10 Underrated Metal Albums Of The 1990s

10. Bleach - Nirvana

Many metalheads point to the grunge movement being the reason why metal suffered in the early 90's. While bands like Metallica and Megadeth held their own at the beginning of the decade, everything seemed to change once Nirvana's Nevermind went screaming up the charts. Though Kurt Cobain quickly garnered a reputation as king of the alternative scene, Nirvana's first record would fit nicely in any metalhead's collection.

Released on the legendary indie label Sub Pop records, Bleach is the sound of Nirvana before they got in touch with their pop sensibilities, with riffs that have a solid amount of weight to them. This is metal with a punk twist, with songs like "Blew" having the same low tuning present in most sludge metal tunes. The band also knows how to pick up speed on this outing with the maniacal "Mr Moustache," whose riff sounds like it could have been played through Slayer's amplifiers.

The frayed nature of these tunes also give the music extra character, which makes sense given that the band only spent a total of 30 hours recording these tracks. Long before they became the godfathers of modern rock, Bleach showed that Nirvana had quite a few metallic chops behind their harsh assault.