In honor of season #3, we introduce The Heavy Metal Yearbook: 1980’s Edition pt. 2, wherein Eric, of the Heavy Metal 101 podcast (https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/heavymetal101podcast), explores every nook and cranny of heavy metal history from 1985-89 so that you can just sit back and enjoy the highlights:
Midway through the 1980s, in the year of our lord 1985, heavy metal was busily reaching one of those periodic inflection points in which at one extreme thrash was blossoming into its first definitive artistic maturity, while at the other end of the spectrum pop metal was ascending, for better and worse, towards its peak period of musical and cultural domination (there are A LOT of keyboards to be found on much of the heavy metal released in 1985…).
Much of the finest metal of 1985 was from the heavier end of metal's genre continuum. This was the year of three of thrash metal’s finest debut albums: Megadeth’s "Killing is My Business…And Business is Good!", Overkill’s "Feel the Fire", and Exodus’ monumental and looong overdue "Bonded by Blood" (my pick for the greatest thrash debut of all). Additionally, Anthrax finally locked in on their own fun, unique take on the classic thrash sound on their wonderful "Spreading the Disease".
Meanwhile, even more extreme metal subgenres were busily flowering: Bathory was back with the challenging, delightfully abrasive "The Return…...", further trailblazing the early Scandinavian black metal sound, while Celtic Frost were taking metal to a vast array of extreme new places (death…doom…black…symphonic…) on the stone classic To Mega Therion. At the same time in the US, SOD ("Speak English or Die") and Carnivore (self-titled) were helping to pioneer the crossover thrash sound, while Texas legends Watchtower first introduced the world to tech thrash via the brilliant, complex "Energetic Disassembly".
That said, pop metal wasn’t without its 1985 standouts: Bon Jovi were making great strides towards finding their pitch perfect pop metal sound on "7800° Fahrenheit", as were Stryper, on the inconsistent but often extraordinary "Soldiers Under Command". Dokken was at or near their artistic peak on "Under Lock and Key", and even Dio was sewing some pop metal oats on the extremely enjoyable, quite poppy Sacred Heart. Also, a shout out to a less universally known pop metal gem (featuring Steve Vai, no less!) "Disturbing the Peace" by Alcatrazz.
There were a lot of really amazing metal albums in 1985, though as a totality I might argue it was a relatively weak year (excepting the assortment of masterpieces above, of course!) for our most beloved musical genre. They can’t all be 1986! And yet, despite that, this was also the year that the almighty Slayer truly became SLAYER!!!!, on the iconic, terrifying, surprisingly progressive "Hell Awaits". This album is pure, perfect, evil adrenaline in musical form, and the very best heavy metal album of 1985!
For more fun-filled heavy metal chat, please do check out the Heavy Metal 101 podcast, available everywhere you like to listen!