Heavier Than Heaven

Released in the year 1983, this was Metallica’s first album and as the name implies the record is jam-packed with head banging, lightning fast riffs and scorching solos that stunned the metal establishment.

By no means Metallica’s best album albeit “KILL ‘EM ALL” was a great debut for the future demigods of the metal world. At the beginning, Hetfield sounds like a woman who’s just got her labour contractions and the songs on the first side aren’t catchy either.

But “Jump in the Fire” redresses matters, with its fret gnawing riff-work and brain thawing solo; it is undeniably a killer by its own. The real live-wire of this record is the track “Whiplash” which was played with super fast, manic-fury and relentless riffing. “(Anesthesia) …Pulling teeth” was unleashed by the legendary bassist of the band, Cliff Burton, it is a terrific bass solo and is very famous amongst all the thrash-metal heads. “Motorbreath” is catchy, but “Seek and Destroy” is without doubt the first ever track by Metallica that made the fans scream for more! All things considered, this record was the perfect start for the band’s success as the world’s greatest thrash-metal band for the next twenty five years and is unquestionably one of the strongest ever metal albums ever recorded even to this day!

Commonly referred to as ‘Led Zeppelin 4’ or ‘Zoso’ or ‘untitled fourth album’, this album depicted Led Zep at its acme. Jimmy Page decided not to name this album as he felt naming an album had no meaning at all. The band felt that the contents of the album would speak for itself. How true they were, this album can be sited as one of the best albums that has shaped a phenomenon called ‘rock’. Jimmy Page incorporates beautiful and sense stimulating guitar solos into a number of songs and Robert Plant leads very well with his mystifying voice. Just 30 seconds shy of the 43 minute mark this album has 8 tracks each of which are beautiful in their own right. The best way to describe the greatness of this album is by saying that the worst song of the album ‘Four sticks’ is itself very good. The album begins with ‘Black Dog’ which is definitely a great opener and is followed by ‘Rock and Roll’. No fan of Bonham must miss the drum solo at the finish of ‘Rock and Roll’. Another great song goes by the name ‘Going to California’. Any one who loves listening to folk rock would love this. However any review of this album is incomplete without mentioning the greatest track on the album (as well as the greatest track ‘Led Zep’ ever came out with) ‘Stairway to Heaven’. This song created a lot of controversies back then. Some claimed that this song had hidden meaning which can be deciphered if the song is played in reverse. All said and done, no one could deny the fact that this song solely defines Led Zeppelin and is the greatest rock song ever written with a heart melting guitar solo and childish, yet beautifully weaved lyrics.