The Repo Zone: 1999

[Repo]

[Repo]

'83:10 Anno Domini

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Kill 'Em All by Metallica

If Motorhead were John the Baptist <can you imagine Lemmy’s face if he was reading this?! lol> then Metallica were Jesus. Full on prophets saving metal from the Pharisees. There are only a handful of other albums like this in any genre. Albums that changed EVERYTHING. Where there was a before, and then an after. A line in time had been drawn. As I discussed just las week, this cost bands like Accept their careers. No kid wanted Metal Heart after being converted by Kill ‘Em All. Trust me. I was one of those brats back in 1983.

Kill 'Em All had it all! Yes, it fast & raw. But, it was also creative & catchy. You could mosh to it jumping up & down on your Star Wars matressed bed like a maniac over & over again. It was like an eight year old discovering rollercoasters for the very first time - “Again, again, Daddy! Let’s go again!"

Some of us <like me!> got into hardcore punk like Black Flag because of this album. “I want more of that”, I said to some surly, snotty record store clerk on Thayer St. in Providence. It felt revolutionary because it was revolutionary. It was dangerous & unpredictable, and I needed MORE!

Black Sabbath’s self titled debut, and Kill 'Em All. That's it, pretty much it. That's the level we're talking. Hell, I’d throw Nevermind in there too, but some would argue <Not me!> that that shit ain’t metal enough. Whatever. I ain’t dying on that field that’s for sure.

[Mercury]

HOLY SHIT! First off great write up.

Second of all, #10?! 10???!!! There must have been a lot of classics in 1983 that I am not nearly aware enough of if Kill Em All is 10th in your book.

And, yeah this is one of those Epochal releases. Kind of wild.

Similar to you, Metallica and Slayer (but early on before I stopped being a little bit scared of Slayer it was mostly Metallica and Ride the Lightning and specifically the opening riff of Fight Fire With Fire), were what made me search out other stuff as absurdly fast and heavy as early releases from those groups. Thinking back, I think I had not yet bought or owned a Minor Threat or Bad Brains or Black Flag album that fateful day when I listened to Ride the Lightning for the first time. Again, the sheer insanity of Fight Fire With Fire literally changed my life and outlook on music. I had never heard ANYTHING like it. My hair was raised, my eyes bugging. I was in love. I am remembering that moment now - reminiscing in perfect detail: in my underwear at my family's computer placed awkwardly in the kitchen, in summer 2001 or so. I had just gotten my package in the mail from BMG Music Club (lol) and the rest is history.

Anyway, love the write up and enthusiasm. You may have noticed I have been majorly interested in metal the last couple years. What you may not know is you (and LedZep and Gowi as well - but first and foremost you) were the main driving force behind my last 2 years or 3 years of metalheadedness. So, thanks, my marvel of a friend!
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Onj]

[quote="Mercury"]HOLY SHIT! First off great write up.

Second of all, #10?! 10???!!! There must have been a lot of classics in 1983 that I am not nearly aware enough of if Kill Em All is 10th in your book.

And, yeah this is one of those Epochal releases. Kind of wild.
or he just made a false list

[Mercury]

[quote="Onj"]

[Onj]

What i meant is elvis is better than shakin stevens is not personal taste it is a fact it is constructed better for example team elvis makes better movies

[Repo]

[Repo]

Repo's Top TWENTY Metal Albums of 1983

20. Loudness - The Law of Devil's Land
19. AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch
18. Witchfinder General - Friends Of Hell
17. Grim Reaper - See You In Hell
16. Anvil - Forged In Fire
15. Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac
14. Satan - Court In The Act
13. Oz - Fire In The Brain
12. Black Sabbath Born Again

11.

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Another Perfect Day by Motörhead

Is it The Guitarist or The Song?!?!

I’m a song guy. Wankey wank guitar noodling to the high heavens does almost nothing for me. It’s why for the most part Hair Metal bands like Steeler, while admittedly fun for a bit, can’t really capture my attention for a full album. But, and there's always a but, I did say almost!

And Another Perfect Day is a prime example of how a exceptional guitar player can put his stamp on an album and make a particular record distinctive even for aa prolific band like Motorhead. I would never say anything as blasphemous as Robbo outSHINES "Fast" Eddie Clark but his imprint makes this a one of a kind Motorhead album that is an absolutely essential part of their discography.

I was going to give examples. , but that’s a fool’s errand. Pretty much every song gets the Robbo treatment with intros, extros! and solos. Get-baked-with-your-best-friends-and-sit-mouth-askew-and-wide-open, drool-pooling-in-the-recesses-of-your-unmanicured-beard solos. If you know what I mean.

So does this change things for me? Am I about to track down some cheeseball Winger record from the late 80s and Ooh & Ahh over some palm muted, double breasted technique? Of course not! I’m STILL a song guy! Always have been and always will be. After all, it’s the Lemmy written SONGS that really make this album work. BUT, when the guitar is done tastefully, as on this, I can drool along with the best of them!

The Verdict: Another essential Motorhead release. It may be a black sheep, BUT, as us lonely Brokeback cowhands know, black sheeps can still feel really fucking good.

10.

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Crystal Logic by Manilla Road

Heavy Metal, Nuggets Style Just... SOUTH OF THE DIAL

In the late 60s, countless bands in america aped the sound of The British Invasion. They did it in their garages. They did it with more passion than talent most of the time and that was part of the charm. Fast forward a decade and the same thing was happening. This time the invasion from England was called the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and tons of American high schoolers once again took to their garages and made something slightly different than their inspiration. A little rawer, a little weirder, and way more primitive. And once again that was the charm. Of these countless regional oddities, Manilla Road are rightly considered one of the best along with other faves of mine, Armored Saint and Cirith Ungol.

These bands were metal to the core but still melodic & catchy. The kind of bands that made you dream of a better radio. Just South of the dial.

9.

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Balls To The Wall by Accept

Victim Of Changes

I could talk about how awesome Accept were in 1983. How they were one of the most important bands in all of early 80s metal. Just a level down from Maiden & Priest, really. BUT, where would be the fun in that. I already did that with Breaker & Restless & Wild which both made my top tens for 1981 & 1982 respectively.

So instead let’s just cut to the chase - Balls To The Wall absolutely, positively NEEDS to be in my top ten for '83 metal. In fact, any '83 Metal chart bereft of Accepts’ BEST album you better believe is getting da old stink eye from yours truly. Ok. So now that we got the obvious out and in the open, let's fast-forward just a tiny bit...

... to the late 80s. Where we now find Accept already picking up the empties to a party that should have just been getting started. Let’s get into their shell shocked skulls when they find out they were unfashionable. They knew how good they were and yet here they were has-beens just as things should have been getting started. Considered commercial just because they were not underground. Or obscenely fast. Or Maiden. Dumped. Cast aside by the cool kids for Thrash. Metal was evolving just too quickly at the time for early 80s metal bands such as Accept, Anvil, & Saxon to keep up. They were expiration dated!

So they were desperate. How else to explain what they would do? Go Hair Metal . And we all know that UDO, the very VOICE & SOUL of the band, cannot sing Hair metal. So they did the unthinkable. They said "goodbye!" to UDO! Perhaps the single most important ingredient at making Accept... well, Accept!!! And thus sadly ended one of the greatest runs of any 80s Metal band.

The Verdict: A Classic! And Accept's BEST record. That's right! Even better than Restless & Wild! l. Just don’t sleep on the two records that followed it - Metal Heart (which contains my absolute favorite Accept song - " Teach Us To Survive". Just picture Mr. Bungle taking the Dead Kennedys in the long grass and you got it!) and Russian Roulette! And sadly, stay away rom 1989's Eat The Heat. Unless you want to see what desperation and dashed dreams can do to even the best of us!

8.

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Satanic Rites by Hellhammer

PUNK METAL

To think it was a demo. A mere cassette tape. But once it was put to tape there was no stopping it. MORE punk than Motorhead ( which is saying something right there! Motorhead were punk as fuck!) and MORE extreme than Venom. An odd mutant cross between Black Metal-era Venom and The Side 2s of the mighty Black Flag. I'm of course talking about the epochal second sides of both Damaged and My War(which hadn't even come out yet!) They were sludgy and doomy. Blackened and primitive. I picture Tom G Warrior as some kind of metal blacksmith. Hammering & welding in some primitive castle basement with sparks flying all over the place. Back bent. Arms flailing over the anvil. Hammering and hammering some rare earth into this twisted, gnarled nugget . This is extreme metal incarnate. And despite its massive influence, it remains deeply underground for some reason that surpasses me. For this is primitive, raw, hardcore music at its best.

7.

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Pyromania by Def Leppard

Pop Metal

As Joe Elliot will be all to happy to tell you, NWOBHM was never going to be enough for Def Leppard. One land could not hold them. Nope. Like Maiden with Piece Of Mind, Def Leppard broke free of NWOBHM's gravitational field with Pyromania and deseminated globally to the back seats of cars and keggers and wherever else horny teenagers could be found.

Just an album chock full of radio-friendly bangers!!! Got my kids hooked on this baby just this past week. So cute hearing them sing all the words in the back seat!

to be continued...

[Onj]

[Trexasle]