Soundgarden

The first shot fired in the Grunge revolution, this album is a sludgefest encompassing all things heavy -- Zeppelin, Sabbath and Marshall stacks. By incorporating punk's DIY ethic into Metal, Soundgarden basically created Alt Metal. As essential for its historical value as it is for Chris Cornell's manly-man vocals.

Forget all that stuff you might have heard about sex-crazed groupies and luxurious L.A.
mansions; the real reason most guys want to be heavymetal rock stars is because they want
to make a whole lotta noise. And not just any noise, either. Heavy metal has its own
particular kind of glorious thunder – a dark, droning crunch that's almost druidic in its
appeal to the adolescent psyche. Black Sabbath tapped into this primal groove... More >

This AOR reclamation job isn't retro because so many of their culturally deprived boho contemporaries have pretty much the same idea. It isn't Led Zep because they're interested in (good at?) noise, not riffs. Covertly conceptual, arty in spite of itself, and I bet metal fans don't bite. (Grade - C+)