You're probably the only person on this forum, that I can imagine doing a Europe discography review.

As said dad jokes are not really your thing, you're normally too original for those type of jokes.

Another album that got left off my 1983 list and it has kind of been lingering in my mind ever since (I strongly regret leaving it off the list now) and this is an accomplished and lively effort from veteran Canadian band Helix and their No Rest for the Wicked album. Throughout the 1970s in this journal, I’ve featured some pretty impressive Canadian artists, whose fame of course with the exception of Rush, was largely limited to their own country and Helix formed way back in 1974 were one such band. Their third album No Rest for the Wicked was their most impressive to date and it also happened to be their first on a major label in Capitol. The album starts off with the somewhat generic sounding “Does a Fool Ever Learn” before embarking on a solid display of feel good metal which typifies the rest of the album, where they cover similar ground to that of Quiet Riot with their Metal Health album, which of course was one of the biggest selling albums of that year. The impressive album run though really starts with second track “Let’s All Do It Tonight” and its feel good factor easily could’ve found it on Metal Health, where it would’ve been one of that album’s stronger tracks. Third track here is the album’s main single in “Heavy Metal Love” and this is followed by the catchy “Check Out the Love” before the first side of the album closes with the super fast title track “No Rest for the Wicked” whose chorus sounds like it could’ve featured on a Rocky Horror soundtrack. The weakest track on this album is “Don’t Get Mad Get Even” which happened to be the album’s second single, but then come a couple of great tracks and the reason why this album has been remembered by me. These start with “Ain’t No High like Rock ‘n’ Roll” one of the catchiest metal songs of the year and this is followed by what is surely the band’s homage to Led Zeppelin with “Dirty Dog” and comes with a video that would’ve done ZZ Top proud. “Never Want to Lose You” is the nearest we get to a power ballad here (with its Scorpions type intro) and if Heart had written this, it would’ve probably been a monster hit but it’s surely one of the long lost great tracks from this era. Album closer with its Alice Cooper title “White Lace and Black Leather” turns out to be one of the strongest on the album and reminds me of a Gene Simmons Kiss track. What’s really impressive about all the songs on this album, is that nearly all it’s cuts run between 2.50-3.50 mins and the band really knew how to fill out nearly every second here with quality. Despite treading similar ground to Quiet Riot, No Rest for the Wicked reached a highly unimpressive 186th position on the US album chart, which was kind of unfair as the band were writing originals here instead of regurgitating already well known 1970s covers and on top of that they were capable of writing material that far better known bands like Quiet Riot and Ratt could only dream of. This alll resulted in a missed opportunity by Capitol, to market a product that was superior to that of many of its rivals. The album cover also denotes the somewhat playful nature of the band, but despite their lighthearted approach to the genre, the band certainly underpinned their sound with a forceful approach.



The band’s fourth album which despite not being as strong Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge, would do a lot better commercially and crack the US 100 album chart and also contained the band’s best known single “Rock On” penned by Bob Halligan, Jr who of course had written for Judas Priest. Originals like “Young & Wreckless” “Feel the Fire” “My Kind of Rock” and "When the Hammer Falls" despite having a solid and heavy approach to them, do feel a bit by the numbers. The band though unfortunately fall into the ‘lets-do-some-covers’ mentality here (probably suggested by the label) with covers of songs from Crazy Elephant and A Foot in Coldwater and both are nothing special, but the album does finish on a high with the urgent sounding “You Keep Me Rockin”.

1985

1984 had been one of the great years in metal, a year that had been chocca with both classic and defining metal albums, but sadly though 1985 would pale in comparison. Since starting this journal most of the years have been consistently strong, but obviously one or two in the mid 1970s had seen the overall quality drop a notch or two despite having some quality albums. 1985 though probably ranks as the weakest so far for a number of reasons 1) None of the established ‘big’ bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Van Halen and the Scorpions to name just a few released any studio albums. 2) All the other metal bands that released quality albums in 1983 and 1984 seemed to release inferior or watered down versions in 1985, step forward Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Dokken and Kiss who were all bands that fitted this description perfectly. Sadly though many of these bands would end up selling even more than they had done so before, showing how most of these bands were now pandering towards the masses in terms softer sound and slick videos. 3) One of metal’s most exciting and driving forces over the last few years had been glam metal, sadly most of these bands were now content to tow the commercial line with inferior releases as well. There are some bands of course that I’ve placed in points 2 and 3 that did put out some good albums and those have made the top 20. 1985 though as a year, was quite simply saved by the new ‘extreme metal’ genres of thrash, speed and death, all these bands didn’t give a **** about pandering to the masses and were still contented at this stage to continue putting out the type of metal that they believed in. In fact the only compromise that most of these bands would entertain over the coming years, would be improved production which for me was a big bonus anyway. Extreme metal bands (mostly thrash) were without doubt the saviours and flagbearers of what was still ‘new metal’ in 1985 and they achieved this without the genre’s biggest band Metallica even releasing a studio album in 1985. But the genre did welcome back the likes of Slayer and introduced us to classic debuts from both Megadeth and Exodus, and therefore it’s no surprise that at least 12 albums in this year’s top 20 have either a thrash, speed or death label attached to them. This is also the very first year where there was no obvious no.1 album either, because most years I always knew which two or three albums would be the ones fighting for top spot, but this year the best albums of which there were about six, all seemed to be about the same level which was top 10 standard rather than a top 3 level, but in the end these albums all kind of just fell into place anyway. Finally here’s a rundown of albums that didn’t make the top 20 and most of these were guilty of issuing out watered down versions of what they had released in 1983 and 1984: Kiss, Ratt, Yngwie Malmsteen, Venom, Armoured Saint, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Dokken, 220 Volt, Trance, Trouble, Gravestone, a number of NWOBHM acts here and Black ‘n’ Blue. Other bands though did put out something better than they had done over previous years like Saxon, AC/DC and a rekindled Aerosmith but still couldn’t make the cut this year.

Yes on Helix, I can't vouch for the whole album but Rock You was a huge song in Canada, I was only in Elementary school at the time, but much like Were not gonna take it ,you couldn't get away from it.

I agree with you on Motley Crue, a lackluster album and Home Sweet Home generally marks the turning point of glam metal from rock to pop.

Sad to see AC/DC left off the list though, one of the few worthwhile Brian Johnson releases, I suppose we will not see them until the Razor's Edge now.

Finally, I'm surprised (Somewhat pleasantly) that you left Mr. I can drive 55 of the list for 84, considering you have publicly endorsed the unspeakable! (Ou812)

The album with "Rock You" is somewhat average, but it's the album before that No Rest for the Wicked that is their best imo.

I like Sammy Hagar a lot with both Montrose and Van Halen, but I'm very meh on most of his solo albums even though I've featured some in this journal. "I Can't Drive 55" is a fun song and largely relies on its video which of course was the sort of thing that MTV liked at the time.

The Lowdown
Spreading the Disease is no better or worse than many of the albums that missed out on this year’s list, but as is often the case in these situations, the album gets the nod largely because of its historical importance. I’m not a huge fan of the album either despite the fact that Kerrang called it one of the best thrash albums of the year….. high praise indeed! The importance of this album is nothing defining, but is important in the forming of the commercial aspirations of the new and fledgling thrash sub-genre, as Anthrax would go onto to form the ‘big four’ of thrash metal throughout the rest of the decade and beyond. Their debut album the cliched sounding Fistful of Metal was a forgettable affair, but then a personnel change brought vocalist Joey Belladonna and Frank Bello on bass in and this altered the whole dynamic of the band for the better. These two joined band founder and leader guitarist Scott Ian, along with guitarist Dan Spitz and drummer Charlie Benante, and they would go onto become one of the most popular and most loved of all thrash metal bands (a very large and loyal fanbase here) Musically from the word go, Anthrax despite their potent metal sounding name which was named after a nasty disease, presented a much lighter and humourous form of the ‘brutal thrash metal’ sound than their counterparts and this approach was perfectly represented on the album cover. Also the band were east coast as opposed to the thrash heartland of the west coast and so were largely isolated in their development in that sense and their sound was certainly distinct to many of the other thrash bands out there. Vocally Joey Belladona was a very different animal than say James Hetfield- powerful bark, Tom Araya- satan spawn and Dave Mustaine- crazed maniac and these three had an expected style for thrash metal. Whereas Joey Belladonna on the other hand, was a more traditional vocalist that could’ve fitted in perfectly in any number of metal or rock bands from this period and in some ways kind of reminds me of a more playful Bruce Dickinson and he often reminds me of John Bush of Armoured Saint (both had ultra cool sounding delivery) and therefore it was no surprise that in the distant future that John Bush would replace Joey Belladonna in the band. Joey Belladonna was also the only vocalist here that was a full-time one, as the other three were either guitarists or a bass player first. The album starts with the downward spiralling sound of “A.I.R” which happens to be one of the most engaging tracks on the album as Joey sings ‘welcome to your nightmare’ third track “Madhouse” would be the single from the album, but it received little airplay as it’s video was banned, as it was said that it degraded the mentally insane (they were banning everything back then) later album tracks like "Armed and Dangerous" written when previous vocalist Neil Turbin was in the band is perfectly poised for a vocalist like Joey Belladonna and is musically is the most ambitious sounding on the album and this is followed by the equally impressive "Medusa" one of the best on the album. Spreading the Disease though is littered with a number of average, clichéd and dated sounding tracks even though they're fast like “Lone Justice” “S.S.C/Stand or Fall” “The Enemy” “Aftershock” and "Gung Ho". Overall the band dynamic produces a certain amount of originality with the Anthrax sound, which was characterized by pounding riffs, humorous touches and vocally the band went in for a mix between punk style shouting and the melodic rock delivery approach, something of course that would foreshadow metal over the coming decades. Straight after this album Scott Ian and Charlie Benante would form the spin-off Stormtroopers of Death, whose crossover thrash approach was far superior than what their main band Anthrax had issued out on Spreading the Disease (that album much further up this year’s list) in fact the only classic Anthrax release would be their biggest album the following Among the Living and I’m very much a big fan of that release.

Joey Belladonna- Vocals
Dan Spitz- Guitar
Scott Ian- Guitar
Frank Bello- Bass
Charlie Benante- Drums

Production- Carl Canedy

I'd agree that the songwriting wasn't totally consistent on Spreading the Disease, and that the sound was still coming together to an extent, but it's still my favorite Anthrax record. It's their most fun, and Joey's way of singing on, and only on that album unfortunately, is just so great to sing along to at the top of your lungs.

And "Armed and Dangerous" is totally underrated. If I could sing one song at a karaoke bar, it would be that one.

Interesting story about that. Back when Metallica came to New York to record Kill 'Em All in 1983, they stayed in Anthrax's rehearsal space, and from what I hear, they also played locally at L'Amour - where Anthrax were sort of like the house band. So I imagine that Metallica probably did have a big influence on Anthrax.

Not long after this the two bands toured together for a 'European Tour' 1985-1986 and if memory serves me right the tour ended when Cliff Burton died. From what I also read, there was a lot of contact between the two bands in 1984 and 1985, so yer you're probably right there would've been a big Metallica influence on Anthrax.

The Lowdown
Savatage were one of those mid-1980s metal entities that felt comfortable churning out a sound that had roots in thrash, speed and death metal, rather than in the traditional metal of many of their counterparts. But overall the band were demonstrating certain musical attributes that would go onto characterize power metal, making Savatage an innovative metal outfit for their time due to their contrast of certain styles. The debut album Sirens had been a dark but unbalanced affair, largely in that most of its best tracks had been pushed to the front of that album, giving it that top-heavy feel. The band then issued out one of their best releases in the thrash based EP The Dungeons Are Calling (highly recommended) and both these two releases are covered in my 1983 listing. By the time of the band’s actual second album Power of the Night, which has an album cover that often reminds me of the Legs Diamond album cover A Diamond is a Hard Rock (see that 1977 review) The band then landed a big league contract with Atlantic and soon had hot producer Max Norman on board after already having made his name as Ozzy Osbourne’s almost in-house producer and he would later go on to produce Megadeth in their most commercial period of the early 1990s. The word ‘commercial’ though is certainly the key word for this album and is probably the main point of contention concerning the album. As they had been signed up to a big label, Savatage were certainly pushed to produce something palatable for the metal market, as this is what was selling circa 1983-1986. For this exact reason the album often gets accused of sounding somewhat lifeless, as in the band has had the lifeforce sucked out of them, a similar observation I remember was made against Mudhoney many years later in the grunge explosion. Personally though I think that Power of the Night as an album has quite a bit to offer which is the reason why it’s here. The first thing on listening to this album as expected, is the cleaner production feel on the opening song and title track “Power of the Night” but the song soon gets down to typical Savatage business of mean sounding vocals and cool-ass guitar licks by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva. Ambitious tracks like “Warriors” pretty much work as well, largely again thanks to the smouldering guitar of Criss Oliva who drags everything along nicely. Songs like “Hard for Love” and “Skull Session” were two tracks due to their so-called sexual metaphors, that saw the album have a ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker attached to it. Final track “In a Dream” kind of reminds me of one of Alice Cooper’s 1970s rock opera type efforts, something of course that the band themselves would soon move towards. Admittedly there are a number of throwaway tracks on the album and when the songs don’t work musically, the cheesy lyrics of Jon Oliva seem even more exposed than normal but despite the basic feel of a lot of the songs, there’s a Savatage vibe that’s surely underpinned by bassist Keith Collins. Keyboards are used over the album to strong effect and really enhance a track like “Unusual” and overall the feel of the album is Savatage at a slower pace than their first two efforts, something that often gives proceedings a harder edged feel. Overall if you like high-pitched/mean sounding vocals, Judas Priest style riffarama and fantasy lyrics, despite the fact that the band had toned down the latter here and had gone in for modern issues this time around, Savatage are usually a rewarding brand of metal to consistently listen to with their pumping sound. Sure the sound is pretty commercial here and the songs are only there some of the time, but imo they do a better job than some of the bigger sellers of the year.

Jon Oliva- Vocals/Keyboards
Criss Oliva– Guitar
Keith Collins– Bass
Steve “Doc” Wacholz – Drums

Production- Max Norman

The Lowdown
Dio’s third album Sacred Heart would be one of the best selling in the band’s whole discography but it would also be one of the most contentious as well. Critically Sacred Heart would prove to be a divisive affair amongst listeners, where many were now starting to dismiss Ronnie James’ work as sounding distinctly clichéd and trying to hold onto the formula of the previous two albums. Other claims that he was distinctly pushing more and more into a commercial direction at the expense of writing pure metal classics, is somewhat more dubious in my opinion as the so-called ‘pop hits’ are not as numerous as some people seem to think. In fact nearly every Dio release from now on, would receive more and more critical knocks each time an album was released, which was often based around an old rocker trying to hold onto former glories. Now one thing I will say though about this album in its defence and I imagine that fans of the album would say something similiar, is that this is genuinely a heavy effort from the band and in large that powerful Ronnie James vibe is present across most of the material. Sadly the compact line-up of the band would come to an end here, when guitarist Vivian Campbell was fired from the band towards the end of the album’s recording and for many Dio as a band have never been quite the same since. Dio were one of the biggest metal acts around at this time and in Keeping in line with the other big metal acts of the time, the album tour was distinctly over the top, with a dragon and laser show of epic proportions, as everything in metal at this time was usually big. Now the reason why the album is here is because of the quality of some of its tracks like the title track “Sacred Heart” which literally pumps with the salubrious and powerful vocals of Ronnie James and some of Vivian Campbell’s best guitar work on the album is done here as well. The album’s big hit “Rock ‘n’ Roll Children” is one of the best singles that Dio ever put out and is a great favourite of mine especially with its ringing chorus and the third great track the energetic “Just Another Day” is the type of track that Ronnie James always did well. On the downside there are a large number of clichéd tracks and these come in the form of album opener “The King of Rock and Roll” which seems to work in similar sounding vocals from previous material and comes with a dated in-concert opening intro which was created in the studio, but the song does rock hard. There are so so tracks like “Another Lie” which is a lower tempo rocker that sounds like it would be more at home on a Deep Purple or Rainbow album. The single “Hungry for Heaven” again reworks earlier ‘pop metal’ that the band had done before and most notably “Mystery” from the previous album is the obvious reference here. Songs such as “Like the Beat of a Heart” is similar to “Straight Through the Heart” from Holy Diver and I'm pretty meh over both "Fallen Angels" and the poppy sounding album closer "Shoot Shoot". Overall if you don’t mind clichéd metal and a truckload of fantasy lyrics and the album's pop metal leanings, then Dio’s Sacred Heart is a fairly rewarding album based on its stronger tracks, which admittedly are in the minority here.

Ronnie James Dio- Vocals
Vivian Campbell- Guitar
Jimmy Bain- Bass
Claude Schnell- Keyboards
Vinnie Appice- Drums

Production- Ronnie James Dio

The Lowdown
No sooner had speed metal burst onto the metal scene a few years earlier, it’s success as a commercial metal genre had been quickly superseded by the more aggressive thrash metal sound, but as always a a number of diehard speed metal bands would continue the cause. 1985 was a poor year as I’ve already stated for metal compared to the previous four years of the 1980s, but the year would be saved by its thrash based releases and its energetic speed metal cousin, as some of the best speed metal albums were put out this year. As I’ve stated a number of times already, Germany was a real hotbead of European metal at this time with two of its bands in the Scorpions and Accept reaching worldwide status, which did wonders for the non-British based European metal scene as a whole. Most of these German metal bands would cover the metal spectrum in terms of style (of which I’ve featured quite a few) but most only really found success within their own domestic scene. Now despite being a fan of the German metal scene of the 1980s, I recognize that a lot of them were hit and miss, for example as in one really good album that was usually preceded or followed by a much weaker one and Hamburg based band Iron Angel were one such band. Hellish Crossfire though was probably one the very best albums from what could be termed as ‘the first wave of German thrash, speed and power metal bands’ at this time and as an album it’s certainly stronger than the debut sets from both Kreator and Helloween, two bands of course that would be far better known than Iron Angel. As an album Hellish Crossfire ushers in a dark sounding fusion of both speed and thrash metal and it does this with an incredible amount of viperish energy. The album opens of with the pulsating “Metallian” one of the meanest metal sounding tracks of the year and from here on it delivers a level of consistency as the band dish out an almost rough around the edges Judas Priest speed metal sound across most of its tracks. Singer Dirk Schroder might not be for everybody vocally, but he does have that Udo Dirkschenieder of Accept vocal approach and there’s also an evil slant to his voice that reminds me of Mille Petroza of Kreator as well. Other standout tracks include the frenzied attack of “Black Mass” and “Hunter of Chains” whose main riff sounds like Jimmy Page....well on speed, in fact most of the song sounds like an amalgamation of classic metal tracks anyway. “Rush of Power” is another favourite and “Nightmare” is probably one of the more diverse tracks on the album, especially with its more tranquil opening section but then it’s business as usual. The two killer factors on this album though, are that pulsating guitar duo of both Peter Wittke and Sven Struven, and they have the whole thing underpinned by bassist Thorsten Lohmann. Secondly the aforementioned dark vibe of the album, forewarns us of the soon to come black metal scene from a bit further north, all in all Hellish Crossfire is a fairly vital speed metal release from this time. Finally you’ve just gotta dig that album cover as the band keep things nice and cheesy, which certainly keeps in line of probably what was expected.

Dirk Schroder – Vocals
Peter Wittke – Guitar
Sven Struven – Guitar
Thorsten Lohmann – Bass
Mike Matthes - Drums

Production- Horst Muller

The Lowdown
The Los Angeles metal band Agent Steel had big ambitions, largely thanks to the outspoken statements of frontman John Cyriss ex-Abattoir who once described himself as the ‘Steven Spielberg of heavy metal’ and believed that he was actually from another planet, and signed his autographs as ‘2011’. The band also had a great name in Agent Steel which was another thing they had going for them and for me personally the word ‘steel’ as an adjective, usually evokes true strength when describing anything and in the case of music it works perfectly with metal. Metal albums like British Steel by Judas Priest or Reinventing the Steel by Pantera are great examples of this name in metal, but despite all this the band would never break out of their initial label as just another speed metal band. The 1980s were constantly about timing for new metal bands and any band in this period that was either thrash or glam had a headstart over the rest of the field, regardless at times on how good they really were. Agent Steel had the talent but backed the wrong horse in speed metal and never got past two initial studio albums and an EP but all were worthwhile releases and worthy of being regarded now as cult metal classics. John Cyriss’ high-pitched vocals can easily be mistaken for Bruce Dickinson but of course Iron Maiden never played anywhere near as fast as Agent Steel. Soundwise on their debut album Skeptics Apocalypse and the following EP Mad Locust Rising the band sound like a warp factor speeded up combo of Iron Maiden meets Judas Priest and they even manage to put out a strong cover of Judas Priest’s “The Ripper” on the second of these releases. Skeptics Apocalypse is a hgih velocity release and gets underway with the sci-fi musings of “The Calling” which is a sub-minute narration track that features a kind of muffled tannoy announcer. The album gets under way proper with the frantic verve of “Agents of Steel” which is beefed up with a pounding percussion section and lets vocalist John Cyriss let rip vocally and the song has a memorable chorus section. “Taken by Force” sounds like a more obscure speed metal outing but compliments the previous track as it should. “Evil Eye/Evil Minds” and “Bleed for the Godz” are two tracks that mix the arcane aspects of the band in with their speed metal sound and might well be the two tracks on the album that typify the band best and the latter is surely one of the best tracks on the album. “Children of the Sun” feels more ponderous than its faster brethren and demonstrates a wider scope within the band and this shift in direction is even more evident on the even superior “144,000 Gone”. The album draws to close with the revved up feel of "Guilty as Charged" and "Back to Reign" works with a slightly slower momentum to it. Agent Steel offered up songs about Sci-fi musings and aliens, which was accompanied by a speed metal sound that was naturally built around its two guitarist, but the thunderous rhythm section of the band really turned out to be a true killer as well. So who would this album really appeal to? Basically to any Iron Maiden type fan, that has wondered what Iron Maiden would sound like if they had adopted a speed metal sound, because let’s face it Agent Steel could really write songs, despite the use in some people's eyes of deep voice overs and cheesy chants at times from the other band members. Overall the album does take some getting used to for the non-anointed out there but once in the rewards are pretty lush.

John Cyriss- Vocals
Juan Garcia- Guitar
Kurt Kilfelt- Guitar
George Robb- Bass
Chuck Profus- Drums

Production- Jay Jones

The Lowdown
Like Agent Steel Lizzy Borden were another metal delight to come out of the sprawling Los Angeles metal scene of the mid 1980s, but musically though they were largely a different and more varied beast to the sci-fi speed metal musings of Agent Steel. Lizzy Borden named after the 19th century murderess who was later acquitted, were initially a product of Metal Blade and appeared on one of the numerous Metal Blade Metal Massacre compilation releases a few year’s earlier with “Rod of Iron” before issuing their first EP in Give ‘Em the Axe before going onto record their full length debut Love You to Pieces, which could only ever be a hair metal metal title! The band’s glam metal-cum-shock rock style put them right into that Motley Crue-Twisted Sister metal spectrum wheel, which meant that they were tasty stuff! Now All Music more or less describes the Lizzy Borden debut as the complete package of what a glam metal album should be all about, in fact right down to the actual album cover with its luscious blonde with big hair and chic black lingerie. In fact the album cover is an instant turn-on to any hot-blooded male metal affiliate and was a sure way to boost sales and interest in the band. The lads were recently formed in 1983 by vocalist Lizzy Borden (?) and drummer brother Joey Scott and these two would go onto form the mainstay and backbone of the band amidst numerous line-up changes over the years. The band namechecked all the usual suspects when it came to their influences: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the make-up inspired hard rock/heavy metal sound from the likes of Kiss and Alice Cooper that could be deemed as the biggest influences due to the band’s demonic shock rock image, in fact vocalist Lizzy Borden did a Vincent Furnier and gave himself a female name and band name all in one. So with the shock rock and glam metal values of the time being part of the band’s core, it was no surprise then that they quickly became one of the highlights of the LA club scene around this time and like Motley Crue before them there was certainly great anticipation over their debut release. The album starts with an intricate guitar lead before erupting into the speed metal of “Children of the Cauldron” and the song is full of hammering drums and the higher-pitched vocals of Lizzy Borden who again is another vocalist that has much in common with Bruce Dickinson (which shows just how revered he was) “Psychopath” starts off with a whispered intro and the song ends up to be a snappy haunting track of changing tempos. Track three “Save Me” is surely one of the best on the album and also one of the most radio-friendly as well. The other stellar tracks on the album include the power ballad and title track “Love it to Pieces” and it’s the kind of song that I really dig and the kind of thing that Axl Rose would later go onto do, even though I think Lizzy Borden do it better here and album closer "Rod of Iron" is another strong track. In fact over the rest of the album tracks like the idiosyncratic “Red Rum” the cliched sounding if somewhat overlong “American Metal” the mix and match “Flesh Eater” and the almost Blondie meets metal sounding of "Warfare" and finally the pace of "Godiva" are all absorbing listens in their own way, which really makes this album a rewarding listen especially for those that didn’t get the album first time round….. including me! The album on face value might look as clichéd as anything, but the reality is that it has an interesting undercurrent of metal styles, from varying tempos, cool riffs and catchy hooks and it was obvious that this band knew how to write songs rather than relying on just a mood or one trusted style. In fact the band has a musical essence that in places is not exactly a world away from the far better known Queensryche, making this so-called shock-rock glam metal outfit a more centric metal outfit that they’re often credited for. Lizzy Borden despite a brief commercial flurry were never really that successful outside the USA and like fellow glam metal band the hugely talented Icon they’re a bit forgotten now. Overall Love You to Pieces is one of my guilty listening pleasures of 1985 and might well be my personal favourite listen of the year, despite the fact that a number of albums are above it quality wise, now that’s me really be objective when it comes to this year’s list.

Lizzy Borden- Vocals
Gene Allen- Guitar
Alex Nelson- Guitar
Michael Davis- Bass
Joey Scott- Drums

Production- Lizzy Borden

The Lowdown
After making a cryptic splash with their previous Crystal Logic album (see review) the band would continue to take further strides into the waters of purer metal for their fourth album. Open the Gates would continue from where their previous Crystal Logic album left off and this time around most of the tracks on the album are inspired by Arthurian Legends, with the accompanying album cover designed by Eric Lamoy, which kind of denotes a more sinister looking Excalibur film style than to some of their more traditional Arthurian legend styles. Open the Gates would also be the band’s heaviest release to date and this is largely down to the arrival of new drummer Randy Foxe who had replaced Rick Fisher and proved to be a far more powerful and aggressive stickman overall. Manilla Road who may have started their career trying to fuse elements of space rock and progressive rock into their repertoire as seen on their first three albums, were now sacrificing this experimental approach, to fully embrace the more current metal mood of the day in thrash metal which can be heard full Manilla Road style on the album opener “Metalstorm” “Heavy Metal To the World” and “Weavers of the Web” which has a totally badass sounding thrash riff, because let’s face it no thrash vocalist warbled like Mark Shelton. The band were also looking for inspiration from the NWOBHM several years back as well and this has been incorporated into the album as well and can be heard on a tracks like "Road of Kings" which sounds like something that Saxon could've put out and "Hour of the Dragon" is pretty beefy as well, which all gave the band a nice hotch-potch inspired metal stew. Lyrically the esoteric sci-fi musings of frontman Mark Shelton were now giving way to Arthurian legend on most tracks, starting with the title track the impressive if somewhat short “Open the Gates” which leads the charge, as well as a few brief delvings into Norse mythology for good measure on the latter part of the album in "The Fires of Mars" and closer "Witches Brew". The band mix in their dynamic well with a song like “Astronomica” which almost starts off like a semi-ballad before evolving into a heavy sounding beast the looks right back to the 1970s for its inspiration. Mark Shelton was also no stranger to spoken narration on some of the tracks as well, as he had done previously on Crystal Logic and this time around it features heavily and most notably on the album’s showpiece track the sprawling nine minute monster “The Ninth Wave”. As said on the Crystal Logic review, one of the unique factors of Manilla Road was the band’s musical isolation from being based in Witchita and not benefitting from a local metal scene so to speak of. This meant that the band had to find their own way musically, which for me always tends to be more interesting at times, than bands that just play off each other in a local music scene. This aspect is what really makes Manilla Road albums unique despite whether they’re any good or not, as it’s almost like the band has never really listened to many other metal bands out there and are just content to play their own sound in the confines of their own isolated four walls and imaginations.

Mark Shelton – Guitar/Vocals
Scott Park – Bass
Randy Foxe – Drums

Production- Manilla Road

Evil eyes staring through olden walls of stone.

The Lowdown
Fates Warning were very much one of the flagship bands of Metal Blade so much so that Metal Blade head honcho Brain Slagel, had an almost personal stake in the band with production duties for their first three albums. Fates Warning along with Queensryche, were probably two of the first known metal bands from this period to be labelled as ‘progressive metal’ as the scope of their material and arrangements went beyond what a lot of other metal bands were laying down within the criteria of metaldom at this time. Fates Warning much like Queensryche had that heavy Iron Maiden influence to their sound and those progressive leanings of Iron Maiden would lend heavily onto the Fates Warning sound, but the the Connecticut band were more intent on taking that Iron Maiden influence to their own conclusion. Their debut album the often highly rated Night on Brocken which just missed my previous year list (so much completion in 1984) never really quite did it for me despite having some strong tracks like “Damnation” but to be honest I’m much more of a Ray Alder fan on vocals than the John Arch era of the band anyway, so with that in mind Fates Warning will feature more heavily as these lists go by. Nevertheless The Spectre Within is a strong and complex sounding piece of work with the progressive elements of the band being more noticeable this time around compared to the debut. So how progressive are one of the very first metal bands to be labelled ‘progressive metal’ really on this album? To be honest to my mind and ears not very, rather than being progressive most of the tracks starting with the impressive seven minute album opener “Traveler in Time” sound to me like riff-heavy compositions with a distorted melodic speed metal vein running through them and this becomes even more evident by track two on “Orphan Gypsy” where the band are now starting to sound extremely complex, but it can be argued that there is a thin line at times anyway between technical metal and progressive metal. Overall the band do have a number of progressive elements, but by and large this is more of a case of a metal band just ‘pushing the envelope’ as it were and they would indeed push it even further on the following year’s Awaken the Guardian which is considered the best release of the John Arch era, but it’s really with the Ray Alder era where the progressive label really does apply and an era where the band opened the door to better known progressive metal bands like Dream Theater. As said above the progressive element for a band like Fates Warning is important, as they are deemed to be a progressive band rather than a band that has just adopted a progressive angle on some of their songs. For this reason their John Arch albums are not really as progressive as the label would suggest, but they’re good metal albums by and large, which is the reason why The Spectre Within has found its place on this year’s listing. The band do spend a lot of time on this album showboating their riff-heavy style with long instrumental intros to a number of songs like “Pirates of the Underground” and their monster riffs never get any better than they do on a song like "Apparition". The most progressive track on the album is probably the eleven minute closer "Epitaph" which besides sounding like a progressive track actually has John Arch sounding like Eric Bloom of BOC in places on the song. Getting into Fates Warning at this time normally requires a number of requirements such as liking their distinctive distorted melodic style of the band, combined with the complex playing and vocals of John Arch who may not be everybody’s cup of tea, largely due to his ability to to sound like a combination of Bruce Dickinson meets King Diamond and then sounding like somebody is throttling him at the same time. But most of all John Arch reminds me of Andre Matos of Angra another unique sounding vocalist, which kind of reveals that besides being an influence of progressive metal, that the band both musically and vocally were equally important to the power metal sub-genre as well. After this release guitarist Frank Alesti would replace Victor Arduini, which of course would lead to a further completion of the Fates Warning musical puzzle.

John Arch – Vocals
Jim Matheos – Guiitar
Victor Arduini – Guitar
Joe DiBiase – Bass
Jim Archambault – Keyboards
Steve Zimmerman – Drums

Production- Brian Slagel

The Lowdown
For some reason this album was a borderline case on whether it would make the top 20 or not, needless to say it did, but I think it did this though through some oversight on my part because it seems to have ended up getting a lofty slot in this year’s top 20. Heavy Pettin’ were very much a product of the NWOBHM despite some strong American influences and their debut album Lettin Loose is well regarded in some quarters. The band were fronted by vocalist Steve Hayman who looked like a combination of Rod Stewart meets Joe Elliot, kind of making him rock magazine ‘pin-up material’ for teenagers and the band hailed from Glasgow. In fact they may well be the only Scottish band I’ve featured so far on here along with Nazareth, who were of course regulars in the 1970s section of the journal. Heavy Pettin’ were a band desperate for commercial success, but sadly for them that ‘radio hit’ never actually came despite having the marbles to be able to do one. Their accessible hard rock sound probably came several years too late for most metal fans, who were now more intent on devouring something a lot more abrasive and had they been an Amerian glam metal band, they may have stood a better chance by basing themselves in LA. From the word go on Rock Ain’t Dead, the album production is sharper, tighter and more accomplished than their debut and the album is loaded with 'American glam rocker tracks' that sound like they could’ve have been material for bands such as Twisted Sister, Motley Crue or Ratt, strangely enough none of these could even make this year’s list, which shows that despite the huge popularity of glam metal, that a large chucnk of its biggest bands had hit a creative wall, which makes these Heavy Pettin’ tracks better listens if you're into this kind of sound. These tracks include the booming title track "Rock Ain't Dead" "Lost in Love" "Northwinds" "Angel" and "Throw a Party" Most of these songs tend to rely on that anthem approach and some of these sound like they’ve been underpinned with Ted Nugent type guitar riffs, which of course gives them some backbone and there’s even a power-ballad chucked in there as well with the soppy “Dream Time” which could've been that radio hit. The band dabble with purer AOR style tracks such as "Sole Survivor" and pass with colours on this score as well. Musically I’ve read a few reviews for this album that have mentioned the band’s reliance on a Def Leppard type approach, which of course is mostly down to the band ripping the track "Pyromania" under the guise of "China Boy" and the known "Throw a Party" sounds a bit like Def as well, but for me I always felt that there was more of a Saxon influence in the proceedings here and most definitely a heavy nod to American artists from both the 70s and present day. Steve Hayman’s vocals admittedly sounds like he’s been inhaling from a helium balloon prior to picking up the mike and he was often compared to Brian Vollmer of Canadian band Helix which is no bad thing in my mind, but to me he sounds something like Biff Byford of the aforementioned Saxon on helium of course. The album for a lot of listeners though may well sound over-produced but that though keeps in line with what the band were trying to do, which was to put out a polished sound. Despite all this, the band were very able when it came to putting out quality produced melodic hard rock, that had certainly been inspired by AOR giants like Foreigner and especially Journey, making this a solid listen and certainly their best album despite its crappy album cover, in fact I've seen it in a couple of 'worst ever album cover' lists out there.

Steve Hayman- Vocals
Gordon Bonnar- Guitar
Punky Mendoza- Guitar
Brian Waugh- Bass
Gary Moat- Drums

Production- ?

The Lowdown
The Last Command would be one of the bigger selling albums from the garish rocket-launcher band known as W.A.S.P. and despite not being as big as they had wished, it would still reach gold status in America, where of course the masses were still gobbling down anything glam metal related. The album would also be their last without guitarist Randy Piper an original founder of the band but it would be their first with drummer Steve Riley and like many bands of their ilk, this would be the first of many line-up changes for the band over the years. The Last Command is a more balanced record compared to the top heavy and in-yer-face debut, which from its shock-rock approach took the metal world by storm, largely thanks to its booming tracks like “I Wanna Be Somebody” and “L.O.V.E Machine” along with shock value titles like “Animal (**** Like a Beast)” and in the process they were taking no prisoners either, due to their celebrated stage show! The balanced approach largely comes in the form of hiring Quiet Riot producer Stephen Proffer and W.A.S.P. demonstrate here that when the combination between quality band material and strong production editing finds the right compromise, the end product is normally a strong and balanced record. This makes The Last Command one of the best metal albums in a year where most glam metal bands were stalling compared to the previous couple of years. The album cover has the buck nasty Blackie Lawless poised with a flag on an album cover that would’ve done Manowar very proud. The album has a number of standout tracks and these include dynamic offerings such as “Wild Child” "Cries in the Night" "Ballcrusher" and the title track "The Last Command" which draws elements from most of the previous tracks. All these tracks are full of bad ass Blackie’s vocals and have big dirty riffs in the right places and these tracks combine well with the more fun offerings on the album such as “Sex Drive” and "Blind in Texas" along with the more sedate stylings of "Widowmaker" which sounds like it could be a Gene Simmons song subject. Whilst these tracks may not be as hard hitting as some of the material from the debut, they add a consistency that is usually much needed on sophomores making this a solid listen. Not only did the success of this album get high-profile producer Stephen Proffer back on track after the disappointing Condition Critical, which had failed to live up to the heights of Quiet Riot’s previous release Metal Health, but it also continued to guarantee W.A.S.P. continual tours with metal giants such as Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden over the coming years. The 1998 reissue of the album comes with a number of live tracks and most interestingly on this reissue, there is a cover of Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” where Blackie Lawless attempts to do the Leslie West original vocal justice, but personally I'd sooner listen to the original here. W.A.S.P. were constantly compared to Kiss around this time and in fact they toured with the mighty Kiss on quite a few occasions, but one thing is certain here and that is The Last Command is a far superior record compared to the Kiss release of 1985 Asylum.

Blackie Lawless- Bass/Vocals
Chris Holmes- Guitar
Randy Piper- Guitar
Steve Riley- Drums

Production- Stephen Proffer

Number 11!?! you need to take one of the 1's away so that it's in its proper place. :) but yes it defiantly was one of the best metal albums of the year, I am biased though as I had the cassette in Elementary school.

All hail W.A.S.P.!!!

A good friend of mine also loves this album as well.

The Lowdown
1985 was a particularly good year for speed metal especially considering that it had been superseded by thrash metal, so here are the first of two strong speed metal albums to break into the top 10 on this year’s list. Also this Warrant has nothing to do with the American hair metal band of the same name, that would become popular further on down the road. This Warrant were formed in Dusseldorf as recently as 1983 but would end up as being a short project with just one full album and an EP to their name until 2014, when they did what most old bands do and release a kind of reunion album. Their debut EP First Strike came out in 1985 and was soon followed by their debut album The Enforcer and its album cover is just so sweet and just what the doctor ordered when it comes to metal trying to make a statement. The album has a heavy production to it and some really heavy crunchy guitars and both these factors stand as two of its towering points, but the other highlight is surely vocalist Jorg Juraschek who could’ve easily fronted a thrash band, as he genuinely sounds pissed off here and certainly pre-empts Mille Petroza of Kreator, even though tone wise he seems to have more in common with Rob Halford than Mille Petroza. Musically and as expected the album is dominated by the dynamic guitars of both Thomas Klein and Oliver May who with their old school riffing, mirror quite a few better known tandem guitar teams in the metal world. The album starts with a solid acoustic intro before getting down to business with the heavy speed of “The Rack” and despite being a good song, it gets somewhat let down with the ‘hey’ cheer from the other band members. Next up is “Ordeal of Death” which kicks back a bit on the speed but still goes for the jugular with its heavy propulsive riffs and it’s songs like this that rate really highly with me, in fact these propulsive riffs run through much of the material on the album with superb consistency. The band were clearly having fun as well with song titles like “Nuns Have No Fun” along with other tracks like “Bang That Head” “Torture in the Tower” and “Send Ya’ to Hell” with the latter here almost having a Scorpions musical type opening and it’s clear that this band knew how to enjoy themselves in the studio with this type of material. The reason why this album tends to be high in a weak year, is quite simply because this album is extremely consistent in what it has to offer and by the mid-way point of the album with its title track the dynamic “The Enforcer” and the following “Betrayer” this seems more evident than ever.The album also ends on a metal high with its closer “Cowards or Martyrs” making this the only full length album by the band until a renunion 2014 release. The short-lived Warrant almost warn us about fellow German bands like Helloween whose own cheeseball style had something in common with Warrant, making this a good starting point for mid 1980s German metal even though I’ve already featured quite a few German bands. The German speed metal phenomenan was short-lived and was soon supplanted by its power metal movement, but The Enforcer by Warrant was another one of its finest examples and musically sits somewhere between what Accept and Kreator were doing.

Jorg Juraschek- Bass/Vocals
Thomas Klein- Guitar
Oliver May- Guitar
Lothar Weiners- Drums

Production- Warrant

The Lowdown
After the rip-roaring speed metal gem Heavy Metal Maniac (see 1983 review) and an album that should’ve been much higher that year as well, the band had displayed that there was an extremely thin line between speed metal and thrash metal. Canada’s Exciter showed that when it came to Canadian metal they were just as essential as Anvil around this time, due to their potent fusion of both speed and thrash. The band then released their sophomore set Violence & Force which despite being a good album just missed my hectic 1984 listing, but the album still managed to display the band’s iconic sound despite the fact that most reviewers viewed the album as quite a bit weaker than Heavy Metal Maniac. Things though were firmly back in their court and back to business for their third album Long Live the Loud, where the band acquired the services of Guy Bidmead who had worked with Motorhead. Overall the album comes fairly close to matching the heights of their debut set but instead of opting for the raw power of that album, Exciter have gone if for a more controlled power metal type assault here, surely in order to impress the commercial metal market, but this is not to say that there aren't a number of rawer sounding efforts on the album. This change of direction becomes obvious with tracks like the album intro “The Fall” a heavy and controlled power instrumental and this leads into other similar sounding material a bit later like "Victims of Sacrifice" a track which really benefits from having a slightly knocked back feel to it in terms of its speed but its powerful momentum and aggression make it an album classic. Their is a surprising organ into for the following song "Beyond the Gates of Doom" again another essential in the same vein as the previous track, but does feel a bit faster. "Born to Die" sounds a bit too much like an AC/DC track for my liking here and its corny chorus chant does it no favours either. The awesome 10 minute closer is ambitious to say the least but in "Wake Up Screaming" the band have one of the epic sounding tracks of the year and surely something that Manowar had wished they'd put out. It's business as usual though on the pure speed of "Sudden Impact" which sounds as mean as anything else out there at this time and comes across as premium Exciter. It should be noted that Exciter operated as a three piece outfit like both Tank and Raven, but in Exciter’s case vocalist Dan Beehler (who at times could sound like Rob Halford) was also the band’s drummer and to be honest this is a combo that I’ve never fully embraced but there are exceptions and Dan Beehler just happens to be one of those exceptions. Heavy Metal Maniac had contained a slew of fantastic tracks and none had come any better than “Mistress of Evil” “Rising of the Dead” and the slower “Black Witch” and as can be seen the band had a penchant for great song titles. This time around the great song titles have been swapped for great cheesy metal lyrics and these are littered across the album and listening to the title track “Long Live the Loud” that song alone is clichéd up to its eyeballs. Again the tracks here are driven on by the relentless and exciting riffs of John Ricci, whose electrifying riffs are a real characteristic of the band and probably the vital element and these punctuate the album's best tracks like the already mentioned "Victims of Sacrifice" but his guitar equally turns out as well punk-fuelled efforts like "I Am the Beast" which could easily be a Venom track. The bonus CD edition of the album comes with a number of bonus tracks which really extend the album's original playing time. The album cover reaches hilarious levels though and I’m certain the band were looking at the type of album covers that Manowar would fully embrace and so had no trouble using this type of thing. The end result of the album is a prime example of where a speed metal band knocks back on the raw aggression of their early days, to install a more controlled sound with better production values, something of course that a band like Tank had done with This Means War 1983 (see review) which shows that even the most dedicated ‘raw bands’ whether on their own decision or the record label’s were often looking to make their sound more commercial and ear friendly. Overall the album in many ways is a prime example of where speed metal starts looking into a more controlled power metal direction but without betraying its roots and it's really an album for a metal enthusiast and as Martin Popoff would say knock it back!

Dan Beehler- Drums/Vocals
John Ricci- Guitar
Allan Johnson- Bass

Production- Guy Bidmead

The Lowdown
There were three essential albums from Accept in this their key commercial period and these albums were Restless and Wild with its thrashy overtones, Balls to the Wall one of the most bombastic metal releases of its time and Metal Heart which would be a toned down version of the previous releases. Metal Heart was probably the least of these albums in terms of the impact of its material and in any other year probably would’ve finished well outside the top 10, but as said on previous reviews 1985 was certainly weaker than preceding years. Accept were an archetypal metal band from this period, proudly roaring down the centric metal highway with thrash or hair metal bands occupying the gound either side of them, but also having enough in their locker to appeal to either camp. Metal Heart would be the last album with pint-sized vocalist Udo Dirkschneider until his return in the 1990s and his departure from the band saw their fortunes as a commercial metal giant quickly start to subside, showing that Accept’s relationship with the higher echelons of the metal world to be a very tenuous indeed. The album was produced by Dieter Dierks who had produced all those classic Scorpion albums, as the band issued out another album designed to appeal to a North American audience. Its name Metal Heart is also not exactly a world away from Quiet Riot’s monster metal seller Metal Health from a few years earlier, so in my mind there is a definite commercial link working away there in terms of the album title similarity. A number of the songs on the album contain catchy choruses and melodies to add to the band’s already trademark blazing twin-guitar sound and to be honest the fist-pumping metal of earlier releases has been severly toned down here. The songs on the album that personify this newer approach come in the shape of the catchy “Midnight Mover” which was the first single from the album. “Screaming for a Love Bite” sounds exactly like the type of melodic track that the band were looking for here and unsurprisingly was another single. Straight forward metal sounding material comes in the shape of the AC/DC sounding “Up to the Limit” the guitar driven “Wrong is Right” both are rather repitive efforts but do drive the album forward. “Living for Tonite” seems to lift its main rift right out of the Scorpion’s school of thought but is still a solid heavy track. One of the best tracks is the delightfully titled “Too High to Get it Right” which really would’ve gone down a treat on the Balls to the Wall album and the same can be said for “Dogs on a Lead” another one of the best here and both sound like vintage Accept in hindsight. Some diversity though is on offer in the shape of the album’s title track “Metal Heart” which uses two famous classical themes at the beginning and its middle, and the song really does have some distinctive European power metal overtones as well. “Teach Us to Survive” has the odd use of jazz applied to it in places and I think it works really real and Udo also gives us a very brief impersonation of one of Ian Gillan’s jokey sounding vocals as well. Despite the watering down of the band’s sound for even greater commercial accessibility, the vocals of Udo Dirkschneider sound as potent and gruff as always and for this reason will keep Accept fans happy. Metal Heart wasn’t well received at the time, but as said earlier it’s one of the band’s better efforts and certainly superior to some of the albums that followed it. The album has a couple of almost euro-pop vibe sections sewn into some of its catchier songs, which I’m certain would be a detraction for some of its listeners. In terms of sales it wouldn’t be anywhere as near as successful as Balls to the Wall, despite the band attempting an even more streamlined sound, in fact the band themselves seemed to predict this in their ominous album closer "Bound to Fail". Some of the tracks from Metal Heart would also appear on the band’s live EP Kaizoku-Ban which came out later the same year.

Udo Dirkschneider- Vocals
Wolff Hoffman- Guitar
Hermann Frank- Guitar
Peter Baltes- Bass
Stefan Kaufman- Drums

Production- Dieter Dierks

Can you feel the throb of my heartstrings?

The Lowdown
The second album from Icon was actually one of the first albums I considered for a top ten placing this year based on memory, but then as I always do I listened to the album again and started to have doubts about it being in a metal listing. These doubts though were nothing to do with its quality but more to do with its style, because Night of the Crime sounds a lot like it should be in an AOR listing rather than a metal one and in fact when looking the album up on Wiki I saw that Kerrang! had placed it as the third best AOR album of all time and me being a whopping AOR fan never even knew that this album had been considered like so, but in the end I decided to go with it as it will still appeal to mainstream metal fans that like a strong AOR feel to their metal. The band’s debut album and also one of the best releases from 1984 had been an album that had solidified what mainstream metal should be all about which was a loud and pounding experience, with punching choruses, catchy anthems and nearly every song ending up just sounding so damned good to boot as well. In many ways Icon kind of remind me of Y&T that LA based band that helped to set the stage for the west coast hair metal scene a few years earlier and much like Icon they were also a superior metal band that just never got the commercial success that they deserved based on their talent, for example less talented bands like Quiet Riot and Ratt etc ending up hogging the limelight instead. Night of the Crime is an extremely polished album as you’d expect anyway from an album that is revered by some AOR fans, which is a surprise when you consider that its producer Eddie Kramer of Kiss production fame was in my mind a producer that like to go in for a rough around the edges approach, but given that fact that he had produced some big or AOR orientated acts over recent years that may have something to do with his more polished approach, artists like Angel, Foghat, Triumph and Pete Frampton had been amongst a sizeable listing. The album also sets a tone with the use of some outside songwriters in Bob Halligan Jr. and Mike Varney. Now the use of outside songwriters was nothing new of course in rock, but towards the end the decade and into the 1990s a number of rock acts that weren't overly commercial by nature had writers like these, that were employed on a whim by the record labels to give these artists a guaranteed commercial sound and a possible hit single, just think Cheap Trick and Lap of Luxury circa 1988 as a prime example of this. Night of the Crime starts with prime AOR material like “Naked Eyes” which in hindsight sounds like one of the great AOR tracks from this period and its truly a glorious song heightened by the vocals of Stephen Clifford. Second track "Missing" sounds like it could've been on a Heart album from this period and "Danger Calling" is the kind of AOR style track I love anyway and it's no surprise that it was chosen to be a single here and shows just how stellar the album material is overall. Night of the Crime surprisingly doesn't have a title track but any number of its tracks could've easily accommodated in that department. Tracks like "(Take Another) Shot at My Heart" and "Whites of Their Eyes" are just simply great tracks with so much energy. The most metal offering comes in the form of "Out for Blood" which actually threatens to come off like an instrumental for the first part of the song. "Raise the Hammer" is one of the other muscle songs on the album and ended up being the second single from the album and the even better "Hungry for Love" falls into similar territory, and album closer "Rock My Radio" is a loud finale from the band. The sedate "Frozen Tears" was another contender for a single despite the fact that it's the most generic and weakest sounding song on the album. Despite the album being revered in AOR circles most metal reviewers who were big fans of the debut were less sympathetic to the album’s change in direction with Allmusic called it ‘MTV fluff’ but most of these negative reviews really just allude to the band’s change in direction from a loud metal outfit to a more polished AOR orientated one, but either way Night of the Crime is a credible record from a very talented band and forms an important part of the mid 1980s rock commercial scene. Finally if this wasn't a metal orientated journal then Night of The Crime could've easily ended up as a top 3 album for the year, so I kind of took its overall style into consideration here.

Stephen Clifford- Vocals
Dan Wexler- Guitar
John Aquilino- Guitar
Tracy Wallach- Bass
Pat Dixon- Drums

Production- Eddie Kramer

The Lowdown
Since the turn of the decade metal had been getting decidedly nastier, not so much in the form of how its artists acted and behaved on and off the stage but most notably in the content and sound of its music. Gone were the days where bands like Black Sabbath had been largely ‘tongue-in-cheek’ with their evil sounding satanic musings, because now in its place the San Francisco bay area had unleashed a far more potent menace in thrash, who in just a few years through its two most important bands Metallica and Slayer had started to seriously push the boundaries on how evil metal as a genre could really get and it’s therefore no surprise that Slayer were probably the biggest influence on Possessed. Possessed just happened to be another local ‘bay area’ band and on first assessment back then, could’ve easily been passed off as just another thrash metal band that were aiming at the genre’s more hardcore end that was headed up by Slayer. Their debut album Seven Churches is often labelled as being the first true ‘death metal’ album and takes the direction hinted by bands like Slayer and Venom to its logical conclusion, by taking the intensity of thrash and turning it into an even more brutal beast with barely decipherable vocals. Frontman Jeff Becerra would largely get overshadowed by Chuck Schuldiner of Death just a few years later as the progenitor of death metal, but in chronological terms Jeff Becerra could take this dark crown instead, depending on how the listener views the importance of death metal roots. The Wiki article for the album describes Seven Churches as an album that connects the dots between thrash metal and death metal, which in effect crosses that all important creative bridge that most sub-genres need to get recognized. Needless to say the album has the poor production values one would expect from a grass roots release, but who cares when the album sounds like this, because Possessed were brutal for 1985! The album intro namechecks the Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells instrumental from the original Exorcist film which sets the evil tone for the bludgeoning and spiralling sound that soon comes on the classic "The Exorcist" which of course introduces us to the grunted vocals of Jeff Becerra who would go onto characterize death metal vocals. In fact additional intros can be found on a couple of other efforts like “Pentagram” which starts with a bestial effect intro. The whole album plays with the intensity of thrash and the spiralling guitar solos are some of the best I've heard from this period, but its the bestial almost mad dog barking vocals of Jeff Becerra that blow the roof and these don't come any better than on a song like "Evil Warriors". Despite its seminal status there is a certain lack of diversity here from those that might like the idea of the band mixing things up a bit, but to their credit the band keep the accelerator floored right through to the end as later album tracks like "Twisted Minds" and "Fallen Angel" are more top-notch material. The other star turn on the album is provided by guitarist Larry Lalonde who would go onto greater recognition in Primus, but in Possessed he had the perfect playground to push his musical boundaries as a developing guitarist, as extreme metal often attracted a certain type of musician. Producer Randy Burns who would also work with the newly formed Megadeth around this time as well, plays keyboards on a couple of tracks here. The album cover is the standard satanic red on black and the name seven churches is a reference from the Book of Revelation. Seven Churches besides being one of the essential death metal albums around, just happens to be the smart place in which to start listening to this sub-genre, better death metal albums would come later, but Seven Churches was the molotov cocktail that blew the gates open for these albums to later burst on the scene.

Jeff Becerra- Bass/Vocals
Larry Lalonde- Guitar
Mike Torrao- Guitar
Mike Sus- Drums

Production- Randy Burns

Just switch your brain off and do the blitzkrieg.

The Lowdown
Whenever band members start a side project a lot of the time it tends to be a self-interest type project where a member/members tend to indulge in an aspect of music, that they really don’t always have the freedom to do in the confines of their own band. A lot of the time these are really hit and miss affairs and usually end up only really appreciated by fans of the artist, but now and again there are exceptions and Speak English or Die is one such exception. Speak English or Die is actually an album that should never be as far as Anthrax members Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were concerned, because it’s a side project that ends up being far superior to their main project which of course was Anthrax the up-and-coming east coast thrash metal band, whose second album Speading the Disease is much further down this year’s list (see review) Speak English or Die can be classified as a crossover thrash metal album (for those that don’t know that’s hardcore punk fused with thrash metal) and the album has roots thrash metal engineer Alex Perialas on production duties (check out his impressive credentials) The amusingly titled Stormtroopers of Death known as S.O.D with their debut album at just 29 minutes long, is an album that ended up as being a hastily put together album after the recording sessions for Spreading the Disease had finished. The two Anthrax men called in ex-Anthrax member Dan Lilker and little known vocalist Billy Milano, and the whole thing was recorded in a week. Needless to say due to its high position here the album ended up as being a classic and an influential piece that is essential for any extreme metal devotee, it’s an album that usually needs just one listen to get you hooked and I’m not even a crossover thrash fan! Despite the controversy surrounding both the album’s subject matter and lyrical content, where it was accused of being both macho and racist, Speak English or Die is really just a goofy sounding metal album that happens to be loud and frenetic, and full of macho overtones rather than having any type of politically incorrect statement. The album also largely keeps within the spirit of Anthrax and on the whole is not really meant to be taken seriously anyway and the album members have often stated this over the years. The album cover and band name certainly denote the comic book sensibility of the Anthrax members who were big comic fans anyway and the whole album plays like an outrageous comic as well. Speak English or Die is loaded up with 21 tracks ranging between 2 seconds to 2 minutes and 32 seconds, and its blitzkrieg rampage which sounds like Anthrax on speed has great song titles like "Kill Yourself" "Milano Mosh" "Freddy Kreuger" "Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues" "Pussy Whipped" "**** the Middle East" and "Hey Gordy". Now from a listening perspective I've never been a fan of ultra-short tracks and so to get around by prejudice in these matters, I just treat this album as one long piece with some gaps between its sections and for me this works like a treat and that's how I enjoy to the maximum an album like Speak English or Die. From such humble and rushed beginnings Speak English or Die is widely considered to be one of the greatest crossover thrash metal albums of all time, which again goes to show just how important spontaneous musical ideas and effort can end up being, as the hastily formed Stormtroopers of Death were completely on fire when they recorded this album. The predilection of the project members is clear and that was an album’s worth of aggression with fantastic riffs that run the course of the album and it’s the kind of album that you can just pop it back on again for another rousing session. Just a year later Slayer would do something similar with their seminal Reign in Blood album which goes to show that this approach was en-vogue as well. For anybody wanting a continuation from the Stormtroopers of Death project, Dan Lilker’s new band at this time Nuclear Assault was probably the way to go with their impressive Game Over album.

Billy Milano- Vocals
Scott Ian- Guitar
Dan Lilker- Bass
Charlie Benante- Drums

Production- Alex Perialas/Scott Ian

The Lowdown
Exodus were without doubt one of the ‘classic bay area thrash bands’ and one of the most recognized thrash bands of the whole genre, despite never garnering the same level of commercial success as the four other thrash bands that would make up the famed ‘Big Four’ label. Exodus were well described by Kerrang! as being a ‘severely muted guitar chopping band’ making them a suitable founding father figure for the trash genre and their debut album Bonded By Blood is often considered one of the essential and pivotal thrash releases of its time and with it being so high here it’s a description that I’d hardly bother to argue against. In terms of style this album is right out of the Metallica Kill ‘Em All locker and both albums sit side by side as omnipotent thrash albums, even though Kill 'Em All has aged the better of the two. Bonded By Blood was originally titled A Lesson in Violence but as a suitable album cover couldn’t be found (hard to believe) the band opted for the more blasphemous choice of two babies as good and evil twins instead and with this came a title change. When the album was re-issued in 1989 it came with a striking red and black cover that really should’ve been used had it been thought of at the time of its release, as it looks for more dominant and sinister than the comic book look of the twin babies. The album clocks in at a credible 40 minutes and contains a bunch of trademark thrashers essential to any thrash metal collection. The bulk of the material on Bonded By Blood is laid down by vocalist Paul Baloff and guitarist Gary Holt and tears down the tarmac starting with the pummelling title track “Bonded By Blood” and the eponymous “Exodus” completes the opening salvo. The band then show how catchy they can make thrash on a track like “And Then There Were None” which is followed by one of their best known tracks in “A Lesson of Violence”. One of my favourite cuts from this album is the almost Pantera sounding "No Love" which in places has some early groove metal posturing and the song contains great lines like 'the darkness is my lover, she makes me feel strong' and 'turn to look at baphomet, from below and not above'. The late 7 minute "Deliver Us to Evil' is truly the ****ing bizz and as they say worth the price of admission alone. All these torrid and bloodthirsty sounding tracks cover usual thrash territory of murder and rape, and all are backed by healthy satanic leanings meshed into the songs. Paul Baloff shreds his vocal chords across these tracks and was probably frothing at the mouth due to the intensity of his effort. The key formula though are probably the sharp and harsh riffs from the ‘H-team’ of Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt and if anybody were to ask me what archetypal thrash guitar riffs should sound like, then this pair here might be the first from my lips, as I love what I refer to as the constant pick-up riffs from classic thrash bands. Bonded By Blood should have been the band’s stepping stone to the rising heights of Metallica and Slayer at this time, as Megadeth (higher up this list) were on the same level as Exodus and Anthrax had still yet to up their ante to a more reputable level of craftsmanship. In fact Bonded By Blood due to technical problems like finding a suitable album cover as mentioned above, should’ve been released a year earlier and if it had it may have seen the band rise with Metallica’s star. Exodus though like many others before them would be blighted with these kind of issues, which also included the loss of vocalist Paul Baloff to form his own band Piranha a song title on this album, who he no doubt thought would be better than Exodus, but of course they weren’t. Exodus much like NWOBHM band Angel Witch waited far too long to release their sophomore and build from their debut release and missed the fast train. Either way Exodus would continue to put out some good albums over the years despite the fact that the following Pleasures of the Flesh wasn’t one of them, but none of their future releases would come close to the brutal heights of Bonded By Blood.

Paul Baloff- Vocals
Gary Holt- Guitar
Rick Hunolt- Guitar
Rob Mckillop- Bass
Tom Hunting- Drums

Production- Mark Whitaker

Dude, the versions of "And Then There Were None" and "Deliver Us to Evil" you posted are from the rerecorded version of the album with Rob Dukes, and are vastly inferior to the brilliance of the originals.

Also, if some irrelevant AOR metal bands are above Bonded By Blood, we're gonna have problems.

3. Megadeth: Killing is my Business
2. Pentagram: Relentless
1. Slayer: Hell Awaits

I'm down with this, though Pentagram would have been below Exodus.

Fixed, sometimes this kind of thing happens when I try to go for different video picks so they're not all the same image wise and also if I start a song and hear better sound I put it instead.

Nope, not this year.

Also you need to update the album index :D

Two of those three are here and one is in an add-on section

I generally wait till you've updated a certain amount of times due to my innate sense of laziness. You've been slacking though, so it's entirely possible I've let the thread slip more than I should.

Clearly Pentagram was left off.

*searches metal albums from 1985*

I've never listened to Saxon's Innocence Is No Excuse, but I've never heard good things, so I'm betting that isn't in the top three. If it is, I'll have to run and check it out. Probably should anyway. I think the only Saxon albums I have on my hard drive are the debut and Strong Arm of the Law. Just wrong.

Even if you included EPs, I'm going to assume that Sepultura's Bestial Devastation isn't much up your alley. I'm *hint hint* curious to see if you'll do an extra for them. I'm a big fan of their early early work, when they still qualified as a first wave black metal band (that album and Morbid Visions). If it weren't for Chaos A.D., that era would be my fav from the band.

Have you already done To Mega Therion? Too lazy to check, but I know you love that album. Pretty sure you already did Fates Warning, and I know you already did Anthrax.

So, I'm going with To Mega Therion FTW. In the top three that is. I have no idea how you would rank all three of those albums. I guess I'd go...

3. To Mega Therion (due to the relatively dated sound)
2. Hell Awaits (cause Slayer, but depending on your perspective, it's really just a stepping stone)
1. Killing Is My Business (cause it's the most polished out of the three)

Honestly, I'd have to go back through your list, but I might just have to put KIMB at #1. Not as polished as later albums, but it's easily their most intense and pissed off. I see it as the spiritual successor to the "Metal for Metal's Sake and **** Poseurs!" kind of album that Kill 'Em All was. Just so badass. (I believe I mentioned some years ago that it sounded like AC/DC got so ****ed up on meth that they couldn't play their guitars without their fingers skittering all over the strings like pissed off spiders.)

Certain Megadeth fans (and Dave himself most of all) claim that Dave invented thrash, and while that's clearly nonsense, as it was a worldwide thing, I think it's actually fair to give him a disproportionate amount of credit for how at least a certain contingent of the genre evolved.

When you compare how Metallica changed after Kill 'Em All (more progressive and experimental, as opposed to just technical) with the early direction Megadeth took, I think it's fair to say that Dave had a very heavy influence on the Metallica's sound while he was still in the band (it's said he taught James how to play guitar after all).

Considering how influential Metallica was to the Bay Area scene, and how influential that scene was to the rest of the thrash world, then it's not a stretch to say that Dave has perhaps a greater claim than anyone to developing thrash's early sound.

Obviously it branched out so far from there that his potential influence became watered down, but still, I think in the early days he could be possibly considered the Godfather of Thrash. Maybe.

God damn it, why does Dave have to be such a fruitcake these days? I can deal with him being an *******, but I have a hard time being a rabid fanboy when he's a Born Again, right wing nutcase.

/end rant

I have no idea who Mega Therion is so...

3. Kreator - Endless Pain
2. Slayer - Hell Awaits
1. Megadeth - Killing is my business

Probably right about Megadeth, I haven't listened to it in over 10 years but it has more going on.

Oh Celtic Frost, lovely imagery, should help me get a better sleep tonight lol.

Oh that's right he is a Celtic Frost fan. Well better Celtic Frost than "the Return" of that crappy black metal band from Sweden! :) I jest of course.

This must be one of the longest response posts I've ever seen in this thread. :D

Ok, I'll let you off the hook this time but don't let the line get too slack.

No way, as much of a Saxon fan as I am that album isn't good enough for a top 20 slot and despite some good songs the best thing about the album is its 1970s hard rock album cover, just the kind of thing UFO would've gone in for.

I'll normally include EP's at the end or with an album of the band in some way.

Well you've got the top three there.

If you search on the internet 9 times out of 10 Dave Mustaine is considered the most important figure in the development of the whole thrash genre and any other names mentioned all have a Metallica link in some way.

I already mentioned in the two Metallica album reviews I've done, how the best songs on those albums were the ones co-written with Dave Mustaine, which further enforces his importance in the development of the thrash genre.

That's what often happens When somebody becomes 'born again'.

The Lowdown
By the time of their second album Slayer were already one of the leaders of the ‘bay area’ thrash scene and a protected band for their record label Metal Blade, as their debut album Show No Mercy had become the label’s biggest seller to date. Slayer of course along with bands like Dark Angel absolutely epitomized the heavier end of the thrash spectrum, as raw aggression with such brute force had never been heard before to this level and this factor alone made these early Slayer albums perfect frameworks for like-minded bands to follow. In between Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits the band released a couple of EP’s of note of which the first the delightful sounding Haunting the Chapel should be of note to any thrash enthusiast out there and this was followed by the Live Undead set also recommended. Hell Awaits gives us another splattering of the Slayer recipe with its thunderous sound, aggressive image and those ever so perfect lyrics along with all the satanic paraphernalia connected to the band. This Slayer approach was not only furthering the boundaries of thrash metal, but also helping to further sow the seeds of extreme metal as well. The album cover is a stark improvement over the NWOBHM look of Show No Mercy and starts the trend of very Slayer album covers that would become another Slayer trademark over the ensuing years. On Hell Awaits the band decided to give us even more of their severe extremities, as now they were not only sounding angrier, but the lyrical conent of their music was getting even sicker as well. Hell Awaits also demonstrates a split trend amongst thrash bands at this time, as a number of them were still content with a standard aggressive sound, but a number of its better bands like Slayer and most notably Metallica, were constantly prepared to push the creative boundaries of the genre, with both progressive or technical elements and in the case of Slayer this progression can be noted on Hell Awaits over it’s predecessor Show No Mercy, in fact this progressive element had already shown its face on the Haunting the Chapel EP. At this time Slayer were pretty much into listening to Mercyful Fate (not a big fan of them btw) but based on this taste Slayer were going in for longer songs on Hell Awaits with the shorter tracks being almost 4 mins in length and the longer tracks over 6 mins, giving the album and average listening time of 5 minutes per song. The tracks on Hell Awaits display notable varying tempos, band nuances and a level of distortion ahead of the grunge boom later in the decade. The album starts with the title track “Hell Awaits” a dissonant 6 minute classic that typifies the progressive elements of the album with a dose of unbridled speed, with Tom Arayas’s vocals here flowing at supersonic speed and near the song’s beginning some Venom type sound effects are chucked in for good measure. The album contains essential classics almost song after song and songs like “At Dawn They Sleep” demands not just to be listened to, but also having a lyrics sheet to go with it as well, in fact much of the album’s songs fall into this category and need a lyric sheet to do them justice. Other cuts like “Praise of Death” pretty much sums up the dissonant approach of the band towards some of these songs and the ideally named “Crypts of Terror” evoke sensations of both horror and gore, despite displaying some Venom looking lyrics. Some of the real gems on Hell Awaits are in the form of its more straightforward thrashers like the almost catchy “Kill Again” with its unforgettable 'no apparent motive, just kill and kill again' line and the band then certainly reached their lyrical apex with the sicko “Necrophiliac” which contained great lines like 'I feel the urge, a growing need, to **** this sinful corpse' and this whole frenzied experience is finished off with my favourite song title here the “Hardening of the Arteries” a final blitzer for the listener. Hell Awaits is a unique combination of a album that strives to be both genuinely aggressive and pretty sick sounding at the same time, but it does this with a level of progression to really test the mettle of its four components, where the dual guitar team of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King are pretty top-notch throughout. Based on my experiences with Slayer, this album might well be their most progressive and in hindsight it’s now clearly seen as one of the band’s hidden treasures, especially for those like myself, that never gave it the chance it truly deserved when I was really getting into the Slayer discography for the first time.

Tom Araya- Bass/Vocals
Kerry King- Guitar
Jeff Hanneman- Guitar
Dave Lombardo- Drums

Production- Brian Slagel

The Lowdown
The Megadeth debut album Killing Is My Business ... and Business Is Good! was probably one of the most eagerly awaited debut albums of the decade, largely due to Dave Mustaine's much documented and unceremonious departure from Metallica a few years earlier. As I stated in the Kill 'Em All review I'm not going to go on at length about how Dave Mustaine was chucked out of Metallica, as both the internet and the music press are literally littered with thousands of articles about this controversial passing. Needless to say Dave Mustaine was burning with rage after his departure from Metallica and swore revenge and quickly decided to form the suitably named Megadeth (its name typo is its charm) and it was obvious that Megadeth were going to be good, because not only was Dave Mustaine a fantastic guitarist, he also just happened to be responsible for some of the best material on those early Metallica albums which had been co-written with Dave Mustaine. Frontman Dave Mustaine quickly decided on principal vocal duties for the new band, after failing to find a suitable vocalist (something that has often happened with many a rock band) and along with David Ellefson a young bassist who he bumped into and took under his wing, the two would forge the Megadeth project in a short period of time. The real dynamic of the band though would come with the hiring of Chris Poland-guitar and Gar Samuelson-drums, and with these two coming from a jazz-fusion background rather than a metal one it would give the band its own unique dynamic. In fact the Megadeth line-up at this time kind of reminds me of how Led Zeppelin were formed, because its members had also come from different musical backgrounds giving the Led Zeppelin its own special dynamic. A good point of note here is about how Gar Samaulson auditioned for the band, the story is that he arrived completely out of it and in a zombified state, but the moment he was put on the drum stool he shot to life and was all flying arms and hair, and was instantly hired by Dave Mustaine. From the word go Megadeth differed from the other thrash bands and went in for a technical metal sound that was essentially based around speed over heaviness, and it was a style that suited the playing ability of its talented components. The sound of the Megadeth debut is best described as being both raw and chaotic and topically it covers a number of interesting themes, which are mostly highlighted by Dave Mustaine's humour a la the Stormtroopers of Death and on the album Dave Mustaine puts a lot of the time into some of the songs with exaggerated comments and panting for example. Album opener "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" starts with a piano intro that quickly gives the impression that this could be a Yngwie Malmsteen effort especially with its quasi-classical tones, but that aspect is quickly shushed aside with the unorthodox guitar riffs of the band and Dave Mustaine`s strangled vocal style in a song supposedly about love. The title track "Killing Is My Business ... and Business Is Good!" is a song about the comic book character The Punisher (covering Anthrax territory here) and the track is highlighted by strong sriffs, great rhythm guitar and drumming. The previous song and "The Skull Beneath the Skin" which covers torture and black magic are highlighted by some amazing guitar work by Chris Poland the single star turn on the album, despte the fact that Dave Mustaine covers the majority of the guitar solos here. "Rattlehead" along with the previous song is also about the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead (most good metal bands had one) and turns out to be Megadeth at their most catchy and mosh sounding, and again with precise riffing that can put others into touch. "Chosen Ones" is surprisingly influenced by Monty Python, which when thinking about it shouldn't be a surprise given Dave Mustaine's wacky sense of humour and features a rare Dave Ellefson bass solo. The start of "Looking Down the Cross" features some quasi-Sabbath sounding doom and as the title suggests it's about Jesus Christ and probably the most accomplished track on the album and probably my favourite. The final track "Mechanix" is a revamp of the Metallica song "The Four Horseman" but much faster, which in turn is based on an original version of the song that was penned by Dave Mustaine when he was in Metallica. The contrast between the two songs often provokes debate between Megadeth and Metallica fans over the best version of the song, personally I easily prefer the Metallica version here and never much cared for "Mechanix" despite Dave Mustaine's guitar solo. Some versions of the album come with Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots" which as far as I'm concerned is just one of many dubious Megadeth cover choices that would happen over ensuing years. The Megadeth debut album's only real low point comes in the shape of its cringe worthy album cover, which is bad even by the NWOBHM standards and that genre certainly had more than its fair share of bad album covers, and even the band members pretty much hated it as well. Killing Is My Business ... and Business Is Good! would end up being one of the signature thrash metal albums all with its own unique primitive characteristics. The meat of the album reveals the raw and daring style of Dave Mustaine, who preferred agressive chaos over the agressive order and heaviness that some of the other leading thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer had gone in for. The former being progressive and the latter being heavier here of course, but none of these bands reached the more chaotic style of Megadeth who were instantly recognizable with Dave Mustaine's strangled vocal style. Around this time Dave Mustaine was something of a Nae'blis in metal circles and anybody that has managed to wade through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga will know what that phrase means. After this album Megadeth would soon step into the wider commerical metal market in just a few albums time and form the legendary Big Four`of thrash with the already mentioned Metallica, Slayer and the lighter-minded Anthrax making up this honoured quartet.

Dave Mustaine- Guitar/Vocals
Chris Poland- Guitar
David Ellefson- Bass
Gar Samuelson- Drums

Production- Dave Mustaine

Love that album. The rhythm guitar to the title track is one of my favorite things ever, and "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" is glorious for its nearly unrivaled rage (not to mention that the lyrics are clearly a thinly-veiled attack on his previous band).

An interesting bit of trivia about "These Boots" is that the song was dropped from some releases of the album, and some of the lyrics censored on the remastered version, due to the writer of the original being offended by Mustaine's lyrical changes...

"You keep saying you got something for me
Something you call love but confess
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin'
And now someone else is getting all your best"

vs.

"You keep saying you got something for me
Some things you call love, but I call sex
You've been kissing when you ought-a-be-a
Screwing and now someone else can kiss your ass"

From what I've read Dave Mustaine would either change the lyrics on some of his cover choices or as with the case of the Sex Pistols he couldn't understand what Johnny Rotten was singing about, so he just interpreted the lyrics as he heard them, couldn't have been very hard for him though to get hold of a lyrics sheet.

The Lowdown
When I was deciding which would be the top album for this year, it ended up being a showdown between the bands in the top four places and when this kind of deadheat occurs the only solution is to either check out more detailed reviews or the opinions of others, but in the end I usually just listen to the albums again and in the end To Mega Therion was the one that stood over the others in terms of what it was striving to do. Adjectives like grandiose, apocalyptic and brutal are adjectives that best describe the works of Celtic Frost and as I mentioned in my previous Morbid Tales review, the band probably rank as one of metal's greatest exponents in terms of album for album quality. They were also iconic with their trademark black leather and venom stance, and in turn they had a brutal touch of cold Germanic steel which influenced hordes of other bands out there. Even more importantly they introduced a central European concept to extreme metal, which was different to anything that could’ve come from either the UK and USA at this time and along with the likes of Mercyful Fate they were largely responsible for setting up an extreme European metal scene that is still relevant today. To Mega Therion takes off with the foreboding "Innocence and Wrath" which starts the album with apocalyptic Wagnerian tones combined with horns and the slow booming drums of Reed St. Mark, before the album then leaps into the malicious onslaught of "The Usurper" and this is quite simply a song that I could both talk about and listen to all day long. This track is simply brutal, thrashy and gloriously underpinned with some powerful riffs and blown up with Thomas Gabriel Fischer`s (aka Tom Warrior) primitive roar all pre-dating the similiar kind of vocal brutality that Max Cavalera would put down with Sepultura. "The Usurpur" almost then seamlessly flows into "Jewel Throne" which is a track with a similiar extreme make-up layout as the previous cut. Time for more brutal ****ing and abuse with the doomy "Dawn of Megiddo" which takes the Black Sabbath template into the realms of oblivion with its monolithic tones. The rampant "Eternal Summer" is a real title oddity for the band here, I could've understood eternal winter or eternal night etc as a song title but summer just seems way to tame for these guys. The band also seem pretty clued-up on where to place their songs on the album, as "Circle of Tyrants runs perfectly on for the previous song with some breakneck thrash intensity that is backdropped with some grinding doom, all this is quite simply bombastic Celtic Frost and is instantly recognizable as the Celtic Frost sound. Both "(Beyond the) North Winds" and "Fainted Eyes" are just pure energy tracks that surge the beast forward and "Necromantical Screams" is another one of the album's standout efforts and displays the pure majesty of Celtic Frost. The real prize on this album is surely the unexpected and dynamic riffs of Tom Warrior, now when I say unexpected I don't mean that there is any question in his playing ability, but more in the surprise factor of how and when they appear in the songs in a multitude of places, which for me is the mark of a very special band. If a negative has to be thrown towards the album then it has to possibly be in its lack of diversity, which is kind of strange given how diverse and all encompassing I often label this band. Most of the cuts here are rampant extremities, kind of like a serial killer going on a slashing and chopping spree with the bombastic doomy sections varying the pace of his actions. But of course if you like this type of flow as I do, it's not really much of an issue concerning the style of the album. With this mind I guess the moody instrumental "Tears in a Prophet's Dream" responds to this critique nicely and is situated in just the right slot later into the album. All Music describes this album as an exercise in body-slamming, as opposed to the expected headbanging that most metal bands would try and employ here. The band`s inspirational roots especially with Black Sabbath here continue to shine through on a number of songs, but Celtic Frost take that template to its brutal conclusion in how they execute these offerings. The first few albums by the band are pure extreme metal releases heavily thrash influenced that can easily lay waste to much of the competition, before they later decided to move on with equal venom into a more avant-garde metal style later in the decade. Without any shadow of a doubt, To Mega Therion is a vital cog for the development of black and death metal genres but is very much buried in the thrash genre, and would soon have the future exponents of these styles drooling at the mouth and other orifices with its demonic brutality.

Thomas Gabriel Fischer- Guitar/Vocals
Dominic Steiner- Bass
Reed St.Mark- Drums

Production- Horst Muller