10 Hard Rock Albums Everyone Takes For Granted

Giving Riffs a Second Glance.

Velvet Underground
Verve

Most hard rock aficionados can put together a mandatory listening list of albums to hear before you die. If there was someone who had never heard of the harsher side of rock, chances are they would be exposed to the likes of Black Sabbath's first album or the early stages of Led Zeppelin to really get them acclimatized to the world of heavy riffs and abrasive vocal delivery.

That being said, those records are only offer a frail grasp on the big picture of hard rock music.

Ever since the '60s, the meaner side of rock has been expanding by leaps and bounds, just not in the way that people remember. Since hindsight is 20/20, there are many acts that we take for granted nowadays, when really they were ahead of the curve compared to the "legends" that we talk about today.

While acts like Zeppelin may have sent a pretty high benchmark, these artists aimed to explore even further and came out on the other side with some of the most forward looking takes on rock and roll ever created.

For as much ignorance that they garnered at the time of release, it's time to re-evaluate these records and see just how much of an influence they have had all these years later.

10. Secret Treaties - Blue Oyster Cult

When talking about the harsher side of the rock spectrum, it's nearly impossible not to bring up Black Sabbath in some capacity. Off the strength of Tony Iommi's guitar alone, the omnipresence of songs like Iron Man and War Pigs showcase a muscly side of metal that we will probably never see again. As singular as they were in their construction, America did at least have an answer to Sabbath in Blue Oyster Cult.

While something like Secret Treaties isn't nearly as spooky as something like Master of Reality from around the same time, the strange aura that BOC cultivated with this album was a welcome change of pace from the typical rock and roll of the time. Rather than bludgeon you over the head with riffs, there's almost a gothic tinge to the riffs on here, along with sprinkling in bits and pieces of psychedelia left over from the '60s.

Across songs like Dominance and Submission and Astronomy, BOC give a masterclass on how to take your audience on a journey, as one guitar layers across the other to create an almighty wall of heaviness whenever you throw it on. The important folks were paying attention though, with Metallica covering Astronomy later down the line. For as metal adjacent as their sound was at the best of times, Secret Treaties is a fresh look at darkness from Sabbath's American cousins.

 
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