Top 10 Rock and Metal Albums with the Worst Production

The Top Ten

  1. What The... - Black Flag

    I agree, horrible mixing, subpar drumming, and far from Greg Ginn's best work. It's a shame too because he's a great punk guitarist. Well, the album does warn you it's going to suck with the god-awful cover art.

    The production in this album is abysmal. The mixing makes the guitar sound all over the place, and you can barely hear any other instrument. Not only that, but the guitar tone is really bad. To top it off, every song on the album sounds the same, with almost no effort put into it.

  2. Illud Divinum Insanus - Morbid Angel

    Despite the weird mix of death metal, symphonic metal, and techno, the mixing in the album is laughably bad. All of the instruments sound extremely synthetic, especially the drums. The guitar tone might be decent, but when it's overshadowed by such abysmal overproduction, it's really hard to listen to.

  3. Skeletons - Danzig

    Pretty much the same problem as Black Flag's What The...: almost no effort was put into this. Danzig's voice is all over the mix, the guitar tone is awful, and you can barely hear it.

  4. His Last Walk - Blessthefall

    Everything about this album sounds like a demo. Craig Mabbit's screamo in this is one of the worst I've heard, and the guitar tone is abysmal. The feedback effect is extremely bad as well. I know it was just Blessthefall's debut, but they could have tried to make something listenable.

  5. Felony - Emmure

    Not only is the mix between nu metal and deathcore awful, but everything about this album's instrumentation is really bad. The guitar tone is awful, Frankie's screaming is terrible, and you can barely hear the bass and drums because the guitars and Frankie's voice are so awfully compressed.

  6. The Gift Of Game - Crazy Town

    Limp Bizkit on steroids... in the worst way possible. Everything about this album is wretched, from the guitar tone to how loud and overly compressed it is, to both rappers' voices. This album pretty much turns into noise multiple times, especially on the two "highlights" of the album, "Toxic" and "Darkside."

  7. Suicide Silence - Suicide Silence

    Another album where barely any effort was put in. The worst thing about this is that You Can't Stop Me was actually a decent album, and this just killed Suicide Silence's career in the worst way possible.

  8. Mania - Fallout Boy

    Yes, I'm counting it as a rock album, and the mixing in this album is borderline offensive. Of course, I expected overproduction, but listening to songs like Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea, Church, or Young and Menace feels like an insult due to how loud it gets. This is another album that turns into noise at moments.

  9. St. Anger - Metallica

    It was between this and RHCP's Californication... but since Californication is actually good, I decided to put this one. I don't even need to explain why this album's production is bad. Everyone knows how bad it gets.

  10. Death Magnetic - Metallica

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Diabolus in Musica - Slayer

  12. ?

    Undisputed Attitude - Slayer

    13. The Contenders

  13. ...And Justice for All - Metallica

    The drums sound terrible on this album, and the absence of bass is strange. The guitar tone, though, is great.

  14. Every Six Seconds - Saliva

    The mixing in this album is hot garbage. Not only are there instruments here that sound borderline synthetic, but some of them feel extremely compressed to the point where the most I can hear is just an annoying static feedback, plus Josey Scott's awful voice.

  15. Rise of the Lion - Miss May I

    Miss May I might be one of the most underrated metalcore bands ever, but that doesn't give this album a pass. The mixing on this one is absolutely TERRIBLE!

  16. Welcome to Hell - Venom

    They're actually a fun band to listen to if you are into extreme metal. Yeah, the production is garbage, but it's supposed to be.

  17. Slipknot - Slipknot

  18. Sounding the Seventh Trumpet - Avenged Sevenfold

  19. Be Here Now - Oasis

  20. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers

    Good album, but the production doesn't hold up like Blood Sugar Sex Magik does.

  21. From Death to Destiny - Asking Alexandria

  22. Results May Vary - Limp Bizkit

  23. Just Like You - Falling in Reverse

  24. Korn III: Remember Who You Are - Korn

  25. Dictator - Scars on Broadway

  26. The Truth Is... - Theory of a Deadman

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