Generally Unknown Bands of the 1980's That Played METAL

I've been unearthing some of my old obscure tapes lately and I can't help but feel like I'm missing quite a few good metal albums from the '80s that didn't get their due mostly because the pop metal thing was taking the world by storm. What are some good metal bands from the '80s that never got popular and didn't follow the pop metal formula? I don't care about their image, just the music.
Here are my contributions, very few unfortunately.

Keel (except the self-title)
Steeler
Racer X
Slave Raider (Listen to their live in Dallas Radio Show, it kills)
Shotgun Messiah
Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction
Loudness (though they were popular elsewhere)

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the guitar player from loudness is one of the best on the planet for meatl.

 

Pretty Maids!
Love their Future World album.

 

WARRIOR are in my opinion the most under rated of all 80's metal bands

 

Another great Japanese metal band from the 80's that went largely overloooked was ANTHEM

 

"Meatl". Lol, perfect

 

How about the bands Jag Panzer and Demon?

 

I don't speak French, so I never got their political messaging, but what I've heard from the band Trust really rocked.

 

Axe. From 1981.

 

lol spellcheck was off on that

 

Amen! Love him to death.

 

Riot is great band from the old days. Check out Road Racin'

 

Hundreds of second tier (or even first tier) NWOBHM bands...

 

Most of these are well-known mainsteam bands, while Zodiac Mindwrap not quite metal and Slave Raider probably the only one generally unknown.

 

C'mon! They had a contract with CBS. What can be more mainstream than that?

Completely agree that they have recorded some of the finest Hard'n'Heavy albums, Future World is a timeless classic.

 

Mainsteam, eh? Did they work in hydropower factories before they formed groups? If I went around my town and neighboring towns I guarantee you few to none would recognize Steeler, Shotgun Messiah, or Racer X. Loudness were only popular in America for the Thunder in the East album, so I'm more referring to their earlier and later work. Zodiac are close enough for me. Keel is a regional thing, and were mostly popular here in the midwest. Generally unknown bands would include the general public. The general public would not recognize those bands. I don't know how it is over there in Russia, and I hope I don't ever have to find out.

 

Keel hardly count as "generally unknown" though. They were as hair metal as it got, and certainly got enough press and promotion for us Canuck metalheads to be aware of them. Most of us didn't like 'em, but that's another story.

 

i'd say keel was metal on the first album them went hair metal after that

 

I thought they were metal until their self-title. That thing is a poppy piece of crap. If you look past the ballads on the third album it's pretty consistent. The Right to Rock had a good title track and a lot of filler. Ron Keel's over the top approach is really what kept me listening. I love his wail. Keel/Keel was where they bottomed out. "Cherry Lane" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

 

ron was a true screamer

 

It stood him in good stead when he tried to go country...

 

Ewwwwwww....... Glad he came back for Streets of Rock and Roll. Could not stand that country s**t.

 

Some off the top of my head:

Warlord
TT Quick
Eric Steel
Razor
Znowhite
Chastain
Highway Chile
Oz
Picture
Tsunami