Release Lists
My 1981 top 12 list is now ready to go:
https://metal.academy/lists/single/342
1. Motörhead - "No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith"
2. Iron Maiden - "Killers"
3. Plasmatics - "Metal Priestess EP"
4. Black Sabbath - "Mob Rules"
5. Taipan - "Taipan EP"
6. Venom - "Welcome To Hell"
7. Saxon - "Denim and Leather"
8. More - "Warhead"
9. Cirith Ungol - "Frost and Fire"
10. Holocaust - "The Nightcomers"
11. Riot - "Fire Down Under"
12. Saracen - "Heroes, Saints & Fools"
I have just noticed that there appears to be some discrepancy in release dates for the Taipan EP with RYM quoting 1981 but Metal Archives and here at the Academy the date is 1982. I think I will trust to the metal specialists and stick with '82 which sees it leaving this list which now looks like this:
1. Motörhead - "No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith"
2. Iron Maiden - "Killers"
3. Plasmatics - "Metal Priestess EP"
4. Black Sabbath - "Mob Rules"
5. Venom - "Welcome To Hell"
6. Saxon - "Denim and Leather"
7. More - "Warhead"
8. Cirith Ungol - "Frost and Fire"
9. Holocaust - "The Nightcomers"
10. Riot - "Fire Down Under"
11. Saracen - "Heroes, Saints & Fools"
12. Raven - "Rock Until You Drop"
After extensive refamiliarisation with some of these over the last couple of weeks, my 1982 hot dozen looks like this:
https://metal.academy/lists/single/343
1. Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
2. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
3. Diamond Head - Borrowed Time
4. Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed: Live
5. Mercyful Fate - Mercyful Fate
6. Venom - Black Metal
7. Taipan - Taipan
8. Motörhead - Iron Fist
9. Witchfinder General - Soviet Invasion!
10. Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
11. Pagan Altar - Pagan Altar
12. Tank - Filth Hounds of Hades
1983 wasn't such a bad year, but in retrospect it feels like a year that was waiting for something big to happen. I know I was - I was shit broke and still working nightshifts in a factory making frozen pies, so some of these records really helped make that shit easier to live with.
Anyway, here's my top dozen for that year.
https://metal.academy/lists/single/346
1. Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"
2. Iron Maiden - "Piece of Mind"
3. Slayer - "Show No Mercy"
4. Satan - "Court in the Act"
5. Metallica - "Kill 'Em All"
6. Dio - "Holy Diver"
7. Raven - "All For One"
8. Motörhead - "Another Perfect Day"
9. Thin Lizzy - "Thunder and Lightning"
10. Acid - "Maniac"
11. Anvil - "Forged in Fire"
12. Battleaxe - "Burn This Town"
1983 wasn't such a bad year, but in retrospect it feels like a year that was waiting for something big to happen. I know I was - I was shit broke and still working nightshifts in a factory making frozen pies, so some of these records really helped make that shit easier to live with.
Anyway, here's my top dozen for that year.
https://metal.academy/lists/single/346
1. Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"
2. Iron Maiden - "Piece of Mind"
3. Slayer - "Show No Mercy"
4. Satan - "Court in the Act"
5. Metallica - "Kill 'Em All"
6. Dio - "Holy Diver"
7. Raven - "All For One"
8. Motörhead - "Another Perfect Day"
9. Thin Lizzy - "Thunder and Lightning"
10. Acid - "Maniac"
11. Anvil - "Forged in Fire"
12. Battleaxe - "Burn This Town"
I have done a fair bit of new and relistening over the last few days since I first published this list and have made some changes:
1. Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"
2. Iron Maiden - "Piece of Mind"
3. Slayer - "Show No Mercy"
4. Satan - "Court in the Act"
5. Metallica - "Kill 'Em All"
6. Dio - "Holy Diver"
7. Raven - "All For One"
8. Motörhead - "Another Perfect Day"
9. Sortilège - "Sortilège EP"
10. Acid - "Acid"
11. Warlord - "Deliver US EP"
12. Acid - Maniac
I have done a fair bit of new and relistening over the last few days since I first published this list and have made some changes:
1. Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"
2. Iron Maiden - "Piece of Mind"
3. Slayer - "Show No Mercy"
4. Satan - "Court in the Act"
5. Metallica - "Kill 'Em All"
6. Dio - "Holy Diver"
7. Raven - "All For One"
8. Motörhead - "Another Perfect Day"
9. Sortilège - "Sortilège EP"
10. Acid - "Acid"
11. Warlord - "Deliver US EP"
12. Acid - Maniac
Even though I have learned to live better with King Diamond's vocals, I still would struggle to put anything he has been involved with in a top ten. It is a very distinct style that I find is really hard for me to settle on the direction of. Without the make up, I ask myself would it just come off as a bit shit? Maiden definitely upped their game after "Number of the Beast" and I found "Piece of Mind" gave me exactly what the album titled inferred, settling me back into a place of faith in my (then - "then" being the 90's by the time I had discovered them) favourite band. Great to see some love for "Another Perfect Day", an underrated Motörhead record. As I read your list, I don't recall that I have ever listened to any Raven album other than "All for One".
I actually don't mind King Diamond's vocal histrionics, but even so I approach Mercyful Fate in a bit of a different way. The thing is, I think that Melissa is a great set of songs in spite of King's voice, not because of it. The riffs and melodies are sheer brilliance and the vocals are just a bit of a curveball that are definitely an acquired taste.
On a different subject, I have found compiling these lists, going back to some of my earlier listening treats (and discovering some I overlooked first time around) to be very therapeutic. I think it has been quite obvious that I have been feeling a bit jaded and burnt out with the metal world over recent months, but I have really enjoyed reconnecting with this era of metal and I can feel this exercise reigniting my fire and passion for the genre as a whole.