Most Underrated/Under Appreciated Albums By Your Favorite Bands

[Hard Rockin]

Zeppelin: Presence, a GREAT guitar album! Achilles Last Stand and Nobody's Fault But Mine are great tracks.

AC/DC: Stiff Upper Lip is IMO under appreciated.

Black Sabbath: Born Again

ZZ Top: Tejas, I LOVE this album. Some of the songs have a Rolling Stones vibe, which is a departure.

 

[Riff Raff]

Ac/dc - Flick of the Switch easily. So criminally underrated. Nice heavy sound that reminded me a lot of Back in Black only for me better. Definitely deserved a higher amount of sales than it actually has been getting.

I agree with you Hard Rockin on Black Sabbath Born Again, that was another that got panned heavy by critics but I like the rough around the edge sound to it.

Iron Maiden I would probably say The X Factor for sure. Not Virtual XI, that album was mediocre but X Factor to me was a good album that not too many I can think of really mention much of Maiden albums.

Megadeth I would say Cryptic Writings and The System Has Failed. Cryptic for a nice radio friendly edge but still possesses some classic songs. TSHF it was the album The Worlds Needs A Hero should have been in consistency. Much better and thrash oriented.

Anthrax Stomp 442 for me is really under appreciated, lot of fans bash on it but I liked this way more than Sound Of White Noise.

Judas Priest Jugulator. People bash on Ripper Owens albums a lot and to be fair Demolition deserves every ounce of bashing it gets, its a shit album but Jugulator was for me the really good album with Owens on vocals.

Slayer Divine Intervention. Even though Slayer did put out some mediocre to really shit albums in the 90s I really like Divine Intervention. Definitely under the radar for me when it comes to Slayer albums.

Led Zeppelin III - Under appreciated album to an extent, most fans I know of prefer IV, I or II but whilst I agree on II, I certainly prefer this one to I and IV as an album. I enjoyed the different tone to it.

 

[Lynch]

Ac/dc - Flick of the Switch easily. So criminally underrated. Nice heavy sound that reminded me a lot of Back in Black only for me better. Definitely deserved a higher amount of sales than it actually has been getting.

Agreed. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than BiB, but it's a fantastic album and as you put it, "criminaly underrated".

Judas Priest Jugulator. People bash on Ripper Owens albums a lot and to be fair Demolition deserves every ounce of bashing it gets, its a shit album but Jugulator was for me the really good album with Owens on vocals.

I don't mind Demolition. It's far from great, but I don't think it's terrible. Jugulator is definitely the better of the two Owens studio albums with JP.

I might give both of those a spin right now. Dude at work has his ****ing nasal issues running at full steam and I'm about to go postal on him. Some screaming JP will calm me down.

 

[Riff Raff]

Agreed. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than BiB, but it's a fantastic album and as you put it, "criminaly underrated".


I don't mind Demolition. It's far from great, but I don't think it's terrible. Jugulator is definitely the better of the two Owens studio albums with JP.

I might give both of those a spin right now. Dude at work has his ****ing nasal issues running at full steam and I'm about to go postal on him. Some screaming JP will calm me down.

As I say for me FOTS was better in terms of personal preference. Demolition to me was bad on a production sense, I thought the solos sounded awful. They had to get Halford back quick smart after that. lol
Since on Judas Priest Ill say probably Nostradamus is also under rated. Concept album seems to fly under the radar a lot.

 

[Lynch]

For me, the most underrated album by my favorite band would have to be the 1981 release by KISS - Music From the Elder. Considered a "concept album" which I guess it is, but at the same time it really isn't, at least not in terms of how prog bands had been doing concept albums.

Produced by Bob Ezrin, who had previously produced one of their most popular/successful albums in Destroyer, this album really misses the mark if you were looking for old-school KISS. Coming off of two albums with plenty of disco under/overtones, this was an attempt to go a completely new direction for the band.. something that most fans and critics really didn't care for.

Enough about that... if you listen to this album for what it is, it's actually a very solid rock album. Don't listen to it expecting to hear Destroyer or Love Gun or any of their first 3 albums. Instead, give it a listen with an open mind and you might be surprised at how well this album was put together.

 

[Riff Raff]

For me, the most underrated album by my favorite band would have to be the 1981 release by KISS - Music From the Elder. Considered a "concept album" which I guess it is, but at the same time it really isn't, at least not in terms of how prog bands had been doing concept albums.

Produced by Bob Ezrin, who had previously produced one of their most popular/successful albums in Destroyer, this album really misses the mark if you were looking for old-school KISS. Coming off of two albums with plenty of disco under/overtones, this was an attempt to go a completely new direction for the band.. something that most fans and critics really didn't care for.

Enough about that... if you listen to this album for what it is, it's actually a very solid rock album. Don't listen to it expecting to hear Destroyer or Love Gun or any of their first 3 albums. Instead, give it a listen with an open mind and you might be surprised at how well this album was put together.

If I may, I agree with this sentiment regarding bands in general. Take Metallica for example, if people took Load or Reload on its merits and not expected a Master of Puppets they may find enjoyment out of those albums. Megadeth fans who compare Cryptic Writings expecting Rust In Peace are another example. If people stopped making constant comparisons they may find an album of a different nature can actually be pretty damn good.

 

[gcczep]

 

[Lynch]

Since on Judas Priest Ill say probably Nostradamus is also under rated. Concept album seems to fly under the radar a lot.

I think one reason that Nostradamus gets lost by some people is because of the short tracks. I don't know if they are called interludes or something else, but I can see how those threw people for a bit of a loop. *shrug*

It is a good album, but far from their best work. Angel of Retribution is much more my style when it comes to Priest, and was a hell of a Halford comeback album

 

[Lynch]

If I may, I agree with this sentiment regarding bands in general. Take Metallica for example, if people took Load or Reload on its merits and not expected a Master of Puppets they may find enjoyment out of those albums. Megadeth fans who compare Cryptic Writings expecting Rust In Peace are another example. If people stopped making constant comparisons they may find an album of a different nature can actually be pretty damn good.

Exactly. I felt a HUGE "wtf" moment when I first heard Load. It probably took me a half dozen listens or more before I really started to like it. When I decided that Metallican hadn't "sold out" but rather were branching out from what they had been doing, I really got to like it. Some of my all-time favorite Metallica songs are on Load. Reload... not as much, but there is still good stuff on there as well.

 

[Riff Raff]

I think one reason that Nostradamus gets lost by some people is because of the short tracks. I don't know if they are called interludes or something else, but I can see how those threw people for a bit of a loop. *shrug*

It is a good album, but far from their best work. Angel of Retribution is much more my style when it comes to Priest, and was a hell of a Halford comeback album

Yeah Ill agree its not their best, I will say it was brave to take the risk they did with the musical style. Retribution was a great return, I can't wait for the new album next year.

Exactly. I felt a HUGE "wtf" moment when I first heard Load. It probably took me a half dozen listens or more before I really started to like it. When I decided that Metallican hadn't "sold out" but rather were branching out from what they had been doing, I really got to like it. Some of my all-time favorite Metallica songs are on Load. Reload... not as much, but there is still good stuff on there as well.

Yeah when you hear something different itd be lying to deny that it doesn't sometimes make you think 'wtf'.
Branching out takes real balls to do and if it proves successful. I wouldn't say Load and Reload were successful to the die hard fans but on a cross over sense to gain fans they were very successful albums. Both those albums have some killer tracks on them, I love Garage Inc. as well.