The Mosh Pit 5.02.08: The Best Metal of 1986

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 05.02.2008

The year was 1986, and the underground was ready to explode with some if the greatest and most influential albums in metal history. From Slayer to Kreator, Megadeth to King Diamond, and The Ultimate Sin to Master of Puppets, enter the Mosh Pit and discover the essential albums of 1986!





No time for small talk, as work has been a beast this week. But fear not, for I wasn't about to let everyone down this week by missing out on one of the greatest years in metal history! That's no hype from the teaser, as there were some great albums that came out this year. Essential listening from both a quality standpoint and a historical perspective, so lets get this show on the road!



Tonight's Show: 1986 – Ground Zero for Metal




Like before, to avoid questions I'm going to list known albums from 1986 that didn't make the list and why. Feel free to comment from there – Just want to level the playing field so we know what we're talking about. From there I'll go through the essential albums from 1986 itself. As always with these lists, there in order of least well known to most popular, taking then and know into account.



How the Mighty Have Fallen
These albums are more than just not worthy of the list for 1986, and show how the split in metal increased when some bands dragged themselves into pop hell.


Alice Cooper - Constrictor: Alice in the 80's just doesn't work for me. Not bad in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but dammit he is better than this.


Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet: Pop meets metal… Or more like pop meets diet-metal. Some fun pop-rock tunes but nothing worth of a heavy metal list. Of course, these guys were never heavy to begin with, the debut two albums ago just a little for grittier with street cred, but still pop-hard rock. Somewhere there is a solid EP hiding in this.


David Lee Roth - Eat 'Em and Smile: Oh how the mighty have fallen. He is capable of so much more than this, if he tried…


Europe - The Final Countdown: Speaking of fallen – Europe took a brilliant debut and turned it into MTV McMetal of the lowest order. Any cheesier and it would come out of a can.


Judas Priest – Turbo: You don't know how much it hurts to put a Priest album in this part of the list. But if you remove the title track, which is a great tune, this just goes out the window. I'm surprised someone didn't due the ultimate indignity and pick-up the keytar on this. In four years the band would make up for this period with the phenomenal Painkiller at least. .


Krokus - Change of Address: Nothing to see hear… Just keep moving along.


Loudness - Lightning Strikes: You got to love the Japanese tenacity in pumping out metal bands. They really do take this stuff seriously, as the eat up western acts religiously. But some of there bands… Tight and hard, but… No. Lyrics make it a fun listen once in a while (Metal language as seen through Eastern eyes then mistranslated back into English – Hilarious at times).


Stryper - To Hell with the Devil: Good Lord (irony intended) they try, but it all seems so calculated. Good players hiding under the hood however, just the material doesn't cut it. Now even close. More like McMetal with a mission statement. Yikes.


Quiet Riot - QR III: I take back what I said about Bon Jovi, that at least did something write in being a commercial success. This tries to do that and fails so bad it's almost laughable. Almost, but just sad really. The band that launched the age of MTV metal was reduced to this?


W.A.S.P. - Inside the Electric Circus: W.A.S.P. trying to be commercial? Need I say more?



Decent albums that didn't make the list and why
Solid, but not the top releases…


AC/DC - Who Made Who: If you don't own an AC/DC album, this is a fine best of compilation (disguised as a Soundtrack) with two bonus instrumentals, but really… Just buy a regular album.


Black Sabbath - Seventh Star: Really a Toni Iommi solo album except for the label badgered him into using the Sabbath name. Interesting, and not bad, but certainly not what you think of when you hear the Sabbath name. Iommi was right; this is solo album material and nothing to do with Sabbath. It's also not good enough to make this list in any form.


Dark Angel - Darkness Descends: Fun levels of blasting crashing thrash, but not working for me. Chock it up to personal opinion fully here, but this caustic display of hardcore thrash gone wrong just doesn't come together for me.


Dio - Intermission: A Live EP that is essential for collectors and Dio fans, but not for this list.


Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time: OK… Just OK for me. A couple of solid tracks, a few filler… Really the beginning of the end for the classic Maiden era. Another album that has a solid EP hiding in it.


Metal Church - The Dark: Dark, dank, single-minded shredding. This is not as good as the first album or the next two (hard acts to follow!), but still a fine piece of thrash history. Not quite worthy of this list, but I would actually recommend it.


Motörhead - Orgasmatron: Good album. Great title track. Just not on the level of the other albums below.


Queensrÿche - Rage for Order: Good album, not quite what we're talking about. Worth noting that many a ‘Ryche fan would disagree with me on this.


Ratt - Dancing Undercover: The band manages to keep the sunset sleeze alive and avoid full blown hairy glam, but not enough in the tank to make the list. Solid album though.


Tesla - Mechanical Resonance: Many a friend would disagree with me on these dudes, but I never really warmed to them. Solid act though.


Sepultura - Morbid Visions: The debut from a band that would tear the scene a new one in the 90's, but this album… Well, it's sort of like a thrash trainwreck version of Venom with worse production. Yea, wrap your brain around that. Some people from your elite underground think it the greatest, but I'm calling it a trial run on some better things to come.


Van Halen - 5150: Van Hagar's debut (ha!), and actually a good comeback album after the departure of Dave, but not worthy of the metal list we now have running in 86. Great video with the Blue Angels though.




And now, your top albums of 1986!





Destruction - Eternal Devastation






Oh yes… German thrash at it's finest. So OTT you have to just sit back and stare in awe. Like their countrymen counterparts in the unholy trinity of German thrash, these guys just pull all the stops and shove it down your gullet. This is actually one of the best albums from the trio, since it does the mad axe thing but with production and actual writing depth, while Sodom and Kreator just dropped any pretense of dynamic and crushed you with excess. Not that this is light weight – Oh no. Just a little better rounded in its sense of killing purpose. Pissed off and pissed on, these guys just shred the house down. I'm sure their guitars needed therapy lessons after recording this album…





Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian





Sort of the bastard child of 70's Rush and early Queensryche, this is a pleasant prog-power change up in a year dominated by neck wrecking thrash. Powerful, heavy, a touch of those fat riffs I love out of Trouble or Candlemass, combined with massive song constructions and change ups. Maybe a little to much meandering Yes in there as well. I really believe that if this band would have been a little closer to the ‘Ryche for the 80's, and less 70's prog they would have been a runaway success. Not that it matters, just saying how trends worked in the 80's – Still a great album.




Flotsam and Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver





Fun little album here, basically your typical Bay Area^TM thrash meets the street mosh of NY punk production values and attitude. Sort of Exodus covering Destroyer, with a hangover. Probably to maniac to be on the list, but there is a certain charm to the honest mess that admits they're in the house to destroy the place along with the binge and purge.




Kreator - Pleasure to Kill





Metallica was sharpening their thrash chops and making the riffs meaty, while Slayer was ripping you apart with speed. Kreator followed the simple philosophy that thrash was fine on its own and just found ten ways from Sunday to kick your ass with it. Pure, unadulterated, in your face till you bleed thrash; light on production, and everything else because we're to busy thrashing. Get the point? In case you didn't they showed up to beat the hell out of your little brother as well. Like the rest of the unholy trinity of German thrash, this is not exactly accessible thrash like Metallica was putting out (relatively speaking). This was the new frontier of the underground, so single minded that only a hardcore metal fan could love it. But that is the secret charm, the unquestionable tunnel vision that says thrash till you drop, then you get up and do it again. Probably one of the greatest pure thrash albums most people have never heard. Put the headphones on, turn it up, and keep the breakables away.




Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus





Man oh man… In an era when heavy metal was starting to focus on the metal with speed and thrash, here comes the debut from Candlemass that takes metal old school and turns up the heavy. Thick, fat riffs that crunch everything in a radius zone of destruction, this takes the fledgling doom sounds of Sabbath and runs epic all over the soundscape. Like their partners in the birth of doom, Trouble, the philosophy is "Why hit them 100 hundred times when you can hit them 10 times with 10 times the strength?" Then with that simple mega-riff theory of metal mastery they take the time to build headbanging rhythms into that weight. Add in lead man Langquist's epic and almost operatic (in a stage performance sort of way) vocals along with band founder (and writer) Leif Edling massive riff work and you have one of the grandest one-two punches to be delivered by a metal band. Part soaring of the heavens, part crypt delving; light from above and the darkness of a grave; a heavy head banging affair that is beautiful in its mastery of art. There is simply no way to get around it – This is an awesome album.




King Diamond - Fatal Portrait





He of the face paint and falsetto departs Mercyful Fate for a solo career, even if this is like a polished and logical evolution of Fate anyways. Add to that is is a distilled and purified take on Diamond's view of mankind as epic pawn of a nightmare world. Interestingly, the sound is way ahead of its time, a sort of gothic and proto-black metal, the King himself howling tales of mystery and imagination fit for a Steven King novel gone horribly wrong. Tight band too, heayy riff and lead/solo work makes you realize Kind Diamond really is a band, and not just the man with back up. Very cool, and add the ghoulish one himself and you have a fine institution that will only get better over the next several albums.




Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Trilogy





Sweden's favorite axe-god. The shredder who's playing is only out paced by his ego, but with chops like this who really is keeping score. You have to hand it to the man, taking the metal guitar muse and wrestling it seamlessly into the frame of classic music marvels is not only the kind of thing we never saw coming, but hardly ever replicated. How many people can say they created their own subgenre plus be one of the few to occupy such a specific nitch in music? It's really amazing when you just look at it. Is this musical masturbation at it's most ridiculous burnt edges? Or is it technical beauty at the alter of guitar greatness. Technical math or classical harmony? It's Yngwie, and either you like him or you don't. Either way, he's added a lot of gravitas to a music scene better known for makeup, leather chaps, furry loincloths, and kids running at each other.

Not that that is a bad thing…




Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?





Big Dave's debut Killing is my Business… And Business Is Good was a total case of anger management spilled through unconventional and technical chaos, all loosely bound to thrash and several other laws of physics. Here, he actually applies song structures and admits he likes a good hook, but the secret is he still manages to keep everything else also. This makes Peace Sells… an absolute classic, a combination of chaos and order, technical ripping solos and memorable rhythms, anger with purpose, and the album that really launched Metallica's fired guitarist into orbit for a run that would be long and hard. Eventually Mustaine would have a career just as illustrious, and amazingly today more credible in the metal community. It all started here. Next to the immortal left hand of God called Rust In Peace, this album sees the most tracks culled live, and for good reason: It just kicks major ass. Punk-anarchy meets technical shredding meets hooks a mile wide and… Well just check it out. This is one of the top albums of the Megadeth catalog and should be on any metal lovers want list.

We've had this discussion regarding a want list. You started yours… Right? Chop-chop guys. I'm doing these columns for a reason!




Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin





Oh yes… The Oz-Man cometh. This was really a signature album for 80's Osbourne, and probably his biggest outside of No More Tears. His band is tight and smoking, as he rips through classics as a man hell bent and back in his prime. Actually, I'll be honest, there are a number of Ozzy albums I like better, several of which go against the grain of popular convention, but this is solid and highlights metals favorite showman at a time metal was coming into its own, so here we are. One of the questionable albums I'll put on here, but this is a surreal moment of history, or maybe it's just nostalgia, that makes this an essential spring time album to pull out. Maybe that's the secret of Ozzy himself, that no matter how you turn his albums critically inside and out, they are infectious and win you over in the end. I can think of no better way to kick off the first few warm days of spring than pop this into the deck (there's a reference for you!) and blast it out the windows while driving to work. Sometimes you just need to have fun and sing along.

Or air guitar and play drums if you are inclined – Just be careful doing all at the same time while driving. Especially with that spiked slurpy along for the ride. Good times.




Slayer - Reign in Blood





And here we have it. The shot heard around the underground, and the call of arms to prepare for the metal revolution in the 90's. Oh yea, the revolution was coming. Commercial metal would meet its inevitable end, to be put out of its misery by grunge. Leaders of the genre, like Metallica would move on by the mid-90, but metal was ready. The underground was a lean, mean killing machine, and it really got its start in 1986 with Reign in Blood.

Slayer, already kings of speed and neck breaking thrash of the lowest order, wrote the ultimate piece on the subject here. Speed for the sake of speed, riffs firing off like glass shards out of a double barrel shotgun, this is metal set to 10 and phasers set to kill. Thirty short minutes that rewrote what metal could be and ultimately told where it would go. This album isn't short, it's just a longer 60 minute album crammed through your senses at twice the speed.

Black Sabbath created the chunk of iron heavy metal was made of, and Deep Purple Plugged it in. Judas Priest sharpened it into a stainless steel weapon of war. Metallica turned that weapon into a double barreled killing machine.

Slayer said screw it and napalmed the target, and it rained blood thereafter.





Metallica - Master of Puppets





I decided to kick this one off with my original write-up on the album:

And here we are, the most popular of all that is Metallica. Considered by many to be the best of the band's catalog, and by a good chunk of the population, the greatest metal album ever made. I hate to buck the status quo, because while I do love this album I also think it takes second place to Ride the Lightning. In fact, I refer to this as Ride the Lightning v2.0. Why? Well, let's look at the track "themes" for both albums:

• 1. Opening speed scorcher


• 2. Title track


• 3. Methodical cruncher


• 4. Ballad that cranks up at the end


• 5. Side 2 opener: Killer thrash-neckbreaker


• 6. Crunchy riff monster


• 7 and 8. Here is were the band switches the instrument from last to second to last, then closes Master with another speed-wreck banger.

So Master copies Ride until the last two tracks, where the band does change the theme (for the better actually). This may be nit-picking, and I'm sure I'll get many a howling fan saying the band was just improving on a winning idea to make the greatest album ever, but I can't shake the image of the band following a formula – Even if it was to polish things up, make some great crunchy riffs, and in effect delver a scorching album that thrashed the simple conventions of what a metal band should be. Ride the Lightning deserves more props than what it gets for being groundbreaking, is all I'm saying, for its originality and edgier (read not as polished) sound.

With that out of the way, let's discuss the good, for there is still a whole lot of good in what I still consider to be a Top 25 all time metal album (that sounds like a great column idea). This record takes the essence of Ride the Lightning and shines them with better production, sharpens the edges of the leads, and fattens the riffs, all into a weapon of concussive proportions. "Battery" is simply one of the best speed monsters ever scorched into vinyl, only to be out down on the speed meter by album closer "Damage Inc". The title track, while a little lengthy, will make you and your unborn children headbang. Yes, it's that good. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is the ballad that again rips at the end, it combines haunting lyrics and atmosphere into thrashes answer to a Steven King mental-bender nightmare. "Disposable Heroes" delivers you into the war torn front lines of shred, and props need to go out to instrumental "Orion", which is also a bit to lengthy buy makes up for it in style and atmosphere.

So don't let my initial grandstanding on Ride The Lightning degrade this album, for it is many shades of awesome. There is a reason it's held in such high regard by the general population, and you may very well find yourself agreeing with them. My only contention is that this loses the tie breaker to the previous album, but that's no loss when you consider the bands first four albums are all jewels in the crown of kings.

But where does this place this album in history? Well history is written by the victors as they say, and Metallica obviously won the popular vote on this one. A lot of people in the metal scene can point to other bands that did thrash first or pure thrash better, but the fact is that this continued Metallica's crash course with destiny and dragged the underground scene into prominence. In half a decade the floor would drop out on the bankrupt commercial metal scene, but metal would itself carry on thanks to the huge influence of the underground and albums like Master of Puppets during these years. The band split the landscape in 84 with Lightning, and really defined the movement, but here the band popularized it. Don't give me any business about the Black Album being a bigger success, that was a cross over album designed to appeal to a wider audience – This was designed to perfect the sound Ride The Lightning started, ultimately defining heavy metal in the future. This was still the underground and the land of extreme in the 80's, even if it's hard to imagine it that way now.

We've highlighted a number of bands now that was starting to influence what would be the coming subgenres of metal. Bands like Slayer, of course, played a huge part in the development of heavy metal and would ultimately influence many bands of today, but that was after the industry standards like Metallica went to more commercial ground (Load anyone). And that is the point; Metallica didn't define subgenres, but influenced everyone in metal and out. They were the kings for a brief few years precisely because they became the face of heavy metal, something easy to forget after the last 15 years. Metallica had to do the same thing that Priest and NWOBHM did for metal, and that is advancing it to its next evolutionary step.

The underground had asserted itself, and wasn't going away. When Metallica moved on, the underground was still there with the next generation ready to carry the flag into heavier, brutal, and powerful terrain. But that is another story…



Encore

From here metal was off and running wild. Growing, evolving, big things to come; the rise, fall, and rise again of the subgenres.

Next week we'll take a break from the years. There is a number of odd to great albums that many people have never heard of that need time. Think of it as a special edition for those bands that were just to obscure to have an impact, or maybe didn't qualify for various reasons. Plus one or two I missed in the last two months. So next week we'll take another look back at the 70's and 80's, through the years we mentioned, and talk about some great cult classics from the underground. I'll give you a hint, the first is named after a Lord of the Rings reference and another has a cover I won't be able to post.

See you in seven!


Final Thoughts

Remember, heavy metal survives through natural selection – Darwin takes care of the rest.

Keep it real and play it on 10.