30 Incredible Metal Albums That Turn 30 Years Old In 2016
12. Possessed – Beyond The Gates
Source // s0.limitedrun.com
Perfectly melding early-doors death metal with thrash, Beyond The Gates had the unenviable task of following the extreme metal masterpiece that was Seven Churches and while production woes robbed it of impact, the talent and progression of Possessed was still immediately apparent.
Often criticised for embracing a more commercial style – although Beyond The Gates can hardly be considered mainstream by any means – Possessed did fine-tune their sound resulting in some hit and miss tracks but the ‘hits’ were massive!
The 80s horror intro which bleeds into the maddening thrash heaven of “The Heretic” kicked things off in considerable style while the mid-tempo savagery of “Phantasm” and the bass heavy “Seance” maintained the quality. No matter what the naysayers think, Beyond The Gates should be remembered as an outstanding follow up to a groundbreaking debut!
11. Saint Vitus – Born Too Late
Source // http://nebula.wsimg.com
To be frank, doom metal announced its arrival in the metal world at the worst possible time….and Saint Vitus knew it!
Wino and the boys did not fit in, their music certainly wasn’t ‘popular’ and their image was beyond archaic and yet despite these obstacles Saint Vitus persevered and an American classic – and a bona fide Doom Metal masterpiece – was born.
Home to sludgy Black Sabbath worshipping riffs, that completely ignored the decade’s penchant for excess, spandex and an overuse of annoying keyboards, Saint Vitus were there to re-address the balance.
Born just in time we say!
10. Cro-Mags – The Age Of Quarrel
Source // cdn.discogs.com
A legendary debut, The Age Of Quarrel saw the Cro-Mags define the hardcore movement in 15 easy lessons!
A sickle-sharp, metallic sound that was rooted to a blue-collar sensibility, the concise delivery of the hard-hitting “World Peace”, “We Gotta Know”, “Street Justice” and “Hard Times” brawled their way into your head, insistent, impossible to ignore and delivered with brass-knuckles on.
Few albums can capture pure rage and emotion as perfectly as this, the reality of street life rampaging through the very heart of each track and through each vocal frustration delivered by the incomparable John Joseph.
Consider The Age Of Quarrel the crossover equivalent of Slayer’s Reign In Blood, it’s that influential and that genre-defining!
Awaken the Guardian? Rage for Order?
No room for ’em! Still quality though 🙂 \m/
Apart from my favorite uberclassics, most of which are in the list:
Whiplash – Power and Pain
Fates Warning – Awaken the Guardian (fave FW)
Queensryche – Rage for Order
these three should have been in the list!
Hallows Eve – Death and Insanity (D-I-E!)
Sentinel Beast – Depth of Death (CORPSE!)
Omen (Teeth of the Hyyydraaaa), Sacrifice, Helstar, Stormwitch (their best too)…
Power And Pain was 1985 I believe but fair play on the others Vic \m/
That list makes me feel old…..
…..we are old 😉
Fates Warning’s “Awaken the Guardian” should most definitely be included. Personally, I would say top 5 even.
A popular choice and one we are going to regret omitting!
Great list, but I’d have put Sodom’s “Obsessed By Cruelty” in there, at least in the lower reaches.
A primitive black-thrash cult classic but not sure what we would have left out to include it!
Fates Warning – “Awaken the Guardian??”
Sorry
Still I was only 6 at the time, I’ve been introduced to trash/hardcore/crossover/métal by my dad’s friends with Attitude Adjustment Américan Paranoïa at the âge of 10. It all began there followed by Crumbsuckers,Cro-mags, Slayer, Metallica, Sepultura etc. Thank you for this awesome list and to mention Sword and Voïvod
Thanks Dave….glad to see some love for Sword!
You deservedly left off Judas Priest – Turbo lol. I would have added Sodom – Obsessed by Cruelty, Samhain – November Coming Fire(kind of a crossover album), Ozzy – Ultimate Sin(a lot better that Bark at the Moon, and No Rest for the Wicked, and Cryptic Slaughter – Convicted.
Yep, no Turbo here….not Priest’s finest hour by any means! Ironically, all but Samhain’s November Coming Fire were on the original short list but fell victim to the cull.
I’ll add to the Awaken the Guardian mention and add Satan’s Host-Metal From Hell and Manilla Road-The Deluge.
Damn that Awaken The Guardian! That’s going to haunt us! Nice shout with Manilla Road, a great album. Satan’s Host, completely forgot about them…..gonna dig that one out \m/
legitimized metal as an art form on a mainstream level. Remember that 1986 was the era of bloated hair bands, and here came this total blast of energy and aggression — a pure thrash album in every sense. But aside from its power,
….but aside from it’s power….what? Don’t leave us hanging man!
Savage Grace – Master Of Disguise, Ratt – Dancing Undercover, Deathrow – Riders Of Doom, Assassin – The Upcoming Terror to name a few.
Can’t argue with those, just no room for ’em though! Thanks for reading and commenting \m/
where is Queensrijche’s rage for order???
At number 31
It’s Doomsday FOR The Deceiver
Thank you for pointing out that minor error in the text….now corrected.
Nuclear assault’s hang the pope sounds like grindcore because of how fast the vocals are AND its a full speed song