Top 10 Metal Albums of 1997 w/ Todd La Torre of Queensrÿche - The Metal Voice 

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Jugulator is Judas Priest's best. I remember when it came out and when I first heard Bullet Train. I blasted the heck out of that song. I love this album. Tim is a killer singer and I don't intend to take anything away from Rob. Cathedral Spires is one of my favorite JP songs. But for #1, I think Bruce Dickinson's Accident of Birth is just the best. I rank it 2nd overall to Chemical Wedding. Arc of Space and Time? Taking the Queen? Starchildren? Man of Sorrows? Every single song is awesome. 10/10 album.

Best of 97 is.... Stratovarius- Visions wins Hammerfall- Glory to the Brave Gamma Ray- Somewhere Out in Space Saxon - Unleash the Beast Symphony X- Divine Wings Yngwie- Unleash the Beast Bruce Dickinson- Accident of Birth Overkill- Underground and Below Royal Hunt- Paradox Priest - Jugulator honorable mention

Faith No More=album of the year. Another solid FNM album

I absolutely love Cryptic Writings, the remixed version is better just bigger and brighter and I like the upbeat poppier songs as well as the thrasher songs like Vortex which was carried over from Youthanasia and She-Wolf which is a classic to this day. It still has that Dave Mustaine snarl and cynical sneer to the world.

Top METAL for 1997: Artension - Phoenix Rising Blackstar - Barbed Wire Soul Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth Children Of Bodom - Something Wild Conception - Flow Crematory - Awake Dark Tranquillity - The Mind's I Deicide - Serpents of the Light Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity Elegy - State of Mind Farmer Boys - Till the Cows Come Home Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade Of Gray God Dethroned - The Grand Grimoire HammerFall - Glory To The Brave Hypocrisy - The Final Chapter Iced Earth - Days Of Purgatory Impellitteri - Eye Of The Hurricane In Flames - Whoracle Ivanhoe - Polarized KISS - Carnival Of Souls (The Final Sessions) Kreator - Outcast Life Of Agony - Soul Searching Sun Machine Head - The More Things Change... Megadeth - Cryptic Writings Metallica - Reload Napalm Death - Inside The Torn Apart Obituary - Back From The Dead Overkill - From The Underground And Below Paradise Lost - One Second Pro-Pain - Pro-Pain Rhapsody - Legendary Tales Riot - Inishmore Rotting Christ - A Dead Poem Saxon - Unleash The Beast Sick Of It All - Built To Last Six Feet Under - Warpath Skyclad - The Answer Machine Stratovarius - Visions Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy Testament - Demonic The Gathering - Nighttime Birds Unleashed - Warrior Vader - Black To The Blind Vanden Plas - The God Thing Yngwie Malmsteen - Facing The Animal

Great pick Alan! Great show guys as always.

I really liked that judas priest album I played that cd 💿 so many times in 97 when it came out.

I was listening to a lot of mainstream alt. rock back then. Lots of Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, and White Zombie, but also Megadeth, Overkill, and Danzig. So new music from radio, older stuff on tape. Ok, I have to give Unleash the Beast another try. Wish Fu Manchu and Orange Goblin got a mention.

I don’t really like Rammstein after the song about cannibalism but the rest of this list is pretty great too listen to

I really liked Todd’s solo album quite a bit. But I hope he goes with a less sterile guitar tone. The last had that Slipknot sound which really has zero tone. No warmth or weight to it. He’s a Flotsam And Jetsam fan. That’s the tone I would go for. 🤘

If Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy isn't #1, I'm done.....

In Nick Menza's book he wrote about how a lot of Cryptic Writings was done with outside pressure from the label to make the band more commercial and they brought in a bunch of ghost writers on a lot of the songs... which he did not like in terms of their image and their output. He did say his favourite song was THE DISINTEGRATORS.

thanks to Todd for talking about the sound from a production point of view, in terms of how the guitars operate on Judas Priest I'd never thought about that before and that's kind of why I don't like it. Coupled with the fact the songs on Jugulator are just not that good, Tim is a good singer but I think the songs are just plain bad. And even the better ones like the title track and Cathedral Spires overstays their welcome.

W.A.S.P. K.F.D.

Don’t have many highlights from the 90s in general. Cryptic Writings was aweful.

97, like the rest of the 90s, was bad for hard rock and metal because not just because the labels didn't support the music, and some bands jumped on the musical trends of the day, but the fans also just followed whatever was popular in mainstream radio, and on MTV. Worst abomination in the 90s,, the nu Hot Topic "metal ", 😂

Children of Bodom

New Eden through make believe powermetal album1997