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


2001 to 2005:
Iced Earth - Gettysburg (1863)
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. :)
 
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. :)
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.
 
Cheers guys. I think karjant may need to remove Gettysburg. *runs in opposite direction of Portugal*
 
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.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Jer
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.
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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