Shadow encouraged me to shorten my list. A top-25, I had fun making it. It was difficult too. I can fully recommend each of these records. This can also be seen as an "against the grain"-list. I don't want to copy-paste the often cited albums from been-done-to-death-lists. Yes, I
do love
Heaven and Hell and other classic and influentual albums which I've left out (and which are often 20+ years old). Instead of continuously overemphasizing these renowned works, I rather focus on a few other obscured (not in the least because of these ever repeated lists), forgotten albums which I find at least as strong.
Enough raving, here goes the list, done chronologically, plus a little description:
Forostar's essential metal albums - Part one
1. Judas Priest – Sin After Sin (1977)
Filler? None. I think I'd give every track (besides Last Rose of Summer) 4 or 5 stars. This album features excellent drums of Simon Philips who was only 19 at the time of recording. “Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest” is special to me because of the harmonies in the mid-part, and I think this is the first real speed/power metal kind of song ever created. This mid-piece is really the basis of the prime-elements in Helloween's music. “Starbreaker” has a cool guitar riff, “Dissident Aggressor” I like because of its intense aggression, the vocals, the riffs. Last, but not least, an honourable mention for “Here Come The Tears”. What an emotion, what a melodies, what a build-up and what a vocals. Such deep and low vocals (check with headphones how it goes from left to right and back) and later high ones. Very impressive.
2. Samson – Head On (1980)
Not an instant classic, I guess more people would like the more straightforward
Shock Tactics, but I prefer this one. It has a lot variety, some nice hooky riffs and there’s a lot of weird stuff going on. Quite an adventurous mix of melodic and heavy stuff.
3. Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)
A landmark album with a superb combination of excellent musicianship and songwriting. This is the only Rush album with all songs being very strong. Besides the stable and subtle playing of Neil Peart, the production of his drums is done nicely as well. His patterns are so iconic that I could listen to these while erasing the rest of the music from my mind. You could see this album (and also its predecessor
Permanent Waves) as Rush's move from very progressive music towards more compact and catchy music.
4. Dio – The Last In Line (1984)
I like this album better than Holy Diver, maybe because it’s got “Egypt”, my favourite Dio song, but it also contains “We Rock” and the beautiful title track. I also like the shorter songs and Vivian Campbell’s typical guitar solo’s are a treat for the ears.
5. Iron Maiden – Live After Death (1985)
Maybe
Powerslave is my favourite Maiden studio album, but since I wanted to pick two, I decided to do SIT (see below) and this one. A pretty good compromise because it still contains “Rime..”, “Powerslave” and many other great tracks.
6. Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time (1986)
Not a timeless album, but really something of that time. Still I think that makes it extra special. On this album Adrian brought the best out of himself. He delivered three excellent tracks, which had more of a melancholic feel than most other Maiden songs. The sound on this album really does it for me. What I like about the production is the drum sound which seems to blend so well with ‘Arry's bass and the rest of the music. There’s a big chance that Nicko’s playing and his drum sound might influence my total appreciation for
Somewhere in Time. Like on
Powerslave we can hear that Adrian does a lot of different things than Dave. There’s so much melody on this album and the production fits perfectly to that. All studio versions of these songs I like better than all the live versions I have ever heard. This says enough about how special this album is, doesn't it?
7. Helloween – Keeper Of The Seven Keys – part 1 (1987)
I guess when this album came out, the term power metal didn’t exist yet, but this sure was the start of the genre, which took another “wave” when Hammerfall released there debut album. I do not like a lot of copycats in this genre, and personally I think it’s hard to top Helloween’s exquisite cocktail of fast songs with its fast harmonies and excellent vocals. I like 1 better than 2. It is much shorter but I find it has a smaller amount of weaker tracks.
8. Slayer - South Of Heaven (1988)
South of Heaven I regard as Slayer's best album and “Ghosts of War” as their best song. Albie agrees with me.
I remember reading an interview in which Kerry King said that this was the only (or first) album for which they really prepared the songs well before entering the studio. It shows. I particulary like the aggressive riffs and drum patterns (especially the breaks). The sound is kind of dry but you hear everything really well. These drums are very prominent in the mix, but just like on
Moving Pictures, here it’s also cool to follow the master, in this case Mr. Dave Lombardo.
9. Black Sabbath - Headless Cross (1989)
Tony Martin did 5 studio albums with Black Sabbath. I like them all very much.
Headless Cross I find the best. This album keeps you at the edge of your seat, from the first moments, when you can hear the sissing pits of hell till the dying seconds of “Nightwing”, an excellent atmospherical track featuring several guitar solos (including an acoustic one) and a really nice vocal melody.
I remember, when I bought this album in Paris, that I played it non-stop on repeat in the train on the way back to Holland. From then on I knew that I had to get all Black Sabbath albums.
10 Running Wild - Death Or Glory (1989)
This German band always got trashed by Aardschok (Dutch metal magazine), every album got a shit review. I really don’t know what the problem was, especially when I listen to some classic albums.
Death or Glory is my favourite. Really nice guitarwork, and vocals as well. On this album Rolf Kasparek still reached some excellent high notes. At times he sounds like Blaze but then with a higher range. Many strong tracks, the excellent epic “The Battle of Waterloo” included.
11. Judas Priest – Painkiller (1990)
Next to Maiden, the only band which gets two albums in my list.
Painkiller is the best combination of aggression & melody ever. The riffs, the solos, the vocals, the song material, it's spellbinding. I advise everyone to hear this album with headphones as well. Those guitars on the left and right side are interesting to follow.
12. Gamma Ray - Sigh No More (1991)
This is, I admit, a weird pick. Gamma Ray is known for their typical (sometimes happy) power/heavymetal songs and they actually made quite some nice albums in that style. However, I still choose this album, which is closer to my heart. It is a darker album, but also less “in your face”-metal. You could call it atmospherical hardrock with a certain tension which appeals to me. The production isn’t the best but nevertheless the performances and the mood realy grabbed me at the first listening.
More than a few songs are less breathtaking, but the opener “Changes”, the semi-ballad “Father and Son”, the epic “Dreamhealer” and the uplifting “The Spirit” are damn good. Maybe the album could have been better if the band had focussed on the more serious and darker mood, and had left out the more simple and banal tracks. Still I find it a special record, which should not go unmentioned in my list.
13. Gorefest – False (1992)
The band’s most energetic record. I’ll never forget the day that I saw them live for the first time. The first band with a grunter I ever saw. And what a powerful vocals, what a drummer I witnessed. Amazing strength on stage. This record features a lot of the band’s strongest songs and is an instant death metal classic. The band broke up last year, but the drummer Ed Warby (internationally also known for his work with Arjen Lucassen) is still highly productive in other bands. The lyrics are interesting, because they are not the typical you would expect from a death metal band.
