So I enjoyed the idea of doing a daily top ten, and lets face it I've not got much else to do this year. Need something to fill the time inbetween working out and planning a PHD proposal. So todays countdown will be my top ten Heavy tracks. Now I'm sure alot of your are thinking that's incredibly vague, and it is. I wanted to a kind of Metal and Alternative list, but I know by including genres I'd only annoy someone who'd moan that such and such a band doesn't fit the bill. Well whatever, here are my top then tracks by Heavy acts (i.e the type of stuff you'd see on Scuzz or in Rock Sound). One more think to keep in mind as I said before the Radiohead list, this is purely my personal favourites rather than my critical opinion. I'm going to try and keep it to one track per artist, anyway, Let's do this!
10. Scream Aim Fire - Bullet For My Valentine
While I could probably name a hundred, bigger, better or more important tracks than Scream Aim Fire but it will always be one of my personal favourites. I'm most certainly not a huge Bullet fan but this track kicks like a mule. It's gloriously retrospective, the vocals and guitar lines incorperate great swathes of British metal history, it feels like a homage to Maiden, but with a title like Scream Aim Fire who cares? It's the ultimate in fun metal to party to, you get to do the silly high vocals and then you get to go your best metal growl, anyway, enough talk....it's killing time!
9. Mouth For War - Pantera
I have to apologise in advance it's impossible to get a good quality live version of this track, so sorry about the less than stellar video. So anyway how could Mouth For War not make the list? After twenty seconds of generic chugging it suddenly drops into the unholy elastic guitar groove from hell. Never has there been a more perfect riff for moshing and pogoing, just try and resist I dare you.
8. Used For Glue - Rival Schools
So it's time for Punk's first entry onto my heavy list and could there be a finer choice than Used For Glue? Well actually I'm sure many of you won't exactly be thrilled, but for those of a certain generation (i.e my generation) this is the ultimate indie-rock-death-disco slayer. It's one of those tracks where the guitars kick in a absolutely huge way and it commands your feet to jump up and down until they bleed. Again sorry about the video quality.
7. Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies - Biffy Clyro
Yes I'm classing this as a heavy track and if you've seen them play this live you'll damn sure know why. This track is an absolutely monster and the centre peice of every Biffy Set. It's got the unrelenting guitars, the burst of classical strings, and one of those choruses that forces everyone to suddenly stop jumping put their hands in the air and croon there lungs out, before returning to the mosh.
6. Seek And Destroy - Metallica
Another track that if you've heard it live requires absolutely no explination and no justication. This is Metallica's nailed on set closer and it's a beast, built on a riff that's instantly recognizable and never get's old this track is unstoppable. I certainly destroyed my throat screaming along at Reading last year. This track was the perfect icing on top of a dream setlist and about the most fun you can have in a field of 70, 000. Live Anthems don't come any bigger than this.
5. Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails
The first industrial track to make it into the top ten and this is as groovy as they come. It's a bit of a cheat to call this heavy as this is more of a dance floor anthem than a mosh pit mangler. Infact this track has more in common with Cameo than it does with Metallica. However it's the perfect combination of an anti-authority screamathon and a groovey eighties sleazefest. It has a brilliant subversive hypnotic quality that sets Head Like A Hole apart from all the imitators.
4. The Fight Song - Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson will always be the ultimate poser, the ultimate case of style over substance, he has all the looks, he says the right things, strikes the right poses and always had the sleakest singles, but there was always something shallow about his music. Mainly that the albums were loaded to the brim with filler, but my God the man new his way around a hit and none was finer or louder than The Fight Song. "I'm Not A Slave To A God Who Does Exist" is simply, one of the greatest lyrics ever written. This track is one long piece of raw primal agnst laiden rage, and that's exactly why we love it.
3. Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance
I'm just going to come right out and say it, the best movie sound track ever! Okay so Watchman sucked, and the music choices were horrible and cliche but tucked away in the credits was this genius Bob Dylan cover and Leonard Cohen's beautiful First We Take Manhatten. Whoever decided to exclude these two tracks away from the main film was frankly a total dipshit. This track does everything you want from a heavy track, it has scream along vocals, a soaring Queen style solo, and guitars that will have you bouncing off the walls. If this is a sign of what's to come from MCR then I for one can't wait.
2. My Plague - Slipknot
This track is pure rage; "You Fucking Touch Me And I'll Rip You Apart, I'll Reach In A Take A Bite Out Of That Shit You Call A Heart". Yeah and this track only gets darker and angrier from then in. I have to say it never quite translates live, as Corey's always a little breatheless in the verse, but the chorus is simply gorgeous and a serves as a perfect contrast to the brutal psychopathic (or should that be psychosocial?) verse. Another superb slice from the Iowa album, loud as fuck and as brutal as they come a worthy number two.
Maynard is a strange fellow, and Prison Sex is as dark and as twisted as they come. One of his most emotional and revealing tracks, as he talks about finding temporary sanity in the shit blood and cum on his hands. People always debate whether this is a concept track with Maynard putting himself in the shoes of a sodomised prisoner or whether he's talking about his own history of abuse. If a fascinating study lyrically and easily the most intriguing Tool track, musical it grooves and grinds away it what would become typical Tool style. This song truly is a beautifully hideous work of art, and for it's layers upon layers of artistic depth, as well as the fact that it fucking rocks your socks, its easily my number one heavy track.
0 comments:
Post a Comment