Metal changed forever in the 1990s. Where glam and thrash had dominated the second half of the 80s, the new decade would see them swept aside by a host of new scenes, some of which had their roots in the late 80s – grunge, rap rock, death metal. As the decade progressed, the genre began to mutate even further, as black metal, industrial metal and the soon-to-be-omnipresent nu metal got their claws into culture.
Amid all of this brilliant chaos, a host of brand new bands planted their flags in the ground with classic debut albums. Some of these would act as a launchpad for stellar future careers, others would definitively change the course of music, others stood so far from the pack that people are still trying to get their heads around them all these years later.
We’ve picked out the best debut album from each year of the 1990s. Some years it was tough – 1994, for instance, was a crowded field when it came to classic opening salvos. By contrast, we’ve left out some big name bands whose first efforts weren’t – how can we put this? - very good. But we’ve whittled it down to 10 genuinely landmark debut albums that still hold up.
