, Enslaved, and Opeth.

ITW is my favorite band of all time, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of any of their 3 albums which I really think reached perfection. They span different genres as well so they're an obvious choice even though they do only have 3 albums.

Enslaved and Opeth don't have mindblowingly perfect albums, but they've just consistently made many good albums that differ from each other, so they'd really be tough to get tired of I think.

I can't believe no one has said...

1) NEUROSIS- I'm willing to forgive their earlier, lets call it non-neurosis sound on the first albums, because the almost 2 decades of fucking consistent material shit all over their relevance. Easily the most consistent band in my opion, and never cease to impress.

2) Cult of Luna- Ok so I'm an sludge/atmospheric sludge fanboy, therfore this is the second best choice. My favourite is Salvation, but their 2 albums after that are equally amazing. Their sound was still evoling and was somewhat more raw on the first 2 albums, but I love them nevertheless.

3) Mgla- With this band having minimal material at the moment, I still feel very inclined to include them here. I find that the atmosphere of Mgla's compositions trace inducing, and I think the band has so much more potential. Mgla kills pain and sends chills!

Iron Maiden
Death
Overkill


Seriously, there's so much variety in the 3 of them, even in their own discographies that i could live off them for the remainder of my existence, plus they've all released that many bloody albums that it would be hard to run out of different songs to listen too.

Come on man, I like CoL and all but their newest album was rubbish, and they haven't changed their sound since The Beyond. Isis would be a much better choice if you wanted some post rock/metal in one of your three choices.

1 Down
2 Crowbar
3 Eyehategod

1) Amorphis - Big discography with a lot of variation and it all kicks mayor ass(far away from the sun a little less)
2) Iron Maiden - Do I need to explain?
3) Still doubting between Behemoth, King Diamond, Mercyfull fate and Keep of Kalessin.

others could be:
at the gates
necrophobic
ceremonial castings
emperor
kalmah
death
the crown
a lot more

1) Ceremonial Castings-The albums that I have heard by them are amazing, plus there are enough albums to have variety when listening to them.
2) Blind Guardian-One of my favorite bands, they also have quite a few good albums and some great albums as well.
3) Ensiferum-I don't think I could go without their debut album or Iron, both are great albums.

These are the three I would pick but I was also considering Insomnium, Summoning, and Immortal.

1.) Monster Magnet - amazingly good discography. Everything they've ever put out is good except "4-way diablo" and its still listenable. I ahvent heard both of there demos, but the one I have heard is really trippy and confusing and I liked it.
2.) Death - I still havent heard all of there discography, but what I have heard is compelling enough for me to trust the rest of there albums.
3.) Black Sabbath - even there worst album is listenable. The rest si sheer, amazing, quality METAL.

huh?

Nice topic. Only three entire discographies eh? Tricky stuff.

I think I'd go with:

*EDIT*

Agalloch (sure, The Grey EP sucks, but still... the rest is pure quality)
Iron Maiden (what's to discuss? It's Iron fucking Maiden)
Sonata Arctica (again, there's nothing I dislike by them, besides a few songs on Unia)

Honorable mentions to Falkenbach and Blind Guardian.

Manilla Road - There's no stopping them. 14 albums, 13 of which are absolute classics and the outcast album is still pretty damn good.

Solstice (UK) - Only two albums and an EP, but it's some of the absolute best doom metal I've ever listened to. Their third album is my most anticipated release ever.

Tyrant (US) - Again, only three releases. The second of which, Too Late to Pray, is as close to perfection as is humanly possible in metal. Legions of the Dead and King of Kings are also very good albums.

I'm surprised no one's mention gorguts (I think).

top 3:
neurosis
motorhead
morbid angel

Eh, It's too hard to choose.

This is only metal right?

Amon Amarth - This band just keeps getting better. Their latest album is amazing.

Agalloch - Fucking amazing. Everything they do is great.

Dystopia - Really good crust/sludge. The perfect mix of heavyness, agression and slow crushing riffs. I have never heard another band that plays close to the style they play.

honorable mentions: neurosis, orphaned land, skyclad

I really really hope your kidding. So your telling me you wouldn't be able to tell shit from clay if I put both in front of you?

Firstly, the latest album is genius. I admit it took me a few listens to get use to it, but now it makes complete sense to me.

Secondly, The Beyond and Salvation alone differ massively. Salvation took out the things that you can essentially say made CoL inaccessible, the real clashy sludge sound. Salvation focused more on cleaner riffs and overall atmosphere. Then Somewhere Along the Highway they experimented with so much melody and other elements, like slower doom/drone passages which made it a complete different package from Salvation altogether. I really hope for you musical well being that you can at least tell the difference in sound in this album. Then in their most recent Eternal Kingdom, almost all the experimentation from SALH has gone, except for some melody, which has been replaced my a more mature approach to the songwriting. We start to see them get back to the basics of Salvation, but they take a different approach and play around a lot with time signatures and the like.

If you still stand by your opinion, your and idiot.

*you're

No, I stand by my opinion. The ratio between clean parts/heavy parts has changed, but that's pretty much it. There hasn't been a genuine progression of any sort; they've just added a few more clean parts. The riffing still sounds exactly the same, that whole "grumpy stomp" thing they do sounds exactly the same, the clean sections sound exactly same. The production's varied a bit (was satisfyingly raw on SatH) but.. that's about it. I should add that I don't think it bad that they're adhering to a formula, because they are good at what they do (except on their newest).

Regardless, if you genuinely think CoL have progressed a long way since The Beyond, then I'm not the one who's an idiot.

I'm a fan of many of your reviews Caspian, but I don't understand why your saying Eternal Kingdom is rubbish.

I just found it boring as hell. it was rather similar to SatH but lacked any sort of catharsis.. riffs were stale, vocals irritating (I guess I only ever found them tolerable, but now they're actively starting to annoy me), the arrangements just really boring... Honestly, the only bit I really liked was the lead bit at the start of Ghost Tree.

One day I'll do a review and explain my dislike of it better then.

Jesus, this is a hard choice...

1) Judas Priest
2) Dream Theater
3) Thin Lizzy

Other contenders - Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Megadeth...yeah, I could keep going here. Way too hard.

Black Sabbath, Bolt Thrower and Incantation.

Other worthy discographies: Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Manilla Road, Razor, Sodom, Dio. I am rewarding consistency here so bands with some albums I love to death and huge chunks where I simply get off missed out, viz, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Overkill, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Fates Warning, etc. I am actually not familiar with the entire discography of MR, MF and Sodom but the ratio of worthy albums is high enough as it stands.

Morbid Angel
Bathory
Black Sabbath

They all share the same traits: large discographies, at the forefront of what they do respectively, and a lot of depth to their music that each time I listen to it I hear something new (thus a lot of replayability)

1. Manilla Road- Really, no explanation necessary. All of their umpteen albums have a unique sound, and Shelton's voice is very soothing.

2. Blind Guardian- Again, one of my favorite bands that are still kicking it today.

3. Burzum- Great stuff with lots of variety on every album. Never gets old.

Mentions:

Immortal
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Boris

Candlemass
Opeth
My Dying Bride

Of course, I want my fix of brutal as well

Okay, this one, surprisingly, was very easy for me


Morbid Angel - I enjoy everything they've ever put out, Dave or no Dave.

Death - One of my favourite bands. They haven't released a bad album at all in my eyes.

Iron Maiden - Obvious Choice. I didn't mind the Blaze stuff, so I'd definately go with Maiden.

This is an impossible decision but here I go:

Nevermore
Limbonic Art
Gamma Ray

This is just current mood.

Nunslaughter
Sigh
Bolt Thrower

The aforementioned three are some of the most consistent bands in all of metal (I think, anyway.) I've listened to half of Nunslaughter's extensive discography and EVERYTHING is solid through and through. Sigh haven't released a bad album, and Bolt Thrower are much like Nunslaughter.

Probably be something like:

1) Bathory
2) Agalloch
3) Tyr

Though Amorphis, Immortal, and Burzum have a pretty good standing as well.

1: Burzum - Why? Varg has created some of the most atmospheric, beautiful, dark, and philosophical music EVER, and I can't find a single song NOT worth listening to. From the demos to the two ambient albums, he has done no wrong, and Burzum is the reason I fell in love with black metal.

2: Destruction - By far my favourite thrash band. They have everything I want in thrash; intensity, speed, solos, attitude, riffing, and good vocals. Their discography is quite nice as well. Minus "D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.", they haven't put out anything bad in my eyes. This spot would be filled by Metallica, but.. well.. St. Anger and Death Magnetic are horrible, and don't deserve to be praised enough.

3: Leviathan - I can't believe nobody has mentioned Leviathan yet. How many demos and splits has Wrest recorded/released? A SHIT LOAD. I can say, yes, I am a fanboy... but Leviathan is simply amazing. 3 full lengths that are damn near perfect. Splits that will just leave you bewildered and bedazzled, and his compilations of demos are untouchable. However, I do have to say "Howl Mockery at the Cross" was a little under average... but I like it.


Other contenders are as following:

Bathory, Emperor, Peste Noir, Nifelheim, Carpathian Forest, Death, Cephalic Carnage, Skinless, and Aura Noir.

Enslaved
Moonsorrow
Negura Bunget

I don't get all these 'runners up' laundry lists, the point is to choose 3.

Got to be Immortal, Motorhead and Amon Amarth, probably because their all pretty 'safe' bands, who have never really released anything terrible.

If I'm honest, except in the case of Enslaved and Behemoth, I've never really liked it when bands dramatically change on you.

Yes Repulsion's Horrified is Enough. All three Beherit demo's Plus the 2 e.p's Drawing down the moon and Engram Is plenty even though i always want more, no i am not a lover of the 2 electronic albums but if I only had a 3 band discography to listen to i could probably get into them . YES I COULD live off the NIHILIST demo's and have been that way since 90 . As far as Frost goes Morbid Tales ,Dethroned Emperor , To Megatherion and the Tragic Serenades e.p are plenty and i loathe the rest of their discography , i remeber the day Into the pandemonium came out and i'm still fucking shocked about it . They have always and will always be my favorite band along with a select few .

Immolation - all seven of their albums are fantastic. hell even if you were only allowed one discography Immolation's would still be in the running. amazing band.
Morbid Angel - I even love the Steve Tucker albums awesome shit.
Akercocke - they just keep getting better with every album, beautiful music, very underrated band.

there are quite a few others that could go in the third place though, including Suffocation, Decapitated, Obituary, Death and more lol. had to just pick one though.

Off the top of my head, I would say:

Sigh- tons of diversity, as has been said, probably my favorite band overall. I can listen to them in any mood. They're also a band that continues to grow on me the more I listen to them.

Behemoth- I love their death metal side much more, but there's a good range in their black metal period as well, getting somewhat experimental just before they tipped more to the death metal side of things.

The Crown- They're a deceivingly diverse band. They get the death/thrash tag (which applies) but there's a bigger dose of punk and rock then most of their peers. Also they veer into slowed down doom ballads, black metal inspired tremolo (especially on "Eternal Death") and more little surprises.


Slayer is really damn close to being on the list but I've got their songs memorized enough I could probably just think hard enough and simulate the listening experience.

I've decided to pick bands that 1) are brilliant and 2) have nice and big discographies, so my picks are:

Motörhead
Black Sabbath
Slayer

\m/

Helloween

X-Japan

King Diamond or Gamma Ray