I just found this board and I already feel home, so I decided to start a thread about some of my favorite 80s metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdhb2oG-d3AOne of the greatest prog/heavy metal albums of all time. One of the first metal albums to experiment with synthesizers and wow did it sound futuristic for 1986.
However, Queensryche reached their zenith 2 years later with this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8_JqGPteKkOperation: Mindcrime, a politically-charged concept album about a drug addict named Nikki and his role in a shadowy revolutionary organization. The moral in short is that there will be jackals who exploit people with ideals for their own gain.
Another interesting one is Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMuGG0ajtCsTheir most progressive rock influenced release to date; similar to Queensryche's "Rage for Order" in some ways but still definitely feels like a Maiden album. Bruce Dickinson's vocals, the keyboards, and the interesting songwriting is a treat for anyone who loves this sort of proggy stuff.
Now, I know I posted 3 progressive metal albums in a row, and I just want one more before I move onto other things, so bare with me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5TnV09-n9AVoivod's "Nothingface". Extremely experimental for something from 1989, it's "proggish" but not in the vein of these other albums which are prog in their use of "grandiose" instrumentation and unusual songwriting, and while this album has the latter, it's in a class of its own. Perhaps the first "avant-garde metal" release ever; it's very dissonant, but also weirdly melodic. Sadly the guitarist, who went by "Piggy" passed in 2005.
Alright, now let's move on to death metal because I'm not a big thrash guy (I like thrash but I'm more of a death metal guy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jldI2ZzYgFQScream Bloody Gore by Death. I don't wanna get into the argument of "who did it first" in terms of death metal, but just know that this album is a classic for a reason.
However, I think one of the more prototypical brutal death metal albums is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYjNHGUB5MUMorbid Angel. The guitarist behind it would fit quite well here I'm sure (being that he's a huge Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, DOOM, and Quake fan).
However, one of my favorite death metal albums of all time is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zM8EdasKf8I suppose this also fits under "goregrind". I'd include Terrorizer and Repulsion but I think this band is better than both.
It has the punk edge as grindcore bands usually do, but the riffs are much more death metal styled; the tremolo picking and grooviness mixed with that dirty, punk-y grind edge creates an experience like no other. If you want one, just one grindcore album to carry with you, THIS would be my recommendation. British death metal at its absolute finest hour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5IHWtvU2zoYet another death metal album from 1989! Autopsy's one of my favorite death metal bands of all time. Imagine Tony Iommi played in a death metal band and you'd get Autopsy. It's death metal for sure, having the scary atmosphere, atonal riffing style, and vocals associated with it, but there's a bit of Sabbath influence in the riffing with the thick, resounding single note riffs this album contains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4mzIlZv4XISo many albums here from 1989, but I had to include Obituary's "Slowly We Rot". Classic death metal album. Obituary's known for their groovy, simple death metal. No technical mumbo jumbo here, just some groovy riffs and brutality, the way death metal ought to be!
Post your own!