The Top 5 Darkest Metal Albums of All Time

Hey fellow Otaku & Metalheads.

This is something of a random post I just decided to do. Despite having an amazing experience seeing Hammerfall & Sabaton at the Palladium in Worchester last week, I’ve just been feeling down a lot lately. So, I figured “What the hell”, and decided to use that down-ness for something productive. So here are my top 5 darkest metal albums of all time!

(Note: These are what I consider to be the 5 darkest metal albums ever. All of you will probably have your own 5 darkest records. These are the ones that are the darkest to me.)

5) Korn - The Nothing (Song)

We begin this list with a pretty recent release. Coming out nearly 2 months ago, Korn’s 13 release is the darkest that they’ve ever done. There were certainly some bleak tracks beforehand, but The Nothing is the first album that captures everything negative feeling that Johnathan Davis felt at the time. Losing his wife and his mother, not to mention having bipolar issues and diabetes, he really was at the lowest he’s ever been. This reflects upon each and every song that’s on this record, and yet The Nothing was simultaneously a way for the beleaguered frontman to let out everything negative from his mind & soul. Definitely a dark album.

4) W.A.S.P. - Still Not Black Enough (Song)

As I was making this list, I was surprised that outside of The Nothing, everything else came from the 90s. The decade was wild when it came to music, and the landscape was all over the place. Metal was definitely affected by this, and some of the darkest records of the genre came out here. Case in point is the forgotten classic of W.A.S.P.’s career, Still Not Black Enough. In many ways the record is a lot like The Nothing: both were inspired by the pain of the frontman, and the music reflects their agony. The reason that I think Still Not Black Enough eeks out a little more than Korn’s release is cause it’s somewhat unexpected, and rightfully so. W.A.S.P.’s 80s output was a nice mix of Hair Metal meets shock, and while The Crimson Idol was more serious than their prior output, it still felt like something from the band. With Still Not Black Enough? You treated to what may very well be the most personal material Blacke Lawless has ever made. It might be hard to find physically, but this album might just be the most essential W.A.S.P. album ever.

3) Ministry - Dark Side Of The Spoon (Song)

I said it back in 2016, and I’ll say it again: Dark Side Of The Spoon is underrated, underappreciated, and highly misunderstood. After Filth Pig became a bomb for Ministry, Al Jourgenson’s life went to hell in a handbasket, as drug & alcohol usage got worse, and his wife & child left him. This instilled within him a depression that would ultimately become a battle for him, yet it was at this time he became highly experimental with his work. Dark Side Of The Spoon is most definitely Industrial Metal, but there’s little bits of Country, Jazz, and some other unexpected genres thrown into the pot, not to mention the agony that Uncle Al was going through. The end result is an album that’s highly unique among Ministry’s discography, and one you should check out if you can.

2) Sodom - Tapping The Vein (Song)

You already know the story behind this record: my Mom was in the hospital, I was feeling god-awful, and this album was there for me everyday she was in there. Even if all of this didn’t happen, Tapping The Vein might just be the most brutal thing that Sodom has ever produced. Almost bordering on Death Metal, one reviewer on MetalArchives said that ““Tapping the Vein” often gives you the impression that brutality itself is somehow “taking over” the band’s songwriting, almost like Tom & co. were put under a schizoid possession that drove them to write violent music beyond their own control and beyond common logic, almost in a grindcore vein.” I most sincerely agree with that statement, as while I’m not the biggest Grindcore fan, Tapping The Vein almost reaches that genre’s love for violence and graphic imagery. If I never came across what ultimately became my number 1, Tapping The Vein would easily have taken it.....but there was another.

1) Type-O Negative - World Coming Down (Song)

You all should have seen this one coming. Out of all the dark/serious album’s I’ve listened to, nothing has ever come close to Type-O Negative’s most bleak output of their entire career. Forgoing the gothic sensuality & imagery of Bloody Kisses and October Rust, World Coming Down is the perfect reflection of a man that’s at the bottom of the barrel. Drug addiction, mental illness, dark sexual thoughts (Pyretta Blaze anybody?), loss, and loneliness are just a few of the things that Pete Steele was feeling. It definitely shows, as the band rarely if ever playing anything from the album during it’s tour. It’s a testament to it’s name, as just over 20 years later, even the most hardcore of Type-O Negative fans sometimes get a chill up their spines when listening to this album. That’s says something about it’s legacy.

And those were my top 5 darkest albums of all time. Again, this was just a spur of the moment post, but I feel that I needed to make this as a way to vent & shed how bad I’m feeling. I’ll be back to my normal self soon, and get some more content out also!