Customer Reviews

Best of Nuclear Blast: 20th Anniversary Compilation

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am 50 years old and have been listening to rock music since Dylan went electric. I can honestly say that this is some of the most godawful stuff I've ever heard. BUT, it is free, and thank you to the record company for releasing it this way. I disliked every minute of it, but I am extremely happy to have had the opportunity to hear it, which I wouldn't have otherwise. Hooray, and pass the Tylenol! Hey, BTW, these bands can really play -- I am a drummer and would need oxygen after about 40 seconds of playing at this speed ...

Nuclear Blast has been the home of bands like Pungent Stench, S.O.D., Hammerfall, and even In Flames so the label has a pretty good reputation for releasing good if not great metal albums. Nuclear Blast has survived as an underground indie for years and this compilation gives us nine reasons why they have survived twenty years. This cd serves two purposes. The first is to grab new fans which is why this cd is so good. Most best of label compilations fail because the label throw together a bunch of crappy bands and hope that it'll increase sales, but Nuclear Blast has done the opposite and put together bands that fans of metal will actually seek out. All of these songs are good and it flows quite nicely. The second purpose is to thank the fans for their support and by assembling such a strong track listing it's nice to actually hear a cd all the way through without skipping over tracks that suck. For fans of Nuclear Blast it's a reminder of just how good they are. They are a label that cares about their fans and know what we like and this cd is a solid testament of that. So cheers to Nuclear Blast and happy anniversary.

This is an amazing little compiliation. Why? Cause its free and it includes some great metal. In a day and age when CD's are so expensive, record labels throwing some free material our way is a great way to ease some buyers minds (such as mine). I had intended to buy several albums on here, but now I can wait on those as I have a few songs to hold me over. And in the midst of this, I found a new band I now love (Equilibrium). Simply amazing. Download this! Its free! What do you have to lose?

It's funny...today, I got an email from Amazon informing me that I may be interested in a "Free Hard Rock/Metal Sampler". Listening to the previews/reading the reviews of users complaining about "cookie monster vocals" on one of the tracks/seeing comparisons made between that sampler and a "nuclear blast pack" that most of those reviewers hated quickly prompted me to search for this.

A few months ago, a friend told me about Pandora. I used "Lost to Apathy" by Dark Tranquility as a seed song, and have since then been introduced to the awesome world of death metal. As it turns out, several of the artists I like have been with/are currently with the Nuclear Blast label.

So, I do like this sampler. Most of it is pretty good (although a couple of the tracks are sort of bland/generic metal sounding for my tastes). Meshuggah should have had at least two tracks (I've been listening to a progressive metal/math rock station recently on Pandora, using Meshuggah as a seed..I'm biased at this point :-p). Also, I've never heard of Equilibrium but I definitely liked what I heard...I will look into them.

In the end, I wish that Amazon would've recommended *this* sampler to me before the other one (Seriously...I bought black/symphonic/groove metal and it points me to a sampler with Alice Cooper/Poison/Twisted Sister? Due to my classic rock upbringing/diverse taste in music I like those artists as well...but it's seriously apples vs oranges to compare them to death metal 0_o)

Summation: Some good examples of melodic death and thrash metal. If you can stand screaming/growling vocals, then you may very well like this. If not, you may want to look for a different sampler.

Love metal and Nuclear Blast bands. This was a nice treat, free music and all great songs.

For a free album, the music on this album is sweet. It's not like a bunch of crappy tracks, there is seriously some quality on this CD. I mean, it's not like an August Burns Red record, but the tracks are good. Worth waiting 2 minutes to download.

A good compilation of songs, not the best nuclear blast has to offer, but otherwise a good listen. I already had the Exodus and Testament songs, so I really only listened to the other six. It's a pretty good mix of heavy and heavier. Kataklysms songs are pretty good, never heard of Equilibrium but found myself liking it even though is was a bit repetitive. Testaments songs are really good as was "we are the nightmare" by Arsis, the other Arsis song "shattering the spell" was just alright. Then you got "bleed" by Meshuggah, simply crushing, outstanding, and sure to make you want to get up and kill a poser. The cd ends off with "Riot Act", a good song and "The atrocity exhibition", just alright they should have put "funeral hymn" on here instead for it is a truly epic song.

All in all though, you just can't beat the fact that its free.

The instrumental musicianship in these songs is for all practical purposes beyond question. Not just because the band members can play fast for extended periods, but also because the majority of what they play really is well done. But my nagging disappointment with the recent trends in metal music is the so-called 'vocalists' who scream, usually incoherently, over impressive riffs and basically ruin the music for me. I grew up on a wide range of musical, let alone rock, styles. My heavy tastes include Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Metallica and a number of less commercially successful but talented bands. Each of the 'worst' vocalists among my favorites are still far better than what I've heard on this selection in particular and in modern metal as a whole. And the reason is that they at least TRY to sing. Sadly, to me this collection sounds like a single band doing multiple songs and the vocalists are the reason why. I'm all for each person being free to enjoy his or her own musical taste as long as they allow different folks to have their own different tastes, too. So let the fans of this modern strain of metal crank it up to their collective hearts' content. I just honestly feel that it falls a bit short for me. I've always preferred singers over rappers, screamers, talkers or mumblers when I listen to music, and I always will... c'est la vie.

Not too much wrong with a great metal sampler like this, especially when its free. On top of being free, I heard the song Blut Im Auge by Equilibrium on this sampler, so anything that could provide that much enjoyment should get a little love. Hopefully you'll find something to like and explore further from this sampler.

That its free it gets five stars but all in all there isn't a bad song on here and I've been meaning to pick up some of the albums of these bands so its a great preview. Honestly what are you doing reviewing this album if this music isn't your thing? This, unlike most free albums, is totally worth the download. Thanks Nuclear blast.