metal_xxx wrote:
Very few albums qualify as a classic by those criteria, and it would barely be necessary with a classic section on this site if those were the criteria.
I actually think there's quite a few when one takes into account the wide scope of metal.
metal_xxx wrote:
For me, classic albums are divided into the huge, fundamental, commercial and pioneering albums, and the more underground yet still influential, genre-defining albums like this and many others. This album meets the latter criteria in my opinion.
I agree about the underground. Hence I mentioned bands such as Possessed and Darkthrone. I'd happily add bands such as Repulsion, Autopsy and Exciter in there as well.
I just think that the Jag Panzer album is too obscure to be genre defining. In all my time near 20 years of listening to metal, I've never come across any references to their impact until this review.
Yet genre defining albums tend to get name dropped a lot, be it by the Metal journalists or by the bands themselves when citing influences.
Jag Panzer on the other hand is not mentioned at all.
I'd say the same thing about bands such as Artillery or Edge of Sanity whom I absolutely love. By Inheritance and Purgatory Afterglow are two of my favourite albums but are not genre defining or impactful enough to warrant a Classic tag.
I think to a degree it's about historical misperception. I remember when Cancer and Onslaught reformed a number of online articles were published calling them highly influential or seminal bands.
Yet they were not. They wrote some great stuff but were obscure and generally stuck and forgotten in the mire of the Thrash and Death tidal waves of the time. They were third or fourth tier players in the scene.
At the same time, I've seen bands such as WASP referred to as underground Metal bands.
So the truth is Cancer and Onslaught were nobodies while WASP was actually somewhat commercially successful and even caught the ire of Tipper Gore's PMRC.
The internet has made these bands more popular than during the time they were actually active.