Unknown Soldier

I know the name but hell I can't think what they sound like.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Plankton

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See location...

Unknown Soldier

Well certainly prefer the vocalist on the first video, but the second was only 3 mins, so I can't make an exact comparison. Btw the band have a cool name.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Just to let anybody who reads this regularly that for the next three weeks I'm going to be super busy, so I'm not sure how often it'll be updated.

Anyway for 1983 there will be a slight format change, in that all the albums in the top 20 will be in the same style like the albums from 20-11 on the list. These slightly shorter reviews should when things get back to normal, allow me to write these reviews quicker and get through years quicker.

Btw I started writing my 'Down on the Slab' album and realised it came out in 1983 and not 1982, so pulled it and will keep it for 1983 and yes it's really crappy So there will be no album in this section for 1982.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Hurry up and put Kill 'Em All at #1. I got things to do.

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Unknown Soldier

It won't be number 1 but certainly top 3-5 (even though the list has been done properly yet)

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

1983 was a natural continuation of 1982 as far as half the scene were concerned, which is fairly logical considering metal’s prominent position as a music genre by this time. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Van Halen ruled the metal roost, but they would now be joined by Def Leppard largely thanks to the release of their Pyromania album, which went off in the USA like a nuclear bomb! For those who don’t know it, it not only became one of the biggest selling metal albums of its time, but one of the biggest of the year for any genre! Metal’s success at this time could be attained to several factors 1) Its now lengthy history had a huge amount of quality bands behind it of which many were innovators. 2) Metal usually had quality musicans and vocalists, unlike the dubious minions that roamed punk. 3) Along with AOR bands they were fully capable of functioning as arena rock bands and this would fill out arenas. 4) Bands like Iron Maiden brought quality album artwork to the highest level, as this was an age where artwork sold albums. 5) The NWOBHM demonstrated that the genre could give birth to explosive revolutions from within the genre and still strengthen it even further. 6) They were able to embrace MTV when the opportunity came along. 7) Despite the huge commercialism of the genre in certain areas, it always kept its hardcore fanbase. Now all this largely explains the first half of the metal spectrum as mentioned above. The other half for many would actually be more interesting, because metal had finally branched out from its grass roots which had been laid down by bands such as Venom and Manilla Road to name just two, to start embracing what would become known as the extreme metal genres which would splinter into multiple sub-sections with their own identities. Most grass roots bands would certainly owe a debt to the Metallica debut which came out in 1983 and besides being a classic debut, is probably more important for what it would signify as a statement, to a lesser degree the Slayer debut holds a certain amount of importance as well. Also the slowly growing glam metal movement fronted by band’s like Motley Crue and Twisted Sister would finally hit the big time thanks to another band and that was Quiet Riot, who would turn glam metal into an overnight sensation in 1983 largely due to a Slade cover song. Both Motley Crue and Twisted Sister were better bands than Quiet Riot, but it was very much ‘right place at the right time’ for them. Kiss finally demasked on their Lick it Up album, even though they should’ve done it a year earlier on their Creatures of the Night album, which was a stronger album. Finally Dio relased Holy Diver…………… what more can I say, does it get any better than that?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

Ah 1983! I have been waiting for this! This year alone contains three of my all time favourite metal albums & a heapful of my favourite metal songs.


I've been silently reading but up until this year metal sort of seemed in the shadow of the punk underground, after this things would flip.

83 to 87 are the metal years for me, after that the rot started to set in.

Unknown Soldier

I guess most people on this forum, probably start their metal experiences especially with thrash from the 1983 and 1984 period as well. I'll be interested to know if your three favs feature on this year's list. I had a shortlist of nearly 40 albums for the year and had to chuck 20 out !!! The top ten was fairly easy to organize even though the top few places are in dispute, but it was positions 11 to 20 that caused more problems as most of those albums were vying for spots with the 20 or so albums that I eliminated.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

I second this notion!

Lol I know your musical taste Unknown, and I know your going to tick me off by putting Show No Mercy ahead of Kill Em All, the most ultimate stripped down thrash metal album ever made...ever!...in existence!!!!

No pressure though lol , Its all good, I really appreciate all the hard work you put into your thread.

I think 1983 is the Segway into metal for many people because the explosion of Quiet Riot's popularity marks the start of its commercial triumph throughout most of the 80's. That and of course the rise of thrash metal.

No doubt you've probably guessed one of my three favs by now, but I'm not worried about them not being on the list, even though our musical tastes often run in divergent directions (Ie, AC/DC, Iron Maiden ect) I think all three will be in your top 5, with one of them possibly being your number 1!

Of the other albums I like, the only one I could see not making the cut would be Krokus, I can't imagine you snubbing Accept? Yep 1983 is a fantastic year for metal, I'm looking forward to it man!!!