2001 Metal & Hard Rock Albums

A live album from the band's 1999 appearance at Wacken Open Air, issued by Spitfire Records in 2001.

A live album from the band's 1981 concert at Rock City in Nottingham, issued by Spitfire Records in 2001.

A studio album released by Z Records in 2001 — the band's first new record since Burning in the Shade in 1987, and the first of their second life.

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

Am Universum expands Amorphis beyond a heavy-guitar base with keyboards, saxophone and clean vocals.

Rebirth presents Angra’s renewed lineup through Brazilian rhythmic color and grand power metal.

Carnival Diablos centers on Jeff Waters’s sharp riffs and technical guitar work while expanding thrash momentum through varied arrangements.

Wages of Sin by ARCH ENEMY: track list, Spotify player, music videos and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Aura refines the John Payne-era Asia sound through polished melodies and expansive keyboard textures.

The Metal Opera begins Tobias Sammet’s large-scale story with a cast of guest vocalists passing the narrative from voice to voice.

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

Eyes of Darkness adds darker shades and stronger drama to Axxis’s clear melodic-hard-rock foundation.

Making Enemies Is Good brings Backyard Babies’ street-rock roughness and punk speed into sharp riff-led songs.

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

BLINDMAN combines intricate guitar phrasing with lyrical melody in a polished Japanese melodic-hard-rock record.

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

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

Terria uses heavy guitar, but places atmosphere, silence and scale at the center of Devin Townsend’s writing.

Here Comes the Flood is Dreamtide’s debut, built on flowing guitar lines and open, anthemic choruses.

The Truth and a Little More is Eclipse’s debut, combining strong hooks with hard, crisp guitar work.

Arcana is symphonic metal centered on Sabine Edelsbacher’s clear voice and Lanvall’s layered keyboard and guitar work.

Mandrake enlarges Edguy’s bright melodies and fast-moving rhythms without losing their playful energy.

Crystal Empire expands Freedom Call’s upbeat melodies and uplifting choruses into a broader power-metal canvas.

No World Order concentrates Gamma Ray’s speed, clear melody and forceful choruses into a highly focused power-metal record.

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.

Terra Incognita introduces Gojira through complex rhythms, low heavy riffs and abrupt shifts in texture.

Homerun balances Gotthard’s thick guitar riffs and large-scale melodies with impressive ease.

Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves) collides punk speed with glam-rock flash in classic Hardcore Superstar fashion.

Dark Assault combines Iron Savior’s mechanical riffs with a cosmic sense of scale.

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

Demolition uses Tim “Ripper” Owens’s wide vocal range as Judas Priest explore several shades of heaviness.

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

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.

Be Aware of Scorpions puts Michael Schenker’s melodic guitar voice at the heart of every arrangement.

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

Vengeance combines low, heavy guitars with dark melody to solidify Mystic Prophecy’s imposing power-metal profile.

Silver Side Up connects thick guitar riffs and instantly memorable melody with remarkable directness.

Down to Earth sets Ozzy’s unmistakable voice against Zakk Wylde’s thick, riff-led guitar work and a hard-edged early-2000s production.

Endangered presents Pink Cream 69’s melodic hard-rock strengths with a composed, mature touch.

Nuclear Fire places Primal Fear’s heavy riffs and Ralf Scheepers’s piercing high voice with ruthless efficiency.

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

Welcome to the Other Side adds intricate construction and shadowed melody to Rage’s hard riffs and power-metal drive.

Rain of a Thousand Flames intensifies Rhapsody of Fire’s fantasy universe through dense orchestration and choir work.

The Mission is a concept-driven Royal Hunt record that tells its story through thick keyboards and metal riffs.

Acoustica revisits familiar material through the voice, production weight and arrangement sense of its recording period.

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.

A Predator’s Portrait adds more modern rhythm and catchy chorus writing to Soilwork’s melodic-death-metal aggression.

Silence locks Sonata Arctica’s fast rhythms, flowing keyboards and Tony Kakko’s high voice into a particularly focused whole.

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

Beyond Good and Evil wraps Billy Duffy’s sharp riffs and Ian Astbury’s commanding voice in a dense, hard modern sound.

Epilogue layers gothic-metal darkness with accessible melody in To/Die/For’s characteristic way.

Live from Russia captures U.D.O. onstage in Russia, combining the band’s own catalog with key songs from Udo Dirkschneider’s Accept history.

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 best heard not simply as a covers-related entry, but as a record that shows how WARRANT translates outside material into its own