Manilla Road - Crystal Logic

1983

     This album rips and shreds and is totally awesome. The only drawbacks are the vocals, that I've longs since been able to over look and possibly the production, which is way better than the first two but still a little off, but also at this point I don't mind.

     Fist pumping head bobbin sword swinging Heavy Metal!

Manilla Road - Metal

1982

     The way this one starts, the drums on the first song, the mix, the production...it feels so disjointed. The album has a theatrical vibe. There's still a little bit of hard rock. They've tightened things up since the first album. A couple songs get the epic Metal going. This is really rough and raw. My first impression was I prefer the first album, but this was growing on me after another listen.

Manilla Road - Invasion

1980

      The second song has a strong Stranglehold vibe and of course all the soloing on the album brings to mind Double Live Gonzo, but there's a mellower element that reminds me of Uli Jon Roth. Then there is the folky mystical vibe. It's all wrapped up in a style that reminds me, in style, of all the forgotten NWOBHM bands that might have only were able to put out a seven inch or maybe a record, then faded away. The production values on this are super raw, which I don't mind at all. The band is raw on this, there first release.
      It's in between stuff like Rainbow and the whole NWOBHM. This is so early in the game though it's like he's starting his own thing

Kiss - Lick It Up

1983

     Thanks to Vinnie Vincent Kiss were back on track with this album. This is a bunch of speedy metal songs. Held back by Kiss anthem and pop leanings. This album would have been more ripping and smoking if it were up to Vinnie. Popular metal at the time was Priest, Maiden and Scorpion. They are not going for that here. They're shooting for the Van Halen super guitar hero, but then holding it back with anthems. For 1983 they're right in line with Dokken and what's gonna be the whole L.A./Glam/Hair metal 80's thing, but somehow they're right on the cutting edge here. This is the last album where that will ever happen for Kiss.
     Plus we finally get to see Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent without their makeup.

Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

1986

I guess when you make five great albums in a row it's tough to live up to, but this album rocks like crazy!

Saxon - The Power And The Glory

1983

If Iron Maiden had a more of a Kiss AC/DC mentality.

Cheap Trick - All Shook Up

1980

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

1983

Pretty much a Roger Waters solo album with guest appearance from the other members of Pink Floyd. Sounds like the quiet parts of The Wall.

Mayhem - Deathcrush (ep)

1987

It's all about the energy here. The attitude. It's the real deal from the gut. Inspiring.

Kiss - Asylum

1985

This one rocks surprisingly good in an early Dokken early 80's LA Metal kind of way. Better than Diver Down. Catchy 80's pop Metal.

Production wise. The vocals stand out for their searing  inhumaneness. Especially on the choruses.

This very similar to their previous album Animalize, but this one is better.

When Bruce Kulick came in to record this album. Basically he said Paul and Gene were the bosses and he did what they told him. I assume he had a certain amount of freedom. If I remember correctly. - He said Gene would work any day, but Paul wanted weekends off and between the two of them Bruce worked like 25 days in a row...and was loving every minute of it.

Kiss - Crazy Nights

1987

It was still the 70's when Kiss started playing catch up. There should be no surprises that this album sounds the way it does. In the early 80's when Metal started busting out and into the mainstream it was more legit and hard rockin'. By the time the mid/late 80's hit Metal ballads, keyboards and smokin' fast guitar solos jammed into every song...cheese pop metal had been run into the ground and been watered down to the point where it was very similar to runny diarrhea ...popular metal on MTV was really the bottom of suck. This is what Kiss is shooting for here and they nail it!

-Strong contender for worst Kiss album and not surprisingly one of their best sellers. Certainly the best selling of the non make up era.

There's some rippin smoking guitar playing here. This album is super polished. It doesn't even sound like a band. It sounds like a production.

They're going for the lowest common denominator again. They achieved it! The keyboards...A bunch of song writers helping out. Did I say this might be the worst Kiss album? But it's still and interesting time capsule. The sounds here ARE MTV 1987 so much of this reminds me of the popular rock bands played at the time. Other bands...

Motorhead - No Sleep Till Hammersmith

1981

Pretty much most all extreme music be it metal or punk and be traced back to Motorhead. This album sums up their first few records with a live album. More energy and aggression coming across on the live recording.

Venom - Welcome To Hell

1981

On one hand this is a bunch of garbled speedy noise that all sounds the same. Well, that might be your first impression, but the songs here are quite distinct. Fast bombastic murky and evil. Put this next to your early Motorhead and Judas Priest records. It sounds like children trying to cover those bands, but making up their own satirical Satanic lyrics. Songs are surprisingly catchy. One of the earliest albums to mix punk and metal.

Slayer - Hell Awaits

1985

Slayer! Drums are leading the charge.and riffs and vocals and satan. They've got it all figured out here on their second album.

Voivod - War & Pain

1984

If Judas Priest went a more progressive direction and Greg Ginn played guitar for them. Awesome record. Equal parts Punk and Metal. Hanging on the Discharge/Venom/Motorhead side of the tree. Deranged vocals.

Overkill - Feel The Fire

1985

Not quite Thrash. Sounds like a bridge from NWOBHM to Thrash. Good stuff for sure. This record didn't come out until '85. I guess some of the songs were written in '83. If this record had come out in '83 these guys would have been legends. Instead they are just Over Kill.

Kreator - Endless Pain

1985

Venom meets early Slayer. The first album from Kreator. Really fast and raw.

Tad - God's Balls

1989

Possibly the greatest album of all time. Certainly the only record that's ever brought me to tears.

Triumph - King Biscuit Flower Hour

Good time rock and roll party metal.

Strong Spinal Tap vibe going on here. I'm finding this strangely tolerable. Enjoyable even. I like the sound quality. Very live and clear. Recorded live in Cleveland 1981.

Double Live Gonzo meets Queensryche.

Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels

This might be worse than Eric Clapton, but still better than their previous effort.