The ruin possible in a post-atomic age introduced phrases like “mutually-assured destruction” and “nuclear winter” into the English language. Evolving alongside combat is our reactions and opinions on it. Heavy metal encapsulates much of this trend – it has always retained a fascination with military motifs, changing in-step with alterations in armed conflict. Today marks the conclusion of my two-part series on metal albums exploring war – a list of ten excellent albums without specific ranking, each worth checking out. These last five records are the best of their kind for ruminating on battle:

5.) Jungle Rot – War Zone (2006) – The philosopher Thomas Hobbes once called life “brutish and short.” It’s a fitting description for Kenosha, Wisconsin’s Jungle Rot, a death metal outfit playing short but memorable bursts of aggression that have been gut-punching listeners since the mid 1990s. 2006’s War Zone is no exception, “They Gave Their Lives” trudging along with repetitive, pummeling riffs and “The Strong Shall Survive” trumpeting brute force with a gritty death metal anthem. “Ready for War” spasms its way through speed-picked bursts of notes like machinegun fire, preparing listeners for the onslaught that is “Ambushed” and its slow, churning guitars boiling over like lit oil wells. The whole affair is delivered through studio production so thick it has a swamp’s consistency, making for a CD as grimy as it is good. (http://www.myspace.com/junglerot)

4.) Ministry – Rio Grande Blood (2006) – Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen saw the George W. Bush administration and the War on Terror as an assault on freedom the world over. His reaction to its policies was Rio Grande Blood, a scathing attack on everything from Iraq to the idiocy of elected officials. The album’s title track is a barnstorming thrasher which uses ex-President Bush’s words against him, while “Gangreen” satirizes marine group-think by berating listeners with drill sergeant insults over plodding metal. Despite breaking up in 2008, Ministry’s anti-Bush screed still looms large – the hazy, surreal rock of “Palestina” and the sprawling, tribal lament of “Khyber Pass” both appeared in 2009’s Iraq War drama, The Hurt Locker. Though Ministry’s mix of heavy metal and industrial has struck a chord, Rio Grande Blood remains among the best gospels they gave.
(http://www.myspace.com/ministrymusic)

3.) Destroyer 666 – Phoenix Rising (2000) – Melbourne, Australia’s metal mavericks rang in the new millennium with an album personifying might makes right. No other eight songs in Destroyer 666’s catalog better capture the band’s spirit of destruction, each employing raw heavy metal to devastating sonic effect. “Rise of the Predator” is a spiteful attack on life itself, reducing it to a primitive struggle for dominance expressed by razor-sharp guitar leads and unhinged blastbeat percussion. “I Am the Wargod (Ode to the Battle Slain)” would prove a fitting tribute to Ares, its eerie opening notes gradually swelling into a furious aural assault that’s the definition of epic. “The Eternal Glory of War” emerges from the previous song’s ashes with a mix of fiendish melody and triumphant, brutal riffing, while album finale “The Birth of Tragedy” gallops along with a stampede of booming guitars. The end result is a record as dangerous as it is diabolical, a reminder that heavy metal is best when it channels havoc. (http://www.myspace.com/destroyer666band)

2.) Hail of Bullets – …Of Frost and War (2008) – Dutch death metal troop Hail of Bullets blasted their way to the top with this 2008 monster of an album. Boasting a line-up of legendary genre mainstays, the band solidified their supergroup status when …Of Frost and War proved an unimaginably crushing account of Eastern Europe’s WWII era. “Ordered Eastward” leads the charge with its tank-like rumble and painfully-slow pace, while “Nachthexen” dive bombs listeners with explosive payloads containing huge riffs and rhythmic but pulverizing drums. “Inferno at the Carpathian Mountains,” for its part, earns its name with a slow-burning start soon ignited into furious metal while “Berlin” captures that city’s defeat with somber, soul-flattening atmosphere. Exquisitely played and vast in depth, this is one album which never lets up the bombardment from its opening salvo.
(http://www.myspace.com/hailoff***enbullets)

1.) Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal (2005) – Conventry, England’s Bolt Thrower reign supreme in their command of war themes in heavy metal music. “At First Light” dazzles with acoustic notes like the sun’s tentative rays, only to erupt into fierce riffs and soaring guitar melodies. “The Killchain” contains one of metal’s most memorable grooves, while the title track unrelentingly plods its way into a moment of poignant, harmonic guitar sweeps. Combining all these elements is “When Cannons Fade,” a lean war machine twisting and turning its way through a majestic rumination on combat. Though any of their eight full-length albums could have appeared in this list, 2005’s Those Once Loyal stands victorious as it explores war with a scope that borders on timeless.
(http://www.myspace.com/boltthrower)