5. Znowhite - Act Of God
It was almost as if Roadrunner Records had to run this album past their Human Resources Diversity Officer before they gave it a release. Znowhite features a female singer and a (gasp) black guitarist. For those unable to see beyond the physical attributes you missed out on a rip-roaring classic. Don't feel too bad though, this is one of Heavy Metal's best kept secrets. This band should have been absolutely huge. Unfortunately, this was to be their last album Nicole Lee sounds like James Hetfield after a short burst of oestrogen therapy, whilst Greg Fulton is an absolute beast on guitar. Everyone who knows anything about Metal knows that Metallica's best album is Master Of Puppets. I found the next album ... And Justice For All - where they decided that bass guitar is for wusses - completely unlistenable. The songs were fine, but the deliberate omission of the stereo picture's low end was a criminal act. I'm not even joking: someone should have been jailed for the production of that album. Anyway, when I bought Act Of God at around the same time it sounded like the natural successor to Master Of Puppets: intense riffs, super chugging guitar and in the epically doomy album closer Something Wicked This Way Comes they created their own sequel to The Thing That Should Not Be. Hunt this down. Essential Metal.