The other bands

Great year for metal releases (IMHDO)

The usual suspects aside, what do you think is the best of this little list of great music by then "under-the-radar" bands ?

Virgin Steele-Guardians Of The Flame
Witchfinder General-Friends Of Hell
Exciter-Heavy Metal Maniac
Satan-Court In The Act
Manilla Road-Crystal Logic
Warlord-Deliver Us
Oz-Fire In The Brain
Savage-Loose 'n Lethal
Heavy Load-Stronger Than Evil
220 Volt-S/T

Loads of great albums in this list, but my favorite would be Savage - Loose 'N Lethal.  It's actually my favorite NWOBHM album.  The "signature" insane Ebony Records production job is raw as all hell and makes the album sound very powerful.  In fact, when I first listened to this album, I thought my speakers were blown because of how it sounds. Ha!  

Exciter's Heavy Metal Maniac wins the default vote. I've had that one for some time. The Witchfinder General I just got about a year or 2 ago (very good too). Never heard the rest.

I went with Virgin Steele, mainly because it's the only one of those I've heard (which actually surprises me a bit).

Savage, by far.

I went with the WF album, though I'm not really sure. The only one I've never heard is the Heavy Load record. Should look into it.

Man, Virgin Steele. I don't get that band. There is something there, but their output, in my opinion, is so inconsistent. 1/3 of their stuff is awesome US power metal, 1/3 is terrible dragging ballad-y type stuff a la the filler part of most Manowar albums, and the last third is weird (but fun) LA-sounding almost glammy metal. I don't know if those fractions are correct, but I have a bunch of albums on my iPod and songs on shuffle seem to pop in equal parts the above thirds.

Still love me some 220Volt!

I voted for the Witchfinder General. Heavy Metal Maniac and Fire In The Brain would be my next choices.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I went with the WF album, though I'm not really sure. The only one I've never heard is the Heavy Load record. Should look into it.

Man, Virgin Steele. I don't get that band. There is something there, but their output, in my opinion, is so inconsistent. 1/3 of their stuff is awesome US power metal, 1/3 is terrible dragging ballad-y type stuff a la the filler part of most Manowar albums, and the last third is weird (but fun) LA-sounding almost glammy metal. I don't know if those fractions are correct, but I have a bunch of albums on my iPod and songs on shuffle seem to pop in equal parts the above thirds.

Virgin Steele is a baffling band. I have no idea what they are trying to accomplish with the strange variety of material on each their albums. That being said, I still dig a lot of their material - cheesy or otherwise.

"Heav-eee Met-al Mane-ee-ACK! Stand back!"

WARLORD by a mile!

Although I recorded a cover song of HEAVY LOAD with CAULDRON BORN and that was a lot of fun too. Catchy song.

Witxhfinder General with Exciter closely behind.

" Court in the act " is a very wild release -
The band's name is outrageous - of all things to pick !
Love this poll from you - as always -
bands I can check out - 1983 - I was 19 years old -
Recording Studios sounded great back then !

Went with Manilla Road, a timeless epic classic (though not their best in my opinion). But I could pick Warlord as well, with Exciter and Satan distantly following. Haven't heard Savage and 220 Volt full lengths yet!

Witchfinder General.

I haven't heard them all. But I still voted. I don't think I ever even heard Manilla Road's Crystal Logic.

Hard to pick from that list. I went with Virgin Steele because that one blew me away back in the day, specifically Burn the Sun. Wow! What a song.

Second up would be Warlord & Manilla Road.

Satan's Court in the Act crushes the rest of the albums on your list, albeit great ones. On the other hand, I see that Heavy Load's Stronger than Evil currently has no votes, so I'll back that one up.

Self-titled albums by High Power and Tokyo Blade both deserve mentions, as well as Riot's Born in America. 1983 was a great year in metal.

Witchfinder wrote:

Loads of great albums in this list, but my favorite would be Savage - Loose 'N Lethal.  It's actually my favorite NWOBHM album.  The "signature" insane Ebony Records production job is raw as all hell and makes the album sound very powerful.  In fact, when I first listened to this album, I thought my speakers were blown because of how it sounds. Ha!

I on the other hand haven't heard much of the list, but I have "Loose 'N Lethal" and it's phenomenal! It's my favorite NWOBHM album as well. There isn't a bad song on this, and the production is what makes this album so great. I couldn't believe how gritty it was when I first listened to this album a few years ago. "Let It Loose" has its special place with me, because my second ever Metallica bootleg ("One Last Visit") has (James, Lars, Dave, & Ron) jamming on this one. My second favorite song is probably "Ain't No Fit Place" or "Berlin" (Lars Favorite)

Witchfinder General for me.

Painkiller wrote:

Self-titled albums by High Power and Tokyo Blade both deserve mentions, as well as Riot's Born in America. 1983 was a great year in metal.

I don't have High Power, thanks for the head 's up.

I didn't include Riot because they were known quite well in my circle of friends at the time. Same with Tokyo Blade, but not as much.

By the way, I voted for Warlord.

James B. wrote:

I don't have High Power, thanks for the head 's up.

I didn't include Riot because they were known quite well in my circle of friends at the time. Same with Tokyo Blade, but not as much.

By the way, I voted for Warlord.

Fair enough on Tokyo Blade, although Born in America definitely falls under the classification of falling under the radar, and why Riot originally split up.

Then again, you could argue that Heavy Load was well-known among Swedish metalheads at the time. They're neither obscure nor as popular as the likes of Girlschool, yet still a quintessential band.

I need to listen to a few of these before making a decision. The only one I had on CD was Satan's. I know I've heard Warlord's and Exciter's. I need to refresh my memory of those, too.

Savage!! When I first heard this album I was blown away by how good it was!!

Hard choice..I almost went with 220 volt but went with Witchfinder General instead..all great albums though...

I do not own or ever owned any of those albums, but default, Exciter because a friend had that album when I was a teen, and I remember digging it