Venom - Prime Evil

1989

Has a Motorhead meets Saxon? thing going on. Doesn't do much for me in 2011. It's got a ghetto metal charm going for it though. Bonus points for being evil. Prime Evil.

-Primitive. Sounds like it came out years earlier, like 1984 or something.

Tad - God's Balls

1989

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

Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels

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

Kiss - Hot In The Shade

Kiss stick to their formulas here. Lots of co-writers. This is a long album. The first thing I would do is get rid of all but maybe the first one or two Gene songs. All the songs here are pretty good (I mean I can't really point to whats wrong with them,except...they're not really that good), but they all seem to be pushed into a Kiss mold. The production works. Middle of the road Kiss album here. Far from the best, but not the worst either, but it has more in common with the bad stuff.

Defiance - Product Of Society

If you search for info about Defiance on the internet. The first thing everybody says is that Defiance is second string/second rung/second generation lower level Bay Area Thrash.

Also lots of Testament comparisons. I like Thrash. This middle of the road thrash. Nothing stands out that makes you not like it, but nothing stands out to make it memorable. I like Thrash.

Annihilator - Alice In Hell

Moving thrash to the next level...I guess. Really fast, lots of notes and riffs too.

Nuclear Assault - Handle With Care

1989

Awesome thrash. Really good. Mostly fast songs with exaggerated regular guy vocals.

Whiplash - Insult To Injury

Thrash meets metal. Lizzy Borden meets early Metallica. First couple of songs are really strong. They manage to keep the rest of the album interesting. Mostly. Not great but pretty good.

Kreator - Extreme Aggression

1989

Vocals are evil. Killer riffs. Killer breakdowns. This is thrash but they're pushing to the darker side of things. I think Kreator may have been a bit ahead of their time or at least rather influential to Black Metal bands to come. They're at least a link in the chain. I don't know.

Fun Facts: I'm told this is the best Kreator record. If you know of a better one let me know...Pleasure To Kill has got to be in the running.

Intruder - Higher Form Of Killing

1989

Straight foreword Thrash that's recorded real well, so you don't notice sometimes in between the sure fire thrashin parts there are some riffs that are a bit less than awesome. If you like background Thrash while your driving or cleaning you would probably never notice.