The Firm - The Firm

 

(1985)

Super group with Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers. Mostly pretty terrible 80's pop. Two or three songs on here I don't mind so much.

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.

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.

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.

AC/DC - Fly On The Wall

This isn't that bad. Thing is, there's gotta be at least 5 AC/DC records better than this one. With AC/DC it all really starts sounding the same after a while. This isn't bad...I guess if your a big AC/DC fan and have listened to the other ones to death, this is a good album to have.

Accept - Kaizoku - Ban

Recorded live in 1985. Commercial pop metal somewhere between the Scorpions and AC/DC. This is alright, but if I'm gonna listen to Accept it's gonna be Balls To The Wall or Restless And Wild, and that's about it.

Fun Facts: This is a six song EP. It was re-released in 1992 and was retitled Live In Japan.

Exodus - Bonded By Blood

It's thrash metal, and it's one of the best. Fast. It's a cornerstone of thrash and was very influential, but never one of my favorites.

-Turns out this album gets better and better as it progresses.

Dokken - Under Lock And Key

Some of the best pop metal from the 80's. Don Dokken is a whimpy guy singer, I guess that's why the girls like him. Not too much screaming, except there is a lot of screaming coming from the guitar. George Lynch is a virtuoso guitar guy. His stuff his all pretty tasteful and this album. Some ballads and some smokin' rockers. The songs are all pretty solid. Do the girls like Don Dokken? I doubt it. I'm sure girls liked the band Dokken though, this album went Platinum. Because it's cheese metal.

Destruction - Infernal Overkill

Evil vocals. Thrash. Fast.