Heaviest Album You've Ever Heard

[emtee]

Whatever your definition of "heavy" is...that's cool with me.

I've never been a huge fan of Testament - some good songs here and there - with one exception: Titans Of Creation is chock full of brutal, amazing riffs and insane drumming. Bludgeoning but exceptionally good from beginning to end and the sonic values enhance the experience. I'm not sure anything I've heard is heavier.

[WilliamMunny]

Whatever your definition of "heavy" is...that's cool with me.

I've never been a huge fan of Testament - some good songs here and there - with one exception: Titans Of Creation is chock full of brutal, amazing riffs and insane drumming. Bludgeoning but exceptionally good from beginning to end and the sonic values enhance the experience. I'm not sure anything I've heard is heavier.

Great idea for a thread!

Keeping in mind that my definition of heavy has evolved over time, I have two answers:

The heaviest album I've ever heard (at that moment): Pantera – Far Beyond Driven

Given the music I'd been listening to at the time, a list that includes all your hair-metal standards like Def Leppard and Slaughter, this record blew my freaking mind. Everything I knew about the word 'metal' got instantly recalibrated the second Phil said, "It's nothing..."

The heaviest album I've ever heard, period: Meshuggah – Nothing

[Phoenix87x]

Personally, I consider Train of thought to be pretty heavy, but probably Slipknot Iowa or slayer rein in blood

Also, White zombie's Astro creep Rips as well 

Early Tool comes to mind

Fate's warning- No exit (especially Anarchy Devine) 

Deftones- around the fur

Nine inch nails- Broken ep

System of a down - toxicity

Thrice - illusion of safety

   I have to be in the right mood, but boy do I love heavy music

[Elite]

Uuh, I'm not sure? I tend to zone out a little if it's just heavy with nothing else, so whenever music gets too one-dimensional it just doesn't do anything for me. That's why I find a lot of death metal boring for example.

I think sonically a really heavy and dense album is Jane Doe by Converge, especially because it's not in your face all the time, but I'm not sure that's 'heavy' enough for this thread when there's stuff like Strapping Young Lad's City and Meshuggah's obZen (two albums I really enjoy by the way) that exists as well. I'm pretty sure the 'heaviest' concert I have ever been to was Swans with their massive, droning wall of sound.

[HOF]

Not sure about heard. Heaviest that I actually listen to is probably King’s X’s Dogman.

[El Barto]

I'd probably go with Scream Bloody Gore. At the time it was leaps and bounds heavier than anything else, and there was some crazy shit coming out back then. The next 35 years have all been kind of building on that, really.

[jammindude]

Sepultura in their prime is still some of the most brutal and heavy music I’ve ever heard.

I’d have to give the nod to Beneath the Remains, although I’m aware most people prefer Arise. But Arise to me was a cleaner “BTR PART 2”, and at the end of the day, I just prefer the songs and rawer sound on BTR.

Chaos AD is a different animal altogether, and just seemed to be even heavier while sacrificing a little bit of speed. Roots is probably the heaviest thing they did, but it failed to resonate with me musically, even though I recognize its influence.

[wolfking]

Nice thread topic.  That's damn hard to define though.  Heavy could mean so many different things.  I'll have to think about it.  There's really no right or wrong answer though I feel.

[425]

Uuh, I'm not sure? I tend to zone out a little if it's just heavy with nothing else, so whenever music gets too one-dimensional it just doesn't do anything for me. That's why I find a lot of death metal boring for example.

Yeah, to me a more interesting question would be "what is the heaviest album you enjoy?" I don't have an immediate answer to either, but that's the one that would inspire me more.

[Glasser]

Ironically I am on a brutal death metal kick lately. Murder Made God, Prostitute Disfigurement, Parasitic Ejaculation, and Abominable Putridity come to mind as heavy.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

The only thing I can think of right now is probably something from Meshuggah like Stifled for example. It's not only heavy per se but the sonic quality makes it even heavier. Blast that in your car stereo and it will melt faces.

[wolfking]

It could go many different directions.  Ones that pop to mind;

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath/Master of Insanity
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Death - Scream Bloody Gore/Leprosy
1349 - Hellfire
Morbid Angel - Alter of Madness/Covenant
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked/Ithyphallic/At the Gates of Sethu
Warning - Watching From a Distance
Ahab - Call of the Wretched Sea

[Glasser]

It could go many different directions.  Ones that pop to mind;

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath/Master of Insanity
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Death - Scream Bloody Gore/Leprosy
1349 - Hellfire
Morbid Angel - Alter of Madness/Covenant
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked/Ithyphallic/At the Gates of Sethu
Warning - Watching From a Distance
Ahab - Call of the Wretched Sea

Love Frost and while Monotheist might not be my favorite of theirs I 100% think its by far their heaviest, polar opposite of Cold Lake. Good example Kade!!!

[Glasser]

The term heavy is subjective. It can be a band going heavier by being more aggressive and less poppy. A good example is Stryper's last few albums have been their heaviest but still not heavy like Deicide or Cannibal Corpse.

[wolfking]

The term heavy is subjective. It can be a band going heavier by being more aggressive and less poppy. A good example is Stryper's last few albums have been their heaviest but still not heavy like Deicide or Cannibal Corpse.

Good point on all fronts Tom.  Very subjective and depends on the context of the band like you said.

[HOF]

Not sure about heard. Heaviest that I actually listen to is probably King’s X’s Dogman.

I don’t listen to this very often, but Skid Row’s Subhuman Race is probably the heaviest album I own (all the way through at least). Savatage’s A Handful of Rain has some really heavy tracks. Train of Thought I guess might be up there. Awake is pretty heavy in places, but I don’t think it’s the heaviest of those albums. Pull by Winger is probably one of the heavier albums I enjoy.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Frontierer's Orange Mathematics is crushingly heavy. It sounds like getting punched in the face repeatedly feels.

[wolfking]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

[TAC]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

What, you don't have Prostitute Disfigurement or Parasitic Ejaculation on your list too?

[Crow]

there's definitely a difference between "heaviest album i've ever heard" and "heaviest album i've ever enjoyed". lots of brutal death or black metal albums i don't care for at all out there. don't remember the names of them.

heaviest i've enjoyed? warforged's i: voice, pretty handily

[Revenge319]

I'm sure there are heavier albums out there, but these are what I would consider some of the heaviest that I've heard.

Between the Buried and Me - The Silent Circus / The Parallax II
Mastodon - Remission
Mithras - On Strange Loops

[wolfking]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

What, you don't have Prostitute Disfigurement or Parasitic Ejaculation on your list too?

No, I meant HOF's suggestion of Winger. 

[Glasser]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

What, you don't have Prostitute Disfigurement or Parasitic Ejaculation on your list too?

 

[Crow]

Mithras - On Strange Loops

this is also a really good answer 

[Glasser]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

Skid Row toured with Cannibal Corpse on the Subhuman Race Tour. Or was it Skid Row Richard Marx "Skid Marx" Tour. 

[Glasser]

Another good current example is the new Arch Enemy being called there lightest album yet its still heavier than Winger Pull which is a heavy Winger album. Another perfect example is my weight being 270 but my son is his heaviest right now at 197.  

[HOF]

While subjective, there's some strange albums getting thrown around already in this thread being classed as 'heavy'.

Assuming this is pointed at me, I never said they were the heaviest anything other than what I listen to, which is purely factual.

[Glasser]

[TAC]

I'm shocked there's an advisory label on it.

[Glasser]

I'm shocked there's an advisory label on it.

Tim, check this album out. The song "Dismember The Transgender" is brutal! 

[DTA]

Probably Dimmu Borgir's Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia. That album is just cranked up the absolute max in terms of intensity.

[Glasser]

Can Kev do a Prostitute Disfigurement countdown next?   

[Glasser]

Listening to my heavy shit I stumbled on Knob Gobbler by CLITEATER.   

[Architeuthis]

Symphony X - Iconoclast  is heavy on the most part but not entirely.  If you took a compilation of their heaviest songs, you could make a brutally heavy album. Songs like Kiss of Fire, Serpents Kiss, or Set the World On Fire are great examples.   
I guess any of their songs with the words kiss or Fire are really heavy.    🔥   

[DoctorAction]

Listening to my heavy shit I stumbled on Knob Gobbler by CLITEATER.   

  That's up there with another all-time most hilarious track name by artist I've ever heard: Fat Digester by Bum Gravy.

Heaviest I've ever heard is probably some death metal or black metal. It all melds into one and I'm not much of a fan, but it IS heavy, afaic.

So heaviest I enjoy:

Meshuggah are always fucking heavy as many have said.
The Dillinger Escape Plan were absolutely savage (and under appreciated, in my book)
Reign In Blood blew my mind in 1986, and really, most other heavy music is rendered unnecessary by its mere existence.

But heaviest has to have a lot of conviction, not just be playing theatrics. This is really hard... That section in Shitstorm by Strapping Young Lad that culminates in "if you want fucking crazy, I'll show you too be crazy - fuck YAAAOOOOOUUUU!!!!" is really something.