Some time ago I made a list for heavy metal albums I enjoyed the most. I got it cleaned up after ripening my tastes.I also tried to organize the list a bit, in subcategories. There is one album per band (choices were hard sometimes), with no strict order, but my favorite albums are usualy on top.

2020 EDIT:
I like heavy metal with atmoshpere, with melody, and ideally it should be some kind of gate to a fantastic universe. I don't care about modern HM with a shiny production and simplistic riffs. I don't care obscure occult band with horrendous prod and no musical ideas. Here's the list of what I consider classics of the genre, pinnacle of dreamy, groovy, beautiful and well composed oldschool heavy metal

Created by:

Ansercanagicus | 15.11.2017

	1.	Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny 1976 ? Judas Priest is one of my favorite band, I always to come back to all of their albums and find great pleasure to play along (or try to), sing along (or try to)... Always a different sound, nice groovy riffs, great solo, and of course the unmistakable voice of Rob Halford. This is one of their earliest releases, and it suffers from clunky production, but the heavy metal is definitely here, as well as the emotion you could feel in various degrees of dynamics, in prog-rock flavoured moments or in epic leads. The songs also have thought and written lyrics, and a somewhat prgressive structure. No generics, no fillers, there may be some cold spots here and there but this album is a fabulous journey with every song standing out. I'm not gonna assume that you don't know Judas Priest, but you are required to visit their catalog!
	2.
	3.	Angra - Angels Cry 1993 ? I usually hate power metal bands claiming themselves symphonic and using goofy synths, but this album avoids my contempt by setting a special atmosphere. The feminine voice of André Matos, the influences of Brazilian music here and there, some passages borrowed from classical music or from Kate Bush... Angra's musicianship is over9000, you'd know if you had checked their discography, and they managed to craft a mix of inspired power metal and magical fantasy. Great riffs, even greater leads, a lot of modal theory in use to bring a lot of colors, this album is just splendid.
	4.
	5.	Fates Warning - No Exit 1988 ? Fates Warning, and their nonsensical music. Strange beats, odd meters, which are not even groovy and just confusing, vocal lines impossible to sing along. It's odd. The production is off too... yet I could claim this album is one the best in the thrash/heavy/USpower/prog/technical category. The melodies are hard to catch but tend to suddenly burst as climactic. Fates Warning music is very surprising and sometimes feels stale and unappealing, just to create the most memorable moments one second later. Awaken The Guardian is from the same kind, without the thrash elements, and Parallels is also an incredible release, while not being strictly heavy metal.
	6.
	7.	Racer X - Second Heat 1987 ? Actual shred coming from Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet. These guys deliver solos, but also riff and a lot of different section with the fastest 16th and triplets, and do it in sync! More than that, it is really beautiful and musical, as opposed to the traditionnal guitar hero jerking off, and integrated into heavy/speed metal. Scott Travis is on the drums, so it can't get any heavier already. And even though I'm not a fan of the singer, he defenitely has is own style. The production is also off, like your typical end-80s low-budget band, using a lot of reverb and slapback on everything. It gives it a certain atmosphere nonetheless, and it gets really pretty on slower songs. Second Heat and the previous album Street Lethal are two gems, inescapable for any fan of speedy music or any guitar enthusiast. I repeat, those riffs and solos are blissful to listen to, thanks to the colorful harmonisation and interesting compositions. Go check this one!
	8.
	9.	Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 1973 ? Can you believe this album came out in 1973? It blows my mind everytime, when SBS's breakdown kicks in. Black Sabbath created heavy metal, there's no question about this. But their music is also so much more, with all the prog rock diversions. SBS has a beautiful arranging, with a lot of instruments and different types of songs, and neither the mix nor the composition ever cease to amaze me. But I could say just as much about their other releases, and God knows it's a solid discography. The mighty Black Sabbath.
	10.
	11.	Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King 1987 ? You don't mess with Savatage. They only come with a limited fistful of riffs, but damn they're heavy, and damn they make great songs. I like how simple their songwriting seems. Riff: on repeat. It's next section time: let's go. Time for awesome lead: you have 8 bars. Perfect. It's surgical work, just pure efficiency without going all over the place. Once again the music is really modal, which creates a colorful harmony which will stay all along. Oliva's voice is acid af, I still don't understand how he can make these shrieks, while still being able to get emotional on 'Strange Wings'.
	12.
	13.	Mercyful Fate - Melissa 1983 ? I like how progressive Mercyful Fate can get with their riffs, leads and songstructure. It's not your generic HM album. Also because of King DIamond's voice, that I don't dig this much, but it's always goods to come back to this album and discover things your brain didn't grasp the time before. And the production is super raw, which gives a special flavour to the music too.
	14.
	15.	Tarot - Spell Of Iron 1986 ? Oh man. I have a physical copy of this one in my car. I must have spun it one thousand times by now. As usual I like its tone, its mood, and also the riffs and melodies. Is that relevent enough? This is the first band of Marco Hietala from Nightwish, but happens to be HM of the finest composition, with particularly rich drum sections. All songs have really distinctive riffs, and like I said the vocals are funny to sing along. Marco does the job really well.
	16.
	17.	Sortilège - Sortilège 1983 ? French power!!!! Love Sortilège, Christian Augustin's voice has such a cool timbre and soars high in the sky. The riffs are efficient and can be tricky. Some of the lyrics are actually well written, and that's something you won't hear me say again about French heavy metal. Despite the lacking production, you can feel all the musicianship and passion.
	18.
	19.	Van Halen - 1984 1984
	20.
	21.	Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion 1985 ? Is CF black, or thrash, or doom or what? No one is sure, but there's a bit of heavy metal in there, so I'll take that. I like how they manage to use such a lame composition technique as writing any chromatic stuff and repeting four times, then writing another and doing x4 again... - and succeeded in making it enjoyable. It's atonal yet melodic, and groovy and catchy. The distorted guitars have a unique tone (like its bossH2 but in the higher mids) that's heavy and noisy but not fatiguing. In the drums department there's also so much to listen to, grooves, backbeats, fills, rapid changing from one measure to another. The whole album has a lot to offer in a lot of varied fields, being emotial or technical, on smaller or larger scale. And also Tom's singing. And also the tympani and horns. Unmissable metal classic.
	22.
	23.	Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind 1983 ? I'm not a fan of Iron Maiden since they're only able of creating good songs but not excellent ones, and good albums but not excellent ones. They do a lot of recycling and their composionnal skill let one waiting for more. Yet there's an exception with PIece Of Mind, which has a raw sound and a more serious tone than other albums. The drumwork is impeccable, the lyrics are all fancily written, and all songs are efficient without being dragged or crippled by some underwhelming section. So the good riffs and melodies and leads and awesome vocals never cease to unfold. The atmosphere is particularly strong and memorable, which makes this album my favorite from IM, by far. And you can read my ideal of 'mighty heavy metal' through this
	24.
	25.	Cirith Ungol - Frost And Fire 1980 ? Sloppy playing, unfinished production, odd songstructure and lyrics... But that's nothing compared to the great talent of these musician, strong enough to create their own style of doom/heavy. The guitars and bass are playing very melodic stuff, while the vocals are just those of an eagle screaming at you. The fantasy themes borrowed from Lord Of The Rings and Elric of Melnibone show both lyrically and esthetically, creating a special mood, like, you really want to believe the singer is an ancient warrior counting you his shenanigans. This band is both goofy and serious, both ridiculous and awesome. They are Cirith Ungol.
	26.
	27.	Cacophony - Speed Metal Symphony 1987
	28.
	29.	Metal Church - Metal Church 1984 ? between heavy and thrash. This album sounds very dark, I guess because of the reverb, but there also may be a harmonic reason. Because all these songs have strong melodies but they keep on stressing on uneasing notes. Take the first two "Beyond the black!!" for instance. The guitars are also constantly harmonizing in unusual ways. The leads are a major highlight too. So expect haunting yet catchy tunes, and a good and creative musicianship. In fact I'm surprised right now listen back to this album. All songs are great but I really dig 'Hitman', such a groove and chorus! And the solo from 'Nightmare' !
	30.
	31.	Dio - Holy Diver 1983 ? All hits, Dio singing, crazy riffs, crzay solos. I don't know how to speak about this album, it's just so obvious.
	32.
	33.	Accept - Balls To The Wall 1981
	34.
	35.	Warning (FRA) - Warning 1981 ? French hard rock, with interesting melodies, and very nice vocals too. The real highlight here is the song 'Satan Relaps', which is a blend of heavy metal and RAGGAE. Never heard anything like this, it's clearly an awesome idea. These musicians really know how to use harmony and melody to create their own vibe. The bass is also proheminent and doing cool stuff. The spatialization is odd, with some kind of hall reverb, and the guitars seemingly coming from another room.
	36.
	37.	Ratt - Invasion Of Your Privacy 1985 ? Stunning example of heavy glam. The guitarwork is great, with a lot of non fonctional harmony and of course a lot of minor/major modulation, typical for the glam trend. I'm in love with the singer's voice, and all the complex harmonisations on top of it. Granted the songs can get a bit repetitive, the album still has a nice flow, with solid songwriting and news ideas developped through every piece.
	38.
	39.	Warlock - True As Steel 1985 ? Might as well listen to Triumph And Agony to complete the spree of heavy metal anthems - the next album is a little bit commercial and powerish. With the extremely strained yet beautiful voice of Doro Pesch, delivering efficient melodic hooks to grab your attention before starting a powerful chorus, supported with choirs. Most of their songs unleash everything at you in less than a minute, so the rest is just repetition or filling the gaps, but it doesn't keep me from digging the awesome hits: All We Are, I Rule The Ruins, Metal Tango, Für Immer... - Coming back to True As Steel, it's more embed in the heavy/speed metal vein, with much more sophisticated riffs and ideas, for a rather fulfilling and consistent album. So no need for name dropping, every song is worth and migthy. It also feels a bit "truer" (True As Steel eheh). And you can find real hits in their other albums too. The guitar parts are especially impressive, delivering classic yet creative riffs and leads full of bounce and energy.
	40.
	41.	KISS - Creatures Of The Night 1982 ? Extremely infuencial rock/glam band, Kiss never pulled out a good release imo. But they created a consequent amount of hits, and revisiting their discography was an amazing journey. Creatures Of The Night has a really great sound, putting to shame all the overcompressed shite on the market today. You can really feel the drums hitting you, it has puch, it has groove. The lyrics are stupid as always, the riffs are great as always, and Paul Stanley still kicks ass with his voice I'm so fond of.
	42.
	43.	White Lion - Pride 1987 ? Shreddy glam album. If you stand the singer's typical hair-metal voice, you'd find yourself enjoying a tasteful guitarwork. The riffs are indeed heavily Van Halen inspired, and thrive with a lot of licks, varitions and stuff. The tone is impeccable and the leads are great. A super album as a whole.
	44.
	45.	Heavens Gate - Open The Gate And Watch 1990 ? from Germany, with mostly speedy songs. First and foremost, let's talk about the singer. A mighty screamer of high register, with a pleasant timbre in the mids, and he's really pushing it. The music is straight up 4/4, heavy one-note bassline and palmute, and that's very solid. Over this you have a couple of cool riffs and leads bringing just the right amount of melody. The band is also good at slowing things down and pulling out marches or hymns. The whole piece if very gimicky, but damn it works!
	46.
	47.	Virgin Steele - Age Of Consent 1988 ? Virgin Steele is a very inconsitent band who's been able to unleash the most epic power metal songs next to piles of garbage. It can get goofy, stupid, overplayed, overstrained, grandiloquent, badly written, poorly mixed... But sometimes they dose everything correctly and then the magic happens. So on this album we have: 'On The Wings Of The Night', 'Chains Of Fire', the unbelievable 'Burning Of Rome', and 'Let It Roar'. That's enough to put this on list (the other songs go from ok to bad). Like I said I had to choose a VS album, and that's complicated. I could have picked Noble Savage or Marriage part.I though. It don't understand this band. How can you have catchy riffs, powerful vocals and great melodies, strength and emotion, and end up being a Manowar parody? anyway...
	48.
	49.	Oracle (UK) - Oracle 1989 ? Sounds like a bit of Deep Purple, or Uriah Heep... Surely because it uses an organ. Yes it's more rock than metal, but it can get heavy sometimes. The musicianship is impressive and crafts complex arrangement, insuring a great album from start to finish.
	50.
	51.	Lee Aaron - Lee Aaron 1987 ? This is female fronted power/glam with cheesy lyrics. But Lee Aaron has a voice, and some of the songs here are crazy good, with heavy riffs, a killer retro 80s guitar tone, nice melody, cool leads, and some epic mood... Yeah the production would be number number 1 highlight, oh god if metal could sound like this nowadays!... The album falls flat on its second half, but 'Metal Queen', 'Lady Of The Darkest Night', 'Head Above Water', and 'Got To Be The One' are 10/10. She has some other interesting hits in her discography (that goes more glam/pop
	52.
	53.	Shok Paris - Steel And Starlight 1987
	54.
	55.	H-Bomb - Coup De Metal 1982 ? Yes, France had a killer speed metal band in the 80s. I'll once again curse the dumb producers who were clueless about metal, but what a shame really. When you have a singer with this unusual and warm voice, when you have drummer ripping the double kick drum and such a guitar tone.... what a shame. It's like some Motörhead or Exciter on testosterone, restless and unstobable, you just get trashed by that snare. The guitarwork is unexepectedly colorful, thanks to strong rock/blues influences. Also check their album 'Attaque'.
	56.
	57.	Kat - Oddech Wymarłych Światów 1987 ? Polish violence. This is almost blackened thrash in fact, but is has enough speed/heavy elements to it. Right off the bat I'd say it's kind of the same ambience as Metal Church, dark, epic, based on complex guitar sections (reverb, same fixed wah too?). Also Bathory, with some ominous choirs in the back and of course those harsh vocals. Well it's some heavy shit.
	58.
	59.	Maniac - Look Out 1989 ? heavy/power/speed metal in 4/4, plain and simple, just kicks in your face. The songstructure is really basic, and the album feeds on a high momentum specially designed to make you headbang. It can get repetitive but it has som great hits: 'Power Metal Addicts', 'Hot Shots', 'Look Out', 'Cities Burn'...
	60.
	61.	Carrie - Secrets 1985 ? German female fronted band. It's classic heavy metal but it feels very dark and haunting. The riffs are also original. Would I find anything to complain it's a bit repetitive, but it's certainly worth the listen.
	62.
	63.	Pagan Altar - The Lords Of Hypocrisy 2004 ? Originally recorded in 1984. Don't mind the old man's voice. This doom band makes simple but epic music. That's what I'm talking about when I say 'mighty' heavy metal, it just casts you into some dark fantasy world, and you can feel the essence of music really affecting you.
	64.
	65.	Fifth Angel - Fifth Angel 1986 ? US power, alternating speedy tunes and marches and ballads. It's plain awesome, music with a solemn, serious ambience. The slow pîeces an get very dark. While the uppace ones don't lack any power and can throw beautiful riffs and solos at you.
	66.
	67.	Talon - Vicious Game 1987 ? Talon is a rather unknown German band who plays heavy at mid tempo and sometimes reaches speed metal tempo. They surf on the generic side, with the same chord progression(s) often reused. Mostly minor pentatonic stuff. Usual. But the mix is there, the riffs too, and I especially like the raspy voice of the singer, able to shriek when it's needed. This band has a very organic sound, with a prominent bass, and while nt being aggressive you can definitely call them heavy. All their albums are good and it was hard to pick one. Vicious Game is the most akin to Judas Priest, but Never Look Back is great also, and I used Neutralized as title picture for this list.
	68.
	69.	Madison - Diamond Mistress 1984 ? Not overwhelming, but this album contains its plentiful of climactic moments, being solos, or choruses or some special riffs. In the end it's pretty solid and has its own atmosphere. It can fail at creating strong memories with all those genius bits of creativity.
	70.
	71.	Stormwind (GER) - Taken By Storm 1984 ? Imagine Accept (I'm saying that mainly for the singer whose voice is simimlar to Udo's) but playing US-power kinda semi-progressive riffs. So yeah, the guitarwork is interesting, and the songs work efficiently, with a good dosage of harshness and melody. The production isn't grear unfortunately, but the music widely compensates for it. It's 33 minute of speed and heavyness, and once again a great lack from MS database
	72.
	73.	Scorpions - Blackout 1982 ? Very catchy hard rock album, and this singer's voice is gold. The production is really great. The songs are somewhat repetitive but it's not a real problem since they're so pleasant
	74.
	75.	Axton Pryte - The Lab 1986 ? this is... a demo of a French progressive heavy metal band. Their only release I think, and nobody never heard about it. But people should, it's good music, despite the flawed production, the watering down of all elements which were supposed to be powerful (the singing, the riffs, the drums), and the odious French accent. The complex songwriting and inventive riffs are appreciated. The Fates Warning like sense of melody too. And you can sense these guys were truely passionate about their music, and that's always a good thing. I especially love 'Catch The Windblow'.
	76.
	77.	Tytan - Rough Justice 1985 ? energic NWOBHM, all nice songs, with good melodies. The blunt kick drum rolls are especially appreciated, on 'Cold Bitch' or 'The Watcher' for instance. Song after song it's just hit after hit, great chorus after great chorus, with a lot of harmonies between vocals and guitars. The singer also has an untypical voice, singing medium notes but with a rather low register. Awesome from start to finish.
	78.
	79.	Legend - Fröm The Fjörds 1979 ? Typical noisy sound from the 70s, but this is some of the finest doom. Even though the singer doesn't sound metal, the bassline makes it all, along with the proficent drums and psychedelic guitar solos.
	80.
	81.	Wolf (UK) - Edge Of The World 1984 ? This is NWOBHM in a very soft form, neither the singer nor the guitars feel aggressive at all, and this album is somewhat a powerful lullaby. The production is rather poor, but the music is full of emotions.. 'Medecine Man' is the track standing out for me.
	82.
	83.	W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P. 1984 ? The aggressive and raspy voice of Blackie Lawless declaming sex innuendo, yet still able to show emotion on 'Sleeping In The Fire' and compliment it with vocal harmonies. The cheesy attitude of these guys, typical from mid80s hair metal bands. The attacking drums. The plentyful of Hits in there. The minor pentatonic harmony, used for each every song in their discography, neat but ominous. And everything is gathered to stimulate the phantasmogoric imagition of young virgins. Such was the plan I guess. I'm surprised to acknowledge some influences from The Who, giving WASP a bit of variation. (I'm not takling about the Rolling Stones cover)
	84.
	85.	Riot - Restless Breed 1982 ? Riot, as old as Judas Priest but you never heard about them! It was difficult to pick any album from these guys, since they're all very different in compostion, production and personel. Also, despite having many good songs in them, they're also not excellent to stand aside the colossi of the genre. Took this one. It's raw, it's straight to the point. I like this singer too, who sounds especially feral.
	86.
	87.	Oz - Turn The Cross Upside Down 1984 ? Raw guitars, punchy drums and 300 tons of reverb on the vocals, get ready for Oz. Their songs are oldschool bangers. They are rather short, but always coin some memorable riff, and the kick and snare will keep you hot.
	88.
	89.	Manowar - Sign Of The Hammer 1984 ? a raw album, when Manowar was still somewhat true to their art. It features nice songs like 'Mountains', 'All Men Play On Ten', 'Sign Of The Hammer', 'Animals', 'The Oath'... Eric Adams' voice is piercing and powerful, and the general atmosphere is rather dark and can get pretty serious with the athems.
	90.
	91.	Titan Force - Titan Force 1989 ? US power focused on alternate picked riffs. They also like to stress on their solos, and high pitch melodies. Overall it's somewhat progressive an reminds me of Fates Warning.
	92.
	93.	Warlord - Deliver Us 1983 ? My problem with this album is that songs get stuck in my mind. It's a truely original one, inspired by medieval music. The synths in the background create a unique atmosphere, and so does the raw mixing. Raw doesn't mean dirty or amateurish there, it's just little processed, and you could very much be in the same room as the musicians. Also it's not aggressive at all, and focuses more on the feelings than throwing metal in your face. The songs are fairly repetitive but easy to get into.
	94.
	95.	Steffanie - Hideaway 1986 ? That's borderline heavy metal and more glam, and some songs can get repetitive or goofy. But that's a fun album, really gimmicky and smelling the 80s miles around. That was to be expected with a japanese idol for singer. There's a bunch of great moments. The guitar leads are very cool, and especially the solo on 'Change Of Heart'.
	96.
	97.	Pokolgép - Pokoli Színjáték 1987 ? Hungarian heavy metal, just as raw as Aria. The production is amateurish and the songwriting isn't too complex, but the spirit is there. Riffs are rather melodic and carry the album forward, song after song, for a solid album.
	98.
	99.	Aria - С Кем Ты? 1986 Russian heavy metal in its rawest from, it's just blasting guitars and anthemic singing
	100.
	101.	Running Wild - Port Royal 1988 ? Running Wild is a gimmick band about pirates. Their music is very self similar so I just picked an album at random (same themes, chord progression and always pentatonic minor harmony). They have a signature sound though, and succeeded in creating a their own kind of heavy metal. It sure sounds epic. I got fed up trying to diffrenciate good songs from the bad ones, but anyway they are worth the ilsten.
	102.
	103.	Pentagram - Pentagram 1985 ? more doom than heavy, but it contains a pocketful of admitedly easy but cool riffs: Relentless, The Ghoul, Sign Of The Wolf \m/(>o<)\m/ instant Master Of Reality vibe
	104.
	105.	Zed Yago - From Over Yonder 1988 ? German female fronted heavy metal with a lot of theatrical elements. The music is almost like a film score at some points, and a narrator counts the epic story of Zed Yago from the Twilight Zone and over Yonder. The metal parts are repetitive but well written and managed to create tantalizing acts, so that this album grasps you and throws you in its story. You lose sense of time and this incredible 42 min piece seemes like 10.
	106.
	107.	Zeus - V 1987 ? raw heavy from Spain. In Spanish. The songs are very cool and melodious, always enthralling you into singing them out loud. The bass is doing a great job at keeping things moving, and the drums might sound simple but we don't need more to create a decontracted heavy metal pace. The album feels very joyous, despite having sad songs, and I'd say the high voice of the Spanish singer added to the solid compositions make this record particularly memorable and colorful. The second song 'Mucho Mas Amor' is a ballad, and a great one, but if you're only longing for heavy metal look no farther than the next songs.
	108.
	109.	Fisc - Too Hot For Love 1987 ? stupid lyrics from the glam dimension, but the sound is good and it's straight to the point heavy metal. Just palmute and stuff. The choirs on choruses are especially efficient and the riffs and singing are melodic enough to keep it interesting. The first four songs are real hits.
	110.
	111.	Blasphème - Désir De Vampyr 1985 ? The main appeal of this album in my opinion are the lyrics. They're in French and what they say is really humourous and sex oriented. Like I enjoy singing them but I also don't want to be heard. Also because the singer uses a lot of falsetto. I guess it's all a form of subversion. Musicwise is rather habitual minor pentatonic stuff, and the production is lacking - I mean it's decent. Also you might find it hardly aggressive for metal, it mostly resembles early Iron Maiden.
	112.
	113.	Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac 1983 ? One of the classics of speed metal, early thrash. So the drums are just 4/4 kick rolls, upbeat snare and crazy shits, while the guitars are distorted to the point of sounding like static and the singer aggresively tries an eagle impersonnation. Its very one dimensionnal, but if you're only in it for the headbang, then you found your album. This is razor sharp. Inside the cover booklet you can find a picture of Exciter's main man posing with Motorhead and Metallica, and it is true that this sounds like a crossover of the later. I don't particularly like this album, although my favorite moment is 'Under Attack''s chorus, now that's a milestone of heavyness. Later is this song they quote a drum part from Judas Priest's Exciter from which the band got its name.
	114.
	115.	Crying Steel - On The Prowl 1987
	116.
	117.	Elegy - Labyrinth Of Dreams 1992 ? Elegy = Angra + Malmsteen. So we have symphonic power with a lot of technical moments, and very nice intricacies from the bass and drums. The singer sounds a bit like André Matos sometimes. But. There's also the pedal organ from Malmsteen, which is drowning the harmony, and dooms the atmosphere by wrongly giving it ominous traits: since that pedal tone never satifayingly resolves. The composition is also all over the place. Solos, licks, 25 riffs, breaks, tempo shifts... So if you have 300 IQ you might enjoy this, on my end I'm feeling a bit lost and could never recall a clear picture of this album. My takeaway would be some isolated sections, 2 measures here and there, which are indeed beautiful. I'm thinking of the song 'Powergames' in particular.
	118.
	119.	Der Kaiser - Vautours 1984 ? French underground once again. This album is flawed by the singer, who's off tune most of the time and all over the place. If you excuse that, plus the just_correct production, you'll be able to reach the truely interesting side of the album, which is the arrangement of bass and guitar. You can tell the musician were real maestros, and all of the songs are colored with a rare harmony. It's gives the album its special flavour. They were also surely inspired by neoclassical music, given all the gorgeous instrumental breaks in their songs. Somehow the singer pours an Indochine vibe above all this.
	120.
	121.	Glacier (USA-PO) - Glacier 1985 ? Christian heavy metal, my soul is saved now. Once again, obscur band with average production, but the passion is there, and the music springs all sorts of feelings. It's just a 20 minute long EP with 5 songs are they're all great, and even surprisingly varied. There are different singers for each songs it seems. The guitars also have a neat textural sounds thanks to the reverb, the tape effect and the different takes overlapping. Pretty atmospheric. And of course the riffs are awesome.
	122.
	123.	Excess - Melting Point 1986 ? Brutish monolithic 4/4 kick snare palmuted heavy metal. It's not really music, just a pretext for headbanging for 40 mins. All the songs sound the same but are immensely satisfying, and the general warm, blunt and reverberated atmosphere is one of the kind. It's kinda like the Maniac album, but without any intent of sounding epic. It's very humbly strong. In fact this is like drinking yourself to oblivion, it hurts your head and brings out a couple of sad feelings, and you just want your neck to break to end it all.
	124.
	125.	Satan Jokers - Les Fils Du Métal 1983 ? Badly produced French hard rock (I mean, it's always badly produced). This one is quite special, because I can't tell if it is progressive music or if it's just badly written. Anyway, it can get surprising, from simple riffs to elaborated solos, through strange vocal harmonies and goofy lyrics. It's still worth the experience, being for the atmosphere, or the always great basslines. 'Derrière Les Portes Closes' is still an excellent song.
	126.
	127.	Medieval Steel - Medieval Steel 1984 ? quite a gimmicky band, but they impose their brand of religiously epic heavy metal. Bow and pay respect to the masters of burdens, counting you their tales of blood and battle. No it's not Manowar, it's not as aggressive, and more focused on atmosphere (I mean it's drenched in reverb). Put your helmet, take your sword and shield, and listen to some Medieval Steel.
	128.
	129.	Defender - Remaining Tales 2001 ? actually a compilation of tunes from 1984. Power and speed metal. The singer has a good voice, and the production is great and sounds dark. The riffs are in fact very thrashy and the drums are restlessly rolling and punching.
	130.
	131.	Doro - Force Majeure 1989 ? Not a memorable album, but it contains a bunch of cool songs, Warlock-like, such as 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' and 'Save My Soul'
	132.
	133.	Panzer - Caballeros De Sangre 1986 ? Spanish heavy. Excellent music, powerful, pumping, really pleasant to listen to with great melodies and colorful riffs. The hits are 'No Hay Quien Nos Pare' and 'Pon Tu Ley'. The rest is unfortunately just above ok.
	134.
	135.	Attentat Rock - Le Gang Des Saigneurs 1984 ? The opening them is a bliss, and could very much be this list's leitmotiv. It has it all, the melody, the power, the might. Unfortunately the following songs ain't particularly memorable, so it's just a shame. The album is cool anyway. In French, raw, with hard rock bits...
	136.
	137.	? ? ? ALBUMS I'M WAVERING ABOUT ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
	138.
	139.	Witch Cross - Fit For Fight 1984 ? the main appeal here is the voice of the singer, really nice tone, and with several takes at the same time. Listen to 'Fight The Fire' for example, it's neat. The production is low budget, but the music is still decent heavy metal, the songs are good too, and original.
	140.
	141.	Chastain - The 7th Of Never 1987 ? Shreddy neoclassical female fronted US power. What do you think of that? I said female fronted, but Leather Leone is more like - a fiery lion, actually, with very very strained vocals exempt of feminity. The production is raw, and that's ok, but this loud singer coupled with brutish drums sounding like shit is quickly overwhelming. Anyway I felt like highlighting Chastain, this band is one of the kind, and the guitarwork is especially interesting.
	142.
	143.	Heavy Load - Death Or Glory 1982 Raw and simple heavy metal that feels true. It's a bit of a dusty gem though, and the vocal harmonies and straightforward riffs struggle to thwart the repetitiveness
	144.
	145.	Mystic Force - Eternal Quest 1993
	146.
	147.	Angel Dust - To Dust You Will Decay 1988 ? fairly good USpower with dark atmosphere and thrashy riffs
	148.
	149.	Whitesnake - Whitesnake 1987 ? Ok that's not heavy metal, that's hard rock, and glam even. I guess this album is a classic, but I get really get through it all. All songs are good, and the solos are really extensive. But that's just not my mood after all.
	150.
	151.	Hawai - The Natives Are Restless 1985 ? Featuring Marty Friedman, so expect all sorts of crazy solos. The production is good, the music is great, but it still sounds a bit generic (in spite of Marty's presence, which is heard on all guitar parts). I mean it's a lot of hair metal songs. It lacks heart somehow.
	152.
	153.	Trust - Repression 1980 ? French hard rock heavily inspired by AC/DC and Scorpions. Political lyrics, which are more spoken/yell than sung. Not really heavy metal in fact, except the song 'Antisocial' which you may know Anthrax's version.
	154.
	155.	Damien - Stop This War 1989 ? Not a memorable album but it sounds good, the singer is fierce and the riffs are mean. It's traditionnal palmute in the same vein as Talon, or Maniac.
	156.
	157.	Malice (US-CA) - License To Kill 1987 ? gerenic heavy metal, well produced, decent, solid, but it's a bit repetitive. In fact I don't find anything to say about this. Enjoy the Halford like screams and good sound and good riffs. My favorite track is 'Chain Gang Woman'.
	158.
	159.	Yngwie Malmsteen - Odyssey 1988 ? I don't like Malmsteen, I don't like these songs, this sound, this constant pedal organ, this one-note bassline. Yet his work is worthy of being quoted. Malmsteen is very important, he as a tone, and a lot of guitar skill of course. In this album the songs tend to be glam metal, so it kinda sets boundaries for the monstruous maestro. The highlight there are the vocals, percfectly executed and suiting this music very well.
	160.
	161.	Witchfynde - Cloak And Dagger 1983 ? funky nwobhm
	162.
	163.	Epsylon (FRA) - Epsylon 1985 ? not memorable but a cool album with the French vibe and a rather solid effort and good production
	164.
	165.	Trouble - Psalm 9 1984 ? heavy doom, very Black Sabbath sometimes, with raw production. All tunes are nice but repetitive.
	166.
	167.	Quartz - Stand Up And Fight 1980 ? NWOBHM with raw production. These guys write awesome verses... but hideous choruses, I don't know why... well it's always nice to add to your collection if you like 80s new wave. The bass is very audible too.
	168.
	169.	Universe - Universe 1985 ? I don't really like the overpresent synths here, but this is a very cool album between hard rock, power and speed. The production is good.
	170.
	171.	Hawk - Hawk 1985 ? Decent music and awesome guitar tone for the leads. I remembered this album being great, but now I don't know why...
	172.
	173.	Marienthal (FRA) - Prohibition 1985 ? badly produced french heavy. A couple of nice songs here and there. 'Voyage','By My Side','Youve Never Learn'...
	174.
	175.	Gravestone - Creating A Monster 1986 ? The guitarwork is excellent but the songwriting is average and I can't stand the singer's voice, which is way too thin and not convincing when going high for showing off. The production isn't great either. But if you like the elaborate riffs...
	176.
	177.	Grim Reaper - See You In Hell 1984 ? catchy but raw and repetitive. The riffs are great but the songwriting is basic and can't live past 1m30.
	178.
	179.	Viper - Soldiers Of Sunrise 1987 ? André Matos singing. In once again a kind of technical band, but despite the obviously great musicianship, the result isn't really musical, because of generic chord progressions I guess. And also a compromised mix where everything fights to be heard over something else.
	180.
	181.	Gotham City (SWE) - The Unknown 1984 ? the rawest production. the choruses are nice melodic breaks