Thank you and yes, World Coming Down is by far my favorite album. So there was going to be a lot of it on my Best Of list. I was trying to keep my Best Of as realistic as possible and have it fit on one CD. Not sure that list I compiled could either, but yes if I were to extend my Best Of out to two CDs, I would most certainly add Unsuccessfully Coping... and Gravitational Constant on there immediately. As well as We Hate Everyone, Bloody Kisses, Too Late: Frozen, Be My Druidess, Red Water (Christmas Mourning) and Tripping a Blind Man.

Now for my latest obsession, I will do a Best Of for Obituary:

1. Slowly We Rot - Classic riffs.
2. Suffocation - Vocals are awesome and catchy. And riffs.
3. Intoxicated - Cause the end, and that fucking riff at the end.
4. Stinkupuss - This is a really funny song name.
5. Body Bag - That riff is so damn addicting and so memorable. One of their best riffs ever.
6. Chopped In Half - I love how the double bass kicks in on this song right after the riff plays and fills in the empty space with a sudden pummeling. It's even more apparent on the shorted live version from Dead.
7. Circle of the Tyrants (Celtic Frost cover) - One of the best cover songs I've ever heard. They make this song sound better than the original I think.
8. Dying - The second half of this song is to DIE for when they slow it down. It does feel like death.
9. Memories Remain - Because of the riffs, also has one of their best riffs ever.
10. Turned Inside Out - The riffs as well as the variation in the middle, then coming back to that damn riff.
11. Corrosive
12. Killing Time - Possesses possibly my favorite Obituary riff ever! It's so catchy and addicting. Plus the drumming is really awesome.
13. The End Complete - The beginning riff is awesome and the closing drumming is awesome too, the stop/go stuff I like.
14. Don't Care
15. World Demise - Riffs and the industrial influence.
16. Lost - Cause riffs.
17. Solid State - Cause riffs.
18. Splattered - This song possesses some noticeable industrial influences in it with the booming percussive noises repeating in the song. Makes it even more over the top AWESOME.
19. Final Thoughts - The bridge riff and the percussion in the middle are so damn good.
20. Boiling Point - Riffs again.
21. Download - The stop/go parts really get me headbanging.
22. Feed on the Weak
23. Blindsided
24. Slow Death - I think the best song of the 2000s for Obituary, mainly due to the drumming.

I realize that this probably couldn't fit on one CD, but if it bothers people, just pretend that this is a 2 CD set and CHOP the list in half. Or pretend that this is a CD of the future with a really big duration capacity. I said riffs a lot when talking about Obituary, but... yeah that's why they are so fucking good. Riffs. And bad ass headbang-inducing drumming.

Awesome lists- Death, Bolt Thrower, Dream Theater, etc. I am going to do Rush, and try limiting it to ten favorites.

1. A Farewell to Kings
2. Manhattan Project
3. Cygnus X-1 (Both parts)
4. La Villa Strangiato
5. Natural Science
6. Jacob's Ladder
7. Clockwork Angels
8. 2112
9. Bravado
10. Workin' Them Angels

This list spans from their progressive era (the half album side songs) to present. Not to say that their first three don't have their moments... just not some of my favorites. Also, they need to play Jacob's Ladder again one of these days!

Couldn't decide between a few of my favorite bands. Considered one for Peste Noire but my best of would be too cliched for anyone familiar with them. Thought about one for Njiqahdda as well, but their best songs aren't on youtube. Finally decided on a project near and dear to my heart... Leviathan.

1. Vexed and Vomit Hexed
2. Merging With Sword, Onto Them
3. King Of Province: Glacial
4. Contrary Pulse
5. The Whole of Deceit
6. Scenic Solitude And Leprosy
7. Sklaverei
8. Requiem For A Turd World
9. Heir to the Noose of Ghoul
10. Made as the Stale Wine of Wrath
11. Sardoniscorn
12. Cruelty Juggernaut
13. Are Lunartic

There is no order to my list with the exception of "Vexed and vomit Hexed" and "Merging With Sword..." which are my all time favorite Leviathan songs. The rest are in random order I suppose. I've chosen most of these songs because of the emotional impact they have left on me. Each one contains a dark beauty found rarely in any other artist's music. Though Wrest has made quite a few brilliant and aggressive metal songs I've chosen to focus more on the songs that really leave me with a deep dark pit in my stomach. The anger, misanthropy and depression can really be heard in these songs. The only exceptions to this being "Heir to the Noose..." and "Are Lunartic" which I've included because of the ball busting breakdowns (yes I said BREAKDOWNS) contained therein.

^ YES. FUCKING YES. "Vexed and Vomit Hexed" has one of the greatest moments in black metal riffage (right at 3:38 and again at 4:38....just...shivers).

You made an ass-kicking list, and as it stands those are exactly the type of songs that made me fall in love with Leviathan in the first place - the slow, crushing sadness, slowly melding into hate, and sinking back into removed isolation and sadness once again.

That part is one of the reasons I got into black metal. I can't remember how I stumbled across Leviathan, but it was some time in 9th grade or so when my music taste was dominated by metalcore. I heard the song, and when 3:38 and on came on my musical taste forever changed. One of the strongest memories I have of truly being floored by a song.

Frog, is it possible somehow to compile all the band lists into the first post with hyperlinks to individual posts where the song titles are mentioned? This is to prevent repetition. I know inhumanist did that but that's somewhere on the 2nd or 3rd page.

Also, I only linked the Youtube playlists and my lists do not include best ofs without links.

I guess if you compile a list and send it to Frog he'd be more than happy to include it in the OP.

Meanwhile I could get to compiling the Youtube playlists that still need to be done.

You're right about Alu, I actually forgot about it.

Unlock The Shrine gets worse towards the end. The Mine is way too long for what it is. I'd rank it just below Between, Euphoria, Summer and Clockhand's.

I was torn between Blood Vaults I and II, but I decided against putting yet another Rain song on the compilation, and the pacing of my compilation craved a song with that kind of energetic opening for just that slot. In my opinion, it must have II or both. Well, preferably both. I agree that II is not an entirely impressive song, but damn, that opening riff.

It's a tedious job no doubt. But it'll prevent people from reposting their own respective lists of bands that have already been covered. I had already done a 'best of...' for God Dethroned, I am thinking of more bands now...

Here's one of Death SS, one of my favorite bands of all time. It is eleven tracks heavy of the songs that I think immediately stand out from their immense and incredibly interesting works.

Black Mummy
Inquisitor
Vampire
The Hanged Ballad
Kings Of Evil
In The Darkness
Family Vault
Lilith
Chains Of Death
The Shrine In The Gloom
The Equinox Of The Gods

HAIL DEATH SS!

Yeah, I say exactly the opposite. I'll be shitting if Clockhand or Euphoria is better than The Mine.

Appreciated the Leviathan one, think if I were to pick a Leviathan 'Best Of' it would be:

1. Merging With Sword, Onto Them taken from Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
2. Tentacle Over Tentacle taken from split with Acherontas
3. The Remotest Cipher taken from split with Xasthur
4. Cut, With the Night Into Mine Heart taken from Tentacles of Whorror
5. Scenic Solitude and Leprosy taken from The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide
6. The Fourth Blind Wound taken from Blind Wound
7. White Devil, Black Metal taken from Verrator
8. Mine Portrait In Scars taken from split with Black Death
9. Blood Red and True taken from True Traitor, True Whore
10. The History Of Rape taken from Tentacles of Whorror
11. Ruminating in Hatemagick taken from the split with Crebain

I have chosen these songs as I believe them to be the best representation of Leviathan's music. Leviathan is one of my favourite artists and Wrest to me is one of the most influential black metal musicians, I think the guy is a genius. Some of these songs are not what many Leviathan fans would choose to include (the re-recording of Blood Red and True for example) but for me personally these are some of his best and darkest songs. This is just my personal choice of what I would include on a compilation as an introduction to Leviathan for friends!

How 'bout some Crowbar:

1. Existence is Punishment from the self titled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jC9Up1JYTk
2. Numb Sensitive from Time Heals Nothing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lL_WEwAgu8
3. Nothing from Broken Glass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hjkiaruAeg
4. Odd Fellows Rest from Odd Fellows Rest (duh):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfVFEgBsO9Q
5. Planets Colide from Odd Fellows Rest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-LNFCTMs24
6. To Touch The Hand of God from Equilibrium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdQc45sYa9Y
7. Thru The Ashes (I've Watched You Burn) from Sonic Excess in its Purest Form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dr6XVESiMc
8. The Lasting Dose from Sonic Excess...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulr9Fbj3BQM
9. Fall Back To Zero from Lifesblood for the Downtrodden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GDtKH3lgyk
10. A Farewell to Misery from Sever the Wicked Hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWjQVYVKZk

I thought I'd include a track from just about every album to show how they've evolved over the years. I didn't include anything from the first album, because although I like it, I think the poor recording quality would disrupt the flow of the mixtape (I'll put this as a playlist on youtube later). I chose two songs from Odd Fellows Rest and Sonic Excess because they are by far my favourite (this is probably because of the inclusion of Sammy Duet of Acid Bath and Goatwhore fame). "Thru the Ashes (I've Watched You Burn" is one of the most important songs in the world to me. The sheer emotional potency and the amazing lyrics which although about drug addiction on the surface, also serves as a metaphor for all the hardships of life. It was hard choosing a track from "Sever the Wicked Hand" because it is the only Crowbar album I don't really like. I chose what I did because I thought a nice atmospheric track would serve as a good device to wind down the mixtape. I also think the title is fitting because that is the first time Kirk's done an album after recovering from his alcoholism.

The Mine starts good, but I guess it fails to hold my interest. Clockhand is perhaps somewhat similar in that regard, but it's more memorable than The Mine.

ThePoop's list is pretty flawless, we have very similar tastes. I agree that Merging With Sword is one of his best songs.
The only things missing are "Fucking Your Ghost In Chains of Ice" and "A Necessary Mutilation". Also, "What Fresh Hell", probably.

I tried to compile a Behexen list, but it was essentially half By The Blessing of Satan, with Invocation of Zabulus, one song from Nightside Emanations and the rest from Rituale Satanum. Kind of pointless. I might try my hand at an Immolation best-of.

Let's try another one. This time, Evoken.

1. "Chime the Centuries' End" from Embrace the Emptiness
2. "Withering Indignation" from Quietus
3. "Towers of Frozen Dusk" from Shades of Night Descending
4. "A Caress of the Void" from A Caress of the Void
5. "An Extrinsic Divide" from Atra Mors
6. "The Last of Vitality" from Antithesis of Light

One per album plus Shades of Night Descending. Given the songs' lengths, this should be plenty. I might have re-arranged them to have the songs in their albums' chronological order, but I decided to mix them up a little more for more variation.

Strange. My Soul... has some pretty great tracks, plus the Eternal Realm demo. You could easily spread it out more.

Here's my list for my favorite band, Opeth.

BEST OF OPETH - Playlist

1."Forest of October" from Orchid
2."Demon of the Fall" from My Arms, Your Hearse
3."White Cluster" from Still Life
4."The Funeral Portrait" from Blackwater Park
5."Blackwater Park" from Blackwater Park
6."Deliverance" from Deliverance
7."Harlequin Forest" from Ghost Reveries

These songs have their best riffs, transitions, "moments", and just overall best composition out of all their songs. It was hard to narrow it down, but these stand out as my all time favorites. I followed the 80 minute CD rule, and this list clocks in at about 76 minutes. The fact that most songs are from their "middle" period is no coincidence, as I feel that is when they were strongest as a band. (Although Orchid was my intro to them, and remains dear to my heart). I feel Watershed, while with it's moments, is a weaker album by them. As far as Damnation and Heritage go, I think both albums are ok, but have always felt that Opeth were best the closer they stayed to death metal. No other band could make brutality as beautiful as them.

(Obligatory "this is all my opinion, please keep Opeth bashing to minimum" disclaimer)

Hm, this is pretty awesome. Here's a list for Kalmah, in my opinion, the only good Finnish melodeath band out there.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6KL89BPcwI: Using The Word from Swamplord
2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQX4tuY0qoE: Evil in You from Swamplord
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhasHKsVtes: My Nation from They Will Return
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCrOTpJ2XTY: Outremer from For The Revolution
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfCD8su-BuU: Time Takes Us All from The Black Waltz


I love ALL of their albums of course, but these 5 songs are just too good for me to pass up. Everything from the repeated riff in Using The Word to the intro to Time Takes Us All is pretty much godlike. I was going to put some songs from 12 Gauge, but I felt that they didn't really match the melody of their earlier albums, I felt it wasn't much of a "darker" release compared to their previous works. As for Swampsong, I enjoyed it, but their weren't any songs that I could REALLY put on a favorites list.

No songs from Morningrise!

Yeah, it was tough sticking to 80 minutes with a band like Opeth. From that album I probably would have picked To Bid You Farewell. That's my favorite ballad of theirs. The rest of the album, while good, is basically retreading Orchid, IMO.

I have to say, I disagree with about every Opeth choice you made. I'm not a fan of the band, but they have a handful of decent songs, particularly Windowpane, a couple of earlier songs like In Mist She Was Standing and perhaps those soft songs from Ghost Reveries. If I created an Opeth compilation, it wouldn't really feature a single whole song apart from Windowpane (even that I'd prefer as a shortened version). Some parts from Godhead's Lament, some from Ghost of Perdition and so on.

Opeth is definitely one of those bands where a compilation of theirs would require a disc of their heavy stuff and a disc of their melodic stuff. I haven't listened to enough Opeth before Still Life to really judge their heavy stuff but my track listening for melodic material would probably be:

1) Coma
2) Windowpane
3) In My Time of Need
4) Harvest
5) Benighted
6) Slither
7) The Drapery Falls
8) The Devil's Orchard
9) To Rid The Disease
10) Porcelain Heart

Or something like that, anyway. I don't know, I have about 5 of their albums but I'm still a casual fan at best.

Not quite certain what is meant by the "Melodic side of Opeth." Although if you are categorizing some of their works as their "lighter" and "mellower" material, then it would be much more concise. In any case, I am not trying to split hairs but an aim for more precision in description of one of the most successful bands in the past decade. My personal Opeth albums are MAYH and the ever brilliant Morningrise. Those remain untouched and shall forever be that way regardless of any bands in effort (with the mention that I have grown out of Opeth a long time ago and this not an emotional blind fan-base strong opinion). So pieces from those two albums will capture the essence of Opeth. However, I will not be breaking grounds when I say Åkerfeldt's vocalization improved vastly with later albums but his song-writing remained consistent with subtle evolutions.

Oh, ok. So your opinion means what in this context?

"Not a fan" ≠ "never heard of em." His (clearly informed) opinions hold the same weight as yours dude.

Anywho this thread is excellent, I've killed a ton of free time going through playlists for bands I'd seen or heard mentioned but never got around to checking out

Quite so, Inspector_Satan, thank you. I listened to quite a bit of Opeth in my teens, and I'm very familiar with their discography. I could be a fan if the songs had been written with a different mindset, I suppose. Åkerfeldt's fascination with weird prog translates into poor pacing, some very iffy riffs and overall poor songwriting decisions. I can't deny his talent, and I can't help but truly, genuinely enjoy his music when it's really at its best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzXbsN0Mx9k&t=5m53s

But that riff after the laughter. So damn choppy. Only reason I'm bringing this up again is because I'm finally writing a review for Foulest Semen of the Sheltered Elite.

I came off as more of a cunt than I meant to.


I took it as "not a fan" = "actively dislikes". I wouldn't go in and tell someone "Hey all these picks suck, I hate this band."

Ilwyhan, you obviously possess an understanding and appreciation of Opeth, if not a strong attachment to them. Apologies for the overly-defensive snark.

Alkonost (epic dark folk metal from Russia) is easily my favorite band of all time, it is unique because these guys don't use any ethnic instruments and solely rely on their lead guitar trademark sound to generate folk melodies, the synth is also there for providing an atmosphere, here's a list of 12 songs to listen to:

1. Голос Лесов (The Forest's Voice) (Путь Неприметный (The Path We've Never Made); 2006)
2. Song of the Smiths (Sledge Hammer!) (Songs of the Eternal Oak; 2000)
3. The Abyss (Between the Worlds; 2004)
4. Тени Темных Дней (Shadows of the Dark Days) (Kаменного Сердца Кровь (Stone Heart Blood); 2007)
5. Древы-Думы (Thought of Trees) (На Крыльях Зова (On the Wings of the Call); 2010)
6. Sun Shine our Land (Songs of the Eternal Oak; 2000)
7. Неведомые Земли (Unknown Lands) (Межмирье (Otherworld); 2006)
8. Ночь Перед Битвой (The Night Before the Battle) (Путь Неприметный (The Path We've Never Made); 2006)
9. Время Ярости (Time of Rage) (Kаменного Сердца Кровь (Stone Heart Blood); 2007)
10. Молодость (Youth) (Kаменного Сердца Кровь (Stone Heart Blood); 2007)
11. Life On Glory's Blade (Spirit Tending to Revolt; 2001)
12. Безвременье (Hard Times) (На Крыльях Зова (On the Wings of the Call); 2010)

The sound may vary from a song to another, you will "get" their formula from any of the above songs though: a catchy triplets lead guitar layered over a heavy power-chords rhythm guitar with an atmospheric synth that goes solo sometimes, all this is wrapped by strong raspy male vocals and academic operatic female vocals. Some songs are more black metal-inspired (early years), others are more doom-ish (Stone Heart Blood for example) and others can be a bit uplifting (On the Wings of the Call for example). Highly recommended for fans of Slavic folk metal bands (Arkona, Natural Spirit, Grai...), Iron Maiden, Amorphis, etc...