GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1981

[no country for old wainds]

8) Spellbound by Tygers of Pan Tang
You'll have to pay if you stay too long, too long in Tyger Bay...

"Tygers Of Pan Tang are probably my #2 band (At least on 'Spellbound' and 'Wildcat', the later shit is sub-par) behind Diamond Head, and their bassist Rocky was a big influence on my playing when I was a little kid." - @The Grimace

"Their first few albums rape your ass." - @Dodens Grav

"Happy to see there's more Tygers fans here. Don't see them being talked about much." - @Krow

"boring overrated band" - @HamburgerBoy

Chosen by:
Krow (#2)
Master_Yoda77 (#3)
TechnicalBarbarity (#5)
Slayed Necros (#5)
Vegard Pompey (#6)
Baroque (#6)
crimsonfloyd (#9)
Atomic Tide (#10)
TOTAL: 42 POINTS

 

[no country for old wainds]

7) Fire Down Under by Riot
Swords and tequila carry me through the fight!

"an american band made a classic NWOBHM album with 'down under' in the title." - @no country for old wainds

"Only Riot album that's worth a damn is Thundersteel. Rest of their shit ranges from shit to mediocre." - @TechnicalBarbarity

"What the fuck were Riot thinking when they chose that weird owl thing for a mascot" - @challenge_everything

"People who don't like Riot album covers can't be my friend." - @Omni

Chosen by:
Slayed Necros (#2)
Talos of Atmora (#3)
HamburgerBoy (#4)
CASSETTEISGOD (#6)
Atomic Tide (#6)
Master_Yoda77 (#7)
RedinTheSky (#7)
crimsonfloyd (#8)
Krow (#9)
RadicalThrasher (#10)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 53.5 POINTS

 

[no country for old wainds]

man it's hard work finding quotes for early riot. talk about riot more i guess.

 

[no country for old wainds]

6) The Nightcomers by Holocaust
Don't need no girl to hold me... I only love my knife!

"probably the most underrated album from the NWOBHM ... i'd say that it's better than everything else that was coming out of that scene at that time." - @TechnicalBarbarity

"Some NWOBHM is too rock n roll-ish for my taste, to be honest. For instance, I decided to check out Holocaust - The Nightcomers, and it didn't go over too well with me because I found it way too rock-ish." - @Life Sucks

"If you doubt this, listen to Death or glory and you will see how BRUTAL this Irish band was..." - @Danimal_77

"i think they may be the most thrashy of all the early NWOBHM bands, and metallica worshipped them too." - @no country for old wainds

Chosen by:
Vegard Pompey (#1)
TechnicalBarbarity (#2)
no country for old wainds (#2)
Baroque (#4)
Serjeant Grumbles (#4)
Talos of Atmora (#5)
Slayed Necros (#7)
RadicalThrasher (#8)
TOTAL: 55 POINTS

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

@Serjeant Grumbles i'm assuming you meant to put WELCOME TO HELL at number 1 and not the single? let me know old bean

edit: doesn't affect placings either way, for the record

Yes, good thing you pointed that out.

 

[CiG]

"What the fuck were Riot thinking when they chose that weird owl thing for a mascot" - @challenge_everything

Why the fuck do people think it's an owl? It's a dang seal.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

Why the fuck do people think it's an owl? It's a dang seal.

It looks kind of like a monkey on Narita.

 

[alex76]

Shit! Got back home too late!

Glad to see Spellbound up there though. I would hope for High 'N' Dry!

 

[no country for old wainds]

5) Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osbourne
Could I mistake myself for someone who lives behind my eyes?...

"are you kidding? there's no way any other singer in the world would have made this better." - @Lord Kur

"Solo Ozzy is shite for the most part - no controversy there. Though you would be an ass if you didn't like "Crazy Train". - @zabu of nΩd

"You would be an ass to not like all of 'Diary of a Madman'" - @The Ozzman

"Played a bunch of early solo ozzy albums. IMO, these just arent very good. Diary of a Madman is the best of the lot." - @J.

"Diary of a Madman is a really great record. The title track is genually errie, and Ozz did a great job on the vocal if you ask me. Not as awesome as say, Megalomania, but he still give a pretty twisted sounding wail on that song." - @Oblivious Maximus

"genually errie" - @Oblivious Maximus

Chosen by:
Baroque (#1)
CASSETTEISGOD (#2)
Atomic Tide (#2)
RadicalThrasher (#2)
Slammed (#6)
RedinTheSky (#6)
TechnicalBarbarity (#7)
Serjeant Grumbles (#7)
HamburgerBoy (#9)
Talos of Atmora (#10)
crimsonfloyd (#10)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 64.5 POINTS

 

[Baroque]

"Ozzy's Randy Rhoads era albums are up there with, or even surpass the best Black Sabbath albums" - @Baroque, just now

 

[The Ozzman]

"You would be an ass to not like all of 'Diary of a Madman'" - @The Ozzman

hahahahahahaha still true

 

[no country for old wainds]

4) Welcome to Hell by Venom
That dirty little bitch has got me poisoned!

"I recently starting listening to Venom's "Welcome To Hell" album, do i have a problem with it? Nope. In fact i love it! I'm not a Satanist nor Atheist, but i kinda like the whole "singing about satan" stuff, it gives a dark and angry mood, you know? I would prefer a band to sing about satan, rather then going to night clubs and getting drunk (Mainstream shit)." @SouthernAbyss

"Basically Venom influenced the first few Bathory albums, but the first Bathory record makes all Venom obsolete." - @crimsonfloyd

"lolwut? The first Bathory album is Venom, just with worse song-writing and production. Bathory is nothing more than a lie that Europeans tell to their children at night." - @HamburgerBoy

"I saw Venom live. Fucking Cronos refused to shake my hand when I met him cause he's a metal rockstar and shit. What a fucking faggot. Like, all I wanted to do was shake his hand and be like "yo, dude, thanks for creating black metal and being a cool dude" then I try and shake his hand and he just puts his limp hand, like I should I kiss it or something. His bandmates shook my hand because they were cool. I couldn't even get a pic with them. We could only take pic OF them. Like, who the fuck wants to take a pic of Cronos? Who the FUCK does this faggot think he is that people are only worthy of shaking his stupid pathetic limp wristed hand-shaked and NOT get a pic with him? OH WAIT! You can snag a pic OF him. Fuck you Cronos. Venom sucked major cock live at MDF and I fucking hate you.

Sincerely,

Michael S. Schmidt

A less faggot than you

Faggot Edit-> I love Venom still. Welcome to Hell shits on nearly everything you listen to right now. Go back that shit and we can still be friends. Also, Fuck Cunts." - @Master_Yoda77

Chosen by:
Serjeant Grumbles (#1)
TechnicalBarbarity (#3)
Krow (#3)
CASSETTEISGOD (#4)
Slayed Necros (#4)
Master_Yoda77 (#4)
no country for old wainds (#5)
Atomic Tide (#5)
Talos of Atmora (#7)
Slammed (#7)
RadicalThrasher (#7)
HamburgerBoy (#8)
Baroque (#8)
Bloopy (#9)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 84.5 POINTS

 

[Phylactery]

Welcome to Hell would have probably been my number 1 pick fwiw.

 

[no country for old wainds]

3) Mob Rules by Black Sabbath
A rumble of thunder, I'm suddenly under your spell...

""Over and Over" off of Mob Rules might be my favorite song with Dio singing, like, ever." - @Master_Yoda77

"Mob Rules is far more consistent and its high are as high, if not higher than Heaven and Hell. Other than the ambient track, basically every song knocks it out of the park. It's cohesive yet dynamic and has a very well constructed emotional arc for a popular metal album." - @crimsonfloyd

"The rest of the album may be prime (I count E5150/The Sign of the Southern Cross as one song, before anyone goes "BUT WHAT ABOUT E5150 LOL???"), but Turn up the Night and Voodoo are borderline unlistenable." - @The Butt

"Mob Rules is a fucking classic .... it just isn't as good as the album that came out a year before it.

The Sign of the Southern Cross, Falling of the Edge of the World and The Mob Rules are all top notch tracks. I can listen to those first two tracks all fucking day." - @TechnicalBarbarity

Chosen by:
crimsonfloyd (#1)
TechnicalBarbarity (#1)
Baroque (#2)
RedinTheSky (#2)
Master_Yoda77 (#2)
Atomic Tide (#3)
Bloopy (#4)
CASSETTEISGOD (#5)
Krow (#6)
RadicalThrasher (#6)
Slammed (#8)
Talos of Atmora (#9)
HamburgerBoy (#10)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 89.5 POINTS

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Wow, I must have been drunk as a skunk when I made that post about Venom, but yeah. Fuck them now. Triggered bullshit. Too bad the new Venom Inc songs are terrible because they were pretty good live.

Also, Cirith Ungol number 1.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

"Ozzy's Randy Rhoads era albums are up there with, or even surpass the best Black Sabbath albums" - @Baroque, just now

 

[no country for old wainds]

2) Frost & Fire by Cirith Ungol
I just want a little fire!

"I love the part in Cirith Ungol's "Frost and Fire" from 1:09-2:37 during the extended instrumental break. All of the instrumentalists take turns playing the end of main melody and then that soulful guitar solo is just incredible. When I heard this, I knew that there was no turning back." - @Elric of Melniboné

"Both Slough Feg and Cirith Ungol are actually pretty overrated imo, don't get me wrong, they are both great and I own several albums by both bands but especially in circles that don't listen to alot of traditional heavy metal (I'm talking mainly about in crowd trad-doom fans now I guess) they are sometimes hailed as the be all end all of traditional metal. I dunno but I know alot of bands that I consider vastly superior." - @Vilden

"Have any of you shitheads ever even listened to Frost And Fire? Compare that to any of the heaviest Zeppelin, note the incredible similarities, and discover that Cirith Ungol rocks more. " - @Jean-Pierre

"My favorite Cirith Ungol album is probably Frost and Fire. EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE EDGE OF A KNIFE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY REAL LIFE" - @mutantllama

Chosen by:
CASSETTEISGOD (#1)
Master_Yoda77 (#1)
Krow (#1)
Talos of Atmora (#2)
RedinTheSky (#3)
Vegard Pompey (#3)
no country for old wainds (#4)
Serjeant Grumbles (#5)
RadicalThrasher (#5)
crimsonfloyd (#5)
HamburgerBoy (#6)
Slayed Necros (#6)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 95.5 POINTS

1) Killers by Iron Maiden
Please take me away, so far away...

"moar liek Fillers, amirite?" - @The Ozzman

"Killers is excellent all the way through excluding Twilight Zone (which is a bonus track and thus doesn't count). How anyone can value Somewhere in Time (where they suddenly decided that repeating a chorus a thousand times to the seven minute mark makes a song progressive) over it is beyond me... ...The only important thing is in realizing that Killers and Piece of Mind are masterpieces of the metal artform and if neither makes your top 3 or so, you should go back to your Agalloch albums." - @HamburgerBoy

"Killers is the worst pre-Blaze record. By far. Save a few tracks, it's about as engaging as filling out tax forms." - @crimsonfloyd

"s/t Iron Maiden is more consistent, but when Killers is good (Genghis Khan, Murders in the Rue Morgue)its better." - @EternalMetal

"Despite the fact that I do not listen to maiden much. I have this thing for Killers. If you do not like it you're gay." - @CF87

Chosen by:
Slayed Necros (#1)
Atomic Tide (#1)
RedinTheSky (#1)
RadicalThrasher (#1)
no country for old wainds (#1)
Talos of Atmora (#1)
HamburgerBoy (#1)
Serjeant Grumbles (#2)
CASSETTEISGOD (#3)
Krow (#4)
Vegard Pompey (#4)
Bloopy (#6)
TechnicalBarbarity (#6)
Master_Yoda77 (#8)
H.P. Lovecraft (N/A)
TOTAL: 119.5 POINTS

 

[Phylactery]

Surprised Frost and Fire did so well. I don't like it nearly as much as King of the Dead.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i don't like it as much as One Foot in Hell either, but this is a far weaker year i suppose. i thought it'd be fourth behind sabbath and venom.

 

[CiG]

"Basically Venom influenced the first few Bathory albums, but the first Bathory record makes all Venom obsolete." - @crimsonfloyd

Side A of At War with Satan demolishes the first Bathory album alone.
20 minutes of British superiority released in the same year that Euronymous was pretending to not rip off Venom.