GMD Poll: Top Years of the 80's

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
9) 1982



1) Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast | 146.5
2) Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance | 130
3) Venom - Black Metal | 99
4) Pagan Altar - Judgement of the Dead (aka Volume 1) | 81
5) Motorhead - Iron Fist | 80
6) Scorpions - Blackout | 56.5
=7) Manowar - Battle Hymns | 53
=7) Heavy Load - Death or Glory | 53
9) Mercyful Fate - Mercyful Fate | 52
10) Accept - Restless and Wild | 51.5

only a flaming faggot would list 8 bands but yet still leave Motorhead off.

... there are only four other people who didnt vote for Motorhead. No country, vegard, slayed and HBB. You're going in-crowd brah.

At least they filled out lists though. Ole' chinny over here still had two spots open and still didnt list them. Which im guessing means he dislikes the album .... which takes me right back to my initial statement, that's hes a flaming cock-jockey.

Honestly there's nothing in this final 10 that I don't think is great.

Chosen by:
Bloopy (#7)
Slammed (#7)
CiG (#8)
HamburgerBoy (#8)
no country for old wainds (#8)
-CC- (#9)
zerostatic (#9))
Baroque (#10)
Slayed Necros (#8)
TOTAL: 24 POINTS[

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
8) 1980



1) Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden | 153
2) Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell | 142
3) Motorhead - Ace of Spades | 130
4) Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations | 117
5) Angel Witch - Angel Witch | 110
6) Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz | 88
7) Judas Priest - British Steel | 78
8) Scorpions - Animal Magnetism | 32
9) Sarcofagus - Envoy of Death | 31
10) Quartz - Stand Up and Fight | 30

I'll be sitting this round out, not quite my metal scene. Yet.

How can your “scene” not involve some of the greatest metal albums of all time?

Without a doubt and by a country mile, the best album of 1980 was Blizzard of Ozz. One of my favourite guitarists suddenly arrived here and I have played this album and Diary of a Madman countless times ever since. It had a huge effect on me back in the day.

please change the color of your font and post your list. Thank you

Without a doubt and by a country mile, the best album of 1980 was Blizzard of Ozz.
One of my favourite guitarists suddenly arrived here and I have played this album and
Diary of a Madman countless times ever since. It had a huge effect on me back in the day.

of my favourite guitarists suddenly arrived here and I haveWithout a doubt AND by a country mile, the best album of 1980 was Blizzard of Ozz.
One played this album and
Diary of a Madman countless times ever since. It had a huge effect on me back in the day.

Chosen by:
Bloopy (#4)
Baroque (#6)
CiG (#7)
zerostatic (#7)
-CC- (#8)
no country for old wainds (#9)
Slayed Necros (#9)
HamburgerBoy (#10)
Slammed (#10)
TOTAL: 29 POINTS

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
7) 1983



1) Slayer - Show No Mercy | 158 from 23 votes
2) Mercyful Fate - Melissa | 150.5 from 20 votes
3) Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind | 148 from 21 votes
4) Manilla Road - Crystal Logic | 124.5 from 16 votes
5) Metallica - Kill 'Em All | 116.5 from 17 votes
6) Satan - Court in the Act | 105 from 17 votes
7) Dio - Holy Diver | 97.5 from 15 votes
8) Manowar - Into Glory Ride | 38.5 from 9 votes
9) Sortilege - Sortilege | 35 from 10 votes
10) Savatage - Sirens | 29 from 5 votes
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11) Motorhead - Another Perfect Day | 26.5 from 8 votes
12) Black Sabbath - Born Again | 26 from 5 votes
=13) Witchfinder General - Friends of Hell | 25 from 5 votes
=13) Hellhammer - Satanic Rites | 25 from 5 votes
15) Heavy Load - Stronger Than Evil | 23 from 7 votes
16) Warlord - Deliver Us | 21 from 3 votes
17) Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon | 19 from 6 votes
18) Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac | 17.5 from 4 votes
19) Europe - Europe | 15 from 4 votes
20) Jaguar - Power Games | 14 from 2 votes
21) Rat Attack - Rat Attack | 13 from 2 votes
22) Loudness - The Law of Devil's Land | 11.5 from 3 votes
23) Oz - Fire in the Brain | 11 from 4 votes
24) H-Bomb - Coup De Metal | 10 from 1 vote

Easy top five for me. The rest will take some deliberation.

Melissa or Show No Mercy are the clear winners.

Anyone that doesn't consider Piece of Mind a clear winner should fuck off to the 90s.

Anyone that thinks Kill 'em All is better than Show No Mercy should reevaluate their life.

Piece of Mind is great, but not my favourite Maiden.

Slayer began the musical framework for death metal, Europe began it for power metal. This is indisputable (unless we want to talk Hellhammer and Iron Maiden, but that influence was more spiritual and aesthetic than the fundamentals of what really make each sub-genre).

why am i sensing this thread is gonna be a 30 pager

I couldn't rank this year at gunpoint. Jesus.

I like Master of Puppets, but it has nothing on Melissa to me. Master of Puppets is too inconsistent and masturbatory to compete with an album like Melissa.

inconsistent and masturbatory is just as much a description of MELISSA as MoP methinks, but w/e, KeA has both beat in that regard.

Melissa was pretty much the definition of masturbatory for its time. Over-the-top showy vocals, riffs piled on riffs just to show they can, lots of fancy shredding guitar, Mercyful Fate was basically the exact kind of thing that led to the creation of an album Master of Puppets.

I have no idea how a song like Jump in the Fire or Seek & Destroy doesn't get caught in a person's head after just a few listens btw.

Fuck, I swear it seems like you people have autism, seriously. This is like posting on Reddit!

Shut up alex.

I still have no idea what makes people think Baptized in Blood is any less an ordinary thrash-y song than Swirling Madness. My track ranking goes...

B4/B5
A6
A5
B1
B2
A3
A4
B3
A1/A2

Which is about as evenly matched as it can get. If there's a trend, it's more that each side ends stronger than it begins. It's an extremely consistent album both in quality and style, which is why people with ADHD tend to lose focus.

This made me realize that A Distant Thunder follows a similar trend, weaker opening tracks with super strong closing ones (unless you let the Scorpions cover ruin things). I'll admit that Abandon Ship is in its own league compared to the rest of the album, though.

A3
A4
B3
B4
B1
A2
B2
A1

I don't even know what the fuck is going on in this argument. Autismoboy is listing off a bunch of letters and numbers and talking about how people with ADHD can't listen to an album over 30 minutes long.

WHY IS THIS THREAD SO FUCKED UP?!

Did NOT expect Dio that low on the list...

other things that might be described as "figuratively flawless":
yoda's figure
arg's taste in music
hamburgerboy's love life

Chosen by:
Bloopy (#2)
no country for old wainds (#4)
-CC- (#5)
CiG (#6)
HamburgerBoy (#6)
Slammed (#6)
Slayed Necros (#6)
Baroque (#7)
zerostatic (#8)
TOTAL: 49 POINTS

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
6) 1985



1) Slayer - Hell Awaits | 186
2) Fates Warning - The Spectre Within | 102.5
3) Exodus - Bonded by Blood | 95
4) Megadeth - Killing is My Business...and Business is Good! | 90
5) Destruction - Infernal Overkill | 66
6) Possessed - Seven Churches | 60
7) Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion | 58
8) Overkill - Feel the Fire | 56
9) Bathory - The Return | 48
10) Razor - Evil Invaders | 43

Hell Awaits is obviously great but the songwriting still doesn't live up to Spectre's. Is Praise of Death considered a weak song? That hardcore break with Hanneman's solo is one of the very best moments in their discography. It doesn't have any bad songs, but Crypts of Eternity sounds like a Venom song that ended up on the wrong album, and both Hell Awaits and Hardening of the Arteries are more innovative than they are excellent. Lombardo's drumming is also mediocre. Spectre's only weak link is Kyrie Eleison.

Obligatory mention that Mechanix > The Four Horsemen

Chosen by:
no country for old wainds (#2)
-CC- (#3)
Slammed (#4)
CiG (#5)
HamburgerBoy (#5)
Slayed Necros (#5)
zerostatic (#5)
Baroque (#8)
Bloopy (#9)
TOTAL: 53 POINTS

 

[CiG]

Don't agree with what I said about Master of Puppets vs Melissa anymore.

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
5) 1984



1) Metallica - Ride the Lightning | 201 from 25 votes
2) Iron Maiden - Powerslave | 141 from 19 votes
3) Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath | 120 from 20 votes
4) Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead | 90 from 13 votes
5) Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction | 74 from 12 votes
6) Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus | 69 from 11 votes
7) Trouble - Psalm 9 | 58 from 13 votes
8) Manowar - Hail to England | 50 from 13 votes
=9) Warlord - And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun... | 49 from 9 votes
=9) Slayer - Haunting the Chapel | 49 from 6 votes
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11) Dio - The Last in Line | 47.5 from 10 votes
12) Bathory - Bathory | 43 from 9 votes
13) Destruction - Sentence of Death | 42 from 7 votes
14) Metal Church - Metal Church | 41.5 from 9 votes
15) Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force | 36.5 from 6 votes
16) Omen - Battle Cry | 36 from 8 votes
17) Queensryche - The Warning | 35 from 8 votes
18) Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith | 34 from 7 votes
=19) Manowar - Sign of the Hammer | 28 from 6 votes
=19) Sortilege - Metamorphose | 28 from 6 votes
21) Gotham City - The Unknown | 25 from 5 votes
22) Armored Saint - March of the Saint | 24 from 3 votes
23) Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales | 20 from 5 votes
24) Voivod - War and Pain | 18.5 from 5 vote
25) Dark Age - Dark Age | 16 from 2 votes
26) Brocas Helm - Into Battle | 15 from 5 votes
27) Anthrax - Fistful of Metal | 14.5 from 4 votes
=28) Running Wild - Gates to Purgatory | 14 from 5 votes
=28) Fates Warning - No Exit | 14 from 2 votes
30) Savatage - The Dungeons are Calling | 13 from 2 votes
31) Helstar - Burning Star | 11 from 2 vote
32) Valhalla - Valhalla | 10 from 1 vote

RtL is my favorite Metallica album and it won't even make the top ten in my list. I'm not sure I've ever been so burned out on a band before.

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.

Chosen by:
HamburgerBoy (#1)
no country for old wainds (#1)
-CC- (#4)
CiG (#4)
Baroque (#4)
zerostatic (#6)
Slayed Necros (#7)
Bloopy (#8)
Slammed (#8)
TOTAL: 56 POINTS

 

[HamburgerBoy]

1984 is way too low

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
4) 1989



1) Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness | 171
2) Pestilence - Consuming Impulse | 119
3) Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos | 115.5
=4) Voivod - Nothingface | 98
=4) Sepultura - Beneath the Remains | 98
6) Autopsy - Severed Survival | 85
7) Coroner - No More Color | 77
8) Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness | 58
9) Helstar - Nosferatu | 56
10) Terrorizer - World Downfall | 49

Lots of overrated albums released this year

to be fair to oz, whenever he moans about overrated albums in these polls, he always backs up his statement by helpfully listing some of them

Thrash metal bands sticking a random cover in the middle of their albums was an awful trend. Nothingface is cool btw but I dont feel like it holds up to the best albums this year at all.

Chosen by:
Slammed (#2)
Slayed Necros (#2)
Baroque (#3)
CiG (#3)
zerostatic (#3)
HamburgerBoy (#4)
Bloopy (#6)
-CC- (#7)
no country for old wainds (#7)
TOTAL: 62 POINTS

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
=2) 1987



1) Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark | 91
2) Voivod - Killing Technology | 89.5
3) Death - Scream Bloody Gore | 76
4) Candlemass - Nightfall | 70.5
5) King Diamond - Abigail | 69
6) Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King | 64
7) Dark Quarterer - S/T | 60
=9) Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery | 56
=9) Sepultura - Schizophrenia | 56
10) Sarcofago - I.N.R.I | 54

Quite honestly, one of the best years of my life. I was 18 and had a smoking hot girlfriend at the time, who loved metal just as much as I did.
This brought back some killer fukin' memories...

Solid year, not as mind-blowing as some are making it out to be though. There are a lot of 2nd and 3rd favorite albums from bands in this year, but I'm not sure anything is a pure masterpiece. I could make the case for Bathory, but there are a few less than stellar tracks on that one. This Dark Quarterer album might be though. Playing it twice a day ATM.

FUCKING IN-CROWD LIST FUCKING BULLSHIT WHERE IS RELEASE FROM AGONY WHO THE FUCK EVEN ARE DARK QUARTERER

I like how Hall of the Mountain King made it to #6 with the fewest number of people voting for it. An album for those of exclusively good taste.

Chosen by:
CiG (#1)
Slayed Necros (#1)
-CC- (#2)
zerostatic (#2)
Slammed (#3)
Baroque (#5)
no country for old wainds (#5)
HamburgerBoy (#7)
Bloopy (#10)
TOTAL: 63 POINTS

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
=2) 1988




1) Metallica - ...And Justice For All |116 from 18 votes
2) Death - Leprosy |107.5 from 20 votes
3) Bathory - Blood Fire Death |100.5 from 16 votes
4) Adramelch - Irae Melanox | 93.5 from 13 votes
5) Coroner - Punishment for Decadence | 92 from 16 votes
6) Voivod - Dimension Hatross | 91.5 from 16 votes
7) Slayer - South of Heaven | 88 from 13 votes
8) King Diamond - Them | 87 from 13 votes
9) Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | 64 from 9 votes
10) Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare | 61 from 10 votes
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=11) Helstar - A Distant Thunder | 48.5 from 10 votes
=11) Rigor Mortis - Rigor Mortis | 48.5 from 7 votes
13) Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime | 45 from 7 votes
14) Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What! | 44 from 10 votes
15) Realm - Endless War | 39.5 from 6 votes
16) Razor - Violent Restitution | 37 from 6 votes
17) Danzig - Danzig | 36.5 from 6 votes
18) Anacrusis - Suffering Hour | 35 from 4 votes
=19) Sadus - Illusions | 34.5 from 7 votes
=19) Holy Terror - Mind Wars | 34.5 from 5 votes
21) Forbidden - Forbidden Evil | 34 from 7 votes
22) Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries | 31 from 4 votes
=23) Bolt Thrower - In Battle There Is No Law! | 30.5 from 8 votes
=23) Crimson Glory - Transcendence | 30.5 from 6 votes
25) Candlemass - Ancient Dreams | 27 from 3 votes
26) Sabbat - A History of Time to Come | 26 from 4 vote
27) Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II | 25.5 from 6 vote
28) Testament - The New Order | 23 from 5 votes
29) Riot - Thundersteel | 21.5 from 7 votes
30) Dark Quarterer - The Etruscan Prophecy | 20 from 3 vote

fuck yes, by far one of the best years.

The thrash metal giants had just begun to emerge on the other side of their prime period, but were still capable to putting out some killer shit. Older metal acts though were really starting to show their age. Nevertheless, metal was in a grace period, with lots of new and exciting music being made. Music videos for metal acts were becoming a standard, and hair bands were beginning to spread their toxicity to the masses. The underground scene for more extreme shit was a-stirring.

There's no adventure on SSOASS. The dynamics are poor and the rhythms never change significantly to suit the song. Where something like Flash of the Blade (one of the supposed fillers) has a unique and tense riff in the Iron Maiden discography, then building to the intricate instrumental section to perfectly convey the climax of a duel, The Evil That Men Do and Only the Good Die Young just gallop endlessly with hardly any dynamics. Infinite Dreams is one of the most ambitious songs on its album but even it fails to maintain a consistent level of mystique when it suddenly goes full arena rock with the fifth and sixth verses. The title track's middle section attempts to replicate the ambiance of the NOTB intro together with the interlude of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and fails to live up to either.

The entire album is basically a collection of excellent harmonies and guitar solos scattered across a barren wasteland of half-songs, all unified under a banner of repeating derivations on the word "seven" a thousand times.

Tip my hat to anyone that has Violent Restitution on their list. @-CyanideChrist- buy ya a beer if you're ever in Chicago for putting it in that #1 spot.

Same for Eternal Nightmare and Serpent Temptation, a fucking crime if those albums don't make it. Great, tough year to rate.

Holding you to that beer dude

Chosen by:
Bloopy (#1)
Slammed (#1)
Baroque (#2)
HamburgerBoy (#3)
Slayed Necros (#4)
zerostatic (#4)
-CC- (#6)
no country for old wainds (#6)
CiG (#9)
TOTAL: 63 POINTS

 

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GMD's Top Ten Years of the 1980's
1) 1986



1) Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus |148.5 from 20 votes
2) Slayer - Reign in Blood |124 from 16 votes
3) Metallica - Master of Puppets |99.5 from 15 votes
4) Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian | 92 from 13 votes
5) Destruction - Eternal Devastation | 57 from 12 votes
6) Kreator - Pleasure to Kill | 54 from 13 votes
7) Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? | 53 from 10 votes
8) Manilla Road - The Deluge | 52 from 7 votes
9) Saint Vitus - Born Too Late | 51 from 9 votes
10) Dark Angel - Darkness Descends | 47 from 10 votes
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11) Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time | 46.5 from 9 votes
12) Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory | 45.5 from 10 votes
13) Sepultura - Morbid Visions | 40.5 from 8 votes
14) Queensryche - Rage For Order | 33 from 4 votes
15) Helstar - Remnants of War | 32 from 5 votes
16) King Diamond - Fatal Portrait | 29 from 7 votes
17) Sacred Blade - Of the Sun + Moon | 28 from 5 votes
18) Sodom - Obsessed by Cruelty | 23.5 from 4 votes
19) Flotsam & Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver | 22 from 4 votes
20) Cirith Ungol - One Foot in Hell | 21 from 4 votes
21) Yngwie Malmsteen - Trilogy | 13 from 2 votes
22) Voivod - Rrroooaaarrr | 12.5 from 4 votes
23) Onslaught - The Force | 11.5 from 3 votes
=24) Nuclear Assault - Game Over | 11 from 4 votes
=24) Satan's Host - Metal From Hell | 11 from 2 votes
=26*) Detente - Recognise No Authority | 10 from 1 vote
=26) English Dogs - Where Legend Began | 10 from 1 vote
=26) Cryptic Slaughter - Convicted | 10 from 1 vote

No country setting the goddamn standard for posting results of a poll

RiB is genius and one of the most important/influential albums of all time, i kinda regret not giving it my #1 spot ahead of fates warning, but i can't begrudge EDM its victory, it's an album of towering consistency.

Somewhere in Time is the album for Maiden fans making their first conscious steps into fandom one-uppery, so they take the album that virtually everyone knows represented a significant slump after a period of long success and pretend that it's their favorite to show how deep their knowledge of their favorite band's discography is. The next step is to consider The X-Factor a forgotten gem and the utter representation of a morose, flawed masterpiece written during an artist's most vulnerable period, only matched by Alice in Chain's Dirt. The final step is to stop being a fuckwad and admit that No Prayer for the Dying is the best thing they ever did outside of the first five, and begin listening to more than four bands (Maiden solo-projects notwithstanding).

Chosen by:
-CC- (#1)
Baroque (#1)
zerostatic (#1)
CiG (#2)
HamburgerBoy (#2)
Bloopy (#3)
no country for old wainds (#3)
Slayed Necros (#3)
Slammed (#5)
TOTAL: 78 POINTS

 

[Baroque]

Yeah, that's a killer block of albums for the #1 year. The right year won this. We going to do a 90's one?

 

[no country for old wainds]

i hope so! we've done every '90s and '00s year now right?