Unknown Soldier

1985

1984 had been one of the great years in metal, a year that had been chocca with both classic and defining metal albums, but sadly though 1985 would pale in comparison. Since starting this journal most of the years have been consistently strong, but obviously one or two in the mid 1970s had seen the overall quality drop a notch or two despite having some quality albums. 1985 though probably ranks as the weakest so far for a number of reasons 1) None of the established ‘big’ bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Van Halen and the Scorpions to name just a few released any studio albums. 2) All the other metal bands that released quality albums in 1983 and 1984 seemed to release inferior or watered down versions in 1985, step forward Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Dokken and Kiss who were all bands that fitted this description perfectly. Sadly though many of these bands would end up selling even more than they had done so before, showing how most of these bands were now pandering towards the masses in terms softer sound and slick videos. 3) One of metal’s most exciting and driving forces over the last few years had been glam metal, sadly most of these bands were now content to tow the commercial line with inferior releases as well. There are some bands of course that I’ve placed in points 2 and 3 that did put out some good albums and those have made the top 20. 1985 though as a year, was quite simply saved by the new ‘extreme metal’ genres of thrash, speed and death, all these bands didn’t give a **** about pandering to the masses and were still contented at this stage to continue putting out the type of metal that they believed in. In fact the only compromise that most of these bands would entertain over the coming years, would be improved production which for me was a big bonus anyway. Extreme metal bands (mostly thrash) were without doubt the saviours and flagbearers of what was still ‘new metal’ in 1985 and they achieved this without the genre’s biggest band Metallica even releasing a studio album in 1985. But the genre did welcome back the likes of Slayer and introduced us to classic debuts from both Megadeth and Exodus, and therefore it’s no surprise that at least 12 albums in this year’s top 20 have either a thrash, speed or death label attached to them. This is also the very first year where there was no obvious no.1 album either, because most years I always knew which two or three albums would be the ones fighting for top spot, but this year the best albums of which there were about six, all seemed to be about the same level which was top 10 standard rather than a top 3 level, but in the end these albums all kind of just fell into place anyway. Finally here’s a rundown of albums that didn’t make the top 20 and most of these were guilty of issuing out watered down versions of what they had released in 1983 and 1984: Kiss, Ratt, Yngwie Malmsteen, Venom, Armoured Saint, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Dokken, 220 Volt, Trance, Trouble, Gravestone, a number of NWOBHM acts here and Black ‘n’ Blue. Other bands though did put out something better than they had done over previous years like Saxon, AC/DC and a rekindled Aerosmith but still couldn’t make the cut this year.

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William_the_Bloody

Yes on Helix, I can't vouch for the whole album but Rock You was a huge song in Canada, I was only in Elementary school at the time, but much like Were not gonna take it ,you couldn't get away from it.

I agree with you on Motley Crue, a lackluster album and Home Sweet Home generally marks the turning point of glam metal from rock to pop.

Sad to see AC/DC left off the list though, one of the few worthwhile Brian Johnson releases, I suppose we will not see them until the Razor's Edge now.

Finally, I'm surprised (Somewhat pleasantly) that you left Mr. I can drive 55 of the list for 84, considering you have publicly endorsed the unspeakable! (Ou812)

Unknown Soldier

The album with "Rock You" is somewhat average, but it's the album before that No Rest for the Wicked that is their best imo.

I like Sammy Hagar a lot with both Montrose and Van Halen, but I'm very meh on most of his solo albums even though I've featured some in this journal. "I Can't Drive 55" is a fun song and largely relies on its video which of course was the sort of thing that MTV liked at the time.

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Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
Spreading the Disease is no better or worse than many of the albums that missed out on this year’s list, but as is often the case in these situations, the album gets the nod largely because of its historical importance. I’m not a huge fan of the album either despite the fact that Kerrang called it one of the best thrash albums of the year….. high praise indeed! The importance of this album is nothing defining, but is important in the forming of the commercial aspirations of the new and fledgling thrash sub-genre, as Anthrax would go onto to form the ‘big four’ of thrash metal throughout the rest of the decade and beyond. Their debut album the cliched sounding Fistful of Metal was a forgettable affair, but then a personnel change brought vocalist Joey Belladonna and Frank Bello on bass in and this altered the whole dynamic of the band for the better. These two joined band founder and leader guitarist Scott Ian, along with guitarist Dan Spitz and drummer Charlie Benante, and they would go onto become one of the most popular and most loved of all thrash metal bands (a very large and loyal fanbase here) Musically from the word go, Anthrax despite their potent metal sounding name which was named after a nasty disease, presented a much lighter and humourous form of the ‘brutal thrash metal’ sound than their counterparts and this approach was perfectly represented on the album cover. Also the band were east coast as opposed to the thrash heartland of the west coast and so were largely isolated in their development in that sense and their sound was certainly distinct to many of the other thrash bands out there. Vocally Joey Belladona was a very different animal than say James Hetfield- powerful bark, Tom Araya- satan spawn and Dave Mustaine- crazed maniac and these three had an expected style for thrash metal. Whereas Joey Belladonna on the other hand, was a more traditional vocalist that could’ve fitted in perfectly in any number of metal or rock bands from this period and in some ways kind of reminds me of a more playful Bruce Dickinson and he often reminds me of John Bush of Armoured Saint (both had ultra cool sounding delivery) and therefore it was no surprise that in the distant future that John Bush would replace Joey Belladonna in the band. Joey Belladonna was also the only vocalist here that was a full-time one, as the other three were either guitarists or a bass player first. The album starts with the downward spiralling sound of “A.I.R” which happens to be one of the most engaging tracks on the album as Joey sings ‘welcome to your nightmare’ third track “Madhouse” would be the single from the album, but it received little airplay as it’s video was banned, as it was said that it degraded the mentally insane (they were banning everything back then) later album tracks like "Armed and Dangerous" written when previous vocalist Neil Turbin was in the band is perfectly poised for a vocalist like Joey Belladonna and is musically is the most ambitious sounding on the album and this is followed by the equally impressive "Medusa" one of the best on the album. Spreading the Disease though is littered with a number of average, clichéd and dated sounding tracks even though they're fast like “Lone Justice” “S.S.C/Stand or Fall” “The Enemy” “Aftershock” and "Gung Ho". Overall the band dynamic produces a certain amount of originality with the Anthrax sound, which was characterized by pounding riffs, humorous touches and vocally the band went in for a mix between punk style shouting and the melodic rock delivery approach, something of course that would foreshadow metal over the coming decades. Straight after this album Scott Ian and Charlie Benante would form the spin-off Stormtroopers of Death, whose crossover thrash approach was far superior than what their main band Anthrax had issued out on Spreading the Disease (that album much further up this year’s list) in fact the only classic Anthrax release would be their biggest album the following Among the Living and I’m very much a big fan of that release.

Joey Belladonna- Vocals
Dan Spitz- Guitar
Scott Ian- Guitar
Frank Bello- Bass
Charlie Benante- Drums

Production- Carl Canedy

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The Batlord

I'd agree that the songwriting wasn't totally consistent on Spreading the Disease, and that the sound was still coming together to an extent, but it's still my favorite Anthrax record. It's their most fun, and Joey's way of singing on, and only on that album unfortunately, is just so great to sing along to at the top of your lungs.

And "Armed and Dangerous" is totally underrated. If I could sing one song at a karaoke bar, it would be that one.

Interesting story about that. Back when Metallica came to New York to record Kill 'Em All in 1983, they stayed in Anthrax's rehearsal space, and from what I hear, they also played locally at L'Amour - where Anthrax were sort of like the house band. So I imagine that Metallica probably did have a big influence on Anthrax.

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Unknown Soldier

Not long after this the two bands toured together for a 'European Tour' 1985-1986 and if memory serves me right the tour ended when Cliff Burton died. From what I also read, there was a lot of contact between the two bands in 1984 and 1985, so yer you're probably right there would've been a big Metallica influence on Anthrax.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Dude, the versions of "And Then There Were None" and "Deliver Us to Evil" you posted are from the rerecorded version of the album with Rob Dukes, and are vastly inferior to the brilliance of the originals.

Also, if some irrelevant AOR metal bands are above Bonded By Blood, we're gonna have problems.

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William_the_Bloody

3. Megadeth: Killing is my Business
2. Pentagram: Relentless
1. Slayer: Hell Awaits

The Batlord

I'm down with this, though Pentagram would have been below Exodus.

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Unknown Soldier

Fixed, sometimes this kind of thing happens when I try to go for different video picks so they're not all the same image wise and also if I start a song and hear better sound I put it instead.

Nope, not this year.

Also you need to update the album index

Two of those three are here and one is in an add-on section

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History