First an album I already own for a long time because I bought it in the slipstream of the Metallica albums I was a fan of:
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Rust In Peace by Megadeth
And I think it's indeed their best but I don't think I will ever become a fan of the band and to me they're not really the band to be part of the big four of trash metal. Not that there are not any decent songs to be found here: the title track is certainly a good one but overall not really my thing although it rises from the 52th to the 42nd rank.
But then there's this other big four band with for me also their best album:
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Persistence Of Time by Anthrax
What a fantastic trash album is this, not only because it's hard and fast but also because of certain melodic quality to be found in great tracks like Time and In My World. Gridlock is a very fast one but the best track is a cover of a Joe Jackson that just screamed to get a metal make-over: Got The Time. And what a fitting cover this is. It immediately goes to the 17th rank of an already very good year in music.
And finally an album that is maybe more in the hardrock/blues atmosphere:
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Danzig II: Lucifuge by Danzig
The start of the album is very good but near the end there are some flows. The album sounds a bit like a hard blues version of the Cult and in general it's just ok and makes it to the 36th rank of the year.
And here is what I listened to for 1991 metal albums:
First an album I already possess:
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Metallica by Metallica
Again a classic and by many considered to be a capital sin because not hard enough. But you only have to listen to the first track, Enter Sandman, that that's not entirely true. It's still a very important album to show that also metal bands are able to go beyond their comfort zone and a very good album; it goes from the 10th to the 7th rank in my year chart.
The two albums on my wishlist where I had a few choices of death/black metal albums considered to be classics but I chose for Atheist:
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Unquestionable Presence by Atheist
There are a lot of jazzy elements to be found here but to me it sounds first of all very patchy and the whole album feels like some 100 loosely connected elements sown together. There are surely some good pieces but before you even have the chance to appreciate them the next element comes on. So not really my thing.
And then another Saxon album:
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Solid Ball Of Rock by Saxon
After their classics Saxon released a flurry of real misses just because they wanted to follow the hair metal scene without any succes and with a lot of terrible albums as a result. This album is a return to their true form. Although they're not really back to the old days and I read that some of their later albums are even better and above all their are no classics here, the album is fairly good and it is a real treat to hear Bif byford again in his old ways. The few studion rockers that are not really good songwise are saved by great guitar solos and the only two misses are Ouverture in B-Minor/Refugee and that strange track which seems to have two titles according to the version: or Bavarian Beaver or Bavarian Rhapsody (resp very gross and very funny with its reference to Bohemian Rhapsody). A fairly good album which ends up at the 62nd rank.
These are the harder albums from 1992 I listened to:
For the album I already own I didn't want to stick to metal but chose for a hard edged album anyway:
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T.V. Sky by The Young Gods
It's hard to pinpoint the real genre of this Swiss band which delivers here their best album in my opinion and I have listened a lot to it at the time. You could call it industrial but with it's very heavy sound it's the closest industrial to metal possible although there are also a lot of reminiscences to psychedelic bands and especially to the Doors especially with the 20 minutes long last track Summer Eyes which is very mesmerizing and is one of their greatest songs together with the much harder Skinflowers and The Night Dance. It remains at the 10th rank of this already great year in Music.
And for the albums on my wishlist I see that miss a lot of Motörhead albums of the nineties so I listened to:
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March ör Die by Motörhead
My mantra that I still haven't encountered a bad Motörhead album is still true but this was close...but no cigar. It seems that with this album they tried to sound more commercial but I don't know if you can do that with the title track which is just a militaristic marching song with no hard edge musically whatsoever, except for the endless repetition of Die..die...die... But Motörhead tracks don't have to be very hard to be good as is proven by I Ain't No Nice Guy with the collaboration of Slash and Ozzy Osbourne. And unlike Many people I don't dislike the Ted Nugent cover Cat Scratch Fever either. But there are too many misses to be really good and the album only lands at the 45th rank of the year which is pretty low for a Motörhead album: until further notice their worst but not a bad album.
And another old glory. I read that Kiss delivered with this album one of their harder ones:
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Revenge by Kiss
I like a few Kiss songs but I will never be a fan and this album didn't help either. Overall the songs are not very bad but nothing here makes me jump for joy and I still don't know if I have to laugh or find some merit anyway in the bombastic ballads. In any case not for my year chart.
And then finally: I was nearly killed for not really liking Dopesmoker so I tried this album recorded more than 10 years before that:
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Sleep's Holy Mountain by Sleep
A mixture between Sabbath and stoner rock with very heavy riffing but again I couldn't keep my interest in the sometimes long and winding heavy riffing although the longest track, From Beyond, is also their best. But finally I have to deliver the same conclusion as for Dopesmoker: not really my thing.
Chaos A.D. by Sepultura
This album is raw and brutal and to me their best which is already proven by the two first tracks: Refuse/Resist and Territory. Not all tracks are in these league but near the end there is of course also the magnificent The Hunt. And the album rises from the 44th to the 26th rank of the year.
Two albums on my wishlist:
And the first is not even in the BEA top 10000 so I agree with Ledzep that it should be voted up:
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Icon by Paradise Lost
I didn't expect I would like this album so much and not even part of the album: all of the album. Their music is both epic and very dark with to me a lot of reminiscences to both James Hetfield as Andrew Eldritch (what?). I like all tracks but Weeping Words and True Belief are the positive outliers. I'm not very familiar with the band and I didn't really like their new album (Obsidian) but I start to get curious about Draconian Times. The album earns its place at the 29th rank of the year.
And finally another Motörhead album:
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Bastards by Motörhead
A return to form after a less good former album. In many ways the band sounds more metal than on their other albums but that is without counting the two ballads on the album which are also very good. A very underrated Motörhead track is to be found here: Devils. While still very hard it has a lot of melody I really like and is even more surprising for Motörhead than the ballads. Just to show that Motörhead was still alive and kicking... and loud. And they enter my year chart at the 24th rank and btw also not in the overall BEA top 1000 at the moment I write this: repo do yourself a favour and listen to it and vote it up as well.
Troublegum by Therapy?
Not everybody calls this metal and of course this record fitted perfectly in the indie boom of these years but what the heck, this is one of the best hard albums ever with track after track (with Nowhere at the top) absolute delirious stompers. I was and remain in love with this album: I saw them perform it live and that was even better. Remains at the second rank of the year.
The two albums on my wishlist:
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Burn My Eyes by Machine Head
The term nu-metal wasn't invented yet but this is what I would call nu-metal avant-la-lettre and I don't mean this in a good sense: Davidian and Old are OK but the rest is just soulless.
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Balls To Picasso by Bruce Dickinson
I don't think there's a lot of Iron Maiden I don't like but I surely don't like everything from the solo-output of Bruce Dickinson and this is one of them: pretty uninspired stuff with the only exception of the last track: Tears Of The Dragon.
I already commented on 1995 album but seems to have disappeared so here I go again:
An album I already own:
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...And The Circus Leaves Town by Kyuss
For me the quintessential stoner rock album and definitely earns its place in a harder music topic because this is real heavy music with the best track for me the (very) long Spaceship Landing and gains a few ranks to the 18th place.
And then albums on my wishlist:
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Walk On Water by UFO
After their successes in the seventies with Michael Schenker ending in 1979 with the live album Strangers In The Night and the departure of their star guitar player, UFO released some real bad albums. But here Michael is back which also resulted in a good new album. Of course one could wonder why they included new versions of two of their best older tracks, Doctor Doctor and Lights Out, also because these versions don't really top the versions on live albums. But they're good versions anyway so who cares and most of all, many of their new tracks are also fine although they never reach the heights of their older successes. But a good album which deserves the 18th rank of 1995.
And with another Motörhead album:
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Sacrifice by Motörhead
One of their most metallic ones even on a rock 'n roll staple (Don't Waste Your Time). But I like them in all their versions and certainly also on this one so earns the 27th rank of the year.
I already commented on 1995 album but seems to have disappeared so here I go again:
An album I already own:
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...And The Circus Leaves Town by Kyuss
For me the quintessential stoner rock album and definitely earns its place in a harder music topic because this is real heavy music with the best track for me the (very) long Spaceship Landing and gains a few ranks to the 18th place.
Load by Metallica
Many people already thought with The Black Album that Metallica sold out but they certainly thought so with this album and to be honest that was also my opinion at the time I bought it (what buy an album? what a strange thing!). But after listening to it again I must say I was wrong. Of course this isn't Master Of Puppets but tracks like Hero Of The Day and The Outlaw Torn are among their very better ones. And also the rest of the album is very much OK with maybe Cure and Poor Twisted Me as the exceptions. But I rank this album much higher than I used to and rises from the 56th to 28th rank.
And then two albums on my wishlist with first again a Motörhead album:
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Overnight Sensation by Motörhead
After the very hard former album, here they return to a more classic format and I'm afraid I have to return to my old phrase: have they ever released a bad album: no and that also goes for this album which again rocks as only Motörhead can rock. So they do earn their 25th rank of the year.
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The Killing Kind by Overkill
I very much liked their earlier albums and to me they earn their place in the trash metal canon and here they return after a bit of a quiet period so I expected something fresh and new but this is not the case here and the quality of the individual tracks never reaches that of their older ones. So I'll have to bar this one from my year chart.
Transmission by The Tea Party
Also one maybe not overall recognized as metal but definitely a hard album (with an eastern tinge) and a band I maybe should try to know better because this is the album I own of them but have always loved. and rising from the 41st to 27th rank.
And then on my wishlist another Saxon album:
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Unleash The Beast by Saxon
Certainly not as good as their first albums but in any case a decent attempt to return to their true form. Enters at the 31st rank of the year.
Queens Of The Stone Age by Queens Of The Stone Age
This one of those rare albums I think I have overrated a bit. Of course there are some real fantastic tracks to be found here, Regular John, Avon and How To Handle A Rope to name just a few. But it's not yet as great as what would follow so the album goes from the 2nd to the 23rd rank.
And an album on my wishlist:
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The Sound Of Perseverance by Death (Metal)
I liked the Scream Bloody Gore but not so much their latter albums which are less brutal and more proggy in the sense that their guitars are all over the place without any real purpose. And also the singing gets very tiresome after a while. So a no for this album.
And I decided to skip the year 1999, more a Prince year than a metal year in my opinion.
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