1985 Heavy Metal UP THE WAZZU!

Gonna have to break this one up into two polls. HOLY COW there was a lot of heavy metal in 1985 and I'm positive I didn't list everything. Let me know what I missed. It was hard to just cut the heavy metal releases down to only 15 for the poll. I left off live albums, EPs and anything I considered thrash metal.

THRASH was growing steadily by this year so I'll make a separate poll for thrash.

Abattoir - Vicious Attack
AC/DC - Fly on the Wall
Accept - Metal Heart
Accept - Kaizoku-Ban (EP)
Aerosmith - Done with Mirrors
Agent Steel - Skeptics Apocalypse
Agent Steel - Mad Locust Rising (EP)
Angel Witch - Screamin' N' Bleedin'
Anthrax - Armed and Dangerous (EP)
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Anvil - Backwaxed
Aria - Mania Velichia
Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad
Artillery - Fear of Tomorrow
Attacker - Battle At Helmes Deep
Black 'n Blue - Without Love
Blessed Death - Kill Or Be Killed
Blind Vengeance - s/t
Blitzkrieg - A Time of Changes
Blue Cheer - The Beast Is Back
Celtic Frost - Emperor's Return
Celtic Frost -To Mega Therion
Chastain - Mystery Of Illusion
Dagger - Not Afraid Of The Night
Dark Angel - We Have Arrived
Dark Wizard - Reign Of Evil
David Lee Roth - Crazy from the Heat
D.R.I. - Dealing with It!
Destruction - Infernal Overkill
Dio - Sacred Heart
Dokken - Under Lock And Key
Electric Sun (Uli Roth) - Beyond the Astral Skies
Exciter- Long Live the Loud
Exodus- Bonded by Blood
Fastway - Waiting for the Roar
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Glacier - Glacier (EP)
Girlschool - Running Wild
Grave Digger - Witch Hunter
Grim Reaper - Fear No Evil
Hallows Eve - Tales Of Terror
Hawaii - The Natives are Restless
Helix - Long Way To Heaven
Helloween - Helloween (EP)
Helloween - Walls Of Jericho
Hirax - Raging Violence
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Keel - The Right To Rock
King Kobra - Ready to Strike
KISS - Asylum
Kix - Midnite Dynamite
Kreator - Endless Pain
Leviticus - The Strongest Power
Lizzy Borden - Love You To Pieces
London - Non Stop Rock
Loudness - Thunder in the East
Mad Axeman - Hell Raiser
Manilla Road - Open The Gates
McCoy - Think Hard
Megadeth - Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!
Mötley Crüe - Theatre of Pain
Nasty Savage - s/t
Omen - Warning Of Danger
Overkill - Feel The Fire
Onslaught - Power from Hell
Pandemonium - Hole In The Sky
Pantera - I Am The Night
Piledriver - Metal Inquisition
Possessed - Seven Churches
Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy
Raven - Stay Hard
Razor - Executioner's Song
Razor -Evil Invaders
Rough Cutt - s/t
Running Wild - Branded and Exiled
Rush - Power Windows
Ruthless - Metal Without Mercy
Satan Jokers - Trop Fou Pour Toi
Savatage - Power of the Night
Scorpions - Worldwide Live
Sinner - Danger Zone
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Slayer - Live Undead (EP)
Sodom - In The Sign Of Evil
S.O.D. [a.k.a.] Stormtroopers Of Death - Speak English Or Die
Stormbringer - s/t
Stryper - Soldiers Under Command
Sweet Pain - s/t
Thor - Only The Strong
Thrasher - Burning At The Speed Of Light
Trouble - The Skull
Twisted Sister - Come Out and Play
Tyrant - Legions Of The Dead
Venom - Possessed
W.A.S.P. - The Last Command
Warlock - Hellbound
White Lion - Fight to Survive
Wishbone Ash - Raw To The Bone
Watchtower - Energetic Disassembly
Y&T - Open Fire
Y&T - Down for the Count
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Marching Out
Znöwhite - Kick 'em When They're Down
Zoetrope - Amnesty

Dang! These year-by-year polls are getting really difficult! Armored Saint gets my vote, with Stryper a VERY close second. So many of these are worthy choices I don't know if it's even possible to have a clear winner. Can't wait to see what everyone chooses!

Ouch - another hard one!!!!! I went with Stryper but could have easily picked Trouble.

Honeslty, there's not allot on that poll that jumps out at me. I'd almost vote for Armored Saint, but Delerious Nomad not a favorite album of mine. Gonna go with WASP on this one.

Very tough but Trouble gets the vote.

Armored Saint-Delerious Nomad

Dokken for me.

Only four for me to choose from on that list. I'm going to have to sit this poll out seeing as the album I would pick for that year would be Savatage-Power Of The Night.

Not including the thrash metal, I'm wavering between two albums that really rocked my world that year Fates Warning - Spectre Within and Stryper - Soldiers Under Command.
2. Loudness - Thunder in the East (would come in a close second to those two.)
3. KISS - Asylum (yes, I love this album!)
4. Savatage - Power of the Night
5. Kix - Midnite Dynamite
6. Grave Digger - Witch Hunter

The Dio was a bit of a disappointment to me, as was the Accept, Twisted Sister and Raven. I now love them all, but there is no doubt that all were a bit of a departure for those bands and attempts at commercialism. Sad thing is, those are some of my all time favorite bands right there.

Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors was another that consumed me in '85. Saw the tour. I was in college at the time and didn't have a vehicle so I hitchhiked to the mall so I could buy that cassette. In retrospect, it's not their best, but at the time I loved it.

I voted for Fates Warning - The Spectre Within.

Tough choice ! Those are all great selections. I'm voting for Helloween with Loudness getting honorable mention (but I really like everything on there)

I went with Stryper. Tough choice.

went with Helloween. Great stuff!

Quite a few old favorites here. Think I'm gonna go with Dokken's UNDER LOCK AND KEY here, by just a smidge over Raven's STAY HARD.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quite a few old favorites here. Think I'm gonna go with Dokken's UNDER LOCK AND KEY here, by just a smidge over Raven's STAY HARD.

I voted the same way for the same reason

I thought I'd be the only Dokken vote.

exact33 wrote:

went with Helloween. Great stuff!

Yea this one was easy. All those others were fluff.

Went with THE Best Stryper album of all time-Soldiers!

I voted for Dio (again)...but every one of these albums is a killer!!

Accept - Metal Heart
Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad
Celtic Frost -To Mega Therion
Dokken - Under Lock And Key
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Grim Reaper - Fear No Evil
Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy
Stryper - Soldiers Under Command
Trouble - The Skull
W.A.S.P. - The Last Command
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Marching Out

To Mega Therion, without a doubt. i'd also give a very honorable mention to Bathory's The Return.

mc666 wrote:

i'd also give a very honorable mention to Bathory's The Return.

Totally missed that one.

Trouble. Runner up would be the Celtic Frost.

I went with Armored Saint. I will say that it was probably 1985 that being a metal fan really started to hit the wallet. There are actually a few titles on the non poll list that I am not familiar with, even by name.
I may (or may not?) stir the pot and say that the David Lee Roth was NOT metal. Dang, I do not think it was even rock!

Helloween....even though I didn't have this album back then....still it's my favorite on this list.

Yngwie - Marching Out by far.

Not only is it his finest album, it also was one of my first real metal albums. Songs like Disciples of Hell, I am a Viking, Caught In the Middle... Doesn't get any better!