100s of the top Metal albums (and some non-Metal albums) 1980-89

1983 (2):

Air Raid (CA)- "69 in a 55"...They released 1 single.

 

1984 (1):

Trident (Wales)- "Destiny"...They released 1 single and 2 demos. A comp came out later.

 

I've mostly lurked in this awesome thread, much appreciation. I've got lots of listening ahead as I'm averaging owning only around 50% for each year. 1984 struck me as a little odd since I notice many of my favorites missing and I only have a dozen or so from your list. Manowar - Sign Of The Hammer (always preferred it over Hail), Yngwie - Rising Force (too influential to ignore), W.A.S.P - W.A.S.P., Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath, Grim Reaper - See You In Hell, Fates Warning - Night On Brocken, Dio - The Last In Line, Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales, Anthrax - Fistful Of Metal and Bathory - Bathory would make my Top 40 if I were to make a list for '84.

Thanks for doing this!

edit: Haha, just realized I'm actually wearing a Don't Break The Oath shirt right now as I type this.

 

1984 (2):

Brainhammer (Ger.)- "Poisen"...It appears this is the only song they ever released. It's a a V/A comp called Chance '84.

 

All, or nearly all, of those albums were mentioned in the honorable mentions for 1984 and Bathory was mentioned in the "other" section. When there are close to 300 albums for the year it becomes very difficult trying to remember each one and rank them all. By the end, a lot of the lower albums just kind of end up where they lay and the honorable mentions get alphabetized so I don't have to rank them.

 

1985 (1):

Virtue (UK)- "We Stand to Fight" (One of my favorite NWOBHM songs of all time)...They released 1 single and a self released 3 song cassette. A comp was released later.

 

1985 (2):

The Kill (NY)- "Metal Messiah"...I discovered this band on a V/A comp I bought as a kid. It took me years to find much info about them, They only released 2 demos which were later added to a comp. They also released some material under the name Vice.

 

1986 (1):

Randy (Randers,Den.)- "The Beast"...They released 1 single and 2 demos in the 80s. Later 2 comps were released.

 

1986 (2):

Violet Wind (OH)- "Hallow's Eve"...They released a cassette EP and a 1 song (demo?) before changing their name to Battery. Battery didn't release much either.

 

1987 (1):

Wildness (Swe.)- "Dreams"...They recorded 1 single and a song for a V/A comp. Apparently they were in Jr. High when they recorded this.

 

1987 (2)

Devastation Run (IL)- "Tear it Apart"...They recorded a 4 song EP and a 3 song demo.

 

1988 (1):

Nemesis (NJ) ‎– Pain (The Equalizer)...They released 1 single.

 

1988 (2):

Mortus (Yugo.)- "The Fury"...They released 1 short demo.

 

1989 (1):

Street Child (NY)- "Street Child"...They released a 4 song EP.

 

1989 (2):

Mysteria (CA)- "It's Just a Dream"...They released a 5 song EP.

 

Good thread.

Maybe you're not a fan of Saxon, which is ok, but they get extra Metal points from me for being the only band I've seen that blew up the PA system.

 

"Princess of the Night" is a great song. I like Saxon but there were other things I liked better. They did make the honorable mentions at least 1 year.

If a band or album doesn't make the list, it doesn't necessarily mean I don't like it. More likely, there were so many choices that I had to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise I'd have to do a top 200 or something, because there are probably that many albums that I like per year.

 

1982: Gaskin, Killer, Vanadium again, Mad Max, Winterhawk
1983: Silver Mountain, Wild Dogs, Victim, Culprit, Highway Chile

 

Not only is that album METAL, it's METAL as F@#k.

 

This is a great thread. Brings back a lot of really wonderful memories.

Wish I had a time-machine set to travel back to late spring 1981.