37. Deicide - Once Upon the CrossDeicide are another one of the relatively well-known death metal bands. This album is what some would call a quick hit, a drive-by musical experience if you will. This album is ridiculously short, and if it was a second longer, it'd be a complete failure. This is a perfectly calculated death metal attack. Any time I'm in a sour mood and just need something incredibly intense to eat up a half-hour, this album's got the exact idea. Every song is absolutely killer, and it contains arguably the greatest death metal song of all time, "When Satan Rules His World". Oh, and if you're against organized religion in any fashion, the lyrics will definitely appeal.
Recommended tracks: Christ Denied, When Satan Rules His World, Kill the Christian, Trick or Betrayed
36. Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the MutilatedAside from having one of the best album covers ever, this album is another flawless slab of death metal. This one holds the coveted title of "First death metal album I ever heard". I remember going to my then-girlfriend's house, and downloading it off of LimeWire (seriously). As I listened to it, I felt like I was being born again. My eyes had been opened to a whole new type of metal, and holy shit did I like it. It was more intense than thrash, which I had been listening to exclusively. That, and the lyrics are so ridiculously violent that it physically repulsed me. To a metal-obsessed teenager, that's all it took. And, what was my then-girlfriend's response to my new awakening, you ask?
"...that's not even music." Yeah, that relationship went south.
Recommended tracks: Hammer Smashed Face, I Cum Blood (seriously), Necropedophile (seriously), Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt (...seriously)
35. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into HellAnother old favorite here. My dad was responsible for Meat Loaf. He played me Bat Out of Hell at an early age, and I didn't think much of it, because there's way too much going on with that album for a child to understand and appreciate. When I started getting into Pink Floyd and Metallica, I listened to Bat Out of Hell again and fell in love. I quickly got a hold of the sequel, and found something even better. This album is a real piece of work. It touches on a million different genres, while still maintaining the pop sensibilities. In fact, I'd probably go so far as to call this progressive pop-rock. Loads of people respect Yes for breaking into the mainstream with an 8 minute song, but Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf did the same thing with a 12 minute song. If you can find me another 75 minute pop album that covers this much ground and doesn't collapse in on itself, well, fucking show it to me.
Recommended tracks: Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back, Objects in the Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are, Everything Louder Than Everything Else