I think the really interesting thing about Skeptics Apocalypse, the thing that separates it from other Thrash albums of 1985, is its allegiance to metal. It's Thrash with all the Punk influence stripped away. So it's super sped up Iron Maiden, BUT unlike Jag Panzer & Omen, there's something new here at play as well. Whereas Jag Panzer & Omen couldn't be considered Thrash, Agent Steel totally can be, BUT they have a sound that's quite different from Bonded By Blood & Killing Is My Business..., both of which have more in common with the debuts from Metallica & Slayer.
It's a really interesting album, and I'll try to do a full write-up a bit later in the week, BUT I'd love to hear others' take on this album first since it's kinda new to me. It's definitely stellar stuff!
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Agent Steel were just one of those bands that defined speed metal and were super influential on power metal as it was developing at the time. Great group. Disagree that they could be called thrash, but I'm very strict on that kind of categorization as you've come to know.
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Let me know what you think! There's a bit of a speed metal influence and the singer sounds a tad Dio-ish, but I'd say AT LEAST 80 % of their DNA is that early Maiden b4 Piece Of Mind.
ALSO, and this goes for everyone, I'd LOVE to see Your favorite Metal <& Hard Rock! 😈 > Albums from 1985 !!!
Ranked lists work great too! 8)
Honestly, I could probably list 20 albums minimum I really REALLY like in 85. Since you asked about hard rock and adjacent ("heavy prog") stuff I'll also list some stuff from there as well.
"I wouldn't say we're exactly a Speed or Thrash Metal band. We just play quick metal." - Johnny Cyriis, lead vocalist of Agent Steel in an 1987
Repo wrote:
I think the really interesting thing about Skeptics Apocalypse, the thing that separates it from other Thrash albums of 1985, is its allegiance to metal. It's Thrash with all the Punk influence stripped away. So it's super sped up Iron Maiden, BUT unlike Jag Panzer & Omen, there's something new here at play as well. Whereas Jag Panzer & Omen couldn't be considered Thrash, Agent Steel totally can be, BUT they have a sound that's quite different from Bonded By Blood & Killing Is My Business..., both of which have more in common with the debuts from Metallica & Slayer.
It's a really interesting album, and I'll try to do a full write-up a bit later in the week, BUT I'd love to hear others' take on this album first since it's kinda new to me. It's definitely stellar stuff!
Gowi wrote:
Agent Steel were just one of those bands that defined speed metal and were super influential on power metal as it was developing at the time. Great group. Disagree that they could be called thrash, but I'm very strict on that kind of categorization as you've come to know.
I think that's it!
Don't gloat, Gowi, BUT I think you're totally right, AND Skeptics Apocalypse can be the album someone holds up to show EXACTLY what Speed Metal is and what Thrash isn't. And, since I love math I'd write it like this ...
Speed Metal = Thrash Metal - Punk
or
Speed Metal = NWOBHM played really, really quickly.
US Power Metal = NWOBHM played rough & dirty and just a bit faster (bands like Jag Panzer, Omen, & Savage Grace)
This is pretty awesome! From my recollection, it's been a couple of months, this is every bit as good as Omen's incredible debut. I really love how the American metal underground was riffing on the NWOBHM in the mid-80s and creating an entirely new genre of metal - US Power Metal - in the process.
Last edited by Repo on 07/20/2023 01:12; edited 4 times in total
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Agent Steel just took what Accept started and turned it to 11. Without them we might not have groups like Racer X. I don't know. Whatever they are they are fun as hell.
Repo wrote:
I really love how the American metal underground was riffing on the NWOBHM in the mid-80s and creating an entirely new genre of metal - US Power Metal - in the process.
As soon as the album starts, you can taste it. The anger. The vitriol. There’s blood on those fingers. Blood on those riffs. Most of all, it's got personality. Oodles of it. Dave "The Misfit King" Mustaine knew exactly what he wanted. He had a vision. Everything was thought out. Planned. He wanted it relatable to your misfitted metalhead, and he would be their new king. The cover got botched, but he had a plan for that as well.
Some say KIMB... was rushed to market. That they should have waited. I say, "Bullshit!". It’s exactly that rushed, frenzied, "Oh fuck, I just did too much coke" that gives it its charm. By the time they got to Peace Sells, that edge had been filed down a bit.
Which brings me to another point. Just as I would I have loved me a few more Kill ‘Em Alls and Show No Mercys, I would have loved me some more KIMBs too. A complete classic that holds its own better than most give it credit for.
As Dave recounts, “There were comments good and bad about the record, but I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had stuck my flag in the ground..”
Damn straight, Dave! Damn straight!
The Rating: 😈😈😈😈😈
Warning: I’m one of those people who think Megadeth’s first four albums are more exciting than Metallica’s!
Last edited by Repo on 08/07/2023 18:51; edited 1 time in total
The Setting: Survey says Exodus were a year or two late to the party. That by the time Bonded By Blood arrived, Thrash history had passed them by. Thrash had evolved, and Exodus were so last year's Thrash fashion. So we can just forget about them, right?
The Listen: Wrong! Riff for riff this is as good as ANY of the celebrated albums of The Big Four. Sonically and compositionally it's closest to Metallica's Kill 'Em All, but it has riffs all of its own and, if anything, is even more aggressive, fierce and primal. Besides, I'm on record for wanting MORE of that raw First Wave Of Thrash sound, and Bonded By Blood delivers that and then some.
The Verdict: Simply one of the best Thrash albums of the entire 80s. It'll easily slot in my Top Ten Metal Albums of 1985 right up there with Megadeth's Killing Is My Business.... Don't sleep on their massively underrated follow-up - Pleasures Of The Flesh - either!
In the four corners of life are the golden mirrors
Reflecting what you are and what you are to be... – The Apparition
Very few albums can promise you an actual journey. Something on par with great science fiction or perhaps a short story by Poe. This one does. The twin talents of John Arch on vocals and Jim Matheos on guitar creates a unique and utterly novel Progressive Metal masterpiece. Whereas their debut - Night On Brocken - showcased their massive debt to Iron Maiden, The Spectre Within is where Fates Warning came into their own as confident storytellers AND songwriters. Crafting an atmosphere that could only be compared to those early albums by Mercyful Fate at this point in the 80s.
The Spectre Within also underscores the importance of guitar tone. I'd never really thought too much about guitar tone until beginning my deep dive into '70s & '80s metal a few years back. BUT, I’ve come to realize that THAT tone is half the game with of course riffs being the other half. THAT tone shades the riffs. It's the riff's shadow. AND if any album is about mischievous shadows and their eventual capture it's THIS one.
While other bands of the USPM (US Power Metal) movement may have captured the raw visceral energy and power of Maiden < such as Jag Panzer & Omen>, no other quite captured Maiden’s world building & storytelling quite like Fates Warning does here and on its sequel Awaken The Guardian.
At this point in time, Fates Warning were more Maiden than Queensryche, and, in my particular opinion, all the better for it.
The Rating: 😈😈😈😈😈
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
In the four corners of life are the golden mirrors
Reflecting what you are and what you are to be... – The Apparition
Very few albums can promise you an actual journey. Something on par with great science fiction or perhaps a short story by Poe. This one does. The twin talents of John Arch on vocals and Jim Matheos on guitar creates a unique and utterly novel Progressive Metal masterpiece. Whereas their debut - Night On Brocken - showcased their massive debt to Iron Maiden, The Spectre Within is where Fates Warning came into their own as confident storytellers AND songwriters. Crafting an atmosphere that could only be compared to those early albums by Mercyful Fate at this point in the 80s.
The Spectre Within also underscores the importance of guitar tone. I'd never really thought too much about guitar tone until beginning my deep dive into '70s & '80s metal a few years back. BUT, I’ve come to realize that THAT tone is half the game with of course riffs being the other half. THAT tone shades the riffs. It's the riff's shadow. AND if any album is about mischievous shadows and their eventual capture it's THIS one.
While other bands of the USPM (US Power Metal) movement may have captured the raw visceral energy and power of Maiden < such as Jag Panzer & Omen>, no other quite captured Maiden’s world building & storytelling quite like Fates Warning does here and on its sequel Awaken The Guardian.
At this point in time, Fates Warning were more Maiden than Queensryche, and, in my particular opinion, all the better for it.
The Rating: 😈😈😈😈 :twisted:
EXCELLENT writeup. Too bad I can't crank FW at work!
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Repo
mickilennial
Fischman
