{"id":40694,"date":"2015-12-17T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T19:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=40694"},"modified":"2015-12-17T12:36:10","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T18:36:10","slug":"jags-albums-of-the-year-30-years-ago-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/jags-albums-of-the-year-30-years-ago-2\/","title":{"rendered":"JAG\u2019s Albums of the Year (30 Years Ago)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

1985 wasn\u2019t THAT<\/em> bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1985 was a good year for heavy metal. Not\u00a0great,<\/i> but decent nevertheless. It seemed like most of the big-name heavyweights were between releases, and there was some disappointing crap too which made my list harder to compile than last year\u2019s<\/a>.<\/b> (Armored Saint\u2019s<\/b> sophmore release Delirious Nomad<\/i>\u00a0sounded like an inconsistent pile of poop compared to their preceding debut and its outstanding 1987 follow-up Raising Fear<\/i>.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, many of my favorite albums in 1985 were not the strongest efforts by bands I liked and are included anyway because they\u2019re still good. Also: some obvious choices are left out due to the fact that I wasn\u2019t listening to them at that point. I didn\u2019t actually listen to Slayer<\/b> until Reign In Blood<\/i>\u00a0but I appreciate Hell Awaits<\/i>\u00a0today about as much as any other metal dork.<\/span><\/p>\n

So anyway: here I am again with my seasonal tidings of heavy metal past\u2026 shit that kept me out of trouble and aided in my escape from a boring life in the upper-midwest.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Yngwie Malmsteen<\/b> – Marching Out<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"yngwie<\/a><\/p>\n

After a strong solo debut with the previous year\u2019s Yngwie J. Malmsteen\u2019s Rising Force, the guitar virtuoso from Stockholm returned with his finest work to date. Marching Out<\/i> is a monstrous tour de force of heavy metal badassery and features some of the best songwriting of its time. This album\u2019s front-to-back greatness is equally due to Jeff Scott Soto<\/strong>\u2019s absolutely perfect vocal performance. Every damned song is a masterpiece. Every. Damned. Song.<\/i> The production sounds a bit dark, but it\u2019s actually somewhat fitting and, after thirty years of constant rotation, I wouldn\u2019t want to hear it any other way. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t heard this album yet then stop everything you\u2019re doing and listen right now. This is the greatest heavy metal album of 1985. Fact.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Saint Vitus<\/b> – Hallow\u2019s Victim<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"stvitus<\/a><\/p>\n

My older brother bought this on cassette, and I think, between the two of us, it eventually just wore out. Though not difficult for Hair Metal JAG to digest, these guys seemed a lot different from what I was used to at the time. Sure there was a Black Sabbath<\/strong> influence, but Saint Vitus really had their own spin on it. They also stuck out like a sore thumb on SST\u2019s roster though (alongside mostly garbage by punk bands who didn\u2019t want to play punk or HC anymore but still barely knew how to sing or play (<\/span>like the nonstop shit-talking Henry Rollins<\/b><\/span>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

This is still my favorite Saint Vitus album to this very day, and it was the last to feature OG Scotty Reagers on vox for another ten years. No disrespect to Wino but I fucking love Scotty.<\/span><\/p>\n

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W.A.S.P.<\/b> – The Last Command<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"wasp<\/a><\/p>\n

Not sure if any of you regular readers knew this before, but I kinda\/sorta like W.A.S.P. a little bit. When I picked up their eponymous debut in \u201984 it was the dirtiest and nastiest thing I\u2019d ever heard… and I liked it. The Last Command<\/em> was a worthy follow-up to that debut with mostly great songs and little filler. I played the ever-living shit out of that tape in 1985, and bus-rides to school would have been intolerable without it in my Walkman at least once a week. If my memory serves me well I believe it was the first cassette I purchased with a prominent warning sticker regarding explicit lyrics. As a yout\u2019 in 1985 I was a pretty big fan of explicit lyrics. All W.A.S.P. is good W.A.S.P.\u2026 up to The Crimson Idol<\/i> anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dio<\/b> – Sacred Hear<\/i>t<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dio<\/a><\/p>\n

Sacred Heart<\/i> continues Dio\u2019s legacy of classic albums from a classic era. Some people cried about the use of synthesizers in heavy metal, but I don\u2019t recall hearing one complaint about Dio’s use of synths… probably because it went as well with songs like “Rock and Roll Children” and “Hungry for Heaven”\u00a0on here\u00a0as it did with “Rainbow in the Dark” on Holy Diver<\/em>. <\/i>There\u2019s little filler here, but beginning (rather than concluding) an album with a live track seems an odd choice to me even to this day. Long live the magic of Ronnie James Dio.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tyrant <\/b>– Legions of the Dead<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"tyrant<\/a><\/p>\n

I know what some of you are thinking right now: \u201cdurr, how come this old-ass poser wasn\u2019t listening to any Real Mertuhl in \u201985?! By Satan, if I were there then there\u2019s this huge list of br\u00fctuhl bands I\u2019d surely have heard on YouTube and Bandcamp!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Answer: t<\/span>hrash metal was very much in its infancy, and I didn\u2019t really embrace it fully until Master of Puppets, <\/i>but this is what \u201cextreme\u201d looked like to JAG in 1985.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"tyrant<\/a><\/p>\n

“That’s it guys; get those hands on your belts and try to look like cock-rockers!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Tyrant\u2019s Legions of the Dead <\/i>made Venom look like proficient songwriters and musicians. I remember this album sounding really scary when my brother brought home a dubbed cassette\u2026 but I think that\u2019s because I was still making my way through puberty. There\u2019s some moments here for sure, but I\u2019m only including this album for the nostalgia. You think \u201chair metal\u201d is hilarious? Check out the album photos of what looks like a \u201chair metal\u201d band standing around in a graveyard trying to look all evil. The lyrics are laugh-out-loud entertaining. You know a band really sucks when they\u2019re buried in obscurity even in 2015 (a\/k\/a The Internet Age of Discovering and Namedropping Bands Nobody Ever Really Liked<\/span>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dokken<\/b> – Under Lock & Key<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"dokken<\/a><\/p>\n

The beautiful thing about Dokken is that their sound was plenty heavy enough to get them tours with the likes of Judas Priest<\/strong> but also polished and refined enough to chart on Billboard. Upon release of their\u00a0 <\/span>sophomore album Tooth and Nail <\/i>in 1984 Don Dokken, George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, and Mick Brown had established themselves as formidable songwriters. Lynch\u2019s guitar virtuosity, combined with Dokken\u2019s distinct vocal style and a tight rhythm section, make this band one of the best of the eighties American metal scene. <\/span><\/p>\n

While not quite as heavy as its predecessor, Under<\/em> Lock & Key<\/i> is a killer album with hooks to spare. Not one bad song on here at all\u2026 a tradition they\u2019d continue in \u201987 with Back for the Attack<\/i>. Essential listening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Iron Maiden<\/b> – Live After Death<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"maiden<\/a><\/p>\n

This is one of the greatest live albums in the history of heavy metal, and nobody needs me to tell them that. Powerslave<\/i> was my intro to Maiden in 1984, so when Live After Death<\/i> came out a year later, I was already happily familiar with much of the setlist. Show of hands: who doesn\u2019t have Live After Death<\/em>? GTFO.<\/span><\/p>\n

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M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/b> – Theatre of Pain<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"crue<\/a><\/p>\n

After the senseless manslaughter of Hanoi Rocks<\/b>\u2019 drummer, Razzle<\/b>, the Cr\u00fce decided to go full-glam on this outing. Not sure why I so hated Twisted Sister’s over-the-top look but somehow found this era of Cr\u00fce acceptable. Guess it was just the times. <\/span><\/p>\n

Theatre of Pain<\/em> lacks much of the\u00a0raw power of 1983’s\u00a0Shout at the Devil<\/i>. Instead we find a cover of Brownsville Station<\/b>\u2019s “Smokin\u2019 in the Boys Room”\u00a0and a touching power ballad we all can still sing along to in our rocking chairs. Don\u2019t front like “Home Sweet Home” isn\u2019t one of the greatest power ballads ever. You know you cry when you hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n

This may be the weakest of Cr\u00fce\u2019s classic albums, but there\u2019s plenty here to still like. And I do. “Louder Than Hell” was obviously a holdover from the previous album by the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Grim Reaper<\/b> – Fear No Evil<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"grimreaper<\/a><\/p>\n

NWOBHM: Still Alive in Eighty-Five! <\/span><\/p>\n

Closing track, \u201cFinal Scream,\u201d sucks some major ass, but otherwise this is a decent album.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>Aldo Nova<\/b> – <\/span>Twitch<\/i><\/p>\n

\"aldonova<\/a><\/p>\n

Ok, this album is barely hard rock, but Aldo Nova sure knew how to play guitar solos and write songs. I seriously believe he is one of the most overlooked and underrated guitarists of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n