The Mosh Pit 4.25.08: The Top Metal Albums From 1984

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 04.25.2008

The year is 1984, and the metal scene was about to get louder, tougher, angrier… It was a time for evolution in the metal scene, when bands like Metallica, Celtic Frost, Bathory, and Metal Church would introduce the world to the future. Step in side and see the best albums that made 1984 a great year!





1984: The Year Metal Evolved


Alright, we're now up to 1984. Orwell would be proud, well that or shaking his head at the current Presidential candidates. I'll let you put 2 and 2 together on that remark.

Metal was still starting the rush to exploding onto the scene. Between MTV darlings and the underground, metal was surging into a massive force. And as all things that get to big for its own good, it hits critical mass and falls down. Well, the weak links fall apart. The rest survive by decree of natural selection (Still trying to get that onto a T-Shirt – Yes I am). Metal would continue to grow for years before the implosion at the end of the 80's, but this is a critical year in what would separate those weaker links from the sounds that would stand tall in a decade. It was the underground, and this was the year they hit with an impact to drive that wedge between the different forms. Pop metal would go one way, hard rock eventually another and heavy metal proper would toughen up and slowly become the genre we love today. But between here and there we'll discover more milestones, but that is another column for anther day…

But for now, its 1984; time to look at the classics that would shape the future of the metal movement and define all that was heavy to come.



It was metal, but it's not going on the list
We're getting to the point that I thought it might be worth separating albums by "Not Good" and "Good but didn't quite make the list" categories. That way, those who disagree will know how to focus your comments. Aren't I thoughtful!

Black Tears - Child of the Stone: Poor mans AC/DC.

Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi: Ah… No. Not going to happen in this life time or next.

Dark Angel - We Have Arrived: NWOBHM meets Goth meets proto thrash. Should be cool - It's not.

KISS – Animalize: Pretty good album for Kiss. Just not my thang… (yes, I meant to spell it that way)

Krokus - The Blitz: One year later and the band has dropped like an anchor. Even the Sweet cover can't save this.

Pantera - Projects in the Jungle: Pantera of the 80's isn't making it no matter how well you paint it. I can understand some people liking this era (guilty pleasure?), but no way they're making the list.

Quiet Riot - Condition Critical: Condition WTF. Condition Career Flat lined. Condition be quiet or we riot.

Stryper - The Yellow and Black Attack: The name of the album precludes its inclusion on principle, but the contents do as well. Talented blokes – but the material the band works through is limp anthems. Joan Jett is tougher.




Good metal that just didn't quite make the list, but certainly worth a listen some time

AC/DC - '74 Jailbreak: There AC/DC, so if you like them you willl enjoy this.

Armored Saint - March of the Saint: Sanitized Judas Priest? Good, but not great.

Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers: Great comeback album. I like it. Just doesn't make the cut for this kind of list for me. If it's any consolation, I know enough Purple fans who would disagree.

Dokken - Tooth And Nail: Dokken and co. is well liked, but they never worked for me. Hopefully the reunion rumors are true. An older reunited Dokken with some worldly edge would be a fun listen.

Keel - Lay Down The Law

Queensrÿche - The Warning: I use to play this album a lot. But somewhere along the way it became dated and lost some of its luster. It really is a good album though, and "Road to Madness" stretches for miles into epic territory, but the fact is this album hasn't aged well for me.

Ratt - Out of the Cellar: Good album, but not a great album. Some classic deep cuts though, and worth a spin. I can respect the band for never fully selling out to glam, always smuggling the sleaze in as if they were just trying to survive the 80's.

Sammy Hagar – VOA: "I Can't Drive 55" might have been every teen's favorite anthem that summer, but I just never got into it. I like Sammy, but sometimes his albums are just too much party-pop for me.

Scorpions - Love at First Sting: Don't love it. Don't hate it. Just above average to good 80's metal. Doesn't make the cut.

Sodom - In the Sign of Evil: Decent album with big things to come, but this debut is purely historical. Damn influencial though, but I never play it so here we are.

Spinal Tap - This Is Spinal Tap: Great movie. Fun album. But more novelty than anything.

Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry: I really like this album A lot. A few deep cuts are the best thing the band ever did. "Burn in Hell" is the bands best song ever - It just rocks. But a few cheesy anthems weigh it down and keep it of the list. This was a tough call for me though, because it is otherwise a solid album.

Van Halen – 1984: Actually, I like this album, but it's more pop hard rock than metal at this point. The hits were frilly teen fodder (even if damn catchy), but there are some real good deep cuts. Not going on the list though.

W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.: Blackie Lawless and company are more of a fun guilty pleasure at this point. Some really great stuff to come though.

Whitesnake - Slide It In: More fun tunes, Dave and Co. pumping out some goof blues infused hard rock. I pull it out ever spring for a little cruising around, but it doesn't make this list.

Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Rising Force: This one will piss some people off. Great guitar player. Good album overall. But the reality is I never pull it out, our favorite guitar god solo work is the kind thing where a song is great but an album is to much; so it's not going on the list.





The Killer Classics From 1984!





Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling



As if the debut last year wasn't enough, Savatage returns with an EP that just kills everything around it. Maximum power as the bands runs with the immortal music gracing Sirens but taken to ancient, bone shaking lands. Again the guys don't add anything new to the evolution of metal, but who cares when they play straight in your face traditional heavy metal so damn well. It's almost a good thing they were never recognized, as the isolation probably lent the ability to forge perfection along their own path of familiar ground.






Trouble - Psalm 9



"I am the Tempter
Ruler of Hell
Bringer of Evil
Beware!"

And with those pronouncements of damnation, we're introduced to one of the greatest riffs to crunch skulls in. Heavy, but not necessarily speed, Trouble forgoing hitting you with 100 blows in favor of destroying you with 10 blows that are 15 times heavier. Yes, the math doesn't work out, immortal musicians always trade up. But it does crank along, ripping through face pounding pleasures that could be called divine when you consider the religious based lyrics – Until you realize this is the religion of the Old Testament and all you can do is wait for God to kick your ass. Christian bands traditionally stink because they use heavy metal to paint a Christian picture, while Trouble (who are not a Christian band) goes the Sabbath route here full time to use Christian imagery to paint a heavy metal picture, and the results make all the difference in the world. God doesn't save, he destroys.

So here we have it, one of my all time favorites. The album that took traditional doom metal that only Sabbath and Pentagram really had played until now, and turned it into the mother of all riff engines. Heavier, crunchier, deeper, infused with more divine torment per note than mere mortals should be exposed to; Toni Iommi's spirit infusing every lovingly crafted guitar sound with a rhythm born of Ward's sense of style and smash. Eric Wagner wailing over a sea of riff-metal so intrinsically heavy and purposeful it creates its own gravity wells of weight.

Yes. I like this album that much.

But the key to this album and in many ways the secret it holds is how forward thinking it was. It breaks the doom with a well timed thrash attack or even a proto-speed rip, a full concoction of depth to saturate your ears through many angels or multiple listens. Even the cream cover is a display of heavy meets classic, proving both the forward thinking of cream and the ability of a good band to make a song there own. This thing owns, and will reach out with hands of ether to grab your head and bang it for you. Hopefully there isn't anything in front of you or you'll be pounding it into dust. For this I know, having seen Trouble live twice and have been subjected to IHBS (Involuntary Head Bang Syndrome). You've been warned.




Bathory - Bathory





At this point in the history of all that is heavy, we find the first appearances of bands that would propagate the various subgenres of metal. Of course, at this point we still just called it heavy metal, but the fissures started in the underground and would grow into full blown scenes a decade later. Bathory enter the land of the underground with their frozen war cries of proto-black, searing and singeing on the bleak edges of reality. Vikings howling in their death throes, caustic riffs smeared against a battle torn tundra, the whole steely picture blurred like the production crew left the distortion set to OTT. The band was born for great things within the frigid realms of extreme and ambience, but the best is yet to come for these priests of pagans. Mostly notable now for it's historical value.





Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales





Oh man were these guys going to inspire, conspire, and make everyone perspire. Much like Bathory in their influence of black metal, but the extreme doesn't end there for the Frost. Death metal also owes some homage to this bundle of anti-humanity, acidic production, and just plain non-construction that is this pile of song writing. I'm sure some music teacher just shit himself in 1984 trying to wrap his brain around the purpose or structure in this mess. If he did, he would have called it "Neo" for its non conformist (understatement) mentality.

Of course, that's what gives this idiosyncratic pile of phased out fuzz its charm. It thrashes and rattles through everything that hasn't really been done, inspiring future extreme metal heads while receiving blank stares from everyone trapped in that little land called "Today". Hell, it did it to me – It took me a while to warm to this, and the band itself. I just didn't get. Now I do, and I'm not sure the leap was all that revealing, understanding of the Frost meaning you have learned to live with and appreciating its charms. That's OK, Morbid Tales was coming, and that was going to turn the underground inside out so hard it would take years for the copy-cats to catch up.





Metal Church - Metal Church





And thus it was born, another fine thrash institution that would, pound for pound, deliver some of the best metal to hit the headphones. A little light and loose in the beginning, but man these guys were going to hit their stride very soon and deliver some of the greatest thrash staples to rip through the scene. And while this doesn't measure up to those levels, it's still a damn fine romp and run, guitars soaked in thrash with playful hints of prog and traditional thrown in. A little on the dark side as well. Good times though, and a criminally underrated band in the metal scene then and today.





Destruction - Sentence of Death






One of the unholy trinity of German thrash, Destruction land first and loudly of the three thanks to this EP. And make no mistake about it, this was nothing less than thrashing for the sake of thrashing, OTT on 10 because you can, about as technical as a slightly controlled car crash. I'm not even sure it belongs on the list beyond its place in metal history, but then again the whole mess has its charms, being the ugly son only a mother can love. Sometimes an album's faults add to the beauty for the whole sordid carnage. Drink lots to get the maximum bang from your head, and thrash away until your neck snaps.





Anthrax -Fistful of Metal





How about fist full of riffs and speed, a high frequency romp through thrash soaked in the east coast punk traditions of down and dirty. Actually, its thrash by association, more the first real popular true speed attack. But don't let that fool you; this has technical prowess and guitar awareness strung out through it. Excellent production too, propping up the real guitar flare and letting it shine in all it's demented glory. This is the bands debut, and while they would turn the volume up riff and speed wise to come, here they put the American east coast (Ok – the New York Scene) back on the metal map. This just chugs merrily along with little regard for friend or foe, running over everyone who gets in the way, yet strangely accessible for this kind of speed and brashness in 1984. This is the album that launched so much technical high-speed dirt to come it isn't funny. Fun time – Can't stare at the cover to long though – Just weird's me out.




Manowar - Hail to England





And thus we finally get around to one of heavy metal's grandest institutions. Fine warriors of all things played on 10, killed for sport, and bashed for pleasure. Either you like this band or your don't. I like some of their albums for the infectious chest pounding fun that they are, while others just take the pretentious "Ugh… Me metal man!" shtick too far. But hey, glam gave us make-up, black metal gave us corpse paint, and Manowar gave us furry underwear clad men. Sometimes you just got to sit back and laugh.

That aside, Hail to England stomps mightily and smokes hard. With songs like "Blood of my Enemies" and "Kill with Power" how can you go wrong? This is completely loud and OTT for the sake of going there. Heavy and thumping so you get the point after the victory celebrations pass out, and basically melts sand under its iron shod feet. This has heroic written all over it, excess dripping from the seams. Play it loud.





Dio - The Last in Line






As if an excellent debut from the Elfin one wasn't enough, he comes back a year later with this follow up tour de' force of all things heavy and metal. If you include the two Sabbath full albums, which would make four in a row… NOPE!!! Don't forget Rainbow before that. It hasn't even been 10 years and the man has a career for the history books already cataloged.

This was a more complex and heavier metal offering from Dio, and actually more heroic in tales and scope as well. The band slashing and burning through tales of lore that were part song, part metaphor, his time with Sabbath serves him well with the larger than life riff blazing rhythms – Probably his best album solo. But who's counting when the man has done so many great albums.





Iron Maiden - Powerslave



Iron Maidens best album cover is wrapped around one of the bands top albums. The band running towards the end of their golden period, but still firing on all cylinders, we get more Maiden high wattage goodness. Be it the full assault of the title track, or the odd accessibility of ‘riff-ic "2 Minutes to Midnight" or the epic flow of "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner", this pumps hard with meaning and conviction. The production is also excellent, the band getting a very natural feel as if you were there live to watch. Bruce's voice soars over the battlefields of "Aces High" while Nicko pounds the skins into pulp.

The bands most dynamic album, a ride through history (and sports?), edgy and willful, this is Iron Maiden in full confidence delivering at the height of their game. Not sure they really ever came down so much as took the 90's off...

Who cares, this is a great album and a mandatory part of your Maiden collection.





Slayer - Haunting the Chapel



Yes, it's an EP, but boy does this thing smoke. There debut was good, but not everything Slayer would become. And to the dude who called that album "Competent Venom" – You rock. What a great line. And you we're right too, hopefully in the context of this week and next you'll get where we're going. Back to this EP, Slayer is on an upward trajectory, building in increasing layers of extreme. While this album is quick, it is certainly good and builds on the Slayer canon. This thing rips, shreds, heals, destroys, riffs, and melts through metal convention still new. Thrash-tastic to say the lease.






Metallica - Ride the Lightning






While Metallica's debut was a call to arms, the sophomore effort actually raises the double barrel shrapnel launcher and begins the revolution full force. Where Kill ‘Em All was a full on assault of raw speed, Ride The Lightning delivers in your face, neck-wrecking riff after riff. But also slows it down at times to deliver sharpened thrash riffs that crunch and command headbanging. Oh, this has speed (see "Fight Fire With Fire" for appendage ripping speed), but knows in artistic fashion when to bend thrash to the higher order of riff delivery – Population Headbangville: You. There is even the now infamous ballad "Fade to Black" to put the exclamation mark on the idea, with its slowed down heavy build, which honestly is very good but not the fanfare it's given, that is till the song breaks out into solo work, the guys turning the ballad concept on its ear and dropping the jaw on all of us long haired partiers back in the day. The methodical instrumental of "Call of Katulu" and the crunchy face pounder of "Ride the Lightning" showing what thrash could ultimately accomplish when beaten into anarchy with purpose.

Back to the analogy I made for Judas Priest while describing the evolution of heavy metal:

Black Sabbath created the raw iron of heavy metal, while Deep Purple plugged it in. Judas Priest took that chunk of energy infused raw metal and sharpened it into a steel weapon, turning the bludgeoning device into a weapon of purpose. Metallica made that weapon a state of the art killing machine.

Simply put: Black Sabbath crushed you, Deep Purple made you want to get up and do it again, Priest made you take the attack to your enemies, and Metallica armed you with the weapons to mow down those enemies.

What is important to note is that Metallica wasn't the first thrash band, Overkill and Exodus being well documented playing thrash in the clubs earlier. Metallica honed it into a concise sound and took that sound up a level, hitting first and the hardest before anyone else. When Ride the Lightning hit, it sent shock waves through the metal scene, and rock itself. The groundwork that the ever expanding metal scene sat upon cracked open from that blow, an opening that would expand into a gulf of difference as hard rock or commercial metal would be driven down one road while heavy metal proper was sent another.

Heavy metal never dies out at the end of the 80's, just the lineage that was stuck on the wrong side of that fissure. Hard rock would survive and mutate into various forms, blending with later trends like grunge or alternative. Hair however, already the runt of the litter couldn't survive the laws of Darwin, and eventually died out. But the new order of metal that roared from the underground in these years would continue on its inevitable march towards the monster we have today.




Encore

Well… That is quite the list of heavy metal going on. Some really great classics mixed with historical landmarks. Check them out. Build your own list. Or just sound off on the albums you like and why.

Next stop - 1986. Metal might have started the evolutionary process, but it took two years for the trigger to get pulled. But when it did, the underground would assert itself as the masters of the new kingdom, blowing apart the competition whose blood would reign down upon everyone…

The Mosh Pit's 2008 Rankings

Rank	Score	Group and Album
1	8.5	Gamma Ray - Land of the Free II
2	8	Brainstorm - Downburst
3	7.5	Island - Orakel
4	7.5	Children of Bodom - Bloodrunk
5	6	Bullet for my Valentine - Scream Aim Fire

2008 Rankings
The metal albums released for 2008.





Readers Choice 2008 Album Rankings

N/A






Final Thoughts

And remember folks - Heavy metal survives by natural selection. Darwin takes care of the rest.

Keep it real, and play it on 10.