GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1987

[Vegard Pompey]

I don't know where you hear "winding compositions and structure" or anything close to Hell Awaits.

intro_1 0:00 - 0:12 / basic doomy "epic" riff, almost nothing
intro_2 0:12 - 1:00 / basic thrash riff repeated a bunch of times over slower marching drum pattern
intro_3 1:03 - 1:07 / brief descending power chords telegraphing where the song actually starts, straight out of the 1983 Exodus playbook

pre-A 1:07 - 1:17 / faster riff repeated twice without backing drum track before the verse starts telegraphing the verse again, more Exodus 101
A 1:17 - 1:43 / there it is for the entire verse
A' 1:43 - 2:03 / mild pattern change once the verse exits
A_short 2:03 - 2:13 / back to the verse briefly

pre-B 2:13 - 2:28 / first significant change to the formula, a little melodic though it clearly serves as another discrete kind of intro piece rather than something deftly interwoven into the structure as Hell Awaits or None Shall Defy would do
B 2:28 - 2:48 / doom metal section

A 2:48 - 3:17 / back to the verse
A' 3:17 - 3:34 / mild pattern change
A_short 3:34 - 3:43 / back to the verse briefly

3:58 / pre-B again
3:58 - 4:18 / B again

pre-C 4:18 - 4:28 / NWOBHM-y pedal point riff without drum track, again telegraphing, the Middle-Eastern trill is neat though
C 4:28 - 4:38 / drums and next verse enters
C' 4:38 - 4:48 / riff goes down a step, kind of gives it a sinister vibe but Venom was doing this in 1981
C 4:48 - 4:58
C' 4:58 - 5:07

5:07 - 5:17 / brief break and Middle-Eastern lead
pre-A 5:17 - 5:26 / totally pointless to lead in like this
solo 5:26 - 6:00 / solo is legitimately great and sells the evil undead mummy vibe better than a lot of bands were doing, a couple different riffs backing it as well

A'' 6:00 - 6:25 / takes the fast A' riff and turns it on its head, nice and fluid, this is how that earlier section should have progressed to begin with
A' 6:25 - 6:35
pre-B 6:35 - 6:49
B 6:49 - 7:09

solo2/outro 7:09 - end / actually leads out of the doom metal part this time and provides a nice climax

So what you basically have are three very distinct song fragments, A, B, and C, and a lot of superfluous padding. None of the individual fragments are amazing or particularly atmospheric. They're competently performed aside from some sloppy drumming (no biggie though) which is reasonable considering where the band was at a couple years prior, but it's a very conscious attempt at writing an epic out of what could have instead been broken down into a Strike of the Beast copy and a Welcome to Hell copy. The highlights, mostly the lead guitar, together with an all around solid performance elevate it to about a 3-star song.

If you just did a basic Audacity edit, cutting the intro and pre-A bits entirely, plopping the C section in at 2:13, letting it progress through the first solo and A'' section, then revisit the A verse again but this time going into the second B section leading into the second solo and outro, it would be pushing 4-stars. That would be a bit disjointed obviously, and the individual riffs would still not have reach the heights of their best competition, but it would be much closer to the tumult of Hell Awaits/None Shall Defy/Journey Into Mystery that way, and it would shave off a few pointless minutes.

what in the fuck. Don't even need to read this to tell this is some peak HBB right here.

 

[Phylactery]

Yeah, all Destruction needed to do in order to improve Release from Agony was add some protracted doom metal sections that extend the album to about an hour in length and then it would have a masterpiece. You have truly opened my eyes.

Not sure why you keep talking about Release from Agony as if it's all that great. It's got nothing on Destruction's best works and they'd already improved on it with Sentence of Death, Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation.

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

1. Voivod - Killing Technology
2. Sarcofago - I.N.R.I.
3. Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
4. Death - Scream Bloody Gore
5. Sodom - Persecution Mania
6. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
7. Infernal Majesty - None Shall Defy
8. Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery
9. Nasty Savage - Indulgence
10. King Diamond - Abigail

HM:
Candlemass
Poison
Manilla Road
Holy Terror
Liege Lord
Sepultura
Slaughter
Testament

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Not sure why you keep talking about Release from Agony as if it's all that great. It's got nothing on Destruction's best works and they'd already improved on it with Sentence of Death, Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation.

Release from Agony is an entirely different kind of album with very different appeal to the three preceding. Putting aside the anachronistic use of "improved", what are the particular elements of shared between them that you feel Release from Agony attempted to achieve? It's a clinical, highly-technical album with a large focus on syncopation/groove, with added shreddy lead guitar and sociopolitical commentary. The main thing in common is that they all slay riff-wise.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Not sure why you keep talking about Release from Agony as if it's all that great.

What's lacking in Release from Agony that makes it an inferior release?

 

[Phylactery]

Obviously, as you said, Release from Agony is going for a different kind of sound to what those records I mention are. But come on, they’re by the same band, are the same genre, and released in a similar time period. It’s not as if they’re incomparable. Anyway, the clinical technical approach of that album is exactly why I don’t like it as much as what preceded it. In fact I couldn’t even get through the whole thing earlier today and put on Sentence of Death instead. I know you’re a big fan of Cracked Brain/Release from Agony but I’ve never got into them in the same way as Destruction’s earlier material.

Liege Lord

Fuck yeah. Burn to My Touch is amazing.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Anyway, the clinical technical approach of that album is exactly why I don’t like it as much as what preceded it. In fact I couldn’t even get through the whole thing earlier today and put on Sentence of Death instead. I know you’re a big fan of Cracked Brain/Release from Agony but I’ve never got into them in the same way as Destruction’s earlier material.

So, your dislike of late '80s Destruction is mostly driven by aesthetics?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Obviously, as you said, Release from Agony is going for a different kind of sound to what those records I mention are. But come on, they’re by the same band, are the same genre, and released in a similar time period. It’s not as if they’re incomparable. Anyway, the clinical technical approach of that album is exactly why I don’t like it as much as what preceded it. In fact I couldn’t even get through the whole thing earlier today and put on Sentence of Death instead. I know you’re a big fan of Cracked Brain/Release from Agony but I’ve never got into them in the same way as Destruction’s earlier material.

Fuck yeah. Burn to My Touch is amazing.

You said that the earlier works "improved" on RfA which implies that you liked it less for difference in quality rather than difference in qualities, so maybe you should just learn how to use basic fucking words to convey your opinions in the future.

 

[Phylactery]

I used the word “improve” in a tongue in cheek response to Talos because he used the word in an attempt to belittle Into the Abyss by saying Release from Agony could be improved by adding doom elements.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

lol, missed that. It was the most bizarre contextual use of the word I've ever seen.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

So the first half of this is amazing, but then midway through they just throw all those gorgeous hypermelodic guitar leads out the window and the album becomes chuggy and boring. What the hell? Might still make the bottom of my list because the A-side is amazing, but what a disappointment the B-side is!

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I thought the chuggier songs and more melodic songs were fairly well-distributed, but I've only listened to it with the 2001 reissue tracklisting so that might be why. The Omen is the only song that's chuggy all the way through, and it's track 2 on a few of the reissues. Agree overall though, the guitar leads are what make it and the album doesn't go as far as it could.

 

[Omni]

So the first half of this is amazing, but then midway through they just throw all those gorgeous hypermelodic guitar leads out the window and the album becomes chuggy and boring. What the hell? Might still make the bottom of my list because the A-side is amazing, but what a disappointment the B-side is!

I love this album, but I don't think that it will make my top 10.

 

[alex76]

1. King Diamond - Abigail
2. Sepultura - Schizophrenia
3. Exodus - Pleasures of the Flesh
4. Testament - The Legacy
5. Anthrax - Among the Living
6. Destruction - Release From Agony
7. Carnivore - Retaliation
8. Kreator - Terrible Certainty
9. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys - Part One
10. Candlemass - Nightfall

Fuck, this looks basic! EPs that should be mentioned (killer year for EPs):

Metallica - Garage Days
Possessed - Eyes of Horror
Morbid Angel - Thy Kingdom Come
Destruction - Mad Butcher
Pestilence - The Penance & Dysentery

 

[Omni]

1. Dream Death - Journey into Mystery
2. Infernäl Mäjesty - None Shall Defy
3. Liege Lord - Burn to My Touch
4. Sarcófago - I.N.R.I.
5. Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
6. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
7. Holy Terror - Terror and Submission
8. Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
9. Nasty Savage - Indulgence
10. Poison - Into the Abyss

It was a hard year to rank.

 

[mutantllama]

Pentagram-Day of Reckoning
Holy Terror-Terror and Submission
Voivod-Killing Technology
Manilla Road-Mystification
Candlemass- Nightfall
Helloween-Keeper of the Seven Keys
Infernal Majesty-None shall defy
Liege Lord-Burn to my Touch
Testament-The Legacy
Coven-Worship New Gods

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Tough year. No "perfect" album imo - it's close between my top 4, with something uniquely great about each one.

1. Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol ("The Shining" is one of my favorite post-Ozzy songs, and the main reason this gets #1. Epic, well-written album overall.)
2. Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium (One of the avant-gardest of all avant-garde metal albums. Super uneven and flawed, but there's just nothing else that sounds like it.)
3. Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King (Jon's probably my favorite vocalist in this whole lot aside from Lemmy. Also love the diverse songwriting, production quality, and overall theatrical vibe.)
   
4. Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence (To me these guys always had a personality that set them above most other thrash. Tons of good riffs here on top of that, and a great balance of rawness and cleanness.)
   
5. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark ("Enter the Eternal Fire" is one of my favorite Bathory songs. The rest of the album's decent but never amazed me.)
6. Anthrax - Among the Living (I prefer earlier Anthrax. There might be something more "mature" about this one, but it also sounds tired.)
7. Liege Lord - Burn to My Touch (I'm new to this group. They have a great Priest-ish quality, but sound kind of samey after a while.)
8. Motorhead - Rock 'n' Roll (Feels lame to list a Motorhead album that sounds identical to at least 5 others, but it's still fuckin' Motorhead.)
   
9. Destruction - Release from Agony
10. Death - Scream Bloody Gore

Re-listened to some albums, re-ranked my list, added commentary for provocation.

 

[zerostatic]

1) Sodom - Persecution Mania
2) Sepultura - Schizophrenia
3) Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence
4) Kreator - Terrible Certainty
5)Anthrax - Among the Living
6) Testament - The Legacy
7) King Diamond - Abigail
8) Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
9) Coroner - R.I.P.
10) Overkill - Taking Over

 

[Vegard Pompey]

1. Flames of Hell - Fire and Steel
2. Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
3. Voivod - Killing Technology
4. Death - Scream Bloody Gore
5. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
6. Stormwitch - The Beauty and the Beast
7. Gehenna - En busca del valle de Gehenna
8. Coven - Worship New Gods
9. Poison - Into the Abyss
10. Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery

 

[EspaDa]

1. Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
2. Sodom - Persecution Mania
3. Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
4. Trouble - Run to the Light
5. Testament - The Legacy
6. Napalm Death - Scum
7. Coroner - RIP
8. Sarcofago - INRI
9. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
10. Manilla Road - Mystification

HM: Infernal Majesty - None Shall Defy