Forty years later, it's time to take a look and honestly assess what were the ten greatest metal albums from 1984. This is not being weighed on album sales, as some of these did not fare that well upon their release but gained ground over time. All of these have stood the test of time, but some are better than others, which is why the number one album is where it sits, and number ten is where it is. The ranking is based on two main factors I was listening to them back when they were released, the impact they had when I heard them, and how well they have stood the test of time for the past forty years. Unlike lists I make today where it;s based more on how much I listened to them over the year, the results here are more cumulative, though the album I listened to the most in 1984 is on here.
10-Judas Priest - "Defenders of the Faith"
When this came out it benefited from the momentum of "Screaming for Vengence" which achieved the perfect balance of great songwriting but being accessible enough to pack stadiums. Songs like "Rock Hard Ride Free" just did not age as well as "You've Got Another Thing Comin". When I was a kid and id not know any better I enjoyed it as this was the era that found Priest still on top of the world, but when I want to dig back and listen to a Priest album this is not the first one I reach for. However, it's good enough to belong here and beat out both Scorpion's "Love at First Sting' and Ratt's "Out of the Cellar' for its place here.
9-W.A.S.P- "S/T"
This band found the sweet that was missing in music at the time to fall between what Motley Crue was doing on "Shout at the Devil" and what heavier bands like Priest and Saxon were cranking while adding a darker more theatrical element Kiss traded into blend-in with the hair metal scene. Sleazy anthem with the bite of Lawless' saw blade codpiece. It rocks with more earnestness than Priest had on the more contrived number ten ranking album.
8-Slayer - "Haunting the Chapel"
There was a college radio station I listened to as Kid that has a metal night on the weekends, that played "Aggressive Perfector' which was the first Slayer song I ever hear, It sounded like Venom to me at the time, and it was not until I heard the song "Die By The Sword" on the "Live Undead' album that Slayer really clicked for me, though I was aware Kerry King played on the "Liscenced to Ill " album. These songs aged well.
7-Dio - "The Last in Line"
As a kid when this came out, I was reluctant to give this album a shot, as I only knew Dio from the two Sabbath albums he sang on, which I was surprisingly ok with given that I was such an Ozzy fan at the time. So "Holy Diver" was the first solo Dio album I bought, and then I went back to check this one out. The title track which he had a video for, I liked, but the album as a whole had to grow on me, and once I discovered Rainbow, then the more it all clicked into place for me.
6-Queensryche - 'The Warning"
If this album came out today it would be called power metal. I like "Rage For Order' so much that I forget how great this album is. They brought all the elements of what we now think of as traditional metal into play in a manner that had both grace and balls to the songwriting, and Tate established himself as one of the best vocalists in metal at the time.
5-Twisted Sister- "Stay Hungry"
The anthemic classics that everyone knows are not why this album ranks so high, but songs like "Burn in Hell" and "Captain Howdy" that are darker and carry more grit to separate them from the rest of the rising hair metal bands at the time,as they have more in common with Accept and Judas Priest. Great songwriting wins the day, they were not shredders but entertainers.
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4-Kiss- "Animalize"
This is the most underrated album on the list, the opening track alone rocks harder than most of their peers at the time. If this was a list of the albums I listened to the most in 1984 this would be at the top of the list. The guitar attack on most of these songs should silence questions regarding if this is in fact a metal album. I would say "Asylum" that came out after this would be the turning point from metal. This is the best of the post-make-up years, and their last great album, as none of the other releases after this would ever measure up. Paul Stanley sounds great here.
3-Metallica - "Rider the Lightning"
This might be the band's best album as it runs neck and neck against "Master of Puppets". I think the effects of touring and substance abuse were beginning to weigh on them when they made "Master of Puppets" and I might prefer this one as it's a darker album, and more refined than "Kill'em All" there is the perfect middle ground of thrashing and melody here. This album grew on me over the years as when this came out, I was not as into Metallica, as when I became more willing to give this one a more solid listen after getting hooked in by Puppets.
2-Iron Maiden- "Powerslave"
I am not saying this is Maiden's best album, it's not. I am saying this album is better than the eight previous albums mentioned here they are all great in their own right. Any arguments against this fact can simply refer to "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which is better than mosts band's entire careers .
1-Mercyful Fate- "Don't Break the Oath''
As a child, I did not have the musical vocabulary to explain what I wanted when I went into music stores, so when a tall skinny adult with long hair and a chain wallet started working at the record store my grandparents took me to, I did not know what I wanted to ask was 'What's the darkest metal album you have?" so instead I asked "What's the scariest metal album you have ?". The answers in 1984 would have likely been the same as he handed me this cassette. It blew me away, and scared me a bit, while I was more into Kiss and Ozzy IN 1984, I grew into this album, and it might be not only the best album of 1984 but the best metal album of all time.
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