A Metal Club - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

RepoMan

\m/ A Metal Club \m/

Ok, a random comment by Saoirse has inspired me to start a thread in which we will slowly work out The 50 Best Metal Albums of the 80s.

We’ll start by hammering out by consensus the TOP FIVE metal albums of each year. The top five seems to me to be the sweet spot to encourage the most dialog. We’ll start by listing our favorite metal albums of that year and then through debate and consensus form a collective list of the top five. The order of the top five is not important at this stage. We’re just trying to figure out what the most important and best albums of that particular year are.

We’ll start with 1984 (because that’s the best year EVER Twisted Evil

) and then go forward and back in time (since that’s more fun) until the entire decade is complete as follows…

1984
1985
1983
1986
1982
etc.

I want to to do this slowly giving us time to listen to other people’s faves of that year and most importantly really debating its merits & inclusion in the top five. So I’m going to allocate at least one month to each year of the 80s.

So to start list your favorite metal albums of 1984 no matter how many you’ve listened to! Everyone is strongly encouraged to participate. I don’t really care how much metal you’ve heard in the past. This will be a really great way to discover this oft overlooked genre.

here’s my (extremely tentative) rankings....

Top X Metal Albums of 1984 (in order)

Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Black Flag - My War (sludge metal only retroactively)
Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales
Mercyful Fate - Don’t Break the Oath
Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
====================================
Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps From The Move
Metal Church - Metal Church
Queensryche - The Warning
Trouble - Psalm 69
Van Halen - 1984
Bathory - Bathory
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.
Accept - Balls to The Wall (released in Germany in 1983)
Armored Saint - March of the Saint
Rush - Grace Under Pressure (prog metal only retroactively)
Grim Reaper - See you in Hell
Venom - At war With Satan
Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction
Dio - Last in Line
Dokken - Tooth & Nail
Whitesnake - Slide It In
Ratt - Out of the Cellar
Scorpions - Love at First Sting
Loudness - Disillusion

or something like that. Remember, it's only the top five that really matters. I was just listing other albums to give people some ideas.

& here’s what it looks like in chart form…

http://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=24646

and yes, I'm sure they're not identical. Laughing

I think this could be fun. We'll see how it goes. Again, EVERYONE is highly encouraged to participate! I think this could be a great primer in a way for those who are metal curious.

Last edited by RepoMan on 05/13/2015 02:22; edited 5 times in total

RockyRaccoon
Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me?

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: Maryland

Moderator

Yea! Metal! Good stuff Repo!

Alright, I think I understand this.

So top 5 metal albums of 1984:

1. Ride The Lightning - Metallica
2. Metal Church - Metal Church
3. Don't Break The Oath - Mercyful Fate
4. Van Halen - 1984 (this is only if we're counting hair metal, which is seems we are)
5. Powerslave - Iron Maiden

and some more (if it matters):
Love At First Sting - Scorpions
Out Of The Cellar - Ratt
See You In Hell - Grim Reaper
Sign In Please - Autograph
Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister
Rising Force - Yngwie Malmsteen
Tooth And Nail - Dokken
Flex-Able - Steve Vai
WASP - WASP
Fistful Of Metal - Anthrax
Black N Blue - Black N Blue
Two Steps From The Move - Hanoi Rocks

Side note: Balls To The Wall came out in 1983
_________________
2023 Chart

Early Psychedelic Rock

Electronic Chart

Last edited by RockyRaccoon on 05/18/2015 13:15; edited 2 times in total

RepoMan

RockyRaccoon wrote:

Side note: Balls To The Wall came out in 1983

R u sure?

I think their album Restless & Wild, which I like even better, came out in '83. Would it have made your top five if had come out in 1984?

Oh, and Van Halen's self titled came out in 1978! Laughing

And YES! We're totally counting hair metal. All shades of metal are game.

edit: Ok, I understand the confusion with Balls to The Wall release date. It was relesed in 1984 in the US, but came out in 83 in Germany. They may have delayed its US release date because Restless & wIld was doing so wellin the states in 83 and they didn't want to kill its momentum or sth. Not sure.

Last edited by RepoMan on 05/12/2015 16:01; edited 1 time in total

RockyRaccoon
Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me?

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: Maryland

Moderator

RepoMan wrote:

R u sure?

I think their album Restless & Wild, which I like even better, came out in '83. Would it have made your top five if had come out in 1984?

Oh, and Van Halen's self titled came out in 1978! Laughing

And YES! We're totally counting hair metal. All shades of metal are game.

1. Yea, in our database at least, Balls To The Wall is 1984, and I don't think it would've been in my top 5 either way

2. I'm stupid and thought to myself "Van Halen - 1984" and wrote "Van Halen - Van Halen"

I changed it

edit: according to wiki, Balls To The Wall came out in December of 1983
_________________
2023 Chart

Early Psychedelic Rock

Electronic Chart

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)
Trouble - Psalm 9
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith (1984)
Metal Church - Metal Church (1984)
Loudness - Disillusion (1984)
Omen - Battle Cry (1984)
Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus (1984)
Bathory - Bathory (1984)
Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath (1984)
Venom - At War with Satan (1984)
Dokken - Tooth and Nail (1984)
Warlord - And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun (1984)
Warlock - Burning the Witches (1984)
Sortilège - Métamorphose (1984)
Queensrÿche - The Warning (1984)
Armored Saint - March of the Saint (1984)
Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead (1984)
Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction (1984)
Helstar - Burning Star (1984)
Running Wild - Gates to Purgatory (1984)
Dio - The Last in Line (1984)
Manowar - Sign of the Hammer (1984)
W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P. (1984)
Scorpions - Love at First Sting (1984)

Last edited by mickilennial on 05/17/2015 22:36; edited 3 times in total

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

RockyRaccoon wrote:

1. Yea, in our database at least, Balls To The Wall is 1984, and I don't think it would've been in my top 5 either way

Our database is definitely wrong, lol.

EDIT - Double ninja'd, heh.

Last edited by mickilennial on 05/12/2015 16:08; edited 1 time in total

Applerill
Autistic Princess <3

Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago

My list is boring for 1984 Sad

1. Judas Priest-Defenders of the Faith
2. Metallica-Ride the Lightning
3. Merciful Faith-Don't Break the Oath
4. Metal Church-Metal Church
5. WASP-WASP
6. Saint Vitus-Saint Vitus
7. Yngwie Malmsteen-Rising Force
8. KISS-Animalize
9. Iron Maiden-Powerslave
10. Black Flag-My War

RepoMan

^^^ Ok, Rocky. I totally get your inclusion of Van Halen's 1984 as one of the five best metal albums of '84, and could easily be convinced that it deserves one of the five coveted spots. It's incredibly unique, influential, diverse & solid and sounded NOTHING like their previous albums, but still ROCKED! BUT, I'm not even close to sold on Love At First Sting. Can you tell me what you love so much about this...

Love At First Sting by Scorpions

... and then I'll listen to it with fresh ears later today.

RepoMan

Applerill wrote:

My list is boring for 1984 Sad

10. Black Flag-My War

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

My War by Black Flag

Clearly not boring since it brings up our first real controversy!!! Should My War be considered for our list, guys? Is this a metal album?Because if so, It's totally & obviously in my top five. Laughing

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

RepoMan wrote:

^^^ Ok, Rocky. I totally get your inclusion of Van Halen's 1984 as one of the five best metal albums of '84, and could easily be convinced that it deserves one of the five coveted spots. It's incredibly unique, influential, diverse & solid and sounded NOTHING like their previous albums, but still ROCKED! BUT, I'm not even close to sold on Love At First Sting. Can you tell me what you love so much about this...

Love At First Sting by Scorpions

... and then I'll listen to it with fresh ears later today.

Well, it's better than Van Halen. Wink

Outside of the well-received “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, Love at First Sting carries the Scorpions fully into the heavy metal era with slick production and energetic AOR-esque melodies. Perhaps it’s not innovative but very little of the whole ‘hair metal scene’ was as all they were doing was taking AOR conventions and tapping into the more “fierce” heavy metal soundscapes of the time. It’s not the best Scorpions release, even for when they had advanced into heavy metal ideas, (that would be Face The Heat or Blackout), but it is still quite competent.

RepoMan wrote:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

My War by Black Flag

Clearly not boring since it brings up our first real controversy!!! Should My War be considered for our list, guys? Is this a metal album?Because if so, It's totally & obviously in my top five. Laughing

Revisionists consider it a “sludge metal” record, but sludge metal didn’t exist in 1984; it definitely inspired sludge, post-hardcore, and punk in general – but I would personally qualify this as a hardcore punk record and that’s it.