Crate Digging is a recurring feature that takes a deep dive into music history to turn up several albums all music fans should know. In this edition, Baroness singer-guitarist John Baizley shares 10 essential metal albums from the 1990s.
Since forming 20 years ago, Baroness have become one of the most respected and acclaimed acts in modern metal. The band recently released its sixth album, Stone, and is currently headlining a North American tour that runs through a December 1st gig in Philadelphia.
Founding singer-guitarist John Baizley recently caught up with Heavy Consequence to share his 10 essential metal albums of the 1990s. He admitted that he was more of a punk fan during his teen years in the 1990s, and that it wasn’t until the end of the decade and into the new century that he learned to embrace heavy metal.
Most of the albums on his list are LPs that Baizley rediscovered as he formed Baroness in the early 2000s, yet they had a profound influence on him and the music he has gone on to create.
One glance at Baizley’s list will reveal that he has a love for the extreme, but the albums still offer a wide range of sonics from Death to Deftones.
See John Baizley’s picks and descriptions for 10 metal albums from the ’90s that he thinks every fan should own below. Pick up tickets to Baroness’ upcoming tour dates here, and purchase their new album, Stone, here.
Entombed – Left Hand Path (1990)
I’ll preface this one by saying that Entombed was not on my radar as a kid growing up in southwestern rural Virginia. I’m sure that I discovered Entombed probably post-2000, but to say that they were influential on our band would be something of an understatement. I think that, ultimately, what I picked up and what was so crucial to me about Entombed wasn’t that they were at the forefront of a death metal surge, but rather that they were a metal band that — like almost all of the metal bands that I’ve really loved in my life — seemed to have the spirit of punk rock that was sort of alive and well within their ranks. Metal fans reach way outside of their chosen genres to find inspiration. I think Entombed are a very important band in death metal for that reason.
Sepultura – Chaos A.D. (1993)
Sepultura’s Chaos A.D. was hands down the first metal record I ever loved, straight up. Again, I think it’s because it’s kind of a punk record at the same time. I think the coolest thing about Chaos A.D. was in the very early days of Baroness touring, our original guitar player, Tim, and I, when we were up late night, like driving eight hours a night, we could listen to that record over and over and over again. There is something in its songwriting, in its simplicity. What really impressed me was that, at a very early age, I could sort of play their riffs. I loved how it sounded like metal, but it also sounded like all the furious, sort of unchecked energy of punk rock. That is an absolutely classic record for me.
Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
I grew up in the country and there weren’t a ton of kids that I knew that liked aggressive or hard music. But I remember around the time Vulgar Display of Power came out, it was a little difficult as an MTV-watching kid to avoid it. I loved the swagger. What Pantera was doing on Vulgar Display of Power felt familiar to me because it seemed to come from Southern rock. That album and Chaos A.D. were like literally the only two metal records that I listened to when I was a young teenager. I remember not really knowing how you were supposed to move to that music, but I could kind of see in the videos, like the stomping thing. And I remember stomping around my bedroom a lot as a 12-year-old to Vulgar Display of Power.
At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul (1995)
There would be no Baroness whatsoever without At the Gates. Our original guitar player Tim and I — when I first moved to Georgia in 2000, he was a friend of mine from growing up in Virginia. He happened to be stationed there in the military. Every weekend, we’d get together and we’d go to the record store, and we’d buy metal stuff they had on the racks, and I think I’d read something in Terrorizer about At the Gates, and we got Slaughter of the Soul, and it was our musical bible for the next six months. Again, I really liked that there was a punk thing to it. It really felt like I was listening to punk dudes who had better technique than most punk bands. I mean, like everybody else in that era, I just lost my mind to that album. It’s so catchy. It’s so hooky. I’ve seen them several times, and Tomas Lindberg and I are pretty good friends at this point. It’s so undeniable how catchy that music is, because when you see them now, everybody from the 13-year-old kid next to you to the 60-year-old guy knows the words somehow. It’s crazy hooky. They’re like the AC/DC for people like me.
Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve (1995)
I remember the first time I heard Meshuggah, I absolutely hated it. I was just like, “This is not for me.” There was something I didn’t like about it just at a gut level. And I was so wrong about everything with them. When I finally allowed myself to dig into what Meshuggah was, I became a diehard fan for life. And I’ll say that Destroy Erase Improve was the record that ultimately did turn me into a fan of theirs. I sound like a broken record here, but it kind of sounded like a hardcore record a little bit, more so than when they became this juggernaut after that. For the 2023 lineup of Baroness, that’s one of like five bands that we all just out and out agreed on. They’re a great musical glue for us. Meshuggah sounds so different than Baroness, but they took us out on a tour with Decapitated back in the day. There are so many ideas that they use that we just kind of like co-opt from time to time, but we know we’ll never play it like them. Just a fantastic band, as extreme as they come, but intensely listenable music.
