10 Most Underrated Metal Albums Of The 2000s
1. Priestess - Prior To The Fire (2009)
Some may remember Priestess for the inclusion of their song "Lay Down" on the 2007 video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The album that spawned the notable single 'Hello Master' received an unfairly (at least your writer thinks so) mixed reception from critics, with many citing how it felt stuck in the past and trying to imitate the likes of AC/DC and Black Sabbath.
For the follow-up, frontman Mikey Heppner introduced his bandmates to the eccentric world of progressive rock, and the music he had been writing that combined prog with Priestess' noted hard rock sound. In what was a surprise to him, the rest of the band loved his ideas and pursued this progressive stoner voyage for their sophomore album.
After a laborious recording process, 'Prior to the Fire' was set upon the world in late 2009 and posed as a stunning, and naturally-feeling crossroads between stoner and prog. Mikey's riff work was on another level, Vince Nudo's drum stylings covered everything from thrash metal, to doom, to a marching band, and the production perfectly captures every soaring vocal line, and every miasmic hook.
How a song like 'The Gem' didn't catapult Priestess into the heights of Baroness or Mastodon is a mystery not even Horatio Caine could solve.