THE TWO BEST OPENING LINES TO ALBUMS FROM 2004, MAYBE EVER

Okay, no surprise — we fucking love Mastodon and Lamb of God ’round here…you wanna fight about it? Therefore it should be no shock when I nominate the opening lines of Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake (both released in 2004) as the two best opening lines of that year, perhaps even ever.

Mastodon, “Blood And Thunder”, from Leviathan —
“I think that someone is trying to kill me; it’s infecting my blood and destroying my mind…” — I just got chills even typing it out; what a direct vision of madness, and a seriously vivid start to a truly sensational album.

Lamb of God, “Laid To Rest”, from Ashes of the Wake —
“The blood’s on the wall, so you might as well just admit it…” — Why hide from the painfully obvious truths of the reality of war? LoG simply puts it all on the table from moment one.

These albums made 2004 a landmark year for metal, and I am happy to report that both band’s follow-ups (Mastodon/Blood Mountain and Lamb of God/Sacrament, both released in 2006) are amazing, despite any gripes that the nitpickers may have.

However, I personally think that LoG stepped up their opening line chops with “Walk With Me In Hell” a notch above what Mastodon did on “The Wolf Is Loose”.

Compare for yourself after the jjjjump…

LoG, “Walk With Me In Hell”, from Sacrament —
“Pray for blood,
Pray for the cleansing,
Pray for the flood,
Pray for the end of this wide awake nightmare…”

Mastodon, “The Wolf Is Loose”, from Blood Mountain —
“The hero of the gods
The crossing of the threshold
The belly of the whale
Refusal of return”

Mastodon’s imagery doesn’t really tell as decipherable a story as LoG’s does (although I am pretty curious who “the hero of the gods” would be), and to be perfectly honest, in reading the words it seems a bit more D n’ D than purposeful…but it’s still pretty damn cool. Upon rereading the above words, I have realized that these are both awesome openings to albums.

What do you think?

-KW

In case you’ve been living in a cave for the last few years with your fingers in your ears, you can check out “Laid To Rest” on LoG’s MySpace page and “The Wolf Is Loose” on Mastodon’s MySpace page, but if you haven’t yet heard Leviathan or Sacrament, well you’re just gonna have to track em down for yerself…