For appreciating genre-defining albums
By 1985, thrash metal had become its own bona fide style. The new subgenre pushed boundaries of extremity, taking the galloping rhythm and guitar leads from the NWOBHM and combining it with the furious aggression of hardcore punk. Parallel to the growth of Thrash was Speed Meta.
There’s a subset of heavy metal albums that are must listens, albums so masterful and important that they almost transcend the genre itself. No metal journey is complete without listening to them. I’m sure you’ve just thought of a few; Powerslave, Stained Class, Master of Reality, Don’t Break the Oath, etc. Today I’d like to discuss an album that I strongly feel belongs in this category – Artillery’s By Inheritance.
The first three Pentagram albums and the First Daze comp are essential to anybody metalhead’s collection; Day of Reckoning is no exception to the bunch. Excellent album, and at times absolutely stellar.
Fates Warning’s previous work, The Spectre Within, was a masterpiece which essentially set the standard by which most metal – almost certainly all prog metal after it – should frequently aspire to (and often never does). Following up such an album is a tall task for anybody; almost nobody could. Fates Warning weren’t like any other band in metal – not now, and sure as shit not back in the 80’s either – and as such they proved capable of following it up with something even more monumental.
Trouble is the kind of doom band for people who stereotypically bitch about most other doom bands being too slow.
Florida had a small but fairly vital collective of traditional metal bands in the 80’s, despite them being fairly different from each other. You had Nasty Savage, who were on that Slayer gone Mercyful Fate kick; the lean aggressive and bombast of Savatage, etc. There are perhaps others I’m regretfully missing off the top of my head. The point is that Crimson Glory was arguably the best of that small lot – and this album, in particular, deserves to be mentioned alongside the very best of all time.
For any fans of Spanish speaking Heavy Metal, Kraken’s debut is a must listen. Not just because of its great musical qualities, but also how it represented a shining light in the darkest hours for Colombia. RIP Elkin Ramirez, one of the greats of Colombian metal.
I’m sure that there are complaints that I could find about Traveller if I fought hard enough to; I’ve seen some criticisms of the drum production, and I’ve heard that certain tracks are perceived as being a bit less good. I’m too in love to hear any of them; to me, Traveller is perfect, and my only fault with it is that it’s never been reissued and I can’t afford it on vinyl. Traveller is the triumphant attack of heavy metal in every form that I’ve ever wanted heavy metal to be, and it always will be.
Mercyful Fate are great. The End, ~fin~.
The history of Satan is a long and complicated one. Originally formed in 1979, they were musically among the cutting edge of the NWOBHM, but were inundated with quite a few lineup changes, most notably as far as their vocalists go. They ended up changing their name several times over the 80’s – first as Satan, then as the band who did today’s album (Blind Fury), back to Satan for an EP and an album, and then to Pariah for a couple more thrash albums at the end of the 80’s.