10 Perfect Metal Albums With ZERO Bad Songs

Once the rock scene made its way into the '90s, we had no real idea what the future was like for metal. Since Metallica were still riding high and hair metal was about to die an ugly death due to the grunge revolution, where was the new school of heavy metal kids going to go? If you had to ask a little band from Texas, the answer was to hunker down and get into the groove.

Although they may not tell you that they started it, Cowboys From Hell is the benchmark of what would become groove metal in the next few years. Outside of the normal thrash riffs that had machine gun like precision, there was a bit of a bounce to every tempo that Vinnie Paul locked in with his brother Dimebag Darrell, making for a sound that felt like if a band like ZZ Top went through a pretty heavy Slayer phase.

The songs here are what really stick out though, showing that this type of music was far from just one note odes to anger. In between the title track and songs like Primal Concrete Sledge, Cemetery Gates was the start of some of the heaviest ballads ever created, with Phil Anselmo tapping into his emotions without sacrificing any of his grittiness. This was just the beginning though. We had a long way to go before we saw the really fireworks show.