Today when I commented on In Mourning's debut album called Shrouded Divine; decided to open this topic. Its interesting for me to hear best debut albums because I think bands with best debuts are so important. It shows that they did something special in that time before they become famous, I can mention another new band with a very good debut album like A Fores of Stars with The Corpse Of Rebirth.

But lets talk about some important albums in history of metal like Iron Maiden's Iron Maiden which is a masterpiece for sure, those melodic guitars with Paul's strong vocals and Steve's unique bass sound. A masterpiece instrumental song like "Transylvania" or one of the best ballads of metal ever like "Remember Tomorrow" and yes born of NWOBHM maybe.

Or take a look at Metallica's Kill 'Em All album and born of thrash metal. A brutal instrumental song by adorable Cliff Burton . And songs like "The Four Horseman" or "Seek and Destroy" ...

Godfathers of metal Black Sabbath started with Black Sabbath in 1970 and made the history of metal with songs like "Black Sabbath" and "N.I.B" and brought us doom and heavy metal.

I can talk a lot and mention a lot of other albums but its better to see what you think all?

Machine Head's Debut 'Burn my eyes' is one hell of an album,
Havok's 'Burn' is pretty amazing too,
Savage Messiah's 'Insurrection Rising' is also definitely a favorite,
Testament's Legendary 'The Legacy',
Morbid Angel's 'Altars of Madness' is probably the best debut Death Metal album ever,
Kayser's 'Kaiserhof', if you haven't listened to this band already, go listen to them now.. TRUST ME
oh, how could i've forgot; Exodus' 'Bonded by Blood' .. amazing fucking album !

i've got lots other to list but those are good for now

This list is, by no means, all-inclusive and is up for debate.. but these are my personal choices. I left a few out that had already been mentioned (like Metallica, Sabbath, Testament, Iron Maiden, etc.)

Anthrax - Fistful Of Metal (1984): The debut album from one of the "Big Four" of Thrash. Pre-Belladonna with a bit of Danny Lilker thrown in.
Danzig - Danzig (1988): Still one of my favorite Danzig albums. Did the bluesy metal and did it well.
Dio - Holy Diver (1983): Already had a huge career following from Ronnie Dio And The Prophets, Elf, Rainbow, and Sabbath, but the title track on his solo debut is a heavy metal classic. Vivian Campbell was just 21 when he joined this band and, arguably, did some of his best guitar work while in this band.
Eryn Non Dae - Hydra Lernaia (2009): Practically brand new, and one of the staples of my listening diet. Ambient and Progressive. I suggest a listen.
Korn - Korn (1994): Say what you will about Korn, this album had quite a bit of an impact in its heyday. Sure.. they've sucked since their 2nd album, but this one is still a good listen.
Megadeth - Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good (1985): Rattlehead.. need I say more? While I don't think this album, as a whole, was as good as Peace Sells, I still consider it a pretty important thrash album.
Motörhead - Motorhead (1977): One of the greatest bands in hard rock, and this album started it all.
Opeth - Orchid (1995): 95% of the people on this site are Opeth fans, so they know. The other 5% don't give a crap. I care, though. I still think these guys make up one of the most important bands in Heavy Metal.
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz (1980): Built-in Sabbath following, sure, but still one of Ozzy's best albums. The perfect debut to a long solo career. Plus, Randy Rhoads and Rudy Sarzo? Hell yeah.
Slayer - Show No Mercy (1983): If you need to ask why this is here, please get off this website.
Strapping Young Lad - Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing (1995): Devin Townsend is fucking insane. The very first track, S.Y.L., kicks your ass into Hell. And once, there was a bear out there.. a real large bear. And he-e-e... ate the kids.
Textures - Polars (2004): Textures is one of my favorite bands, ever. Admittedly, I discovered them for myself after listening to Hacride, who actually released their debut after Textures. The similarities are many.. and as much as I love Hacride, Textures takes the medal.
Xerath - I (2009): Another of the newer bands that I can't stop listening to. Progressive, Industrial, Thrash and Death... mixed to near perfection (in my opinion). In addition to citing some pretty awesome bands, they also cite film scores as part of their influences.

Hmm I think my favorite would be Blizzard of Ozz. Great album RIP Randy

Written by skrätte on 31.07.2010 at 04:06


Slayer - Show No Mercy (1983): If you need to ask why this is here, please get off this website.

i'm a HUGE Slayer fan, yet i dont think 'show no mercy' was any good .. i'd give it a 7/10 or maybe 8 ... but it doesnt pass off as a "great debut album' .. definitely incomparable to 'The Legacy", "bonded by blood', 'Kill'em all', or "killing is my buissness'

Iron Maiden' self-titled

Opeth' Debut Orchid

Rammstein' Herzeleid

Metallica' Kill 'Em All

Arkaea' Years In The Darkness

Black Sabbath' self-titled

Cannibal Corpse' Eaten Back To Life

Deftones' Adrenaline

Korn' Self titled

Motley Crue' Too Fast for Love

there pently more but thats it for now:metal:

Written by Zombie on 31.07.2010 at 04:23

Written by skrätte on 31.07.2010 at 04:06


Slayer - Show No Mercy (1983): If you need to ask why this is here, please get off this website.

i'm a HUGE Slayer fan, yet i dont think 'show no mercy' was any good .. i'd give it a 7/10 or maybe 8 ... but it doesnt pass off as a "great debut album' .. definitely incomparable to 'The Legacy", "bonded by blood', 'Kill'em all', or "killing is my buissness'

My reasoning here wasn't that it was the best Slayer album, but that it was an important album, especially with regards to thrash. It pre-dates all the albums you've just mentioned, aside from Kill Em All, which was released only about 6 months earlier.

I think Slayer's "Show No Mercy" is a very good debut. and about "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" I have to say that its one of the worst debuts ever. After Mustaine was in some parts of "Kill 'Em All" then how could he record such a bad album?

@skrätte, so Black Sabbath's debut is a bad album hmmm, I will think about it man

Aside from the classics aforementioned, I submit:

Warbringer- War Without End (a modern thrash masterpiece)
Fiver Finger Death Punch- The Way of the Fist (much better than their latest)
Protest the Hero- Kezia (the most frenetic metal i've ever heard)
Sonata Arctica- Ecliptica ("Fullmoon". all that needs to be said)
Dream Theater- When Dream and Day Unite (I did love Dominici)
If These Trees Could Talk- self-titled (technically post-rock, they're heavier, and Malabar Front is godly)

Sabaton - Primo Victoria
Ensiferum - Ensiferum
Turisas - Battle Metal
Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr
Arkona - Vozrozhdenie
Moonsorrow - Suden Uni (also Talma Ikuinen Talvi, but it is labeled as demo)

Opeth ----> Damnation , Black Water Park
Wintersun ----> Wintersun
Ensiferum ----> Ensiferum , Iron
Turisas ----> The Varangian Way
Blind Guardian ----> Nightfall In Middle Earth

These r my gods

Written by Ellrohir on 31.07.2010 at 10:54

Sabaton - Primo Victoria

That is not their debut album

Repulsion's Horrified just rapes all of the other albums mentioned before

Written by Don Martin on 31.07.2010 at 12:18

Repulsion's Horrified just rapes all of the other albums mentioned before

Wintersun - Wintersun
Ensiferum - Ensiferum
Blind Stare - Symphony of Delusions
Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica

I will never get tired of these albums

Written by skrätte on 31.07.2010 at 04:58

Written by Zombie on 31.07.2010 at 04:23

Written by skrätte on 31.07.2010 at 04:06


Slayer - Show No Mercy (1983): If you need to ask why this is here, please get off this website.

i'm a HUGE Slayer fan, yet i dont think 'show no mercy' was any good .. i'd give it a 7/10 or maybe 8 ... but it doesnt pass off as a "great debut album' .. definitely incomparable to 'The Legacy", "bonded by blood', 'Kill'em all', or "killing is my buissness'

My reasoning here wasn't that it was the best Slayer album, but that it was an important album, especially with regards to thrash. It pre-dates all the albums you've just mentioned, aside from Kill Em All, which was released only about 6 months earlier.

Besides, Show No Mercy actually IS the best Slayer album, and one should not be ashamed to say so.

For my favourite debut albums:

Venom - Welcome To Hell:
Extreme metal began here. All extreme metal comes from this little album, released in 81. This album, primitive and dirty as it is, is a highly important milestone in the development of metal. Aside from it's historical importance, it is also fucking brilliant.

Mercyful Fate - Melissa:
Mercyful Fate is often cited as important because of the dark aesthetics that they brought into metal. Now, while this is true, it would do this album much more justice if it was just to be remembered for the awesome riffs, the vocals that totally fuck you over, and the brilliant drumming and bass lines. I would personally say that the EP prior to the release of this album was even better, but since this topic is about debut albums, I covered Melissa instead.

Oh, and bm kiddies who question the influence of this band on black metal should be shot in the head. They're just jealous since this album is way better than any "real" black metal album that exists.

Aria - Megalomania:
This is supposedly the first metal full length that was ever released in the Soviet Union. Aria came out of a place with nearly no metal at all, and released this beast of an album (IMO their best). Aria are often compared to Iron Maiden, but I don't think this is completely accurate. Aria has a very distinct sound in fact, and it's fucking awesome.

I honestly believe that if more people spoke Russian, then Aria would have been huge.

Written by Diabolos on 31.07.2010 at 12:01

Written by Ellrohir on 31.07.2010 at 10:54

Sabaton - Primo Victoria

That is not their debut album

oops...my bad

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 31.07.2010 at 13:51



Mercyful Fate - Melissa:
Mercyful Fate is often cited as important because of the dark aesthetics that they brought into metal. Now, while this is true, it would do this album much more justice if it was just to be remembered for the awesome riffs, the vocals that totally fuck you over, and the brilliant drumming and bass lines. I would personally say that the EP prior to the release of this album was even better, but since this topic is about debut albums, I covered Melissa instead.

Oh, and bm kiddies who question the influence of this band on black metal should be shot in the head. They're just jealous since this album is way better than any "real" black metal album that exists.

Agreed on all points

Written by Mad Mike on 31.07.2010 at 07:43

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (how it hasn't been mentioned yet is beyond me)

Yep, not only one of my fave debuts of all time, but undoubtedly one of the most influential. xD

Out of the big 4's debut albums, Anthrax's is the only one I wouldnt regard as a classic. It has some filler, while I cant find fault with the other 3. Exodus and Testament's debuts are far more of a classic than "Fistful Of Metal" IMO.

@Akvan: Nightfall In Middle Earth isnt Blind Guardian's debut.

Written by Angelic Storm on 31.07.2010 at 14:56

Written by Mad Mike on 31.07.2010 at 07:43

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (how it hasn't been mentioned yet is beyond me)

Yep, not only one of my fave debuts of all time, but undoubtedly one of the most influential. xD

I like the Mantas demos better, but yeah, great album.

That would be quite a few, but I will limit myself to a few that spring to mind immediately.

Flotsam & Jetsam Doomsday for the Deceiver - it still seems unbe-fucking-lievable to me that a bunch of adolescent snot-noses from the backwater capital of Arizona came up with an utterly brilliant thrash album which even up till today, at least in my book, ranks in the top 3 of the genre (only below Reign in Blood and Master of Puppets). An avalanche of celestially (or hellishly) inspired genius riffs that drive all songs at 180 mph from "Hammerhead" till "Der Fuhrer", accentuated by razor sharp solos and acoustic interludes, with Eric A.K.'s iconic metal vocal cherry on top. I may have got a little carried away, but, all excitement aside, this album is thrash metal excellence transmogrified into 10 songs.

Vader The Ultimate Incantation - death metal may as well have ended in 1992, with the release of this album. "Vicious Circle", "Demons' Wind" and, hovering high above any other death metal song, "Reign - Carrion". 18 years later, the production of this album is still impressive and the music does not get old at all.

Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse - looking back at the past 20 years in black metal, I'm tempted to sat that only 2 bands managed to define the genre, or at least some shades of it, on their initial release. The first is Burzum, and the second is Emperor. This is the kind of black metal that I find especially appealing. It oozes the freezing cold of the north, echoes the sounds of a forest at night and floods the room with atmosphere. Emperor's sophomore effort, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk might even be better, but it doesn't have that atmosphere...

Written by vezzy on 31.07.2010 at 14:59

Written by Angelic Storm on 31.07.2010 at 14:56

Written by Mad Mike on 31.07.2010 at 07:43

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (how it hasn't been mentioned yet is beyond me)

Yep, not only one of my fave debuts of all time, but undoubtedly one of the most influential. xD

I like the Mantas demos better, but yeah, great album.

If we're discussing old death metal demos from the states, the Necrovore demo is even better.

Avantasias debut album "The Metal Opera Pt. 1" is really great.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 31.07.2010 at 15:13


If we're discussing old death metal demos from the states, the Necrovore demo is even better.

But is three years younger and clearly influenced by the Mantas demo

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 31.07.2010 at 15:27

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 31.07.2010 at 15:13


If we're discussing old death metal demos from the states, the Necrovore demo is even better.

But is three years younger and clearly influenced by the Mantas demo

Not going to deny that. It is still better though and manages to incorporate some own elements as well. It is not some kind of Mantas rip off.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 31.07.2010 at 15:28

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 31.07.2010 at 15:27

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 31.07.2010 at 15:13


If we're discussing old death metal demos from the states, the Necrovore demo is even better.

But is three years younger and clearly influenced by the Mantas demo

Not going to deny that. It is still better though and manages to incorporate some own elements as well. It is not some kind of Mantas rip off.

I agree on all that. It is one hell of a demo. I managed to track an orignal copy down after I heard a track of their's on the "Texas Metal Archives Volume One" compilation. The original demo cassette only cost me 4 euro

The Mantas demos are awesome. I dont really think they're better than "Scream Bloody Gore", but hearing the birth of that album and death metal in general is an amazing experience. I know some people will beg to differ with me, but I definitely think Kam Lee invented the death growl with his vocals on the Mantas demos. xD

Written by Angelic Storm on 31.07.2010 at 15:38

I know some people will beg to differ with me, but I definitely think Kam Lee invented the death growl with his vocals on the Mantas demos. xD

Who would thse eople say invented the death growl then if not Kam Lee?

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 31.07.2010 at 15:41
Who would thse eople say invented the death growl then if not Kam Lee?

Some people say it's the singer of Possessed who invented it. (And that Possessed invented death metal) I guess its an eternal arguement, which is hard to give a definitive answer to. But IMO at least, it was Kam and Mantas who first did the death metal thing. Though I would dispute that Possessed even were death metal. *puts flame suit on*