Nice spotlight.
The Warning, at least for me, is one of metal's big watershed moments in the 80's: it was the point where some of the jazzier, "artsy" tendencies touched upon in the late 70's and very early 80's by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath were fleshed out and dialed up to 11 with a healthy dose of
Genesis and
Pink Floyd to boot. And while not perfect ('Before The Storm' is a tad weak as you said), I'd say its the definitive start of progressive metal as a genre. Was any other metal band doing songs like
NM 156 in '84?
James Guthrie was a interesting choice of producer too: his ethereal touch elevates 'No Sanctuary' and 'Roads To Madness' to another level, aided in part via orchestration by the legendary
Michael Kamen.
I'm going to assume
Operation: Mindcrime will probably make your list in '88, but I'd recommend checking out
Rage For Order again at some point too. For a lot of folks, that's where QR really came into their own.
