GMD Poll: Top Metal(lic) Albums of the 1970s

[Caecius]

To each their own -- nice to see someone value it highly. For me, RR probably has more plays than any Priest album besides SWoD. I wouldn't say RR is better than Sin After Sin or Stained Class, but RR does get more listens.

 

[Bloopy]

Rocka Rolla's in a different world. Just more along the lines of the Sabbath & Budgie stuff that I love. Never Say Die on the other hand is a band getting tired and losing their way/edge.

I may be at odds when it comes to Scorpions too. I really dig the prog/psych angle of their first two albums and just haven't been inclined to even listen to any of their others in full.

 

[Bloopy]

@no country for old wainds How's your list coming along? Would be good to see it by the end of this month.

 

[CiG]

 

[Bloopy]

That wasn't supposed to be funny. I just figured the 24 hour warning he asked for was more dramatic than necessary. But if it takes such an ultimatum to have that special laxative effect on his list-bowels and help him shit out a list, then I'll start writing up the prescription.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i’m nearly ready, just 148 albums left to listen to.

 

[CiG]

That wasn't supposed to be funny.

It's funny because it's cute you wrote month instead of year.

 

[no country for old wainds]

pretty funny you wrote year instead of decade.

 

[CiG]

This place'll be done by then mate.

 

[no country for old wainds]

they were saying that back in 2006, GMD will never die. ill still be here on my zimmer frame.

 

[no country for old wainds]

1. judas priest - sad wings of destiny
2. black sabbath - vol. 4
3. black sabbath - black sabbath
4. judas priest - stained class
   
5. black sabbath – paranoid
   
6. scorpions - taken by force
7. scorpions - in trance
8. judas priest - sin after sin
9. rainbow – rising
10. icecross – icecross
    
11. the hand of doom – poisonoise
    
12. buffalo – volcanic rock
13. mountain – nantucket sleighride
14. flower travellin' band – satori
15. black sabbath - master of reality
    
16. legend – from the fjords
17. rainbow - long live rock 'n roll
    
18. dust - hard attack
19. flower travellin' band – made in japan
20. scorpions – virgin killer

made in japan is the only one that's new to me and may rise or fall accordingly. pretty horrible ranking this after the top 10 or so, not sure how to weigh up fatally uneven albums with amazing peaks (see 16, 17, 18 and 20) vs. more consistent albums that don't hit me like those peaks.

 

[CiG]

they were saying that back in 2006, GMD will never die. ill still be here on my zimmer frame.

Wishful thinking.

 

[Bloopy]

I'll get to work on compiling the results. I'll keep an eye out for any last minute lists or edits up until I start posting them but not expecting any.

I'll count @Wyvern's unranked list from my other thread here as 10 lists is a nice milestone and it doesn't knock any out of the top 20. It does help take care of a tie and give +1 to metal where the vocal is drunk and smoky, the sound is dirty.

 

[Bloopy]

Placeholder, I’ll list some stuff later and stuff

btw Black Sabbath will be all of the top

Oh yeah, forgot you posted @Baroque. Have you got a list to scrape in at the last minute? Sabbath's done pretty damn well already though so not like they need more votes, haha.

 

[Bloopy]

I'll take that as a no. Lay down your hammer and tongs...

#20 Never Turn Your Back on a Friend (1973) by Budgie
37 points from 3 votes

If you're getting some Budgie, be sure to get Never Turn Your Back on a Friend. That's probably their highest quality album. All of their first four albums are great, though.

Get these albums, 'never turn your back on a friend' and 'in for the kill'. They were waaaaaay ahead of their time.

#19 Budgie (1971) by Budgie
37 points from 4 votes

Budgie, having released their first album in '71, I think, would not be a NWOBHM band, imo...but I do consider them as one of the cornerstone bands in the establishment of heavy metal, if you will. Every bit as essential to the developement of the 'heavier' sound as the afore mentioned bands. They also have one of the best all time song titles in 'Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman'.

#18 In Trance (1975) by Scorpions
39 points from 3 votes

Yeah, In Trance is fantastic. It'd probably make my top five of any genre these days.

Yep my favorite Scorpions albums are also from the 70s Roth era. I like 'In Trance' and 'Virgin Killer' the best. The guitarwork on the 'Roth albums' is just great.

in a just world their '70s material would be nearly as popular as priest's.

#17 Deep Purple in Rock (1970) by Deep Purple
40 points from 4 votes

You are joking right? `child in time` is heavy metal? lol

See, Blackmore was a Hendrix fan, his intro to speed king was Hendrix based, as were a few other of his riffs. So, do you think Hendrix was `heavy metal` too???

Deep Purple in Rock is one of the first heavy metal albums ya dumb cunts.

No way.

 

[Bloopy]

#16 Volcanic Rock (1973) by Buffalo
42 points from 4 votes

My favourite Australian album regardless of genre is probably Volcanic Rock by Buffalo. Now that was a great fucking band.

Buffalo: Volcanic Rock.................sticker on Cover of Digipack states "Explosive Australian 70'S Stoner Rock" dunno about that but its classic

#15 Machine Head (1972) by Deep Purple
43 points from 3 votes

Deep Purple were one of the first heavy metal bands, they are one of the founders of the genre and the fact that some of you here still have trouble digesting this is honestly an embarrassment to this forum.

I picked up Deep Purple's Machine Head per TB's advice/raving. And.. I didn't like it one bit. It sounds weak.

#14 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) by Rainbow
47 points from 5 votes

worlds best metel Band
...
You Must Try To listening

 

[Bloopy]

#13 Sabotage (1975) by Black Sabbath
47.5 points from 4 votes

SABOTAGE is another big drop off for me. their production and musicianship remains god tier up to that point but they'd started to become such a tonal grab bag, you can tell there's scant unity between the guys' ambitions anymore and they don't know how to pull that together into a coherent album. they were really lacking economy by that point too, you could chop a couple of minutes off many of the songs and improve them. i'd also argue that the r'n'r/pop-rock/prog tropes littering SABOTAGE were far more commonplace in the mid-'70s than the sound sabbath were doing before, and that a style (or collection of styles) that's considered a mark of maturity and newfound adventure is actually a regression.

Both Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage have their flaws, but the highest points of the latter are preferable to me.

#12 Killing Machine (1978) by Judas Priest
55 points from 5 votes

First place votes: 1​

I mean, British is mindless mediocre fun, sure, but mediocre nonetheless. Killing Machine is just a bit less mediocre, but compared to the great albums from the great bands in similar developing stages, it falls real short.

Killing Machine is kind of shitty as far as Priest is concerned.

I have a hard time finishing that one any more.

I don't ever wanna see a Judas Priest show where Rob Halford doesn't have a moment where he's in his biker gear on the Harley and 'Hell Bent for Leather' gets played.

#11 Stained Class (1978) by Judas Priest
62.5 points from 5 votes

This one stood out above the rest and remains a favorite to this day.

imo, Stained Class was the "most metal" album at its time. Full of aggressive speed-y songs, marching proto-power metal tracks, stripped away a lot of the bluesier elements and has this raw, dry edge to it while still featuring a lot of ideas and mature songwriting.

 

[Bloopy]

#10 Rising (1976) by Rainbow
70.5 points from 8 votes

Dio and the Heaven and Hell album are very good, but there's something eerily magical about those first two Rainbow records that I don't think can be surpassed.

For me is the other way around. "Heaven and Hell" is THE album, "Rising" can be second.

Ritchie Blackmore and Dio coming together was in my opinion the best thing thing to happen to Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. Rainbow was basically proto-power metal. Rising is a 10/10 for me.

#9 Taken by Force (1977) by Scorpions
71.5 points from 6 votes

First place votes: 1​

I really don't care for 80s Scorpions. They're like traditional heavy metal taken to its logical extreme of hollow, polished boredom. But 70s Scorpions is beginning to interest me. Dipped my toe into Fly to the Rainbow, In Trance, Lovedrive, and now Taken by Force is legitimately kicking my ass. "The Sails of Charon" is possibly one of the best 70s metal songs I've ever heard.

Probably controversial

The worst Scorpions album from In Trance to Love at First Sting is actually Taken By Force.

It starts out with the abysmal Steamrock Fever and pretty much never recovers from the weinerish 70s rock vibe the entire album gushes. And I'm fully aware it's 70s rock/metal but the rest of their albums from the timeframe have a much heavier/badass vibe to the music.

#8 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) by Black Sabbath
74 points from 6 votes

has their best and worst material, all within the same song!

The right amount of experimentation

 

[Bloopy]

#7 Overkill (1979) by Motörhead
83.5 points from 8 votes

First place votes: 1​

I'd like to know what in the blue fuck you'd call songs like The Hammer or Overkill's title track aside from speed metal.

Spoiler

#6 Black Sabbath Vol 4 (1972) by Black Sabbath
92 points from 6 votes

First place votes: 1​

Into the Void and Vol 4 are basically the birth of stoner metal/rock imo

Ozzy-era Black Sabbath - Despite the legendary status of almost all of the first eight Black Sabbath records, only Paranoid, Master of Reality and Vol. 4 stand the test of time as albums.

 

[Bloopy]

#5 Black Sabbath (1970) by Black Sabbath
99 points from 6 votes

First place votes: 1​

The consensus is that Black Sabbath's debut is the first "real/full" metal album.

I mean, Sabbath wasn't the most shocking thing ever to my ears, I'd already imbibed in the rawest stuff I could find up to that point with bands like The Sonics, The Stooges, The MC5, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, The Kinks, etc. However, it was something of a seismic shift, because I can't remember knowing how to categorize Sabbath initially other than that they were some sort of super mutation of hard rock. It was like they'd happened upon the secret recipe to the most epic and evil sounding coagulation of sound in musical form.