My Essentials – Tom D\'Errico

In no order, the two most important things in my life are my loved ones, and music.

I enjoy many different genres, but at my heart, I’m a metal-head. I grew up listening to every thing from Bob Seger (thanks to my father), Queen, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, to Sabbath, The Crue, Aerosmith — and evolved into Megadeth, Metallica, various hair-metal bands … then death metal … and hardcore … and so on.

I think (or at least I’d like to think) I took the idea of this column in a slightly different manner than those that had come before me. Instead of picking a top ten of my personal favorite albums of all time, I tried to think of all the different music I love, and what shaped me into the fan I am today. This list might not represent my ten favorite bands; it might have been easier to come up with a top 20, but 10 made it that much more challenging, and those that made the list that much more important (in my eyes).

I never thought I’d be able to pare a list down to ten, and there’s a chance some of these choices may change from month to month, or year to year. But I’d like to think at the very least the band’s would essentially stay the same. So without further ado …

Here are my choices and the reasons they�d be part of my Essentials list.

1. Guns N. Roses: “Appetite for Destruction”


“Do you know where you are? You’re in the jungle baby, you’re gonna die!”

Released in 1987, G N’ R’s “Appetite” offered a great, straight-up hard-rock/metal album. The vocals at times sound gritty, the lyrics are most often explicit and the music sways from blues-infused rock to driving, anthemic metal. I love this album as much now as the first time I got it because it never seems to sound dated. Sure, songs like “Paradise City” or “Welcome to the Jungle” have been overplayed on commercial radio throughout the years, but each song still shines like a gem. The opening bass-riffs to “It’s So Easy” can still give me chills to this day. While I feel either of the “Illusion” albums are stronger overall, this is still the one that started it all.

2. Alice In Chains: “Face Lift”


“And we die young.”

Although ultimately being lumped into the Seattle grunge scene, Alice In Chains released their debut well before said scene was getting cooked up by the media. A great rock album, “Facelift” was carried by the unique vocal style of Layne Staley and gritty guitar licks of Jerry Cantrell. From the opening riffs of “We Die Young” all the way through the hypnotizing melody of “Bleed the Freak,” Alice in Chains managed to incorporate a little bit of blues and old-school rock into a mix of hard rock and metal-like guitar work to make a text book ’90s classic album, good from end to end. After the album’s release, the band were staples on MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball” and even now, it’s easy to catch “Man In The Box” on rock radio. I recently listened to “Facelift” (after an extended absense of it from my player) and was still astounded by the creepy melody in “Sunshine” and the start/stop momentum of “Love, Hate, Love.” Alice in Chains was one of those bands I was always hoping would head back into the studio but it was never to be. Their legacy lives on today as bands like Godsmack and Staind find inspiration in the band and its late vocalist. Alas, there will never be another Layne Staley.

3. Obituary: “Cause of Death”


“Chopped in half. Feel the blood spill from your mouth. With rotting ways comes destiny. Feel the soul taking over.”
Released in 1990, “Cause of Death” solidified Obituary as, in my opinion, the greatest death metal band of all time. Instead of relying solely on satanic imagery for lyrical inspiration, Obituary literally put the “death” in their metal. The opening three or four tracks of “Cause” seamlessly blend into each other, bridged by eerie wind noises before lead vocalist John Tardy cuts through opening guitar riffs with his guttural screams. Death metal mainstay James Murphy lent his amazing guitar style to the band for this one album before going on to front Disincarnate. From the double-bass drumming of “Find the Arise,” to the incredible guitar solo midway through “Chopped in Half,” to the strong cover of Celtic Frost’s “Circle of the Tyrants,” the band never let up with its auditory assault. Obituary continued with several strong releases, but “Cause of Death” remains my favorite.

4. Skid Row: “Slave to the Grind”


“The freaks come out at nine. And it�s twenty to ten.”

While Skid Row’s debut was pretty much a straight up rock album, 1991’s “Slave to the Grind” was full-on metal. (The band wound up getting even heavier on the follow up “Subhuman Race” and probably alienated many fans in the process.) After the bluesy riffs of the opener “Monkey Business” give way to thundering drums and pounding guitars, the band never seems to let up, tearing through the title track and “Threat.” When the band finally does slow it down (on tracks like “Quicksand Jesus” and “In a Darkened Room”), the songs still have a sense of intensity and urgency, due in part to the great vocals of Sebastian Bach and the solos from guitarist Rachel Bolan. “Slave” is a great example of a heavy metal album that didn’t quite fall into the realm of thrash or extreme ends of the genre, and thus was getting rotation on rock radio (or videos on MTV at the time).

5. Pearl Jam: “Ten”


“I’ll ride the wave where it takes me. I’ll hold the pain …Release me …”

I had a really hard time picking between Pearl Jam’s debut and its follow-up. I picked “Ten” simply because from end to end, there isn’t one track that I would want to skip over. Released right at the beginning of the Seattle “grunge-explosion,” (although not catching on right away), “Ten” turned out to be one of the few albums that still sounds fresh to this day (while releases around the same time from Nirvana or Soundgarden just seem to sound distant now). Lead singer Eddie (now Ed) Vedder never sounded as intense as he did throughout “Jeremy,” and the band never captured the melancholic tone of “Release” quiet as eerily again. Pearl Jam’s sound evolved over time, and I’ve loved everything they’ve put out to this day, but “Ten” just had that special something, and was a great introduction to this great band.

6. Biohazard: “Urban Discipline”


“Music is for you and me, not the f*cking industry. Try to tell us what is cool? We come from different schools.”

In 1990, Biohazard, a little band out of Brooklyn, NY, released a self-titled debut on indie label Maze Records dripping anger with tuned-down guitars and lyrics focused on hard-life imagery — it was metal with a hardcore sensibility. Two years later, they released their masterpiece “Urban Discipline.” With vocals almost bordering on rap, vocalists Billy Graziadei and Evan Seinfeld spat disgust at everything from record companies to drug dealers and corrupt cops, and still found time to get sentimental about dead friends on tracks like the haunting “Loss”: “It’s not for me that I grieve, but for the families left bereaved, I question whether life is fair, I wonder if I even care, We think we know what life is worth until they lower us beneath the earth, Mother crying, forever hurt, my face like stone I shovel dirt.” Biohazard also showcase their punk sensibility with a cover of Bad Religion’s “We’re Only Gonna Die (From Our Own Arrogance).” After this album, the band went through several line-up and record company changes and have only recently (within their last two albums) once again found their spark.

7. Fear Factory: “Obsolete”


“Reach for the sky, touch the sky. Revive a hope, for mankind.”

Some metal bands tend to get heavier from album to album. Fear Factory sort of did the opposite. The band’s first album, “Soul of a New Machine,” straddled a fine line between heavy metal and full on extreme metal with death metal undertones (the band’s original demo was even heavier). Yet on the fringes of “Soul” was some interesting melody courtesy of lead vocalist Burton Bell. The melody became more prominent in later releases, and in 1998 “Obsolete” was unleashed. The band’s trademark sound — metal with hints of industrial edges and electronica mixed with vocals ranging from screams of distilled anger to haunting melody — was front and center on this concept album which tells the story of a futuristic world where man fights a machine-led world. Fear Factory has never sounded better than on tracks like the bass-heavy “Edgecrusher,” and never as haunting as in the album closer “Timelessness.”

8. Slipknot: “Iowa”


“You can’t take my soul away from me.”

Hailing from Iowa, this nine-piece band (featuring three drummers!) had a huge buzz going for them following a killer self-titled second album and stint on Ozzfest. Slipknot’s third album, “Iowa,” is my favorite of the band’s releases, simply for the sheer brute force of the music and aggressive lyrics. “Iowa” is like a death metal album on speed without the growling vocals. That’s not to say Corey Taylor’s vocals are lacking in intensity, they seethe with anger through the entire album. Musically, “Iowa” never lets up, continuing on a breakneck pace from start to finish and I have a feeling that was its only downfall as most fans just didn’t know how to get into it. Slipknot is one of my favorite bands of all time and “Iowa” is the band at its brutal best.

9. Taking Back Sunday: “Tell All Your Friends”


“Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens. A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins. I will never ask if you don’t ever tell me. I know you well enough to know you never loved me.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I was literally addicted to listening to a CD until Taking Back Sunday released “Tell All Your Friends.” I couldn’t stop listening to the catchy lyrics and mix of emotionally-charged, alternative, poppy rock. When I grew tired of listening to one track, there were nine others to take its place. It’s the type of CD that, after many multiple listens, you can get sick of, but a few days later you’re ready to crank it again. The lyrics are fun yet introspective, the sometimes dueling vocals sound great (Adam Lazzara is definitely an underrated vocalist) and the music, while simple at times, really gets under your skin. If this list was in order of importance, this would be in the top three just for the sing-along fun it offers.

10. Nickel Creek: “This Side”


“It’s foreign on this side, but it feels like I’m home again. There’s no place to hide but I don’t think I’m scared.”

Not quite bluegrass, not quite country, not quite pop or folk — Nickel Creek seems to defy a set genre but still manages to make amazing music. It was only after listening to their self-titled album a few times that it occurred to me there wasn’t any bass or drums on the tracks; that’s how complex and full the trio’s music sounds. Mandolin player Chris Thile and the Watkins siblings, fiddler Sara and guitarist Sean, put on the simply most amazing concert I’ve ever been to. “This Side” is a great showcase of this relatively young band — from the solid instrumental track “Smoothie Song” to the cover of Pavement’s “Spit On a Stranger” and the great lyrics of the title-track and “Speak,” you can’t go wrong picking this release up.

And for honorable mentions, any of these bands/performers could have been on this list at the drop of a hat: Sunny Day Real Estate, Juliana Hatfield (a great vocalist from her time with the Blake Babies through her solo career), Hatebreed (“Perseverance” is just an insane metal album), Tool (Aenima is a phenomenal disc from end to end), From Autumn to Ashes (hardcore and melody?) and Lisa Loeb (a severely overlooked lyricist and singer).

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs