United States Metal & Hard Rock Albums of the 2000s - Page 5

Dying for the World uses heavy guitars and Blackie Lawless’s urgent voice to draw anger, grief and prayer into sharp relief.

Just Push Play brings digital textures and pop-minded hooks into Aerosmith’s blues-rooted framework.

Andrew W.K.'s debut album, issued by Island Records in November 2001. "Party Hard" and "She Is Beautiful" were taken from it as singles.

Sounding the Seventh Trumpet is Avenged Sevenfold’s debut, mixing hardcore urgency, melodic-death-metal guitar and classic-metal ambition.

Beautiful Creatures is a debut that blends L.A. hard-rock flash with punk roughness.

Time Bomb retains Buckcherry’s raw rock-and-roll charge while aiming for tighter, more urban hooks.

Converge's fourth album, issued by Equal Vision on 4 September 2001. It is the first record with bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller.

Cockroach finally presents songs that had remained unreleased for years, organized around two different vocal versions.

Fear Factory's fourth studio album, from April 2001, and the record that closes the trilogy begun with Demanufacture.

III marks Giant’s return after a long break, putting Dann Huff’s voice and guitar back at the center of a strong melodic-rock sound.

Arrival by JOURNEY: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Karma by KAMELOT: track list, album artwork and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

The seventh L.A. Guns studio album, released by Spitfire Records on 24 April 2001 — the first with Phil Lewis back on vocals. Ten songs.

Supercharger channels Machine Head’s low-slung groove through more contemporary rhythms and dense impact.

The World Needs a Hero sees Megadeth move back toward hard riffs and tense songwriting after the broader melodic direction of the late 1990s.

Actual Size captures the Ritchie Kotzen-era balance of funk, hard rock and pop in MR.

Neurosis's seventh album, from 2001. It turns towards clean singing and acoustic instruments, and Decibel placed it eighteenth in its metal albums of the decade.

Guilty Pleasures leans into the catchy choruses and brisk guitar riffs that define Quiet Riot’s hard-rock appeal.

Savatage's eleventh album, released in 2001: their first after leaving Atlantic, with Jon Oliva singing every lead vocal for the first time since Streets.

God Hates Us All compresses Slayer’s cutting riffs and high-tension rhythms into a brutally direct statement.

Iowa by SLIPKNOT: track list, Spotify player, music videos and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

System of a Down's second album, out on 4 September 2001. It brings in sitar and banjo and leans far more on melody and singing than the debut did.

First Strike Still Deadly revisits familiar material through the voice, production weight and arrangement sense of its recording period.

Tool's third album, released on 15 May 2001 after their dispute with Volcano was settled: their first Billboard 200 number one.

Unholy Terror emphasizes W.A.S.P.’s darker sense of drama through Blackie Lawless’s theatrical voice and heavily chiseled riffs.

Under the Influence is a covers album on which WARRANT reworks rock classics of old, with Jani Lane's voice pulling each into the band's world.

Stronger Than Death pushes Black Label Society further into thick riffs, low-slung groove and Zakk Wylde’s southern-metal grit.

Crush restored Bon Jovi’s gift for arena-sized hooks with a clean, contemporary production frame.

Pleasure to Burn joins Doug Aldrich’s bluesy, full-bodied guitar work to Keith St.

The Return of the Great Gildersleeves reconnects Danger Danger with its melodic-rock strengths: bright keyboards, instant choruses and Ted Poley’s easygoing vocal warmth.

Deftones' third album, out on 20 June 2000. It is the first record with Frank Delgado as a full member on turntables and synthesiser.

Dio's eighth studio album, released by Spitfire on 21 March 2000, was Ronnie James Dio's first concept album and the first part of a planned trilogy.

The Sickness gives nu metal a distinctive center of gravity through bouncing rhythms, blunt riffs and David Draiman’s instantly recognizable delivery.

Disconnected deepens Fates Warning’s progressive-metal tension through precise playing and inward-looking songs.

O2 by FIREHOUSE: track list, album artwork and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Awake by GODSMACK: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Isis's first full-length album, issued in 2000 by Escape Artist and Hydra Head Records.

The eighth album, an electronic experiment Satriani himself called completely techno. Out 14 March 2000.

Killswitch Engage’s debut captures the raw collision of hardcore urgency and metal weight that would help define metalcore.

New American Gospel by LAMB OF GOD: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Secrets of Astrology frames Lana Lane’s warm vocal within progressive structures, layered keyboards and a mystical thematic arc.

Hybrid Theory fuses rap, rock and electronic texture into a debut that captured a generation’s tension and vulnerability.

Hourglass favors refined melodic rock: mature chord movement, smooth choruses and arrangements that let the songs breathe.

New Tattoo puts Mötley Crüe’s rougher rock-and-roll instincts ahead of glam polish.

Furnished Souls for Rent blends Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar imagination with groove, pop instinct and a loose band feel.

Get Over It brings Mr. Big’s four distinct personalities back into a tighter hard-rock setting.

Nevermore's fourth album, from 2000. It is their first record made with seven-string guitars, and it includes a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

Origin's debut album, issued by Relapse Records in 2000. It was the first label-released death metal album to use the gravity blast.

Overkill's eleventh album, released in October 2000: made as a four-piece with Dave Linsk as the only guitarist, and mixed by Colin Richardson.

Reinventing the Steel distills Pantera’s groove-metal force into a final, hard-hitting studio statement.

Alligator Farm by PAUL GILBERT: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Crack a Smile... and More! gathers material that highlights Poison’s most open-hearted qualities: sweet melodies, clear choruses and Bret Michaels’s approachable vocal.

Queens of the Stone Age's second album, out on 6 June 2000. It is the first to feature bassist Nick Oliveri and the singer Mark Lanegan.

Renegades turns Rage Against the Machine’s influences into material that still sounds like Rage.

Ten 13 lets Sammy Hagar lean into the open-road side of his songwriting: muscular guitars, sunny hooks and a voice built to carry a chorus.

Of One Blood connects melodic-death guitar language with hardcore force in an early Shadows Fall statement.

V: The New Mythology Suite turns Symphony X’s mythic themes into a large-scale progressive-metal narrative.