Unknown Soldier

Well it's not on the list but I'm going to include it along with Hellhammer as an extra. Celtic Frost and Mercyful Fate though are on the list, as are Venom.

You were in military school?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
Dokken’s debut Breaking the Chains had been a wimpy sounding affair to say the least, but luckily by the time of their second album Tooth and Nail the band had beefed things up to a more respectable level. Glam metal is often also known both hair metal and sleaze metal, but it also has another name in lite metal. The last title here is probably perfect for a band like Dokken, who at this time were a fringe glam metal band anyway. Dokken were not only offering the lightest form of metal around at this time (even some AOR bands were putting out heavier sounding material than Dokken) but their image was also 'lite glam' in style, meaning that they were not too far away from the general rock look and this style between music and image was often a sure way of success circa 1984 to 1985 for a lot of these bands. There were indeed a number of bands that churned out this style around this time and some are even higher on this year’s list and Dokken are here not because this album is a classic, but for the fact that it has a collection of consistently strong melodic tracks that have been geared up to sell, making Tooth and Nail a surprisingly solid and enjoyable affair and one of the most consistent sounding metal albums of the year. The history of the band is much like that of Ratt (in fact Juan Croucier had been in both bands) The band had been around in one form or another since the mid-1970’s and back then they had operated under the name of the Don Dokken Band, and with the exception of band leader Don Dokken, the early members soon went onto play in other west coast metal bands like Quiet Riot, Ratt and Great White etc, with only Don Dokken remaining ever present. This seventies line-up actually put out an EP in 1979 Back in the Streets and was produced by Michael Wagener, but it never saw the light of day until 1989. The rise of Dokken had been a touch and go affair and their links with German producer/engineer Michael Wagener had sent them to Germany to work on their debut album Breaking the Chains and whilst there the band name had been changed to just Dokken. The band also worked with Accept and operated as studio musicians, also band leader Don Dokken had nearly replaced Klaus Meine in the Scorpions. The Scorpions at this time had been recording one of their biggest selling albums in Blackout when Klaus Meine’s vocal chords gave out and Don Dokken was pencilled into replace him. A strange choice really as Don Dokken’s low key voice was a world aways from the powerful nasal style of Klaus Meine, luckily though Kalus Meine recovered and Don Dokken just provided backing vocals on the album. The album Breaking the Chains was remixed for the American market but still remained a weak affair. By the time of Tooth and Nail, the band had finally nailed down their sound and the line-up which now consisted of Don Dokken-Vocals, George Lynch-Guitar, Jeff Pilson-Bass and Mick Brown-Drums and the crucial element was added in producers Tom Werman and Roy Thomas Baker, who were both guaranteed to get the album selling millions of copies. The creeping intro of the George Lynch penned “Without Warning” quickly leads into the album’s title track “Tooth and Nail” which is highlighted by the lightening playing of George Lynch who is probably the star turn on the whole album. Third track is the clichéd sounding single “Just Got Lucky” but who cares as it’s a great lucky sounding song. By the time of “Heartless Heart” the album has more or less laid out its structure and you know how the rest of the album is going to sound, which is basically rocking pop-tinged melodic metal at its lowest temperature but it’s still great ear candy and “Don’t Close Your Eyes” “Bullets to Spare” "Turn on the Action" and the power ballad "Alone Again" all fit neatly here. The best two tracks though come later on in the album and these are the Kiss sounding “When Heaven Comes Down” and is probably Dokken at their heaviest. The second is the classic single “Into the Fire” which is reminiscent in places of 90125 era Yes. Tooth and Nail went Platinum in the USA and despite being released in September 1984 it achieved most of its exposure and sales the following year in 1985. The band embraced MTV with the singles “Into the Fire” “Just Got Lucky” and “Alone Again” but it was really the final song here, which was a power ballad that really got the band selling. Throughout 1984 and 1985 the band would open for the likes of Judas Priest, AC/DC, Dio and a flagging but still popular Aerosmith. In any case the band were here to stay despite constant problems between Don Dokken and George Lynch and would go onto to release their biggest sellers throughout the rest of the 1980s.

Don Dokken-Vocals
George Lynch-Guitar
Jeff Pilson-Bass
Mick Brown-Drums

Production- Tom Werman/Roy Thomas Baker

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

Ah Dokken, I remember them being buried on the 4th page of many a metal magazine in the latter 80's They just always seemed to fall short of greatness, but before WASP ouch! Clean vocals doesn't equate to more talent.

Anyways its your journal not mine and I'm enjoying every minute of it, cheers

Unknown Soldier

They were always that kind of band, no matter how hard they tried, mega status was always just out of their reach.

I never said it did, just that the songs on the Dokken album are more consistent.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

*refuses to bitch about Dokken getting on list over Bathory no matter how much it galls him*

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Unknown Soldier

At least listening to Dokken leaves you feeling happy.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
There are a couple of bands on this year’s list, that seemed totally oblivious to what was going on in metal around this time and one of those band’s was certainly Trouble from Aurora, Illinois. The band had no special interest in thrash or hair metal (even though they adeptly blend in some thrashy touches across the album) but instead were dedicated disciples of the doomy meanderings of Ozzy era-Black Sabbath, who had laid down the roots of doom metal on mythical tracks like “Black Sabbath” “Electric Funeral” and “Into the Void” tracks which all served as a blueprint for doom metal. Since this era though, the slow pounding metal which would become known as doom metal had literally stagnated as a growing sub-genre in the 1970s (check out my ‘In the Shadow of Sabbath’ sections) and it was largely down to American bands like Pentagram to keep the doom flag flying and they didn’t even get their first album out till 1985, years after they had originally formed. In the meantime British band Witchfinder General had put out what could be coined the ‘definitive’ doom metal album during the NWOBHM period and despite being a great album, Death Penalty for me always felt like a really great Black Sabbath knock-off recording rather than an innovative affair. Now Psalm 9 the debut album by Trouble is not exactly an album that I would go mad about, for the simple reason that doom metal as a sub-genre needs to be really good to consistently hold my interest. Trouble though have made this year’s list for the simple reason, that they have put out a doom metal album that at least tries to be innovative and not a standard Black Sabbath copy track for track. The album also makes the list at the expense of fellow doom metal pioneers Saint Vitus from Los Angeles, who also put out their debut album the same year, but the Trouble debut is the tighter album of the two and for that reason makes the list. The band had already appeared on the Metal Blade compilation albums and Metal Blade headman Brian Slagel would be on hand to produce the album. Needless to say the album gets off to a familiar sounding Black Sabbath start on the 6 plus minute “The Tempter” before embarking on an addictive sounding galloping section, singer Eric Wagner sings ‘I am the tempter ruler of hell, bringer of evil beware’ and the song shifts back and forth between its ultra-slow pounding and galloping sections. “Assassin” is one of the faster tracks, but the dynamics of the song sorely expose the scratchy vocals of Eric Wagner. Third track “Victim of the Insane” is the best on the whole album and would do prime-era Black Sabbath proud with its dark sludgy tone and menacing King Crimson/Flower Travellin’ Band vibe. Track four I have issues with “Revelation (Life or Death)’ as it sounds too blatantly like a Sabbath rip-off and following track “Bastards Will Pay” keeps the album pace on the higher side. By the time of “Fall of Lucifer” I’m wondering is this more of a thrash album than a doom one, as some of these songs are pretty fast and wouldn’t be out of place on a thrash album and the instrumental “Endtime” is a good song that mirrors Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” . The title track "Psalm 9" closes the original album and its mid-tempo incorporate all the aspects of the band from the previous songs and dishes up a slightly more convoluted effort, and the CD version of the album comes with the Cream cover of "Tales of Brave Ulysses". Overall the dark sludgy tone, heavily down-tuned guitars, the abrasive nature of the band and the Tony Iommi inspired driven riffs make Psalm 9 a worthy album, but on the other side of the coin I really don’t dig Eric Wagner’s vocals, as his voice is too high and scratchy, and his vocal execution sloppy at times. Psalm 9 is considered a landmark doom metal album, largely because it was one of the first doom metal albums to consistently maintain a plodding monolithic sound across the whole album and at the same time manage to sound contemporary. Also in my opinion the band’s material would actually get better as time went by, because when it comes to mid 1980s doom metal Candlemass usually gets my vote.

Eric Wagner- Vocals
Bruce Franklin- Guitar
Rick Wartell- Guitar
Sean McAllister- Bass
Jeff Olson- Drums

Production- Brian Slagel

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Happy when it's over.

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Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
As with the band Trouble, Armored Saint were another one of those bands that seemed oblivious to the current metal landscape in 1984, as the band were just content with their traditional approach to metal. Like Trouble they had got their break on Brian Slagel’s Metal Blade label and had appeared on the Metal Blade compilation albums and in 1983 had put out a three-track EP Armored Saint, before signing a bigger deal with Chrysalis Records for their debut album. The band was formed just a few years earlier by the Sandoval brothers and they were soon joined by Dave Prichard, Joey Vera and the talented vocalist John Bush. With the band being from LA they would’ve been surrounded by plenty of glam metal influences, which apparently had no effect on the band and all credit to them for doing their own thing which was traditional metal. The band had taken their inspiration from the film Excalibur which they had watched whilst stoned (probably the best way to watch it) and chose their band name, their musical direction and also the inspiration for March of the Saint album cover. Like Trouble the band had little interest in either thrash or glam metal at this time and were far more interested in updating what they saw as the sagging fortunes of traditional metal, which had been on the slide since the fall of the NWOBHM just a year earlier. Whilst Trouble were busy trying to update the doom elements of Black Sabbath’s work, Armored Saint were occupying themselves with carrying traditional metal forward in the most contemporary way possible. March of the Saint is one of my personal favourite metal albums of the year and could equally have appeared much higher on this year’s list, given the small differences in terms of quality between the albums placed 10 to 20, but as the album has some basic tracks, I've decided to slot it here. The album starts in the most anti-thrash/hair metal way prossible with an orchestrated guitar intro for the title track “March of the Saint” before John Bush’s vocals give us a fairly typical NWOBHM style track and overall a fairly standard cut. But things go up a notch or two on the seriously cool sounding “Can U Deliver” which is exactly the kind of swaggering metal that I really love and a track that John Bush was born to sing. The band show their speed metal credentials on “Madhouse” where they’re particularly adept at playing faster material. Now by the time they get to "Take a Turn" I'm seriously having an orgasm as this song is just so amazingly cool and mature sounding for such a new band. Following track "Seducer" sounds like something that Judas Priest could've put out and is saved by some seriously cool vocals and playing, and the following "Mutiny on the World" follows the same line. Track seven "Glory Hunter" with its chorus does true justice to the album cover and that track is followed by the edgy "Stricken By Fate". "Envy" and "False Alarm" close out the album and the former is the stronger track of the two, despite the greater diversity on the latter track. Highlights of the album are guitarists Dave Prichard and Phil Sandoval who provide some serious sounding driving riffs across the album, along with vocalist John Bush who would later go onto feature in Anthrax and he provides the band with a cool swaggering vocal style, not too dissimilar to Steven Tyler who he kind of sounds similar to. Also of note here, is that this is the eighth album that I’ve reviewed on this year’s list and seven of those albums have all been debut sets, which certainly shows that the genre was going from strength to strength and great bands were constantly popping up and offering real diversity at the same time. Finally Armored Saint were a true gem of American metal that never quite got the credit that they deserved and they're sure to appear again on these lists.

John Bush- Vocals
Dave Prichard- Guitar
Phil Sandoval- Guitar
Joe Vera- Bass
Gonzo Sandoval- Drums

Production- Michael James Jackson

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

Ah very good, Can u Deliver was always a killer track!