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What’s the best comeback metal album?


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This is always an interesting question!  For my money, it's gotta be "Blood of the Nations" from Accept.  After a 14-year gap, and the inability to make things work again with Udo, they went out and enlisted the services of Mark Tornillo.  And for me, Tornillo is the far better singer.  I love Udo - both his work with Accept and his band U.D.O. - but Mark has the much more dynamic range.  From the gruff lower-range stuff to the banshee screams, Tornillo is just phenomenal.  After Phil Anselmo and Rob Halford, Mark Tornillo is in my top 3 favorite metal singers of all time.  

"Blood of the Nations" is full of incredible guitar work, great lyrics, and vocals that fit the backdrop absolutely perfectly.  

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Monotheist stands above all other metal comeback albums imho. Came out of the blue, don't think any of us were expecting that album after 16 years of inactivity. They completely reinvented themselves and went in an entirely new direction instead of just trying to recreate their 80's stuff. I think it could be a long time til I see a band come back with an album that strong.

No offense to Carcass, old or new I've just never been a fan. Especially Colored Sands. Can't see what it is everyone seems to love about that one.

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Yes, Surgical Steel isn’t close to Necrotism or Heartwork. Amott and Steer together was something special I thought. But I was glad they got back to their roots and put out another good album. I am a big Carcass fan and Swan Song would have been a sad ending for me. But I thought they had such a killer sound with Ken Owen, Amott, Steer. I like Jeff Walkers lyrical content but his voice wasn’t my fav. However I did like the early stuff up to Necrotism when Steer sang too. I thought his voice sounded good.

Noncompliance to ASTM F 899-12 Standard and Mount of Execution off Surgical Steel are a couple of my fav Carcass songs. But still a lot different sounding than their old stuff.

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On 5/7/2023 at 5:25 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

No offense to Carcass, old or new I've just never been a fan. Especially Colored Sands. Can't see what it is everyone seems to love about that one.

Colored Sands is a Gorguts album!

 

For me:

 

Accept - Blood of Nations

Carcass - Surgical Steel

Exodus - Tempo of the Damned

Gorefest - La Muerte

Iron Maiden - Brave New World - they hadn't broken up but had lost the plot prior to this.

Onslaught - Killing Peace

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3 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Colored Sands is a Gorguts album!

Of course it is. I was thinking of Surgical Steel obviously, not sure how I got those two mixed up. I guess it's because they both highly acclaimed "comeback albums" that came out about 10 years ago and they're both from well known legacy bands that many people really seem to like a lot that don't do anything at all for me. I do like Considered Dead, but out of both bands' entire catalogues that's the only one I'll ever listen to. Not sure why I don't care much for Carcass, one might even think their classic material would be right up my alley. Not that I actively dislike them, but I don't particularly like them much either. I guess I don't give them much thought one way or the other.

Considering giving Blood of the Nations a shot here since I've never heard it, haven't heard anything of theirs since Metal Heart. But I'm wary because the only two Accept albums I ever liked at all were Restless & Wild, and Metal Heart. They really lost me with what to me was the abominable Balls to the Wall. One of those 80's bands that I was reasonably into 40 years ago but hasn't aged well for me. Let's see how this goes.

 

1 hour ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Also does TON’s Dead Again count?

Great album, but it came out just 4 years after LIKM, so no I wouldn't think that counts as a comeback album. Comeback to me means a band that's broken all the way up and then some years later got back together.

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