GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1984

[HamburgerBoy]

I'm trying to find out more about this In the Sign of Evil discrepancy and I'm now pretty convinced that it was an early 1985 release. Can't believe I didn't notice this before. I'm disappointed tbh, I consider it the one redeeming gem in their entire discography and the one case they were actually ahead of the curve, but if Blasphemer really was a Chemical Warfare ripoff all along, that's sad. Victims of Death was apparently released around the same time In the Sign of Evil was alleged to on M-A; historical revisionists strike again. Can't wait until there's definitive evidence that Witching Hour was from 1983 and not 1982.

 

[gand1234]

How far between are these polls? Really brings back some forgotten classics for me

 

[no country for old wainds]

i aim for 2 weeks but it's usually closer to 3

i think ITSOE would have to be later than '85 to stop being ahead of its time.

 

[Bloopy]

I'm trying to find out more about this In the Sign of Evil discrepancy and I'm now pretty convinced that it was an early 1985 release.

Yeah, a Discogs editor wrote that he bought it when it first came out, early 1985 (on the original German issue). A bio online says they were signed around the time of their Dec 1st 1984 gig, so the records must've been pressed that month based on the copyright year.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

i think ITSOE would have to be later than '85 to stop being ahead of its time.

Hell Awaits was released in March 1985, Haunting the Chapel in August 1984. Apocalyptic Raids, March 1984, and lots of other stuff earlier. Sons of Evil, probably late 1984 (maybe early 1985). The Return was apparently May 1985. Lots of Mantas/Death stuff already out. War & Pain isn't any less intense than ITSOE, and that was August 1984, with Rrroooaaarrr basically available on live bootlegs by mid-1985. Bestial Devastation, Seven Churches, and Darkness Descends would all be released and/or bootlegged by the end of 1985 as well, with some stuff appearing earlier in various demos and bootlegs.

Like, the EP wasn't exactly behind the wave either, but at most they were riding it. It doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the release, it's still the best and most savage thing they have, but now I find it difficult to give credence to Germany being a hotspot for early extreme metal at all; Destruction still had some pretty out-there ideas for their time despite being the least extreme tempo-wise, and maybe Poison could still qualify, but in terms of chronology alone, ultimately you have to mention Venom, Metallica, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Exodus, Slayer, Voivod, and maybe even Possessed before you get to the German bands.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i wouldn't actually say it's the intensity and savagery that makes it stand out from that era for me. hard to explain this but in a way it's the opposite, they have this weird restrained ambience, it sounds almost introspective at times compared to the balls out savagery of various contemporaries. maybe it's just me but i think the way the tension is maintained in 'burst command til war' for example hearkens toward later developments in 'extreme' metal where things started to become more serious and emotionally complex (for good or ill lol). even bathory hadn't gone so far into that kinda tonal territory on THE RETURN i don't think - i guess maybe some of destruction's weirder stuff did albeit in a different way.

 

[Bloopy]

1. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
2. Chateaux - FirePower
3. Spartan Warrior - Spartan Warrior
4. The Rods - Let Them Eat Metal
5. Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus
6. Millennium - Millennium
7. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
8. Trouble - Trouble (a.k.a. Psalm 9)
9. Brocas Helm - Into Battle
10. Cloven Hoof - Cloven Hoof

 

[Atomic Tide]

1) Iron Maiden - Powerslave
2) Metallica - Ride the Lightning
3) Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
4) Dio - Last In Line
5) Armored Saint - March of the Saint
6) Voivod - War and Pain
7) Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
8) Metal Church - s/t
9) Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force
10) Queensryche - The Warning

I'd say the first 8 are pretty much a lock, but trying to choose the final two (with so many classics) was fucking brutal.

HM: Manowar, Bathory, Exciter, WASP. Trouble, Omen, TNT, Saxon, Loudness, etc....

 

[The Ozzman]

1) Iron Maiden - Powerslave
2) Metallica - Ride the Lightning
3) Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
4) Dio - Last In Line
5) Armored Saint - March of the Saint
6) Voivod - War and Pain
7) Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
8) Metal Church - s/t
9) Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force
10) Queensryche - The Warning

I'd say the first 8 are pretty much a lock, but trying to choose the final two (with so many classics) was fucking brutal.

HM: Manowar, Bathory, Exciter, WASP. Trouble, Omen, TNT, Saxon, Loudness, etc....

My list is going to have 8 of those 10. I'm glad someone else listed the Armored Saint debut.

 

[The Ozzman]

Here is my list. It will be completely numbered before polling closes:

1) Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
2) Armored Saint - March of the Saint
3) Iron Maiden - Powerslave
4) Dio - The Last in Line
5) Metallica - Ride the Lightning
6) Metal Church - Metal Church
7) Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
8) Running Wild - Gates to Purgatory
9) Manowar - Hail to England
10) Queensryche - The Warning

Honorable Mentions:

Ratt - Out of the Cellar
Dokken - Tooth and Nail
Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales (better than I remember)
Manowar - Sign of the Hammer

Saint Vitus sucks. The Trouble album was alright.

 

[Phylactery]

Why is King of the Dead absent from so many lists?!

 

[no country for old wainds]

because out crowd is the new in crowd, duh

 

[The Ozzman]

Or because it's not good

 

[Vilden]

Because there are lots of better albums. It's good and all, but not the best of the best imo.

 

[Krow]

It surely kicks the shit out of most of the good but second rate heavy metal appearing in the latter half of most lists posted here.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

King of the Dead is good but inconsistent and its highs probably don't reach whatever you consider to be second-rate.

 

[no country for old wainds]

seems kinda retarded to call an album with five blatantly great songs inconsistent (like... it is a bit, but i'd take that over a consistently *good* record all day long), but eh i'm more offended by the jag panzer snubs. cirith ungol are an acquired taste, panzer are objectively the most metal band in known human history and make dio, manowar and omen look like a gaggle of hairless wrist-slapping squat-thrusting sissies.

 

[Burkhard]

A special year for me, because it was the year I got into metal (which I had previously dismissed as noise). The number 1 for this year is - for me - one of the easiest of all years, whereas I find it difficult to put the other albums (which I got all after 1984) into a specific order.

1. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
2. Fates Warning - Night on Bröcken
3. Warlord - And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun...
4. Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction
5. Warlock - Burning the Witches
6. Trouble - Psalm 9
7. Metal Church - Metal Church
8. Helstar - Burning Star
9. Voivod - War and Pain
10. Anthrax - Fistful of Metal

honourable mention:

Lita Ford - Dancin' on the Edge
...for being my first metal album ever. I listened to it a lot for several months - until the day I heard Metallica's "Fight Fire with Fire" on BFBS and eventually got "Ride the Lightning" for Christmas. Too bad one can't repeat those special moments - I guess I'm getting nostalgic here. I was a bit surprised that "Dancin' on the Edge" doesn't show up in the RYM-list, but that's probably because the two main tags on RYM for this album are "Hard Rock" and "Glam Metal".

Edit: I've put albums 4-7 into a specific order.

 

[no country for old wainds]

boy oh boy is counting the results gonna be fun for this one

also jesus, as much as i love fates warning i don't think i could justify having NoB even top 20 in a year this stacked lol

 

[HamburgerBoy]

seems kinda retarded to call an album with five blatantly great songs inconsistent (like... it is a bit, but i'd take that over a consistently *good* record all day long), but eh i'm more offended by the jag panzer snubs. cirith ungol are an acquired taste, panzer are objectively the most metal band in known human history and make dio, manowar and omen look like a gaggle of hairless wrist-slapping squat-thrusting sissies.

Whatever those five songs are (I'd say 2-3 reach greatness), none of them touch a song like Bridge of Death, and putting aside Black Arrow, the weakest song on Hail to England is still kickass. Battle Cry has a slight homogeneity and filler issue, which is why it's #16 in my list, but even there I'd say Last Rites and In the Arena are as spirited and glorious as anything in the Cirith Ungol discography (not even mentioning that they're simply better).

Ample Destruction, great as it can get, is still at least half-comprised of 6~7/10 tracks. If it wasn't for The Crucifix and Symphony of Terror carrying the USPM flag proudly, you wouldn't even have to think before putting it way below a stylistically comparable album like the Metal Church S/T.