GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums Of 1988

[Baroque]

10. Remember That Time TB Inflated His Top 10 With Random Glam Albums He's Never Even Listened To In A Poorly Veiled Attempt To Circumvent The 5 Album-Minimum Rule Because He Needs His Opinions To Be Validated So Much That The Idea Of The Results Of A Community Poll Not Reflecting His Opinions Is Existentially Terrifying To Him? - s/t

I prefer And Then His Votes Ironically Made Europe Appear On the Final List by them, I think that was 2017 not 1988 though

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Hold on, europe made one of the final top 10 lists? haha, good.

Yes, i trolled a few of you twats with the europe album ... but am i missing something here with the "random glam albums" thing?

 

[Krow]

1. King Diamond - Them
2. Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries
3. Candlemass - Ancient Dreams
4. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
5. Brocas Helm - Black Death
6. Voivod - Dimension Hatross
7. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There is No Law!
8. Cloven Hoof - Dominator
9. Helstar - A Distant Thunder
10. Riot - Thundersteel

 

[Mort Divine]

1. Holy Terror - Mind Wars
2. Sabbat - History of a Time to Come (come at me hamburgerbro)
3. Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries
4. Bathory - Blood Fire Death
5. Riot - Thundersteel
6. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There Is Now Law!
7. Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
8. Liege Lord - Master Control
9. Helstar - A Distant Thunder
10. Blind Guardian - Batallions of Fear

would have Bulldozer's IX included in there, but conflicting reports on its release

RYM has 1988, but M-A has it at December of 1987

EDIT: I'm an idiot

 

[Phylactery]

1. Holy Terror - Mind Wars
2. Sabbat - History of a Time to Come (come at me hamburgerbro)
3. Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries
4. Bathory - A Fine Day To Die
5. Riot - Thundersteel
6. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There Is Now Law!
7. Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
8. Liege Lord - Master Control
9. Helstar - A Distant Thunder
10. Blind Guardian - Batallions of Fear

would have Bulldozer's IX included in there, but conflicting reports on its release

RYM has 1988, but M-A has it at December of 1987

I'm guessing you mean Blood Fire Death?

I love Burn to My Touch by Liege Lord but I haven't listened to Master Control. Guess I need to check it out before making my list.

 

[Mort Divine]

I'm guessing you mean Blood Fire Death?

I love Burn to My Touch by Liege Lord but I haven't listened to Master Control. Guess I need to check it out before making my list.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. BFD obviously

 

[Baroque]

Hold on, europe made one of the final top 10 lists? haha, good.

Yes, i trolled a few of you twats with the europe album ... but am i missing something here with the "random glam albums" thing?

Nah just the double digit points list. I thought it was funny though

 

[zabu of nΩd]

1. Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey

   This stuff simply exposes phonies like Slayer and all those laughable death metal bands for the sissies they really are. Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker mean what they're doing, and what they're doing is present an extremely uncanny, uncomfortable, schizophrenic, murderous, hellish picture of the world we're living in. And more than that, they know how to present it in a way that would be at once avantgardist and accessible - some of the creepiest songs on here are also the catchiest! http://starling.rinet.ru/music/minist.htm

   (That review's a bit over-the-top, but this is Ministry's masterpiece - a brilliant, terrifying classic.)
2. Metallica - And Justice for All
3. Bathory - Blood Fire Death (One of the best transition albums ever, and aside from Ride the Lighting, probably my favorite example of an album that walks a certain fine line between brutal and melodic.)
4. Adramelch - Irae Melanox (Squeezing this in at the last minute. Easily more songwriting talent here than on most of the albums in my list. I can only say so much since it's the first time I've ever heard this artist, but my explanation for ranking them below the previous three is that it doesn't quite pack the same punch, either due to underproduction or the cerebral nature of the songwriting.)
5. Queensrÿche - Operation Mindcrime (I'm pretty over most bombastic/operatic metal bands at this point, and this isn't an album I'd go out of my way to listen to, but I have to give credit where it's due - in this particular year, I think Queensrÿche managed to out-Maiden Maiden.)
6. Slayer - South of Heaven
7. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
8. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There Is No Law (My favorite Bolt Thrower album. I've never heard another death metal album that sounds quite like it. I rarely listen to grindcore, so maybe I'm overlooking similar material in that genre, but to me In Battle combines some of the best elements of death and thrash and has a really fresh sound.
9. Danzig – Danzig (Danzig got pretty awful after the first three albums, but they started out with some good, solid, manly rock 'n' roll, just gothic enough to add an extra edge but not enough to be bland and androgynous. “Mother” is a classic, and my favorite Danzig song.)
10. King Diamond - Them

Honorable mention:

• Death Angel - Frolic Through the Park (I know this doesn't stand up to a lot of other thrash on technical merits, but I find something endearing about the brattiness and teen angst in the vocals. It's refreshing once in a while to hear some 80s metal that offers a glimpse of real life in the 80s underneath all the usual metal tropes.)

 

[Talos of Atmora]

1. Voivod - Dimension Hatröss
2. Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
3. King Diamond - Them
4. Helstar - A Distant Thunder
5. Adramelch - Irae Melanox
6. Dark Quarterer - The Etruscan Prophecy
7. Razor - Violent Restitution
8. Death - Leprosy
9. Crimson Glory - Transcendence
10. Mekong Delta - The Music of Erich Zann

HM
Running Wild - Port Royal
Holy Terror - Mind Wars
Blind Guardian - Battalions of Fear
Fates Warning - No Exit
Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries
Scanner - Hypertrace
Screamer - Target: Earth
Anacrusis - Suffering Hour
Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force - Odyssey
Chastain - The Voice of the Cult

And on and on and on...

I may feel compelled to make some minor changes to the primary list at some point but I feel alright with this one. I didn't put either Metallica or Iron Maiden in this list either because frankly, both of their releases in '88 carry some damning flaws.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

hmm, i had totally forgot about Blood Fire Death. fuck.

 

[Atomic Tide]

1) Voivod - Dimension Hatröss
2) Iron Maiden - Seventh Son...
3) Danzig - s/t
4) King Diamond - Them
5) Nuclear Assault - Survive
6) The Accused - Martha Splatterhead's Maddest....
7) Pestilence - Malleus Maleficarum
8) Bolt Thrower - In Battle...
9) Bathory - Blood Fire Death
10) Ludichrist - Powertrip

HM

Razor, Suicidal, Napalm Death, Riot, Death, Testament, Yngwie, Fishbone, St Vitus, D.R.I., Overkill..... too 'kin many!!

 

[Slayed Necros]

1. Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare
2. Rigor Mortis - Rigor Mortis
3. Adramelch - Irae Melanox
4. Helstar - A Distant Thunder
5. Coroner - Punishment For Decadence
6. Bathory - Blood Fire Death
7. Fates Warning - No Exit
8. Riot - Thundersteel
9. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There is No Law!
10. Brocas Helm - Black Death

 

[Satanstoenail]

1. Slayer - South of Heaven
2. Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
3. Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare
4. Metallica - ..and Justice for All
5. Danzig - Danzig
6. Voivod - Dimension Hatröss
7. Death - Leprosy
8. Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
9. Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What!
10. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

 

[The Ozzman]

Iron Maiden isn't getting enough love this round

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Iron Maiden isn't getting enough love this round

That's because the album they released this year wasn't very good.

 

[CiG]

This year was really difficult, for some reason I didn't think it would be.

1. Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries
2. Voïvod - Dimension Hatröss
   
3. Fates Warning - No Exit
4. Bathory - Blood Fire Death
5. Running Wild - Port Royal
6. Death SS - In Death of Steve Sylvester
7. Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
8. Sieges Even - Life Cycle
9. Blind Guardian - Battalions of Fear
10. O.L.D. - Old Lady Drivers

Honourable mentions:

1. Bolt Thrower - In Battle There Is No Law!
2. Tankard - The Morning After
3. Brocas Helm - Black Death
4. King Diamond - Them
5. Death - Leprosy
   
6. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
7. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys pt. II
   
8. X Japan - Vanishing Vision (I wish the whole album was on the same quality level as "Alive" and "Kurenai")
9. Protector - Golem
   
10. Attacker - Second Coming (more recently got into this album, really dig it but just not familiar enough with it yet to knock down anything from the list)

There are so many albums from 1988 that I really should have checked out and purchased by now; Liege Lord, Adramelch, Scanner, Screamer and Virus.
Mekong Delta I have checked out but I'm yet to buy anything by them, but they fucking rule so I need to get on that shit already.

 

[Krow]

Well I didnt expect Vitus to do so well this round. Maybe it'll be dragon time in the village tonight after all.

 

[CiG]

Honestly, there isn't any Saint Vitus album that won't be at the top of my list for their respective year.

 

[Bloopy]

6) The Accused - The Return of....

You mean ...Maddest Stories Ever Told for '88. It's one I've never heard. Could be worthy of my list, will have to check it out.

 

[Krow]

That's because the album they released this year wasn't very good.