Can I be a kiasu person and list 5 CDs?
1) Rollins Band - The End Of Silence
Found at Cash Converter for 5 bucks. God bless the converters! Used to own this album in cassette form a gajillion years ago. Once I listened to it again, it hit me how unbelievably wrist-slashing, depressing most of the music on here is. Mr Rollins' pain-tinged, sorrowful howlings didn't make my mornings perk up one bit. All it did was to make me think that maybe suicide is not bad after all. Howevertheless, the musicianship of the band (especially bassist Andrew Weiss' performance) and also the awesome production makes life worth living once more. Good stuff!
2) Corrosion Of Conformity - Wiseblood
Again found at Cash Converter. It's amazing what people will sell off. One man's junk, is another man's future CD collection. That's right - 5 bucks! Southern rock, tough, biker guy boogie swagger jam-fest aplenty here!
3) Rollins Band - Hard Volume
Not found at Cash Converter. On this 1989 release, Mr Muscle Man Rollins churns out an intense performance with hellish screams of pain and angertitude. The music is bluesy and punky and the production is as raw as the ugly ass blister on my heel. The band plays more straight ahead compared to End Of Silence which features some cool jazz-fusion and bluesy undertones. Dark and depressing and ugly as hell. Good razor-blade-to-the-wrist friendly music. Not really advisable to listen to if you are already suicidally depressed. That's why I'm dead now and typing this from beyond this mortal coil.
4) Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare
The re-release of the 1988 debut album of this fine San Francisco Bay Area thrash band. Included here is an extra CD of live performance in 2001. A fine thrash metal album indeed although I'm more partial to their second effort, Oppressing The Masses, cos that's the album that made me aware of them in the first place. And yes, Robb 'Machine Head' Flynn was one of the guitarist. But you wouldn't have guessed it with all the thrash riffs flying all over the place!
5) Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness
Yet another re-release. This time, with an extra DVD of a gig at Nottingham Rock City in 1989. I actually bought this mainly for the DVD, and it was worth the $hebang! The picture and sound quality is well above average, with professional multi-cameras. Not some bootleg, camcorder in the crowd shit. Old school metal crowd aplenty! Happily stagediving like kids playing on a waterslide! The high point of the gig for me is when the band messed up a bit somewhere in the middle of Maze Of Torment. Trey Azagtoth fluffed up the riff and missed his cue which left drummer Pete Sandoval looking hapless with a look that said 'Dude - what the fish?' Excellent live tracks (all culled from Altars...) of blistering satanic death metal delivered to you by the band that sings nothing but good things about Shab-Niggurath and his good old friend, Khtulu!