Weight

It’s astonishing to realize there was a moment in popular music history where the existential maneuvers of Rollins Band overlapped with mainstream tastes, but that did in fact happen in 1995 with the release of Weight. Though the band sacrificed none of its rage—and Henry Rollins none of his ongoing nihilistic monologue—the album was more concise than its brilliant predecessor, The End of Silence. Weight helped the band grab the public’s attention at a time when heaving blues-metal was experiencing a revival with groups as diverse as Pantera, Soundgarden, and Kyuss. Rollins Band’s great accomplishment was fusing bloodthirsty emotion with technical mastery. Chris Haskett is one of the great undervalued guitarists of the '90s, but the album’s MVP is new bassist Melvin Gibbs, who brings a tectonic funk to the assaultive “Disconnect” and “Icon.” Ironically, the album’s most experimental song became its biggest hit. With its jazzy spoken-word verses and explosive chorus, “Liar” is a scathing social satire that—like a great workout—leaves the listener punished and cleansed.