Arakain was one of Czechoslovakia’s earliest heavy metal bands, and they are seen as one of the elder statesmen of their country’s metal scene. Since early 1982, they have steadily been building their repertoire, and although guitarist Jiři Urban is the only remaining founding member, they have had a fairly stable line-up. Bassist Zdeněk Kub appears on all studio albums, and guitarist Miroslav Mach on all but one, though Kub has recently left the band. They released no less than seventeen original studio albums, and interestingly, some of their best work is on recent releases.

Stylistically, Arakain is best described as Czechia’s answer to Metallica. It’s not a perfect comparison, but on their recorded output, they followed a similar trajectory from a NWOBHM-inspired thrash metal band – one that sounds closer to their American contemporaries than their European peers – to a veteran band that combines hard rock with both traditional and more contemporary heavy metal. Arakain did go through a much longer groove metal phase, but they also have a better grasp of what a song needs. The Czechs mastered the art of the catchy hook quite early on, and only got better at it as time went on.

Through the years, Arakain has had three singers, all three of the sandpaper vocal cord variety. Aleš Brichta appears on the band’s classic material, and while he does a serviceable job especially on the more aggressive material, I think both singers who followed him are improvements. This may be a controversial take, but Petr Kolář brought more melodic opportunities and a certain theatricality with him, which Jan ‘Honza’ Toužimský then expanded on with a surprising amount of warmth for how rough-edged his vocals are. Toužimský is easily my favorite, but that should not spoil the order of this ranking too much.

17. Salto Mortale (1993)

Someone please wake me up when this album is over… I can’t in good faith call ‘Salto Mortale’ a bad album. The playing is super tight, a lot of effort has clearly gone into making the guitars sound nice and aggressive, but holy hell, is it mind-numbingly boring. It’s good the amazing semi-ballad ‘Zase Spíš v Noci Sama’ is there to break up the seemingly endless stream of dull, mid-tempo plodders. There are a few more uptempo songs, but you really have to look for them, and listening to an album shouldn’t feel this much like work. Also, apart from maybe closing track ‘Stárnem’, the faster songs aren’t really anything Arakain hasn’t done better elsewhere.

Recommended tracks: ‘Zase Spíš v Noci Sama’, ‘Stárnem’, ‘Kleptoman’

16. Labyrint (2006)

While ‘Labyrint’ is the first full release with my favorite Arakain singer Jan ‘Honza’ Toužimský, and he does actually do a lot to elevate some of the songs here, the riffing is generally rather bland and monotonous. Or at least it is for a while after the great opener ‘Vir’; it does get somewhat better later on, and the songs that are a bit more atmospheric rather than riff-driven truly show what Toužimský can bring to the band. Arakain had not quite found the right mix of styles yet on ‘Labyrint’, groove metal being far too dominant at the expense of melodies and energetic riffing, though there is a direct line between the better moments on ‘Labyrint’ and the fantastic music that would come a few albums later.

Recommended tracks: ‘Skrývám Svůj Stín’, ‘Nastal Čas’, ‘Vir’

15. “Forrest Gump” (2001)

Yes, the quotation marks are part of the title. No, I don’t know why. While ‘”Forrest Gump”‘ is far from the first Arakain album I would recommend to anyone, it’s quite good for what it is. It sounds like the band realized they couldn’t beat other groove metal bands at their aggression and decided to lean into the more atmospheric, rocky side of it, with lots of interesting guitar layering. As a result, the more groovy parts of the album sound closer to Black Sabbath than they do to Pantera. As per usual in the nineties and early 2000’s, the album is three or four songs too long, but at least they all sound distinctive, and the album is worth hearing if you enjoy the likes of OverKill’s ‘I Hear Black’.

Recommended tracks: ‘Fčelka Mája’, ‘Na Dně’, ‘Zmizím Pryč’

14. Archeology (2002)

I wasn’t sure if I should include ‘Archeology’, because all songs are re-recorded from Arakain’s demo days, but since they aren’t on any other albums, its inclusion is justified. ‘Archeology’ is probably the Arakain album with the largest quality disparity between songs. When the songs are good, they are amazing. ‘Cornouto’, which features pop diva Lucie Bílá, should be essential for anyone learning to sing metal. ‘May Day’ should also have been on an early album. However, these songs were never written to be on an album together, and it shows. ‘Archeology’ never really gets into a decent flow, and it also takes far too long for the first truly good song (‘Žádnej Metal’) to pop up. For some of the other songs, it’s fairly clear why they never made it onto any album.

Recommended tracks: ‘Cornouto’, ‘Necheš’, ‘May Day’

13. Metalmorfoza (2003)

Enter Petr Kolář, who I think doesn’t get enough credit for the melodic depth he added to Arakain’s sound. While the riffs on ‘Metalmorfoza’ are not quite as good as on the previous albums, with slightly too much tough-guy posturing going on, Kolář’s voice gives the band a lot more melodic and emotional bandwidth to work with. His passionate performance manages to elevate even some of the duller riff work with in a way I don’t think Brichta ever could. The ominous material sounds every bit as good as the more aggressive stuff or the occasional ballad. At nearly 64 minutes, ‘Metalmorfoza’ is a bit too long for its own good, but the good material is spread out over the album a bit more evenly than usual.

Recommended tracks: ‘Bláhová Víra’, ‘Tah Jezdcem’, ‘Prázdnej Kout’

12. S.O.S. (1996)

‘S.O.S.’ proves that it’s perfectly possible for a band with thrash metal roots to get bitten by the groove metal bug and still write and record an entertaining album. Unlike its dreadfully dull predecessor – which came out an uncharacteristically long three years prior – ‘S.O.S.’ is a dynamic album full of well-written songs, all of which have distinctive hooks. Sure, mid-tempo riffs dominate the album, and I would have loved to have heard at least one or two faster songs, but the album is very enjoyable due to its mix of atmospheres, and nearly every riff or melody is memorable. While two later-nineties Arakain albums had higher peaks, ‘S.O.S.’ is one of the band’s most consistent releases to date.

Recommended tracks: ‘Pateční Flam’, ‘Adrian’, ‘S.O.S.’

11. Homo Sapiens..? (2011)

‘Homo Sapiens..?’ largely feels like a more streamlined version of its predecessor. That sounds like a good thing, because – spoiler alert – that album’s excessive length is one of its few flaws. But it also sacrifices a bit of the memorability and the versatility it had. That doesn’t mean ‘Homo Sapiens..?’ is a disappointing album. In fact, it has some of the best metal riffs that Jiří Urban and Miroslav Mach have thrown around in a while, and Zdeněk Kub also delivers some of his best compositions here. The album just hasn’t quite got the nifty melodic ideas that the albums it is bookended by have. A mild case of unusually late-career ‘Fireball’ syndrome, perhaps. It does end with no less than three masterpieces.

Recommended tracks: ‘Babylon’, ‘Forsage’, ‘Nikdy se Nevzdávej’

10. Thrash the Trash (1990)

‘Thrash the Trash’ is a very fun debut album. It’s full of great thrash riffs, which generally appear to take more inspiration from Bay Area bands than the European thrash metal scene. But while Jiří Urban and Zdeněk Kub were great riff writers at this point, they weren’t great songwriters yet at this point. Or mostly, I should say, because the crushingly heavy ‘Šeherezád’ is a masterpiece, and I can see why ‘Amadeus’ is the other live staple from the band’s debut. There is nothing particularly wrong with the album, it’s just that Arakain got much better at what they do here, and it didn’t take them long. The 2021 reissue does add a bunch of bonus tracks that significantly drive up the overall quality of the album, though.

Recommended tracks: ‘Šeherezád’, ‘Pán Bouře’, ‘Amadeus’

9. Warning! (2005)

The difference between a good modern metal album and a bad one is a simple case of variation. Arakain found itself on the wrong side of that equation several times. ‘Warning!’ is firmly on the right side. Although a majority of the material on the album is still mid-tempo, there is definitely a greater variety of tempos to add to the already large variety of atmospheres and melodic opportunities that came into the band with Petr Kolář’s arrival. There are some proper fast, aggressive songs on ‘Warning!’, as well as two of the best ballads Arakain ever released. Kolář is in fantastic shape on ‘Warning!’. Interestingly, he duets with Toužimský, who would follow him up later that same year, a few times on the album. Possibly the most underrated and unfairly overlooked Arakain album.

Recommended tracks: ‘Král Nudy’, ‘Hříšny Touhy’, ‘Vnitřní Hlas’

8. Black Jack (1992)

‘Black Jack’ is Arakain’s final full-on thrash metal album, though the first careful ‘Black Album’-isms already pop up. Fortunately, the band waited another album for their songs to devolve into vehicles for dull, plodding riffs. Instead, the riff work on ‘Black Jack’ is generally fast, aggressive, and overall quite interestingly composed. Interestingly, it’s one of the more groovy tracks – the almost hardcore-esque ripper ‘Kolonie Termitů’ – that is one of the better songs here. My only minor issue with ‘Black Jack’ is its track order, as its first half struggles to maintain momentum a bit. As it stands, though, it is one of the finer early nineties European thrash metal albums. And since it has recently been reissued on cd and vinyl, it’s also one you no longer have to pay insane prices for.

Recommended tracks: ‘Black Jack’, ‘Kolonie Termitů’, ‘High Attack’

7. Apage Satanas (1998)

Generally seen as one of Arakain’s strongest efforts, possibly on account of its absolutely monumental title track. Thinking about it now, I think I like the idea of ‘Apage Satanas’ more than the actual album. It takes a lot more risks than any prior Arakain album, and the result is an album that is both incredibly varied and somewhat inconsistent. With both one of the better and one of the worst Arakain ballads – ‘Karavana Slibů’ and ‘Půl Století’ respecitvely – a strange hybrid of Accept cover and original song (‘Princess’), and the largest amount of melodic variety on any Arakain album up until that point, which is very welcome. It takes the album slightly too long to get going, though.

Recommended tracks: ‘Promiňte Slečno’, ‘Apage Satanas’, ‘Kyborg’

6. Restart (2009)

An appropriate title for the first chapter in what is essentially Arakain’s new youth. The fact that the band took the time to write the album for once has likely been helpful. ‘Restart’ is a few standout choruses short of reaching the level the band would soon reach, and its length is a bit excessive at fifteen tracks over what is their longest album yet, but the album sounds fresh, energetic and highly varied. ‘Paganini’ became the only live staple off ‘Restart’, and it’s quite a unique song in Arakain’s body of work, but there is so much more to enjoy here. It’s almost like the band used to always explored specific aspects of their sound, and finally opens up all possible registers here. Excellent stuff.

Recommended tracks: ‘Skrytá Kamera’, ‘Lámou’, ‘Paganini’

5. Arakadabra (2016)

‘Arakadabra’ is almost twenty-first century Arakain at its best. The album shows a nice mix of classic metal melodies, modern metal aggression and subtle touches of thrash metal in their riff work, and truly solidifies Toužimský’s place as the best Arakain singer, as far as I’m concerned. Compared to the albums it is bookended by, however, it is relatively short on hooks that genuinely blow the roof off, which is ultimately what lands ‘Arakadabra’ outside the top three. At sixteen songs, it is also far too long, though I’m having trouble deciding which ones should be cut. What ‘Arakadabra’ does have is the single greatest ballad Arakain ever recorded. Sure, some have become bigger hits, but none of those are as intense and sung as unbelievably movingly as ‘Nenávidím’.

Recommended tracks: ‘Nenávidím’, ‘Arakadabra’, ‘Kazatel’

4. Farao (1999)

Theoretically, I should prefer ‘Apage Satanas’ over ‘Farao‘, because the latter isn’t quite as overtly melodic. A few things work in the album’s favor, though, most prominently its riff quality. There has been a subtle shift away from melodies in favor of memorable riff work, and it has made most songs a joy to listen to. ‘Farao’ is also much more cohesive than any album Arakain released between 1992 and Brichta’s departure. Plus, Arakain toys with ways to inject as much variation into heavy mid-tempo material as possible here, making most songs exceptionally memorable. Admittedly, the album’s first half is better than its latter half, but there is more good stuff here than on any other Arakain album from its era.

Recommended tracks: ‘Už Ho Vezou’, ‘Šeherezád II’, ‘Farao’

3. Schizofrenie (1991)

If you want to hear Arakain as a thrash metal band and nothing else, ‘Schizofrenie‘ is the album for you. This is easily Arakain at their most vicious. Crucially though, the album is also surprisingly varied. Usually, thrash metal bands have to slow down to sound this ominous, but even some of the faster songs here have a dark atmosphere that makes ‘Schizofrenie’ quite a unique entry within the European thrash metal canon. Once again, Arakain takes more influence from American thrash metal, though there are subtle hints of a Demolition Hammer-esque spin on the genre this time around. What amazes me most is that the band managed to keep an album this aggressive entertaining for a full hour. They have shorter albums that feel significantly longer.

Recommended tracks: ‘Gilotina’, ‘Strážci Času’, ‘Schizofrenie’

2. Jekyll & Hyde (2019)

As a genral rule, I love it when the most recent album of a veteran band is one of their best works. But I’m not ranking ‘Jekyll & Hyde‘ this high for the sake of it. It is genuinely a work of fantastic contemporary heavy metal. Since it has a very minor dip after the halfway point, it is just shy of taking the top spot on this list, but it honestly is close. ‘Dnes Ještě Ne’ is the type of opening track that just makes you excited about the album, and while it is the highlight of ‘Jekyll & Hyde’, the rest of the album doesn’t disappoint. The songwriting is highly varied, though the focus is still on heavy riffs and catchy choruses. If you like that combination, you really can’t go wrong with ‘Jekyll & Hyde’.

Recommended tracks: ‘Dnes Ještě Ne’, ‘To Co Cheš Mít’, ‘Hřich’

1. Adrenalinum (2014)

A seamless blend of classic and contemporary heavy metal, hooks the size of a continent, every song having a clear identity of its own: ‘Adrenalinum’ is Arakain at its absolute best. It’s also remarkably melodic. There are modern, heavy riffs, but they are less Machine Head and more crunchy modern power metal this time around. Opener ‘Adrenalin’ is one of the greatest songs Arakain ever released, and the album just keeps going from there. ‘Adrenalinum’ feels like the band did not worry about what specific direction the album should follow, and they just came up with the best set of songs they could possibly write. As you can see by it topping this list: I think they succeeded. Maybe not the most representative Arakain album, but without a doubt their best collection of songs.

Recommended tracks: ‘Adrenalin’, ‘Černobílý Svět’, ‘Tisíckrát’

The Arakain albums that are still in print are available through Kalemegdan Disk in Germany.