The best Amon Amarth is clearly the debut album. With Oden is good but not really as good as people would like you to think.

To me WOOOS utterly destroyed Fate of Norns. I loved most of the tracks on it, but recently I checked out the debut and it was better than the first time I heard it years ago. Fantastic album that definitely beats WOOOS by a bit.

Yeah, I know. Sorry for being stupid.

My Dying Bride hit a low with 34.788% and came back with I think an underrated Light at the end of the world cd. Some of their most epic work is on that disc IMO - She is the dark, title track, christliar

Malevolent Creation - after disappointing Stillborn they came back with a vengeance with Eternal.

You are saying Suffocation, Souls to Deny and Blood Oath are better than Breeding the Spawn?! Generally, Breeding the Spawn isn't viewed as being as good as Effigy or Pierced, but isn't it held higher than their later material?

Anyways, Breeding the Spawn is hands down my favourite Suffo album, it's just so... evil.

I think Megadeth's "Endgame" made up for the last two releases personally.

Yes it is held in higher regard, but I was only referring to the first few albums, which makes their newer ones irrelevant to the conversation.

Not seen anyone mention Risk -> Rust in Peace. You can debate whether Risk was the WORST with the amount of garbage Megadeth have made but the transition from such an awful album to Rust in Peace was a huge one.

I think a lot of people in this thread misunderstood the OP (it seems he means bands who released the worst album and followed it with their best, not the other way around), but others just seem to have totally fucked conceptions of time and/or sequence.

Also, I don't know why Fate of Norns is so reviled. I don't see a huge difference in quality between any two Amon Amarth albums.

You are REEEALLLY mixed up on your timeline, bud.

The very first sentence in the OP says, "and vice versa."

I'll throw in The Berzerker here, too. They release Dissimulate, which I think is their best album (just), then after that they release World Of Lies, which is by far their weakest. Far too guitar orientated, and not enough emphasis on good songs. Good thing the two after that made up for it.

I assumed he was simply stating that the same is also true (with the example of Atheist), but with the intended focus of discussion on the topic line (expanded on in the second paragraph). Nevermind me, then.

I agree about Light but I actually think MDB's lowest point is Gods of the sun. An album that's utterly dull, lifeless and generic sounding. At least on % they were trying some new things, its not their best album of course but its miles above Gods of the Sun.

Ride The Lightning is my favourite of the first 4.

For me: Ride The Lightning > Master of Puppets > ...And Justice For All > Kill 'Em All.

I didn't like James' vocals on Kill 'Em All at all.


Alice In Chains releasing Black Gives Way To Blue (their best) after their self-titled album (worst)

Insomnium's In the hall of waiting is easily their worst, where as the following album, Above the Weeping World, is their best.

In the Halls of Awaiting is their best album imo.
Above the Weeping World was good the first I listened to it, but I got bored of it pretty quickly.

I wanted to add Lacuna Coil's "Shallow Life" which I thought hands down wasn't up to par with the rest of their catalog. The album before that "Karmacode" wasn't so bad in my opinion, I loved it but "ComaLies" (which is before Karmacode) is considered to be their best work.

No to both of you. First of all, Since the Day It All Came Down was the album after their debut (In the Halls of Awaiting), and ATWW came after that. Second of all, Insomnium do not have a "worst" album. They are all godly incarnations.

The truth

Fates Warning's Night on Brocken is pretty generic and uninteresting aside from the last two songs, but The Spectre Within is my favorite. Funny since there's just one year between the two, and since both are still very much traditional/power with few of the prog-leanings of Awaken the Guardian.

Terrible Certainty is the one Kreator album where they actually balance the extreme thrash violence and the polish of their less-than-brutal albums, and as such is my favorite. Extreme Aggression is basically German-whiffle, an abomination more hideous than any attempted goth/industral/thrash of their late 90's period.

That's what I thought as well while reading the posts. I prefer OSFTGH to WOOOS.

One I thought of right away was Katatonia. I love all their stuff, but if I had to pick their overall weakest album it would definitely be Viva Emptiness. I don't think the album sucks, but it's defintiely got some major flaws. After hearing it I didn't expect much from the follow-up album The Great Cold Distance, but I was blown away. All the bad things about Viva Emptiness were gone (the noisy out-of-place guitar parts, the crappy drum sound, muddy production, etc) and it all was replaced by a perfect production, their best performances, and incredible songwriting. Definitely their best album in my opinion (and it turns out their new album Night is the New Day is just as good!).

Prometheus, the great symphonic blackened DM/BM work of Emperor; after their shitty IX Equilibrium which has just two good songs and the rest is generic and bad pseudo-blackened DM riffings chaoticly put together...

W.A.S.P. released Still Not Black Enough after The Crimson Idol. I love this last one, while SNBE is probably the weakest album Blackie released...

Oh shi-
My bad. IITHOW, it's not horrible, it's just bland.

Anaal Nathrakh releasing Eschaton after the borderline metalcore Dom En Es Dignus (One day I'll actually bother findign out what the album name really is). In the Constellation of the Black Widow possibly ruins this because it may take over as their best though.

Blut aus Nord's newy is damn close to the best thing they've done, following the just-a-little-bit-too-dissonent Odinist.

Agree with 'Above the Weeping World' being Insomnium's best. The two other previous albums were great, but it's the only album that takes you on a journey from start to finish. I'm not really sure about 'The Dark' yet, although i'll concede the atmosphere on TD is incredible at times.
I'll throw in Immortal. The transition from 'Blizzard Beasts' to 'At the Heart of Winter" really threw me back. While BB froze me, ATHOW chilled the spine and kicked my ass.

I can't believe no one mentioned yet how Stratovarius went from their abysmal self-titled to the very-awesome Polaris.

Yes on Anaal Nathrakh, but I'm thinking different albums. I would have to say Hell is Empty was perhaps their worst offering because of just how watered down it sounded. It wasn't nearly as loud, aggressive, and passionate as their previous album was, and came as a gigantic disappointment for me. Then they released In the Constellation of the Black Widow, which is, for me, the peak of what they've done.

Watershed (a fav) after Ghost Reveries (a least-fav).

and Opeth again...

Still Life (a fav) after MAYH (a least-fav).

Definitely agree there.

Well, depending on my mood for Morbid Angel:

Best - Gateways to Annihilation
Worst - Heretic

but I change my mind all the time.

Exodus came close. Bonded by Blood is their best, but their second album does nothing for me. Force of Habit is absolutely their worst though.

So now I just thought of Testament. Not sure what album is worse - The Ritual or Demonic, but lots of people consider The Gathering to be their best album, which came afterwards. Personally, I can never decided which is their best...

High on Fire's Blessed Black Wings (their worst) followed by Death is this Communion (their best).

Worst - History of a Time To Come
Best - Dreamweaver

Worst - Never Say Die
Best - Heaven And Hell

How does History of a Time to Come qualify as worst, especially when Sabbat released Mourning has Broken???????????

You bastard... that's what I was going to say. Breeding the Spawn is a fucking masterpiece, but it's totally destroyed by horrible production.

True that. Roadrunner is a shitty label now, and it was a shitty label back then. Couldn't shell out just a bit more money to put out a quality recording?

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that The Puppet Master is King Diamond's best, but its definitely up there and it comes after Abigail II, which I found to be somewhat mediocre (which is saying something, since every other release has caused me to orgasm at least once).

Give Me Your Soul was really weak and enervated.

What's wrong with a little BBW?

Joking aside, I would say their "worst" was the debut. It's not a bad album by any means, but it just doesn't have their signature sound fully developed, yet.