Those were the ones I was more tentative about, in fairness. They seem certainly well regarded, but you're right, they have much less popularity and "esteem" than the others, even if they're still very well regarded. I suppose they're rather the albums/bands you get to "next" once you start digging.

Arguably, modern power metal reached its apex in the mid-2000s. Around that time the genre's biggest names released landmark albums that I don't think have been beaten today in terms of commercial success. A couple that spring to mind are Kamelot's The Black Halo (2005) and Nightwish's Once (2004). These aren't even fan-favorites according to the reviews here on the Archive, but they no doubt attracted new fans to both the bands themselves and the genre as a whole. Another title I want to mention is Sonata Arctica's Reckoning Night (2004), but I don't think it had quite the acclaim or attention the other two had. Nightwish of course received the most attention, because I don't believe Kamelot or Sonata had their videos played on MTV. All three, particularly Nightwish, inspired nameless imitators, and despite some mild success they might not have had otherwise, I don't think any of them have had the mainstream appeal or even quality of those aforementioned releases. The popularity has since died off and none of these bands have garnered nearly as much success with subsequent albums, but I feel that time around 2004 and 2005 was huge for this sort of music.

Speaking of Kamelot, another anomaly during this period was the success of Dimmu Borgir's Death Cult Armageddon (2003), which landed them a spot on 2004's Ozzfest. Their appeal might also have been due to Cradle of Filth's entering into the mainstream earlier the same year by signing to Sony and having polished up their sound with Midian (2000). Actually, I think Nymphetamine (2004) was their biggest album ever. By then, they were already being lumped alongside Marilyn Manson and were a favorite among fans of gothic music. That type of music has since floundered and Cradle's success has dwindled, even if they've been rekindling their recognition with metal fans since releasing Godspeed... in 2008, and have been getting onto the big metal festival stages (which I think had admonished or ignored them in the mid-2000s).

It's hard to determine what will end up being a classic, though. It's easy to pinpoint where these bands found their success, and in the case of the power metal bands I mentioned, I think those albums happen to also be treading classic-territory. On the other hand, Death Cult Armageddon and Nymphetamine may end up being Dimmu's and Cradle's most widely remembered, respectively, but certainly not classics. To have a classic you need both widespread appeal and near-universal acclaim, which I don't think many of these modern metal bands, or even the old guard, have. We're going to end up with a bunch of mini-classics.

If we can include albums by near-metal bands then Slipknot and Sevenfold should get an entry. They're pretty big, and I can easily see my friends passing on these bands like that uncle into Kiss. I don't know which albums exactly, but they've been big for long enough that they'll make an impact.

There's too much noise in the funderground due to the Internet and easy availability of music for any album of the '00s to be considered truly classic. The most one can hope for is an album that stands up to repeat listenings over the years. For me, that's what defines a classic. It's got nothing to do with the amount of buzz an album generates or how much it sells.

There has certainly been some good stuff released in the aughts that might qualify as classic if not for the lack of consensus. Absu's Tara, Melechesh's Sphynx, Nile's second and third albums, Crypticus' full-lengths, the '00s Summoning albums... Of the currently active crop of bands, I'd say that Vektor seems ahead of the pack as far as potentially attaining "classic" status goes. They came out during the retro-thrash movement, but they rose above it, and they're still kicking ass while the majority of the movement has tanked. White Wizzard might also be approaching classic territory, if only they could get their lineup shit together.

none of this makes any sense. your notion of euro-power metal omits all the big players of the late 80s/early 90s (blind guardian, gamma ray, helloween, stratovarius, etc) and opts for the flowery tail-end of the genre that was laughed into obscurity by the mid 00s. all the classics of the genre come from the early to mid 90s - think somewhere far beyond, land of the free, etc. even if you include stuff like early rhapsody and sonata arctica's first album (it WAS a good album), you're still wrapping it up by about 2000. hell, i've never even heard of highlord or celesty.... how could they have made classic albums if someone who's been internet-nerding about the heavy metal for well over 15 years now has never even heard the names?

I was omitting them simply because they came before 2000, which was the qualification for this thread, and everyone knows about them anyway, so it would have been redundant.
Though even then, those bands had a hand in shaping the modern sound of it, with most actually starting as speed metal, but in '97 you have the debuts of about twice as many bands again (Rhapsody, Nightwish, Edguy (depending on how you define it yes), Hammerfall, Iron Savior etc., let alone just as many bands who remain obscure to this day) most of them having no previous history and existing primarily for this new genre, and a second wave in 1999 (including Sonata Arctica, Dark Moor, Freedom Call and the like, and yet more obscure yet acclaimed bands). While the bunch from 1997 had three years to release classics before 2000 (and did), few of those bands started tailing off or changing until at least 2003, which still gives at least 3 years in the new millennium, in which a bunch of them did release widely-regarded albums in the genre. Even if we're just talking about Sonata Arctica who you mention, they don't start actually changing until Reckoning Night in 2004 (and as a previous person brings up), and even that is considered one from their influential period, some considering it their best album.

And I can understand not hearing of Highlord and possibly Celesty, as I expanded on at the top of this page, but, and I guess this is the mark of what really counts as a classic in a genre, if you've not heard of Dark Moor and their second and third album and you're a fan of power metal (even metal in general, as long as you say you've been!), then you must have been living living under some kind of rock (pun not intended? )!!
They'd even get talked about in my college amongst a few people (along with more famous bands like Hammerfall and Sonata Arctica), when pretty much all the "metal" people including them were obsessed with Meshuggah and early/black album Metallica.

a leap into the trash, yes. you cant really call a band classic if all they did was create was more even worse bands imitating an already shitty sound

Again its not about your personal opinion. DsO made a huge impact and inspired a big amount of people who liked their stuff. Therefore they should be in the running no matter what you or I think of them.

I like how (almost) no one mentioned any traditional metal. I guess that book is closed. It's gotta be some hyper progressive extreme metal act in the 2000s or bust.

[turns up King Diamond]

While I'm not really sure myself what is wanted, I don't think Puppet Master is going to be remembered by non-Diamond fans in two decades. Even taking the narrower view of classic, there's no way it will ever be viewed in the same light as an Abigail.

Some good ones mentioned so far, some of which I will second:

Converge- Jane Doe- Abrasive enough to peel the paint off the wall, but there is a method to their madness. The lyrics are unintelligible, but strangely it adds to the chaotic atmosphere. The riffs run the gamut, from frenetic, spastic dissonant runs to the ambitious, melodic title track. Bands have tried to capture what Converge do (see: Deafheaven), but nobody does noise quite like Converge.

The Dillinger Escape Plan- Miss Machine- First album with Greg Puciato on vocals- and allowed them to go places Dimitri Minakakis simply would not have allowed them to. It still had their off the wall, hyper energetic riffing, but this album also incorporated a melodic element ranging from pop to industrial influenced parts that would dictate their future direction. Phone Home and Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants are drastically different than Calculating Infinity, but allowed them to continue to be a band. There is no way they would have made a career out of music like calculating (which I do enjoy). Additionally, Greg is a terrific singer and frontman, which helped the band take the next step.

Dark Tranquillity- Damage Done- The high point of Dark Tranquillity with keyboards. The perfect balance of keys and guitar in the mix, unlike its keyboard heavy predecessor and guitar heavy successor. Songs like Single Part of Two and Cathode Ray Sunshine are well crafted and memorable, even 12 years later. Also, Final Resistance is still a concert staple to this day.

Mastodon- Leviathan- The pinnacle of the prog/sludge style they started doing. The vocals were in their wheelhouse, as they were abrasive and not difficult to do. They would later struggle with three part harmonies and work on vocals in response to the criticism. This album is full of huge riffs. I have always wondered what would have happened if they had pursued this direction instead of putting out what seemed like a series of one offs after. I think Once More 'Round the Sun may finally be a clue as to the direction they are going.

Rush- Clockwork Angels- Okay, so the band put out their best albums anywhere from 76-85, depending on who you ask. I believe this will hold up as a classic.

Symphony X- The Odyssey-Iconoclast- I'm sure many will disagree, but I think that Michael Romeo's arrangements and guitar playing are a breath of fresh air to prog metal. Insane attention to detail and electrifying guitar work.

Opeth- Blackwater Park- The album that put it all together for Opeth, and a nightmare to follow up. It combined the finger picked acoustic folk influenced parts with death metal, allowing Akerfeldt's melodic crooning to relieve the tension. Strange that they followed it up with albums that stripped Opeth to its bare components, experimented with alternate tunings before running into a brick wall. Pale Communion has received quite a bit of criticism, but it is a lot better than Heritage and is a good style for the band (no longer young guys) to age. Also, they got it right in such a huge way with BWP, so why try to do that over? It would probably wind up sounding like Watershed.

I agree that Damage Done is the perfect balance of that greater era of DT. Great songs that balance and trade off the vocals/guitars/keys very well, as well as the more subtle but excellent drumming of Anders Jivarp. Perhaps the only notable Swedish band who actually found somewhere to go at the time without becoming some overgrown form of alternative rock as In Flames and Soilwork did.

One example of the band's interplay is the song Monochromatic Stains. The first minute shows how well they work an idea back and forth with plenty of variation while keeping a strong lead while maintaining rhythmic variation and interplay. It begins with a melodic guitar lead, which continues while the rhythm guitar comes in to divide that section into two. Then the lead drops out and the rhythm establishes a hook (a punchier version of it's role in the previous section) which trades off with the vocals, while the keys take the melody in the background. The guitars continue that into a string-skipping riff, still with the same melody and rhythm. There are a lot of different parts which utilize the same melody and rhythmic motif while varying and distributing it differently. The more pronounced rhythmic motif also trades off with straight, unaccented notes on the beat. The drums pair to and contrast each variation very well, making the chugged rhythm punchy, laying back with a slightly varied regular beat during parts where the keys take the lead, and dictating the direction and pace of the song very well. Depsite the huge involvement of the drums, they fit well enough that they simply fit into the song and probably wouldn't even be noted as stand-out by someone not analyzing the song. It's very catchy and memorable, but very fluid. Brilliant songwriting that makes this a classic, a masterpiece.

As Whiskey_Bonbons mentioned on page 2, Pagan Altar - Mythical & Magical.
I know most of the songs were written between '78 and '82, but they were ultimately put together and recorded in 2006. It still, after a hundred listens or so, baffles me how good the album is. How beautifully majestic the guitars are, how the intense atmosphere drips from everything Pagan Altar touched. I would certainly regard it a classic that people will still listen to in 30 years.

I'm probably the only one with this opinion, but to me the debut from Steelwing, Lord of the Wasteland has a huge potential in becoming a classic. I know the album is a rather unoriginal blend of Iron Maiden and Hammerfall, but at the same time it perfects what make these two bands great. There is the hymn-potential and the clean voice of Hammerfall bonded with the twin guitar leads of Iron Maiden - it just works so well.

Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice is a classic. That's not even debatable at this point. You may not like it (and cool beans to you if you don't) but there is no denying the impact and reach and influence it's had. It's weirdly enough an almost universal album despite being rather strange and almost too long.

In a similar vein, Blut Aus Nord's The Work Which Transforms God I'd say is also a classic. Very inhuman black metal and while not as directly influential in terms of bands trying to sound like it, it's definitely a highly regarded album and many would call it Vindsval's finest hour.

In terms of nu-OSDM, Dead Congregation are undoubtedly up there. But I'd also like to mention Repugnant's Epitome of Darkness since it seems to have played a hand in kicking off the revival and is an absurdly good album in its own right.

And while it may never be a Left Hand Path, Funebrarum's The Sleep of Morbid Dreams will likely be looked back upon the way we look back upon an album like The Ending Quest or Iniquitous; maybe not very directly influential, but certainly a great album overflowing with killer riffs that's worth listening to repeatedly.

This is a worthy post.

Here, have a pin of 10 points.

I have been trying to think of a traditional metal record that would fit the bill but I can't think of anything. The most recent I remember are from the late 90's that accompined the great power metal boom. Now I am no expert on the genre but I think Hammerfalls debut, Glory to the Brave, is of pretty great importance. It was like a sign that traditional heavy metal was back and they were the band who fronted that wave in many ways. Perhaps something by Rhapsody as well like Symphony of Enchanted Lands. They seem to have been preety influential. But those albums were released in 1997 and 1998 respectively.

There are great records more in the traditional vein that has been released in the 00's but I can't think of any with the importance of a classic. I hope I'm wrong though and just overlook something.

As I already mentioned, try Pagan Altar for truely old (sounding) doom/nwobhm and Steelwing for classical heavy metal mixed with a bit more recent power metal:

or maybe hell's debut from just 3 years ago? granted the material was written in the 80's...

their great stage antics could help to elevate them as something to be more widely remembered down the line... and the album is definitely good enough

Slough Feg's albums from DATD to Traveller can pretty much be called classics now. Well regarded, individual music that precluded the trad metal revival that came just a few years later - who knows how vital they actually were to those other bands that followed, but the sizable fanbased and range of people who respect those three albums can be a reasonable argument for calling them classics.

And is Steelwing really "classic" material? I realize some people like it, but does that really make it classic? I dunno, honestly just wondering here.

To be fair, I think it's very difficult for traditional metal to be "classic" and influential today due to the nature of the style and subgenre (music that is influenced by old bands, basically). That's not to say there hasn't been some great records, just not many that will be regarded as an influential classic. The only one that comes to mind for me is The Stars of Never Seen by Crescent Shield, that album is genuinely fresh sounding despite being clearly rooted in an old sound and is pretty much 100 percent great front to back AND despite being immediately accessible and enjoyable also packed with nuance making for an album that not only worms into your ear immediately but also does not get old. Slough Feg probably falls into there, at the very least they've written some songs that stand up along the classics. I guess they are maybe a bit more power metal, even though their sound is definitely more traditional than most.

I'm not really into much of the modern trad scene, though.

edit: Pagan Altar, for sure. A lot of their material was written a long time ago, though. Despite that, pretty much everything they've released so far is bonafide classic, if not influential.

@Empyreal
In my opinion this only applies to their debut. The second album is good still, but on their first album simply everything is absolutely great. Riffs, vocals, song structure, production, overall atmosphere,... I'm a bit surprised myself how much I like that album and I feel like being blasphemous here, but I'd say Lord of the Wasteland is up there with Powerslave, Painkiller and Abigail. Sometimes I think "is it really that great? After all it's just a bunch of young swedish guys following their idols". But then I take a listen again and I see no reason not to regard this a classic.

Where I come from these are all semi-obscure except for Dickinson and Overkill, but try 'em out.

Blaze - Blood and Belief [2004 masterpiece by a forgettable past Maiden frontman with a great band; I related heavily to the personal struggles discussed at the time this CD came out]

Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal [They stayed true to their battleground style and delivered an Abrams of a Death Metal assault]

Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls [Everyone knows who he is]

Impaled - Mondo Medicale [A group of doctors who worship Carcass but make better music]

Overkill - White Devil Armory [Yeah, this came out last month and is their best work since Years of Decay]

Havok - Unnatural Selection [Mix up Metallica, Slayer and Pantera; throw in a Sabbath cover and get this]

Lazarus A.D. - The Onslaught [I saw them twice and it took me to the mid 80's as I've only seen before on DVD]

Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Buried in the Front Yard [This is possibly the most original and smartest concept with the exceptions of King Diamond's Them and Conspiracy]

Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination [Black Thrash done right. Not as kvlt as the primitive sound of it's origin but let's face it, post 00's means clean production]

Now edited with my thoughts, although my opinion shouldn't matter. Listen and establish your own thoughts; for future refence I'll pay closer attention to the thread instructions.

Bolt Thrower and Skeletonwitch are obscure? Ok. Please, include more thoughts in your posts, we don't want lists.

Dude...traditional metal is mentioned all the fucking time here. I only presented a couple of mentions in my earlier post but I have, on multiple occasions, recommend modern traditional metal bands. You're too busy comparing them to Judas Priest or fucking Sabaton to allow the music to stand on it's own. "They're not original or "they're just worship" bands. I tell you what, I'd put the EP by Visigoth up against a lot of what some call classics. And there's many more bands. You just have to open your mind. There is only one King Diamond. There is only one Judas Priest. They did what they did and they set the bar, really high. But there are newer bands that have just as much potential and talent but they need to stand on their own. Wipe preconceived notions out of your head and just listen to the metal.

He said "Where I come from". In my country, those bands are pretty obscure. I'd be surprised if anyone in my town even know the name of Bolt Thrower.

Dude, it's metal. Of course it's obscure to people who aren't fans.

What I meant is that in my country, the metal community is all about Ensiferum, Machinehead, Gojira...
Even in the metal community, Bolt Thrower are rare.

Of all Havok albums you had to pick Unnatural Selection? I mean, I don't really think Havok's released anything classic worthy to begin with, but if I was going to choose an album of theirs to represent altogether, it's gotta be Burn.

Like some others already said, it's hard to imagine there will ever be another pan-genre classic like Master of Puppets or what have you. At this point it mostly becomes classics pertaining specifically to certain subgenres. Definitely agree with the mentions of Tara, Antithesis of Light, The Voice of Steel, Memoria Vetusta II, and The Work Which Transforms God. I'd have to put in a mention for Summoning's Oath Bound, though maybe it's just the constant fellatio of "Land of the Dead" that gives it that aura.

One album I don't think has been mentioned yet is Ahab's The Call of the Wretched Sea, which by now seems to be a pretty well-worn touchstone for death/doom.

Elysian Blaze's Levitating the Carnal and Blood Geometry both get votes from me. They're absolutely perfect case studies on how to marry black and doom metal, and their scope and beauty is quite simply staggering. It blows my mind that this remarkable one-man act isn't more recognized, as in my book these albums have classic status written all over them, at least within the realm of atmospheric black metal.

Speaking of black/doom, I can't believe The Ruins of Beverast hasn't been mentioned yet. It seems some of Meilenwald's albums have already attained a certain classic status in the black metal scene, though he hasn't spawned much in the way of imitators the way DsO have. I have no doubt albums like Rain Upon the Impure and Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite will be lauded for many, many years to come as masterpieces of modern, forward-thinking black metal.

Teitanblood's Seven Chalices might end up withstanding the test of time, a ton of people seem to adore it.

Weakling's Dead as Dreams, released in 2000, would be a necessary mention as it was one of the most influential events in the USBM timeline.

I don't know if anyone of you have mentioned Lykathea Aflame's "Elvenefris" from Czechia, but I'd definitely put them on the list.

Although they aren't really that known among the metal community I still think they deserve a place as a '00 classic.
They haven't really had an influence on some bands as far as I know (can't remember a band who plays the same style) but they have ultimately managed to create a brutal sound while putting so much emotions into that alone this fact should give them a spot as an all-time classic.

I'd say Elvenefris will have a similar status as "Spectrum of Death" or "Epidemic of Violence". Underground classics that are known and valued by rather few dedicated metal fans, but will never be known by the large public.

This thread is bound to become a "my favourite post-2000 albums" type but how in the blazes did no one mentiond Decapitated - Winds of Creation after 3 pages?

I definitely second the Thorns full length, Electric Wizard's Dopethrone, Close to a World Below by Immolation, Bolt Thrower's Those Once Loyal and Satan's Life Sentence.

Although I'm sure there will be more hate than love for Meshuggah I must say that if they do have a classic album in their catalog it would be Chaosphere. Nothing else really touches that album.

I'll also mention Chimera by Mayhem, Vader's Litany, Voivod's self-titled or possibly even Target Earth, Cold Steel... For an Iron Age by Destroyer 666 and if there HAS to be a Opeth album then it certainly won't be any other than Ghost Reveries.

i would have mentioned winds of creation as well as litany if i remembered they were that recent - somehow i thought of both of them as 90's material O.o

Totally. I was so disappointed by the album cause I generally love that style of USBM, but influential and undeniably classic as it is at this point in time, I feel like they have been totally outdone. I think WITTR's Diadem of 12 Stars really surpassed that album as far as quality goes while still keeping the same general style. Hell, the production even sounds really similar. Speaking of which, while I'm not a huge fan of the album (I much prefer Diadem) I think Two Hunters is probably a classic in the "cascadian" scene.

While they're not their yet, I think Hammers of Misfortune are on their way to achieving Slough Feg status - a smaller, but vocal and notable loyal fanbase accompanied by widespread critical acclaim (Mike Scalzi's previous involvement in Hammers being a nice coincidence, as is John Cobbett's previous involvement in Slough Feg). And if we're going to accept Traveller as a post-2000 classic, I think sometime down the line we're going to accept The August Engine as one as well.

Someone upthread mentioned Windir's Likferd as a contender. While it's certainly a good album, 1184 is more highly-regarded and therefore I think it's a better choice.

At some point, a Yob album will be recognized as an indisputable doom classic. The Unreal Never Lived might already be there, but if not that's the one my money is on.


Torture doom only lasted a few years, though. It basically doesn't exist now - are there any bands even playing it anymore? Wormphlegm definitely pioneered it, but I'm just not sure it lasted long enough for In an Excruciating Way... to really count as a classic.

Blackwater Park is easily their most well-rounded work and the best representation of the band as a whole. Their earlier and newer stuff is different, but when they were doing their middle period, they never did it better than Blackwater Park.

I would also say Damnation is a masterpiece of an album and already a classic.

Hammers of Misfortune really got going with The Locust Years, which I love to death. Also masterful are Fields and Church of Broken Glass, but after that, they haven't been the same for me. 17th Street is a disappointment.

Blazon Stone, Enforcer, Evil Survives, Gallows End, Hell, Katana, Slough Feg, Pagan Altar, Rocka Rollas, Riot, Sabaton, Satan, Satan's Host, Steel Assassin, Steelwing, Wolf, etc.

Happy?

Each of those bands has at least one truly great album; some have more than that. All traditional metal.

Just because people don't mention it doesn't mean it's not out there. There is great music being made in every metal sub-genre today. Traditional metal is just not as popular as it used to be, but it is nevertheless still amazing.


Now turn this up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkBSjIUAqo