Best ten Classic Heavy/ Power Metal records of each era (besides the "big 6")

Only drawing from stuff I own:

1976 to 1980:
Boston - Boston
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
AC/DC - Back In Black
Rush - A Farewell To Kings
Rush - Hemispheres
Rush - Permanent Waves
Van Halen - Van Halen

Honestly, I’d probably stop there. But if I need to fill it out to 10:

Boston - Don’t Look Back
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz
Rush - Fly By Night

1981 to 1985:
Def Leppard - High ‘N Dry
Dokken - Tooth And Nail
Yngwie Malmsteen - Marching Out
Mötley Crüe - Shout At The Devil
Ratt - Out Of The Cellar
Rush - Moving Pictures
Rush - Power Windows
Scorpions - Love At First Sting
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Van Halen - 1984

1986 to 1990:
Alice In Chains - Facelift
Boston - Third Stage
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Dokken - Back For The Attack
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Gamma Ray - Heading For Tomorrow
Megadeth - So Far, So Good...So What! (self-described as speed metal, not thrash)
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Queensrÿche - Empire

1991 to 1995:
Alice In Chains - Dirt
Dream Theater - Images And Words
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free
Jesus Jones - Perverse
Live - Throwing Copper
Yngwie Malmsteen - The Seventh Sign
Megadeth - Youthanasia
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Queensrÿche - Promised Land

1996 to 2000:
Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Gamma Ray - Somewhere Out In Space
Gamma Ray - Powerplant
Hole - Celebrity Skin
Yngwie Malmsteen - Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra In E Flat Minor Op.1
Nightwish - Oceanborn
Psycho Motel - Welcome To The World
Skyclad - The Answer Machine?
Skyclad - Folkémon

2001 to 2005:
Beatallica - A Garage Dayz Nite
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny Of Souls
Evanescence - Fallen
Gamma Ray - Majestic
Garbage - Bleed Like Me
Live - Birds Of Pray
Lynch Pilson - Wicked Underground
Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Rush - Vapor Trails
Luca Turilli - Prophet Of The Last Eclipse

2006 to 2010:
Halford - Winter Songs
Megadeth - Endgame
Mekong Delta - Wanderer On The Edge Of Time (enough of it isn’t thrash that I’m going to sneak it in here)
Powerwolf - Lupus Dei
Ratt - Infestation
Tool - 10,000 Days

I’d probably stop there, but if I need to round it out:

Powerwolf - Bible Of The Beast
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
Luca Turilli - The Infinite Wonders Of Creation

2011 to 2015:
Ball Noir - Bitter Dreams
Crescent Lament - Elegy For The Blossoms
Leah - Kings & Queens
Operation: Mindcrime - The Key
Powerwolf - Preachers Of The Night
Powerwolf - Blessed & Possessed
Primal Rock Rebellion - Awoken Broken
Queensrÿche - Condition Hüman
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Sweet & Lynch - Only To Rise

2016 to today:
Aegonia - The Forgotten Song
Ball Noir - Lost Serenades
Black Swan - Shake The World
Crescent Lament - Land Of Lost Voices
Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions
Leah - The Quest
Mekong Delta - Tales Of A Future Past
Queensrÿche - The Verdict
Skyclad - Forward Into The Past
Sons Of Apollo - Psychotic Symphony
 
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1991-1995:
Killers - Murder One
Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso
Gamma Ray - Sigh No More
Gamma Ray - Land of the Free
Running Wild - Blazon Stone
Running Wild - The First Years of Piracy
Running Wild - Pile of Skulls
Running Wild - Black Hand Inn
Fight - A Small Deadly Space
Psycho Motel - State of Mind

worthy mentions:
Fight - War of Words
Helloween - Pink Bubbles Go Ape
Helloween - Master of the Rings
Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
Stratovarius - Dreamspace


1996-2000 is probably going to be the most difficult category for me. The era in which I heard the most metal from the time itself. Lots of candidates.
 
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Heavy:

Motörhead - Overkill
Saxon - Wheels of steel
Scorpions - Blackout
Wasp - Wasp
Dio - Last in line
Queensryche - Empire
Crimson glory - Crimson glory
Yngwie malmsteen - Trilogy
Savatage - Streets

Power:
Stratovarius - Visions
Rhapsody - Dawn of victory
Edguy - Theater of salvation
Angra - Angels cry
Battle beast - Battle beast
Helloween - Keeper of the seven keys II
Gamma ray - Powerplant
Nightwish - Century child
Sabaton - Carolus rex
Sonata arctica - Ecliptica
 
I'll start from 1974 onward:

1974 to 1979:
KISS - Kiss
KISS - Hotter Than Hell
KISS - Dressed To Kill
KISS - Destroyer
KISS - Rock And Roll Over
KISS - Love Gun
Rainbow - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Rainbow - Rising
Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
Scorpions - Lovedrive

1980 to 1989:
DIO - Holy Diver
DIO - The Last In Line
Manowar - Kings Of Metal
Accept - Balls To The Wall
Def Leppard - Pyromania
KISS - Creatures Of The Night
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys: Part I
Saxon - Innocence Is No Excuse
Krokus - Heart Attack
W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.
honourable mentions:

Accept - Breaker and Russian Roulette
KISS - Lick It Up and Asylum
Krokus - Metal Rendez-vous and Headhunter
Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry
Scorpions - Blackout and Love At First Sting
Saxon - Destiny
Whitesnake - Whitesnake
Yngwie Malmsteen - Odyseey

1990 to 1999:
Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
HammerFall - Glory To The Brave
HammerFall - Legacy Of Kings
Saxon - Unleash The Beast
Accept - Objection Overruled
KISS - Revenge
Stratovarius - Destiny
Helloween - Master Of The Rings
Grave Digger - Knights Of The Cross
honourable mention:

Saxon - Solid Ball Of Rock

2000 to 2009:
HammerFall - Renegade
HammerFall - Crimson Thunder
HammerFall - Threshold
HammerFall - No Sacrifice, No Victory
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny Of Souls
Saxon - The Inner Sanctum
Stratovarius - Infinite
Nightwish - Once
KISS - Sonic Boom
Bloodbound - Nosferatu

2010 to 2020:
Grave Digger - Fields Of Blood
Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
HammerFall - (r)Evolution
Accept - Blind Rage
Accept - Blood Of The Nations
U.D.O. - Steelfactory
Sabaton - The Great War
Blaze Bayley - Infinite Entanglement
Bloodbound - Rise Of The Dragon Empire
Beast In Black - Berserker
 
1996-2000:
Helloween - The Time of the Oath
Helloween - Better Than Raw
Bruce Dickinson - Skunkworks
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - Part Two
Virgin Steele - Invictus
Gamma Ray - Power Plant
Blaze - Silicon Messiah
Jacobs Dream - Jacobs Dream
Iron Savior - Unification
Saxon - Unleash the Beast

worthy mentions:
Stratovarius - Episode
Stratovarius - Infinite
Gamma Ray - Somewhere Out in Space
Iron Savior - Iron Savior
Edguy - Kingdom of Madness
Primal Fear - Primal Fear
Grave Digger - Tunes of War
Grave Digger - Knights of the Cross
Nightwish - Oceanborn
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Brainstorm - Ambiguity


2001-2005:
Jacobs Dream - Theatre of War
Tierra Santa - Sangre de Reyes
Tierra Santa - Indomable
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls
Blaze - Tenth Dimension
Blaze - Blood & Belief
Nightwish - Wishmaster
Halford - Resurrection
Halford - Crucible
Nightwish - Century Child

worthy mentions:
Grave Digger - Rheingold
Brainstorm - Metus Mortis


karljant said:
2001 to 2005:
Iced Earth - Gettysburg (1863)
Click to expand...
I wish... Gettysburg is not an album. There are other songs on it and several make it less good imo.



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Ok, technically you are probably right. In music, I never associated the word record with video material though. Always audio (only) albums.
Maybe a language thing. :)
 
Forostar said:
Ok, technically you are probably right. In music, I never associated the word record with video material though. Always audio (only) albums.
Maybe a language thing. :)
Click to expand...
Might be indeed the language thing, Foro.
I always associate the word record with audio only. :-)
 
I would never call a video a record, to me that’s reserved for audio release on vinyl et al, or a general way to talk about an audio release. I might call a video a recording, though, but that’s a little different. I think it’s a case where “just because it’s accurate doesn’t mean it works given societal impressions”.

But “Gettysburg” is fucking awesome regardless.
 
I mean... It features the whole 3 part saga song audio recording. But fair enough... I'll pull something else out.
 
Oh man am I thankful you picked on Gettysburg not being a record! Otherwise I might as well never noticed I missed this beast of an album:

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2006-now:
Blaze Bayley - The Man Who Would Not Die
Blaze Bayley - Infinite Entanglement

So far the state of (my interest in / investigation of) classic/heavy/power metal records of the last 15 years.
 
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Forostar said:
2006-now:
Blaze Bayley - The Man Who Would Not Die
Blaze Bayley - Infinite Entanglement

So far the state of (my interest in / investigation of) classic/heavy/power metal records of the last 15 years.
Click to expand...
Wow, you’re really missing out. At least go listen to Powerwolf’s Lupus Dei, Rush’s Clockwork Angels, and Queensrÿche’s The Verdict...
 
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