Heavy Metal 1990s Albums

Sonic Brew establishes Black Label Society through weighty riffs, earthy blues feeling and rough vocal delivery.

Being Human builds melody-centered hard rock from clear vocals, lyrical keyboards and finely detailed guitar.

Dir En Grey's debut album, released on 28 July 1999, thirteen tracks running 64:47.

Erase the Slate organizes sharp guitar work, firm rhythm and melancholy-tinged vocals into a return to classic melodic metal.

Unification builds steel-plated power metal from mechanical riffing, heavy rhythm and heroic vocal melody.

Engine is the fourteenth Loudness album, released by Rooms Records on 7 July 1999. It was the third and last studio record by the line-up of Takasaki, Yamada, Shibata and Homma.

Risk deliberately pulls back from Megadeth’s usual thrash attack and moves toward smoother melody, mid-tempo groove and more pop-shaped arrangements.

Masterpeace attacks with heavy guitar riffs, hard-edged drums and urgent vocals, reaffirming Metal Church’s traditional heavy-metal force.

The Unforgiven builds on Michael Schenker Group’s melodic hard-rock strengths: sharp riffs, singing lead guitar and songs shaped around real emotional movement.

An eighth album whose opener, "Snakes in Eden," the band later re-recorded and kept.

Jaws of Death brings together thick guitar chug, forceful drums and piercing high vocals in Primal Fear’s heavy traditional-metal attack.

Q2K reduces some of Queensrÿche’s more elaborate progressive machinery and presents vocals and riffs in a more direct rock form.

Ghosts draws Rage slightly away from its usual sharp metal attack and gives more attention to acoustic resonance and quieter melody.

The studio album that followed Everything Louder. The band's own album gallery files it under 2000.

Sons of Society brings together driving rhythm, sharp twin guitars and rising vocal melody in Riot’s power-metal mode.

Saxon's fourteenth album, released in 1999. It is the first with Fritz Randow on drums, though the opening Intro is Nigel Glockler's.

Eye II Eye finds Scorpions expanding beyond their familiar hard-rock frame with programming, pop texture and a more contemporary compactness.

The Gathering pushes Testament into a particularly aggressive space, layering sharp thrash riffs with a low, heavy sound.

Holy puts U.D.O.’s core elements directly up front: heavy riffs, a marching beat and a distinctive, powerful vocal.

Helldorado drives forward with thick guitar riffs, heavy beats and Blackie Lawless’s theatrical vocal presence.

Alchemy concentrates Yngwie Malmsteen’s neoclassical language into a dense mix of baroque-minded harmony, rapid scale work and dramatic riffs.

Volume 8: The Threat Is Real keeps Anthrax’s thrash sharpness at the core while bringing in thick groove, hard-rock hooks and contemporary weight.

Sensitive Pictures is an early Blindman album built from soaring vocals, sharply defined guitar work and keyboard color.

Virtual XI builds an epic atmosphere through heavy riffs, bass-led melody and extended song structures.

Dragon is the thirteenth Loudness album, released by Rooms Records on 5 August 1998 — the second record by the line-up of Takasaki, Yamada, Shibata and Homma.

Garage Inc. is a strongly conceptual covers album on which METALLICA translated a number of songs it reveres into their own sound.

Snake Bite Love was released on 10 March 1998, its sleeve drawn by Joe Petagno, who created the band's Snaggletooth logo. Victor issued the Japanese pressing as VICP-60315.

Primal Fear’s debut presents traditional heavy metal with soaring vocals and heavy guitar riffs as its main weapons.

XIII by RAGE: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

The first Nuclear Blast album, and a deliberate turn back toward straight heavy metal. It reached number 63 in Germany and was followed by a support tour with Deep Purple.

Diabolus in Musica builds an oppressive heaviness from low, heavy guitar, hard-carved rhythm and cutting vocals.

No Limits puts steel-edged riffs, forceful rhythm and Udo Dirkschneider’s unmistakable voice at the front of a traditional heavy-metal statement.

Van Halen III brings a new voice into the band and reaches toward wider song forms and longer developments than the group’s usual template.

Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra is a useful way to hear YNGWIE MALMSTEEN from a different angle within the 1998 catalogue.

Shadowlife moves Dokken away from glossy melodic hard rock toward lower-feeling guitar and a heavier atmosphere.

A Pleasant Shade of Gray follows one extended composition through anxiety, isolation and quiet release.

Iron Savior’s debut combines heavy guitar, heroic choruses and science-fiction storytelling.

Jugulator brings lower, heavier guitar and forceful aggression to the front of Judas Priest’s restart.

Ghetto Machine is the twelfth Loudness album, released in Japan by Rooms Records on 5 July 1997. It was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, and was the first album with bassist Naoto Shibata.

Cryptic Writings retains Megadeth’s thrash-rooted tension while moving toward cleaner construction and more immediate choruses.

Reload deepens Metallica’s late-1990s rock approach through thick, rolling riffs, low-slung groove and rough vocal delivery.

Outrage's seventh album, out on 25 January 1997. It is the last full-length by the four-man line-up before Naoki Hashimoto left in 1999.

A seventh album of thirteen songs, the longest of the period, opening straight out of its intro.

Hear in the Now Frontier finds Queensrÿche reducing some of its elaborate progressive construction in favor of drier guitar and more direct songs.

A fifteen-track studio album from 1997, closing out the stretch the band spent working around the German metal scene.

Inishmore combines heroic riffing, singable melody and Celtic color in Riot’s late-period metal.

Savatage's tenth album, released in September 1997: the tale of an old sailor called Magellan, woven around a real stowaway case and the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.

Saxon's thirteenth album, from May 1997. It is the first with Doug Scarratt on guitar, and he has held the second guitar chair ever since.

Demonic keeps some of Testament’s thrash bite but brings lower, slower and heavier pressure to the foreground.

Solid is traditional heavy metal driven by Udo Dirkschneider’s metallic voice, thick riffs and concise song construction.

Kill Fuck Die breaks away from W.A.S.P.’s expected glam and traditional-metal contours with mechanical beats, distorted guitar and abrasive language.

Endangered Species brings together thick riffs, blues-rooted guitar and Dave Meniketti’s heated vocal presence.

Facing the Animal combines fast scalar runs, classical-flavored melody and thick riffs in Yngwie Malmsteen’s guitar-centered world.

Predator brings Accept’s hard-edged riffs and Udo Dirkschneider’s cutting voice into a heavier, more contemporary frame.

Dio's 1996 studio album, made with the Strange Highways line-up of Tracy G, Jeff Pilson and Vinny Appice and produced by Ronnie James Dio himself.