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

1983:

2. Ozzy Osbourne (Birmingham,Eng.)- Bark at the Moon (Epic/CBS) There was a difference between US and European versions of this album with one song being different on each version. There was also a difference in the name of one song, but it was featured on both versions (see text above video below).


“Centre Of Eternity” This song was called "Forever" on many non-US versions, which seems odd given the spelling of centre.

 

1983:

1. Metallica (SF,CA)- Kill ‘Em All (Megaforce Records)


"The Four Horsemen"

 

1983:

Some interesting mostly non-Metal albums of the era, some Metal albums I didn’t want to cut or discovered too late to rank, or others that might be lumped in with Metal:

1983:

Blackfoot- Siogo
Black Sabbath- Born Again (There are many non-Metal moments on this album and the Metal part of the list is full)
Grand Prix- Samurai
Monarch- As Your Kingdom Falls
Motorhead- Another Perfect Day (Metal, not Metal?, either way a good album)
No Bros- Our Own Way (Possibly Metal enough for the other list, but it won’t get cut here)

Rat Attack (Kailua,HI)- S/T (R.A.K. Records) (Originally a cassette only Demo that was reissued as an album, their only release) (Vocalist/Guitarist Tom Azevedo would play on the final Hawaii album with Marty Friedman) This was originally in my top 10 of the other list, but I had to modify that list. Due to this being a demo I decided it would be the easiest to move.
"Stranded All Alone"


Sledgehammer- Blood On Their Hands
Wheelz Of Steel ‎– Volume One (This album is so bad it’s good)
X-Ray- Hard Section (Very Good Metal- discovered too late to rank)
Zebra- S/T

 

The only album by this Hard Rock band and it was self released...
"Florida Song"

 

This band featured 2 future members of Uriah Heep and Robin MacAuley, future MSG, on vocals. They played Hard Rock/Pop Rock/AOR. This was their final album.

"50/50"

 

Two brothers in wheelchairs and a drum machine created one of the worst, or best, albums of all time, depending on how you look at it. It was their only album and was self released.

"Why Me/Thrills"

 

Killer album. Underrated imho.

 

Recap
1983: (Top 30)


1. Metallica- Kill ‘Em All
2. Ozzy Osbourne- Bark at the Moon
3. Satan- Court in the Act
4. Hellanbach- Now Hear This
5. Heavy Load- Stronger Than Evil
6. Ritual- Widow
7. Vault- No More Escape
8. Heavy Pettin- Lettin Loose (S/T in USA/Can.)
9. Oz- Fire in the Brain
10. Trance- Power Infusion
11. Motley Crue- Shout at the Devil
12. Loudness- The Law of Devil’s Land
13. Vanexa - S/T
14. Highway Chile- Storybook Heroes
15. Dio- Holy Diver
16. Victim (San Diego,CA)- Power Hungry
17. Quiet Riot- Metal Health
18. Culprit (Seattle,WA)- Guilty as Charged
19. Wild Dogs- S/T
20. The Rods- In the Raw
21. Vanadium- A Race with the Devil
22. Chasar- S/T (Later reissued as Gypsy Roller)
23. Spartan Warrior- Steel N' Chains
24. Iron Maiden- Piece of Mind
25. Warlord- Deliver Us
26. Twisted Sister– You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll
27. Silver Mountain- Shakin’ Brains
28. Satan Jokers- Les Fils Du Métal
29. Grim Reaper- See You in Hell
30. Tokyo Blade- S/T

It will take a couple weeks to put 1984 in order before I post them.

 

#1 is easy ill just list it for you, Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction

 

Russ Tippins out of Satan plays solo quite a bit in our area, he's a great guitarist.

Soopernaut - you should make this thread into a blog, all the work you've put in needs preserving.

 

Perhaps, but where would I post it? I figured it is kind of like a blog here. I also have kind of a rough draft without all the photos and videos saved in my email drafts.

 

Unfortunately, it looks like it probably won't make the cut. I have nearly 220 albums currently on the list for 1984 and Jag Panzer isn't near the top.

 

Can I come over and listen to metal with you?

 

Blasphemy

 

The 1st Blasphemy album wasn't until 1990, or 1989 if you include the demo.

 

Fascinating that you dug up the Finnish groups Ironcross and Oz. Are you familiar with other early Finnish metal, like Zero Nine, Sarcofagus and Riff Raff?

 

I listened to Zero Nine's 1983 album, but it didn't make the final cut. They have several more 80s albums coming up that I have yet to listen to. They had 2 albums in 1982 that I don't think I listened to.

I completely missed Sarcofagus. They had 2 albums out in 1980 and their next one in 1982 was under a different band name: Kimmo Kuusniemi Band. It was rereleased in 2004 with the original band's name but too late for this thread. They broke up and didn't release anything else between 1980 and 2007, after they reformed.

Riff Raff was on a list for 1983, but for some reason I think I skipped it. They had 2 albums in 1982 that I definitely missed. I'm listening to the 1983 album, Give The Dead Man Some Water, now and it probably wouldn't rank high enough for the top 30, but would have been an honorable mention.

I'm still working on finishing 1984, but it's taking longer than I thought.

 

i can't comment on the albums i haven't heard (everything in Top 10 other than top 2 ~ i only own 9 of 30 from your '83 list) but...
Bark At The Moon being much higher than albums that i've actually heard of (Piece of Mind, Holy Diver & Shout At The Devil)...i don't know

what is it about that Ozzy album that you like so much above those 3 classics that i mentioned ? i'm genuinely curious...thanx for your hard & informative effort, btw

 

Kudos in including Warlord in the top 30 of 1983 list. Personally, I will put them higher than 25 but that's just me. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the lists

 

It's all subjective and we all have different tastes. I find it difficult to describe music with words, since I am a very rational thinker and music is very nonrational. I like the song writing, vocals, guitar playing and overall sound of Ozzy's early 80s material better than a lot of his contemporaries' music. To me, Piece of Mind was a bit of a step down from Number of the Beast. Holy Diver, while still great, is less appealing to me than BatM. Same with Shout at the Devil. It's like asking why one prefers Vanilla over Chocolate, or vice versa.

 

Somehow Y&T didn't make the list with Soopernaut? Neither "Black Tiger" or "Mean Streak", when they were at their closest to being actual metal. IMO "Black Tiger" should of been included, but to each their own. I can vouch that any rocker or metal head in 82 was listening to Y&T...

Interesting how little known bands back in those days had obvious lesser (often downright cheezy)production values in such a noticeable way, as opposed to now, when you can make what sounds like a major label release in your bedroom.

 

Real cool that you're interested in this stuff. I didn't mean that those bands should necessarily be on the list, just thought you might like some of their work. Zero Nine are my hometown boys. My favourite album by them is "Intrigue" from 1986, which I bought when it came out.

 

Quoting myself to make a correction before I get called out..........
I meant to say that in the San Francisco bay area in 82 Metal Heads and rockers were listening to Y&T.........That is what I can vouch for........not a national thing at all but when you have the bay area, that's a real audience.....That's of course no case to attempt to sway the OP here, which I don't care about. To each their own, and these obscure choices are interesting.

I would just say that rating albums without many actual listening sessions for each and every one of them leaves out the important factor of how quality music can grow on you, but OP knows this. The exercise in this thread is still interesting, covering a vast array...

 

I really like the song "Mean Streak", but not much else resonated with me.

 

1984 (top 40) By 1984 there were so many albums that I couldn't narrow it down beyond a top 40, plus I went overboard on the honorable mentions.
Honorable mentions (alphabetical order by artist): (* indicates great albums that just missed the top 40)



Angeles Del Infierno – Pacto Con El Diablo (Spanish lyrics)
Anthrax- Fistful Of Metal
Attack- Danger In The Air
Attentat Rock- Le Gang des Saigneurs (French lyrics)
Чёрный Кофе (Black Coffee)- Приди и всё возьми (Russian lyrics)
Black Widow (Maasmechelen,Belg.)- Streetfighter
Blade Runner- Hunted
Bloke (Buenos Aires,Arg.) ‎– Demolición (Spanish lyrics)
Bloody Six- In The Name Of Blood
Brocas Helm- Into Battle
Buzzard (Menen,Belg.)- Gambler
Chariot- The Warrior
Chinawhite- Run For Cover
Облачный Край (Cloudy Edge)- Ублюжья доля (Russian lyrics)
Cloven Hoof- S/T
Crossfire (Aalst,Belg.)- See You In Hell
*Cutty Sark- Die Tonight
Demon Eyes- Rites Of Chaos (mostly French lyrics)
Der Kaiser- Vartours (Mostly French Lyrics)
*Devil Childe- S/T
*Dio- The Last in Line
*Divine Rite- S/T (aka First Rite)
Earthshaker- Fugitive (Mostly Japanese lyrics)
Electric Eels (Fresno,CA)- S/T
Eric Steel (band name-no member shares name)- S/T
Europe- Wings Of Tomorrow
Expect No Mercy (Siegen,Ger.)- Steelbreed
Ezy Meat- Not For Wimps
Fates Warning- Night On Bröcken
*First Strike (Sacramento,CA)- Rock of Offense
FN Guns- Nightmare
Force (aka Cryer) (Birmingham,Eng.) ‎– Set Me Free... (This album was recorded by Cryer, but released after the band broke up. The record label didn’t like the band name and changed it to Force instead.)
Gillman- Levantate y Pelea (Spanish lyrics)
*Gotham City- The Unknown
Gow- Mr. Tippel
Griffin (SF,CA)- Flight Of The Griffin
H-Bomb- Attaque (French Lyrics)
Hammers Rule- Show No Mercy
*Hardline (Trondheim,Nor.)- S/T
Hexx- No Escape
Hiroshima- Taste Of Death
Hocculta- Warning Games
Holland (Middlesbrough,Eng.)- Early Warning
Holocaust- No Man’s Land
Jack Starr (band name and member name)– Out of the Darkness
Keel- Lay Down the Law
Lions Pride- Breaking Out
Living Death- Vengeance of Hell
Loudness- Disillusion (English version)
Mad Axeman- S/T
*Madam X- We Reserve The Right (The only band I can think of with a male singer, female guitarist, male bassist and female drummer)
"Max Volume/Metal In My Veins"

MainEEaxe- Shout it Out
*Malefice (Paris,Fra.)- S/T (French lyrics)
Yngwie Malmsteen- Rising Force
Mama's Boys- S/T
Manowar- Sign Of The Hammer
*Marseille- Touch the Night
Mass (Lappersdorf,Ger.)- War Law
Mercy- S/T
Mercyful Fate- Don't Break the Oath
Messiah (Detroit,MI)- Final Warning
Messiah Prophet Band- Rock The Flock
*Mystery Blue- S/T
*Nightmare (Grenoble,Fra.)- Waiting for the Twilight
Ostrogoth- Ecstasy and Danger
Pantera‎– Projects In The Jungle
Philadelphia (Shreveport,LA)- Tell the Truth...
Piledriver (Toronto,ON)- Metal Inquisition
Proud- Fire Breaks the Dawn
Q5- Steel the Light
Quiet Riot- Condition Critical
Railway- S/T
Ravens (Béziers,Fra.)- Get It in Your Head
Reckless (Ottawa,ON)- Heart Of Steel
Restless (Herzogenaurach,Ger.)- Heartattack
The Rods- Let Them Eat Metal
Samurai (Merthyr Tydfil,Wal.)– Sacred Blade
Satan Jokers- Trop Fou Pour Toi (French Lyrics)
Saxon– Crusader
Silver Mountain- Universe
Six Point Six- Fallen Angel
Sniper (Nagoya,Jap.)- Open the Attack (Japanese lyrics)
*Spellbound (Uppsala,Swe.) ‎– Breaking The Spell
Steeltower- Night of the Dog
*Stone Fury- Burns Like a Star (Future Kingdom Come singer, Lenny Wolf, on vocals/rhythm guitar)
Street Fighter- Shoot You Down
*Strike Force (Montréal,QC)- S/T
Surrender (Sydney,Aus.)- S/T
Syar- Death Before Dishonour
Taist of Iron- Resurrection
*Thundercraaft- Fighting For Survival
TNT (Trondheim,Nor.)- Knights of the New Thunder
Tokyo Blade- Night of the Blade
*Twisted Sister- Stay Hungry
Tyrant (Ulm,Ger.) - Mean Machine
*Tyton- Castle Donnington
*U8- The Shaber
*Valhalla (Pittsburgh,PA)- S/T
Vice Human- S/T
Virgin (Wuppertal,Ger.)- S/T
Vulcain- Rock 'n' Roll Secours (French lyrics)
Vyper- Prepared To Strike
Warlord- And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun… (Recorded Live at the Raymond Theatre with no audience, so probably not really eligible for this list. Also different versions of most of the songs were released previously.)
Warning (Paris,Fra.)- Métamorphose (French lyrics)
W.A.S.P.- S/T
Wasted (Copenhagen,Den.)- Halloween... The Night Of
White Wolf (Edmonton,AB) ‎– Standing Alone
Wild Dogs- Man’s Best Friend
Wildfire (London,Eng.)- Summer Lightning
Witchfynde- Lords Of Sin (Double album released w/ Anthems live EP)
Wolf (Carlisle,Eng.)- Edge Of The World
X-Ray (Osaka,Jap.)- Tradition Breaker
Zebra (Puebla,MX)- 3 (Spanish lyrics)
Zero Nine- Headline