I mean I see those later Manilla albums as more early power metal/speed influences then outright thrash. 😜
Oh definitely, I wouldn't outright call any of their albums thrash metal. But there are definitely some thrash/speed influences on the later stuff imo.
Btw that Hawaii song is great, I love metal that's recorded in the toilet. Though perhaps not that genre. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
I'd be really interested in Manilla Road rankings once it's all said and done. I've had some problems getting into Crystal Logic (though nowadays I like it), but The Deluge and (especially) Mystification are excellent. In fact, the faster and more thrashy they got, the more I liked them. The thrash elements give the songs a certain edge which I miss in a lot of power metal from the 80s. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the genre overall, so that might explain it too. Haven't heard Open the Gates or their later stuff, have some homework to do, but overall a good and extremely influential band. I'm sure Repo and Gowi would like to chime in as well :D
Interesting. Yeah, as you saw I clicked with Crystal Logic right away. But I did have a sneak peek at Mystification and I was imoressed with what I heard. I am excited to listen to them more. Kinda bummed it's taken so long to check 'em out. They seem to have a slew of great albums back-to-back-to-back throughout the 1980s which is cool.
Gowi wrote:
I mean I see those later Manilla albums as more early power metal/speed influences then outright thrash. 😜
Semantics and interpretations aside. Manilla Road are a really impactful band of the era but I never felt like the vocalist could keep up with the guitarists as they got faster and more intense. There's a reason I prefer Helstar, Agent Steel, and other contemporaries of theirs. They are still solid, good group, I just think the band overall can't hang with the best of the era.
ALSO ALSO before Mercury ends 1983, there's a lot of lesser known stuff that would've been a lot more influential if they got a good label behind them.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACDpxT4HEHk[youtube]
Particularly was a recent find of mine. That's Marty fuckin' Friedman on guitar.
I can only imagine what this would sound like if it didn't sound like it was recorded in a toilet.
I liked that song, poor muddy production and all! I have heard of Hawaii, probably simply as a footnote when reading about Marty pre-Megadeth.
As for those other Power Metal bands, yeah I think they will be covered here eventually. Needed some albums to get me jazzed about the genre. Interesting observation/opinion about the vocalist not being able to hang with the rest of the band as the decade went on and their sound got, idk, more powerful/heavier/little more thrashy. I was quite smitten with his vocal style on Crystal Logic. Will be interested to see what you mean when I finally do listen to their later stuff. _________________ -Ryan
Here is a ranking of the EPs covered here on this project (note these rankings are JUST what I covered on this diary project, not every punk or metal or other album I have heard from this time span.)
EPs:
1. Minor Threat (EP) by Minor Threat (June 1981)
2. Farce (EP) by Rudimentary Peni (1982)
3. In My Eyes (EP) by Minor Threat (August 1981)
4. No Sanctuary (EP) by Amebix (November 26th, 1983)
5. Metal Circus (EP) by Husker Du (October 1983)
6. Thou Shalt Not Kill (EP) by Antidote (1983)
7. GBG 1982 (EP) by The Shitlickers (1982)
8. Butthole Surfers (EP) by Butthole Surfers (July 1983)
9. Ääretön joulu (EP) by Terveet Kädet (June 1982)
10. Mercyful Fate (EP) by Mercyful Fate (November 1982)
11a. Negative Approach EP (1982) (somehow left this classic off :-(.
11. Why (EP) by Discharge (May 1981)
12. Pick Your King (EP) by Poison Idea (1983)
13. The Hand of Glory (EP) by Ramleh (1983)
14. Rock laahausta vastaan (EP) by Terveet Kädet (1980)
15. Terveet Kädet II (EP) by Terveet Kädet (1981)
16. Rudimentary Peni (EP) by Rudimentary Peni (1981)
17. Omega Sessions (EP) by Bad Brains (Recorded 1980, released 1997)
18. No Life ‘til Leather (EP) by Metallica (6 July 1982)
19. Get It Away (EP) by SS Decontrol (20 May 1983)
20. Raped Ass (EP) by Anti-Cimex (1983)
21. Deliver Us (EP) by Warlord (April 1983)
22. Cause For Alarm (EP) by Cause For Alarm (1983)
23. Out of Step (EP) by Minor Threat (April 1983)
24. Koro (EP) by Koro (1983)
25. Cows and Beer (EP) by Die Kreuzen (1982)
26. Bulldozer (EP) by Big Black (December 1983)
27. Kill Yr. Idols by Sonic Youth (October 1983)
28. Queensrÿche (EP) by Queensrÿche (May 1983)
29. Destroy (EP) by L.S.D. (1983)
30. Damaging Noise (EP) by Gai (1983)
31. Urban Waste (EP) by Urban Waste (1982)
32. Out of Vogue (EP) by The Middle Class (1978)
33. Hassibah Gets the Martian Brain Squeeze (EP) by Neos (1982)
34. Sortilège (EP) by Sortilège (September 1983)
35. In God We Trust, Inc (EP) by Dead Kennedys (November 1981)
36. Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne (EP) by Charged G.B.H. (September 12th, 1981)
37. Fight Back (EP) by Discharge/May 1980)
38. Realities of War (EP) by Discharge (March 31st, 1980)
39. Condensed Flesh (EP) by Void (Recorded 1981, released in 1992)
40. Swans (EP) by Swans (1982)
41. Demolition War (EP) by Subhumans (1981)
42. We Are The Dead (EP) by Artillery (December 1982)
43. The Varukers (EP) by The Varukers (1981)
44. Dirty Rotten (EP) by D.R.I. (March 1983)
45. T.S.O.L. (EP) by T.S.O.L. (1981)
46. United Blood (EP) by Agnostic Front (1983)
47. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (EP) by MotorheadGirlSchool (February 1981)
48. Warning: Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health (EP) by Discharge (October 1st,1983)
49. Deep Wound (EP) by Deep Wound (1983)
50. Who’s The Enemy? (EP) by Amebix (28 August 1982)
51. How Could Hardcore Be Any Worse (EP) by Asocial (Recorded as Demo in 1982)
52. 1982 Demo (EP) by Exodus (1982)
53. Power In Black (EP) by Overkill (1983)
54. Extra Circus (Archival EP) Husker Du (1983)
55. Witching Metal Demo (EP) by Sodom (1982)
And here next are the LPs covered since starting this project ranked. (let me know if you see stuff I left off)
LPs (note this list and the EP list won't match up with my year lists... why? Idk, whims maybe or just human error/irrationality.
1. Damaged by Black Flag (November 16th, 1981)
2. Death Church by Rudimentary Peni (June 1983)
3. Group Sex by Circle Jerks (October 1st, 1980)
4. Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing by Discharge (May 1982)
5. Bad Brains by Bad Brains (February 5th, 1982)
6. Show No Mercy by Slayer (December 3rd, 1983)
7. Welcome To Hell by Venom (December 1981)
8. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (September 2nd, 1980)
9. Is This My World? By Jerry’s Kids (1983)
10. Stained Class by Judas Priest (February 10th, 1978)
11. Kill ‘Em All by Metallica (June 25th, 1983)
12. First Four Years by Black Flag (compilation 1979ish to 1981 or so)
13. Black Metal by Venom (November 1982)
14. Static Age by The Misfits (Recorded Jan-Feb, 1978)
15. Screaming For Vengeance by Judas Priest (July 14th, 1982)
16. Crystal Logic by Manilla Road (December 1983)
17. Lightning To The Nations by Diamond Head (October 3rd, 1980)
18. It’s Alive by Ramones (Recorded December 31st, 1977)
19. Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest (Recorded 10-15 February 1979)
20. Black Dots by Bad Brains (Recorded June 1979)
21. Denim and Leather by Saxon (October 5th, 1981)
22. Killers by Iron Maiden (February 2nd, 1981)
23. Detestation by G.I.S.M. (1983)
24. Confusion Is Sex by Sonic Youth (April 1983)
25. 12 Hits From Hell: The MSP Sessions by Misfits (Recorded August 7th, 1980)
26. Plastic Surgery Disasters by The Dead Kennedys (November 1982)
27. Strong Arm of the Law by Saxon (November 14th, 1980)
28. Ace Of Spades by Motörhead (November 8th, 1980)
29. Sin After Sin by Judas Priest (April 8th, 1977)
30. Sessions 1981-83 by Void (Recorded between Nov. 1981 and June 1982)
31. Filth by Swans (27 May 1983)
32. The Number of The Beast by Iron Maiden (March 22nd, 1982)
33. Suicidal Tendencies by Suicidal Tendencies (July 5th, 1983)
34. Earth A.D./Wolf’s Blood by Misfits (December 12th, 1983)
35. Rock For Light by Bad Brains (April 1983)
36. Information Overload Unit by System Planning Korporation (Released March 1981)
37. Walk Among Us by Misfits (March 1982)
38. The Nightcomers by Holocaust (April 1981)
39. Tied Down by Negative Approach (October 31st, 1983)
40. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden (April 14th, 1980)
41. Overkill by Motörhead (April 24th, 1979)
42. Piece Of Mind by Iron Maiden (16 May 1983)
43. No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith by Motörhead (Recorded 28 to 30 March, 1981)
44. In Darkness, There Is No Choice by Antisect (1983)
45. The Faith/Void Split LP (September 1982)
46. Wheels of Steel by Saxon (April 1980)
47. My America by The F.U.’s (1983)
48. Everything Falls Apart by Husker Du (January 1983)
49. Satan’s Angels Demo by Holy Moses (1982)
50. No Side by The Comes (November 1983)
51. Satanic Rites by Hellhammer (December 1983)
52. Mushi by The Stalin (25 April 1983)
53. Vicious Circle by Zero Boys (1982)
54. Holy Diver by Dio (25 May 1983)
55. Restless and Wild by Accept (October 4th, 1982)
56. Valley Of The Yakes by JFA (1983)
57. Land Speed Record by Husker Du (January 1982)
58. Court In The Act by Satan (August 2nd, 1983)
59. (GI) by The Germs (October 1979)
60. All My Friends Are Dead by The Consumers (1977)
61. Slaughter In Hell by Antichrist (1983)
62. Melissa by Mercyful Fate (October 30th, 1983)
63. Breaker by Accept (March 16th, 1981)
64. Just An American Band by Verbal Abuse (1983)
65. Terveet Kädet by Terveet Kädet (1983)
66. It’s Time To See Who’s Who by Conflict (March 1983)
67. Dehumanization by Crucifix (1983)
68. Troops of Tomorrow by The Exploited (May 1982)
69. Angel Witch by Angel Witch (December 1980)
70. Too Many Humans….. by No Trend (November 1983)
71. Filth Hounds of Hades by Tank (March 5th, 1982)
72. Dance With Me by T.S.O.L. (June 1981)
73. Wild Cat by Tygers of Pan Tang (August 23rd, 1980)
74. City Baby Attacked by Rats by Charged G.B.H (July 1982)
75. New Hope for the Wretched by Plasmatics (March 1980)
76. Fire Down Under by Riot (February 9th, 1981)
77. Will by Hunting Lodge (1983)
78. The Day The Country Died by Subhumans (January 1983)
79. Blood & Thunder by More (May 1982)
80. Triumph of Death by Hellhammer (July 1983)
81. Fire In The Brain by Oz (1983)
82. Death Fiend by Hellhammer (June 1983)
83. The Early Months (Archival LP) by No Trend (January-March 1983)
84. Heavy Metal Maniac by Exciter (1983)
... I think some got lost in the cracks along the way. But the above is a mostly accurate listing and ranking. I have certainly had a change of heart on several records since initially covering them. For the good and the bad. In both the EP and LP lists, at the end is a mix of records I don't like and those I just never gave much attention to - maybe I enjoyed em but they are relatively insignificant little demos so who cares kind of attitude. _________________ -Ryan
As for the BIGGEST and weirdest Omissions, well there are a lot. Many essential bands I left out that don't make sense considering my includion or coverage of another, similar band or artist.
The reason for most of these is that I just don't have interest in them. Maybe because I think the name of the band or the cover art is stupid and I can't be bothered. Maybe it's because I have a bias against the band for some reason and from the outside looking in I feel they should be hated and shunned and made fun of instead of explored or respected. Maybe it's a genre that I generally find uninteresting and I only wanted to cover the MOST classic of those less cool genres to get a sampler going of it. Maybe it's a 2nd tier artist when I only have time to delve into the most famous or exemplary artist of that genre. Maybe it's because I already am very familiar with the band and just kinda don't feel like exploring them again. Maybe it's because I see the low avg ratings on RYM and say "meh, I think I will trust the 200 people who rated that and avoid that otherwise perhaps interesting album because it has an avg rating of 2.99/5." Maybe it is because when I started this project I wanted the EXTREME stuff that lead to Thrash. Then expanded to not just thrash as originally intended, but also to heavy metal and black metal and more heavy hardcore punk stuff. Then Noise rock weirdos, then Power electronics, then hardcore of a more melodic or indie nature, and finally I just decided "look, I can't cover all this... let's just nibble at what is most interesting.". And maybe I just missed out on these bands because they don't fit the aesthetic I want in this project - not really metallic or punky enough, not ear piercing enough and not extreme enough, just sort of there sitting on a fence.
So all that being said here are the artists I had the MOST back-and-forth on including, and in most cases will not be covering going forward.
Accept (specifically Balls to The Wall which I just couldn't get into and was too AC/DC hard rock for me to put alongside the more extreme, less commercial stuff... but I did relisten to R&W and moved it up the rankings, which is something)
Killing Joke
Minutemen
Crass
Heavy Load
The Fall
Motorhead (post Ace of Spades)
Flipper
Raven
The Birthday Party (After giving time and love to noise rock weirdos Butthole Surfers and then more attn to Sonic Youth, I tried their early EPs and LPs and found, yet again, that Nick Cave is really just NOT for me in any way.)
Dio-era Sabbath
Witchfinder General
Cirith Ungol
Christian Death
Zounds
Acid
Anvil
Tank (more Tank, covered one album which I enjoyed well enough)
Early Replacements (when they were Hardcore)
Dicks (especially Kill From Heart LP which was on and off and on and off over and over)
More Charged G.B.H.
More Circle Jerks
Government Issue
...and on and on and on...
-------------
The Minutemen exclusion especially after including and loving so much Husker Du and considering how connected they each are to developing Post Hardcore and really the fact that those 2 bands have such weirdly simlar trajectories and careers, was maybe the hardest exclusion. Almost listened to and wrote about them but each time I came away thinking "Minutemen are just too much of a weirdo funk punk band and are so completely un-punk rock while actually being just about as punk rock as possible, that I just don't wanna listen to this stuff a minute more nor include them boo hoo". So I left 'em off. And it is weird how utterly unique they are within hardcore.
Anyway, I think I will do a Killing Joke listen soon, at least their debut and maybe write some words and then onto 1984. just looked and January 1984 is a Voivod, Priest and Anthrax album. Shit. Gets. Real. in 1984. _________________ -Ryan
I'd be really interested in Manilla Road rankings once it's all said and done. I've had some problems getting into Crystal Logic (though nowadays I like it), but The Deluge and (especially) Mystification are excellent. In fact, the faster and more thrashy they got, the more I liked them. The thrash elements give the songs a certain edge which I miss in a lot of power metal from the 80s. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the genre overall, so that might explain it too. Haven't heard Open the Gates or their later stuff, have some homework to do, but overall a good and extremely influential band. I'm sure Repo and Gowi would like to chime in as well :D
Mercury wrote:
Interesting. Yeah, as you saw I clicked with Crystal Logic right away. But I did have a sneak peek at Mystification and I was imoressed with what I heard. I am excited to listen to them more. Kinda bummed it's taken so long to check 'em out. They seem to have a slew of great albums back-to-back-to-back throughout the 1980s which is cool.
Gowi wrote:
I mean I see those later Manilla albums as more early power metal/speed influences then outright thrash. 😜
Semantics and interpretations aside. Manilla Road are a really impactful band of the era but I never felt like the vocalist could keep up with the guitarists as they got faster and more intense. There's a reason I prefer Helstar, Agent Steel, and other contemporaries of theirs. They are still solid, good group, I just think the band overall can't hang with the best of the era.
ALSO ALSO before Mercury ends 1983, there's a lot of lesser known stuff that would've been a lot more influential if they got a good label behind them.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACDpxT4HEHk[youtube]
Particularly was a recent find of mine. That's Marty fuckin' Friedman on guitar.
I can only imagine what this would sound like if it didn't sound like it was recorded in a toilet.
Mercury wrote:
I liked that song, poor muddy production and all! I have heard of Hawaii, probably simply as a footnote when reading about Marty pre-Megadeth.
As for those other Power Metal bands, yeah I think they will be covered here eventually. Needed some albums to get me jazzed about the genre. Interesting observation/opinion about the vocalist not being able to hang with the rest of the band as the decade went on and their sound got, idk, more powerful/heavier/little more thrashy. I was quite smitten with his vocal style on Crystal Logic. Will be interested to see what you mean when I finally do listen to their later stuff.
Cool discussion! And interesting take on the vocals, Gowi. BUT , I wouldn't really even compare Manilla Road to those US Power Metal bands (Helstar, Agent Steel, etc.) . The only band they remind me of in feel and attitude and purpose is Cirith Ungol. I mean they just just seem like guys living in their Mom's garage/ basement, playing D&D and geeking out about playing in a band because they like playing in a band. They're doing their own thing their own way. And a big part of that is the vocals.
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
They are absolutely like Helstar and Agent Steel on their later albums.
If by their later albums you mean Mystification and The Deluge, I disagree! 😜Mystification. I'll have to to fix that! >
I do get what you mean by the vocals, Gowi, and I'll have to think more on that. There are times when I agree, and times when I think it's a big part of what makes them them and a success at that!
Anyways, I think Mercury and LedZep are totally right, there is something really cool about Manilla Road and a Rank 'Em would be a super fun
undertaking! 😁
AND, does anyone have any thoughts on their first two albums - Invasion & Metal?!
ALSO, what did you guys think of my Top Ten-ish Metal Albums from 1984!
ALSO, what did you guys think of my Top Ten-ish Metal Albums from 1984!
It's pretty much identical to mine at the moment 😁 Right now my top albums from that year would be, in no particular order: Ride the Lightning, Powerslave, Don't Break The Oath, Morbid Tales, Psalm 9, King of the Dead, Bathory, Haunting the Chapel, Saint Vitus, Detaching From Satan. Grace Under Pressure too if you consider it metal enough, it's a highly underrated Rush release imo. I've got a lot of stuff to listen to in 83' and 84' (and generally you, Merc and Gowi are much more informed when it comes to metal releases until at least 87' or 88'), and I STILL plan on doing those 2 top 10s, but it's a lot of work, ngl. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
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