Passage - Samael (1996)
Scandinavian black metal was still a fairly new thing in the mid-90s, so there was a lot of room for someone to start breaking some genre rules and make (already angry) people mad. Samael did that by making a metal record with programmed drums and synths (no live drums at all, apparently) and a very studio-centric industrial approach to making something that was still unquestionably metal.
The whole thing is kind of weirdly groovy. For coming out in the 90s it’s actually a pretty modern-sounding record. It either blazed a path or just happened to be where a lot of other arists would end up in ten years.
Tracks I Liked
Rain - a superb, pummeling opener
Angel’s Decay - oddball piano and convoluted drum programming that work great together
Liquid Soul Dimension - in case your head wasn’t all the way crushed yet.
