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1985-87, 3 years that changed metal forever


noblastbeats

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In '85 Megadeth released Killing is my business... In '86 Metallica released Master of Puppets and Slayer released Reign In Blood. In '87 Anthrax released Among the Living. Each of these 4 albums had a seismic effect on the world of metal with each giving the bedrock to an offshoot of metal; Megadeth helped spawn Speed Metal, Metallica gave mainstream metal a shot in the arm, Slayer released the album that arguably laid the groundwork for Extreme Metal and Anthrax helped create Hardcore and Crossover Metal. It was after these releases that the term 'the big 4' began to be used.

Killing Is my Business...was a snarling angry beast, the band were tight has hell and fed off a Dave Mustaine still smarting after being let go by Metallica, the obvious classic was Mechanix but the album as a whole delivers like a punch in the gut.

Master of Puppets by contrast seemed determined to break the record for the best riffs ever laid down on vinyl. My own personal favourite is probably the least known track 'Leper Messiah' which stomps its way to a conclusion propelled by jagged riffing and James Hetfield's angry sarcasm delivering his disdain for organised religion.

Reign In Blood is simply a beast from beginning to end. The obvious stand-out track is Angel of Death but in reality there's no bad track, it simply crushes everything that came before it with a sound that always teeters right on the line of being out of control without ever actually crossing that line, it gives the album an edge that had never been heard before and rarely since. 

Among The Living is to my mind a standout album from a band could that be criticised for producing a fair amount of filler on later albums until For All Kings was released. Every track has that New York punk attitude and creates a stomping masterpiece. Its no surprise that tracks from Among The Living often make a large percentage of the bands live performances.

Thats my 2p anyway :)

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19 minutes ago, noblastbeats said:

Megadeth helped spawn Speed Metal, 

I am drawn to this statement as - to me - it is not correct I am afraid.  Speed metal was around before Megadeth for me.  A lot of the speed metal bands fed off the NWOBHM scene also.  I mean at best you could say the latest era for "spawning" speed metal was the early 80's but there's no way Megadeth kicked it off in 85.  I would argue that the "proto" era for speed metal was the late 70's with Priest and the aforementioned Motörhead showing the inclination of the style on tracks like Exciter and Overkill.  I think even Slayer's debut was more speed/thrash than all out thrash record too.

Not knocking you as obviously this was an important period for you but just for context speed metal was already spawned long before 85.

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2 hours ago, noblastbeats said:

No worries - you're right, I should've been more precise and say it supported and built on what had gone on before.

 

Honestly I think this is the case for the whole post. These bands were all successful and influential but I think you're giving them way too much credit. I'm not sure how you'd define "extreme metal", but black metal and death metal both had their start in the early 80s. The roots of thrash go back even a little farther. Hardcore punk got started in the late 70s and "crossover thrash" was an early 80s phenomenon. Lots of bands playing shows and making demo recordings were what laid the groundwork for the more polished and commercially successful albums of the mid to late 80s, including these.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 1:50 PM, noblastbeats said:

In '85 Megadeth released Killing is my business... In '86 Metallica released Master of Puppets and Slayer released Reign In Blood. In '87 Anthrax released Among the Living. Each of these 4 albums had a seismic effect on the world of metal with each giving the bedrock to an offshoot of metal; Megadeth helped spawn Speed Metal, Metallica gave mainstream metal a shot in the arm, Slayer released the album that arguably laid the groundwork for Extreme Metal and Anthrax helped create Hardcore and Crossover Metal. It was after these releases that the term 'the big 4' began to be used.

Killing Is my Business...was a snarling angry beast, the band were tight has hell and fed off a Dave Mustaine still smarting after being let go by Metallica, the obvious classic was Mechanix but the album as a whole delivers like a punch in the gut.

Master of Puppets by contrast seemed determined to break the record for the best riffs ever laid down on vinyl. My own personal favourite is probably the least known track 'Leper Messiah' which stomps its way to a conclusion propelled by jagged riffing and James Hetfield's angry sarcasm delivering his disdain for organised religion.

Reign In Blood is simply a beast from beginning to end. The obvious stand-out track is Angel of Death but in reality there's no bad track, it simply crushes everything that came before it with a sound that always teeters right on the line of being out of control without ever actually crossing that line, it gives the album an edge that had never been heard before and rarely since. 

Among The Living is to my mind a standout album from a band could that be criticised for producing a fair amount of filler on later albums until For All Kings was released. Every track has that New York punk attitude and creates a stomping masterpiece. Its no surprise that tracks from Among The Living often make a large percentage of the bands live performances.

Thats my 2p anyway :)

You ever check out Voivod's War and Pain, Anthrax's Fistful of Metal, Overkill's Feel the Fire, Sepultura's Morbid Visions?  Lots of killer stuff coming out at the time.  The whole 80s was killer, even before thrash, Exciter Heavy Metal Maniac etc.

 

In my opinion Neil Turban smokes Joey Belladonna and not just that fistful of metal is in my opinion the best Anthrax album by far not just because of vocals but the riffs.. I think most people disagree usually cus they haven't heard it, they got popular with Joey..

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