The Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums of All Time
Reviewed. Rated. Ranked.
50 - 1
50. Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction (1992)
Mark: Mustaine & Co. hit the mainstream with dark themes, juggernaut riffola and suitably manic vocals. Every Megadeth album brings something new to the party, but this was - deservedly - the band’s commercial zenith.
Richard: The best Megadeth line up at the top of their game. Elefson and Menza never sounded better and there is the perfect balance of melody and unrelenting power.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Sweating Bullets, Symphony of Destruction, Foreclosure of a Dream
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.89394
49. Thin Lizzy - Black Rose (1979)
Mark: From the compelling tribal drumbeat of Do Anything You Want To Do to the reflective title track, Lizzy deliver a suite of infectiously brilliant, occasionally uncomfortable songs that underlined their growing (but ill-fated) reputation as rock and roll icons
Richard: From the thundering start of Do Anything You Want to Do to the epic title-track closer, this is Thin Lizzy at their wondrous best.
Steve: A journey into the heart and soul of Phil Lynott where poetry, passion and pain conspire with a wonderful musical sense to produce a really solid piece of work.
Top Rated Tracks: Do Anything You Want To, Waiting for an Alibi, Sarah
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.90370
48. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
Mark: An exquisite soundscape fashioned by the vision, creativity and ability of Waters, Gilmour and sound engineer Alan Parsons. Surely the album that truly defines the experimentation that is the hallmark of early '70s prog rock.
Richard: An album in which to completely immerse yourself. Listen to it end-to-end in a dark room and just let the most atmospheric album ever created surround you.
Steve: A project which would go on to be proclaimed a masterpiece. It's clever, sonically challenging in many ways, vast in its ambition but also meanders aimlessly in stages which apparently it's a crime to say.
Top Rated Tracks: Us and Them, The Great Gig in the Sky, Eclipse
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.91852
47. UFO - Strangers in the Night (1979)
Mark: Overdubs (or not?) aside, this is a masterclass in band-defining standards driven by the keyboards of Paul Raymond and the jawdropping guitar work of a young Michael Schenker.
Richard: Everyone loves Doctor Doctor but there’s so much more to this live classic. Out On The Street; Mother Mary; Shoot Shoot ... this album deserves to be listened to end-to-end.
Steve: Notwithstanding my general aversion to live albums, UFO produced something to remember with this reminder of one night in Chicago. You’d buy it for the Rock Bottom duet between Messrs Schenker and Raymond alone.
Top Rated Tracks: Out in the Street, Rock Bottom, Doctor Doctor
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.92821
46. Vain - No Respect (1989)
Mark: Always so much more than the sleaze glam hair metallers they were labelled at the time, Vain’s rising star was fuelled by bonafide hard rock classics, but burned up in the event horizon that was early-90s Grunge. A shame for a band this damn good.
Richard: A very different hair metal album from a very talented guy. They deserved to be bigger. Some superb tracks on this consistently good 12-tracker.
Steve: Davy Vain just oozes a sexy coyness and simultaneously knocks ten bells out of their glam rivals. Appositely titled since this talented troupe got absolutely no respect for an album that should have been a springboard for the stars.
Top Rated Tracks: Aces, No Respect, 1000 Degrees
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.94444
45. Kansas - Leftoverture (1976)
Mark: The previously uber-prog Kansas plough a more mainstream furrow for album #3. From the chart-busting Carry On Wayward Son to the still-proggy Magnum Opus, the band balances accessibility with sumptuous experimentation.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Miracles Out of Nowhere, Magnum Opus, Opus Insert
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.57667
44. Mӧtley Crüe - Too Fast For Love (1982)
Mark: It was never going to be long before the most exciting thing on the Sunset Strip morphed into the most exciting thing in the record store. Crüe don’t disappoint - bubblegum glam with a razor sharp edge, catchy choruses and a boatload of ‘tude.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Piece of Your Action, Come On and Dance, Live Wire
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.94815
43. Metallica - Load (1996)
Mark: This is the closest Metallica ever got to freeing themselves from the albatross that was the Black album. Gone is that most metal of metal logos but though much maligned, Load retains the trademark blend of bludgeoning riffs and gorgeous melody.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: The Outlaw Torn, Until It Sleeps, The House That Jack Built
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.95000
42. Mötley Crüe - Shout At The Devil (1983)
Mark: This epitome of LA cool will have you reaching for an air mic and a tin of mascara. The definitive release that paved the way for all who followed Mötley down glam rock's platinum highway.
Richard: Absolute Pomp Rock and a thoroughly enjoyable album. Loads of energy throughout. Apart from an average Beatles cover all the songs are really good. Incredible to think it's nearly 40 years old.
Steve: When the Crüe went neo-Kiss and gave their faces a workover, everyone noticed. But Nikki Sixx and gang could walk the walk (even in those heels) as well as talk the talk, and the result is a timeless piece of glam glory. Such a significant staging post on the hard rock roadmap.
Top Rated Tracks: Looks That Kill, Danger, Too Young to Fall in Love, Knock ‘Em Dead Kid
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.95185
41. Rammstein - Herzeleid (1995)
Mark: An absolute gamechanger. Period. Inventive, brutal, eerie, menacing and clever. Just when you think it’s all about power, you’re confronted with the tanzmetal anthem Du Riechst So Gut or the introspectively dark Seemann. Just gobsmackingly good.
Richard: Thank goodness one Rammstein album makes the 1995 cut-off for the Hall of Fame. Blistering, groovy and unbelievably heavy all at the same time, Rammstein are unique in the world of metal and this is a brilliant debut.
Steve: There are hundreds of decent industrial metal bands out there fusing electronica, funk, punk, metal and any amount of cabaret drama into their music, but there's only one Rammstein. Off the wall and off the scale in equal measure.
Top Rated Tracks: Wollt Ihr das Bett in Flammen Sehen? Laichzeit, Du Riechst So Gut
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.95758
40. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (1980)
Mark: The thundering riff of Neon Knights belies the train wreck that was Black Sabbath in the year before its release. The band barely puts a foot wrong and in doing so snatches a remarkable victory from the snapping jaws of defeat.
Richard: But is it really Black Sabbath? Who cares! Neon Knights is as monumental as ever. I'd forgotten how good Children of the Sea was. And then there's the title track. Brilliant.
Steve: Sounding better than Ozzy was never going to be difficult; dragging Sabbath out of a rut was far more of a challenge and it needed, paradoxically, someone of Dio’s stature to be able to pull it off. I could listen to the title track on a loop for years on end.
Top Rated Tracks: Neon Knights, Heaven and Hell, Children of the Sea
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.95833
39. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (1980)
Mark: From the opening bar of Prowler, it was clear something special was happening. Dickinson may have replaced Di’Anno two albums later, but from cover to closing title track the sense of scale that is there for all to hear, even at this early stage.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Remember Tomorrow, Phantom of the Opera, Running Free
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.95833
38. Blue Öyster Cult - Fire Of Unknown Origin (1981)
Mark: BÖC reinforce their return to form with an album that scales extraordinary heights. From darkly compelling commentary on PTSD to the bonkers but infectious Joan Crawford, this is an absolute treat.
Richard: A distinctive 80s feel with synthesisers galore, but this is still classic BÖC and a career highlight. Buck Dharma is a guitar genius and Eric Bloom's haunting vocals in Veteran of the Psychic Wars and Joan Crawford send shivers up your spine.
Steve: An astonishing piece of work. So much variety, so much to admire, nothing more jaw-dropping than the incredible Veteran of the Psychic Wars, a towering work that demands to be globally acclaimed.
Top Rated Tracks: Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Joan Crawford, Don’t Turn Your Back
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.97037
37. Saxon - Denim And Leather (1981)
Mark: The third and arguably final instalment in Saxon’s holy trinity of NWOBHM releases is an end-to-end treat, powered by the effervescent twin guitars of Oliver and Quinn and Biff’s distinctive vocals. You’re flattened by Princess of the Night and are never given a chance to get back up. Brilliant.
Richard: An absolute classic from Biff and the boys. Princess of the Night at the start - And the Bands Played On in the middle - Denim and Leather to finish. You can't get better than that.
Steve: So South Yorkshire the guitars play in a Barnsley accent; so NWOBHM you can set your watch by it; so much fun now as it was back in the day.
Top Rated Tracks: Princess of the Night, And the Bands Played On, Midnight Rider
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.98519
36. Rush - Hold Your Fire (1987)
Mark: This synth-heavy detour marked new territory for the always-evolving prog trio and polarised opinion at the time. Yet it retains the stamp of the group’s classic sound, and in the process establishes Rush as a bonafide band for the ages.
Richard: One of Rush's most uplifting albums. Peart's lyrics were stonger than ever and married to some brilliant music from Lee and Lifeson. Time Stand Still remains one of their best songs ever.
Steve: Eighties prog pop could have been a car crash in less capable hands but just listen to the glory of songs like Time Stand Still and Mission and be transported back to the happiest of times.
Top Rated Tracks: Time Stand Still, Mission, Force Ten
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.99333
35. Boston - Boston (1976)
Mark: Tom Scholz is a visionary for whom only perfection will do. His pursuit of it means duplicity and deception abound in this album’s back story. In the end, perfection remained out of reach - but only by the very thinnest of margins.
Richard: The benchmark for AOR. Scholz’s engineering background gave him the tools to create the sound he obsessed about, and they never bettered an album that was more than 7 years in the making! Beautifully balanced.
Steve: One of those many albums defined by its opening track, the glorious More Than A Feeling, though Tom Scholz's majesty ensures that combination of prog intimacy and pop immediacy flows throughout.
Top Rated Tracks: Foreplay/Long Time, More Than a Feeling, Peace of Mind
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.00000
34. Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy (1989)
Mark: Groove, grit, glamour and grandeur. No difficult second album for this mob as they follow up their outstanding debut with something so accomplished and so irresistably precocious that it leaves an indelible mark on the soul.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Hang Tough, Lazy Days Crazy Nights, Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.02051
33. Tesla - Mechanical Resonance (1986)
Mark: A heady cocktail of hard rocking riffs, soaring melodies and glorious hooklines all wrapped up in a then-unique and since much-copied blue collar sensibility. So gritty you can almost feel the dirt under its nails. One of the great debuts.
Richard: Tesla are unique and their debut demonstrates this so much. An album that still sounds fresh and inventive. Deserving of its place in the Hall of Fame.
Steve: Fads galore adorned the '80s, but Tesla were having none of that. Their debut was a thumping reminder of what five lads who wanted to rock could dish up and I'm not sure they bettered it.
Top Rated Tracks: Modern Day Cowboy, Changes, Rock Me to the Top
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.03333
32. Yes - Going For The One (1977)
Mark: Britain’s art proggers retreat from their increasingly impenetrable esoteric foundations to deliver an album that manages to capture mainstream sensibility without wholly abandoning their spirt of experimentation. Superior.
Richard: Light, summery and spiritual. A very uplifting album with the usual standard of musicianship but not over-complex for the hell of it.
Steve: Yes in accessible mode is a surprise in itself, but there's nothing to decipher in this late 70s dose of charming prog which starts slow but finishes majestically.
Top Rated Tracks: Turn of the Century, Awaken, Wondrous Stories
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.04667
31. Jethro Tull - Crest Of A Knave (1987)
Mark: Tull diehards called it a betrayal of the band’s folk rock roots, but Barre’s harder guitar sound and Anderson’s peerless storytelling mean the likes of Budapest and Farm on the Freeway are a marvellous reinvention of a much-loved national treasure.
Richard: A huge shift in style that alienated many Tull traditionalists, but is actually one of Anderson & Co's best works. Some wonderful arrangements, briliant wordsmithing and proper guitar.
Steve: Anderson post-throat surgery is a more restrained animal though the flute remains front and centre, an instrument that in the great man's hands still somehow manages to unite the rock clans.
Top Rated Tracks: Farm on the Freeway, Said She Was a Dancer, Budapest
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.05238
30. Magnum - On A Storyteller’s Night (1985)
Mark: If you’re one of those whose radar never quite picked up the low-flying Magnum, then you may have missed one of the mid-Eighties great AOR releases. Power, melody, enough hooks to hang your coats on, and boasting a rare perfect song.
Richard: Wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully balanced. So many great tracks topped by Les Morts Dansant - the best song they have ever recorded.
Steve: Magnum do pop with a rock edge, delightfully immersing themselves in beautifully written tunes, synth-dripping melodies and the odd beefy riff.
Top Rated Tracks: Les Morts Dansant, Two Hearts, All England’s Eyes
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.05333
29. Ratt - Out of the Cellar (1984)
Mark: A joyous riot of big riffs, dripping hooklines and winking swagger, all marinated in a heady cocktail of West Coast sunshine and hairspray fumes.
Richard: A very good dose of 80s Hair Metal. Great dual guitars throughout from DeMartini and Crosby, lots of swagger from Pearcy but a few weaker points that my compatriots appear to have overlooked.
Steve: Hugely important figure in the glam metal rebirth, Ratt brought all their sleaze and swagger to bear on an album which simply reeks of the Sunset Strip. Beneath the eye-liner, however, there are also some seriously big tunes from a band who never improved on this.
Top Rated Tracks: Round and Round, The Morning After, Scene of the Crime
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.06666
28. Judas Priest - British Steel (1980)
Mark: Gritty, powerful and packed full of the mainstay anthems that have ultimately defined them. This is Priest at their shredding best.
Richard: Their best album. Side one is a masterclass in bone-crunching riffs. I loved rediscovering Side 2 - it delivers more variety and some lovely surprises.
Steve: No-nonsense Priest produced one of the epic releases of the NWOBHM era – despite themselves having pre-dated that movement by some distance. It’s just the power that grabs you by the balls and won’t let go.
Top Rated Tracks: Living After Midnight, Grinder, Breaking the Law
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.09667
27. Marillion - Fugazi (1984)
Mark: It may be an album that surgically divides Marillion fans but this is Fish and a band of biblically gifted musicians at their towering best and together they beget a record that can move and astonish in equal measure. Simply majestic.
Richard: A more accomplished and complex album than Script…- and a better one, too. Ian Moseley's arrival delivers extra sonic punch and all the musicianship is beautifully balanced. Jigsaw is one of the best songs ever written.
Steve: Witlessly labelled as Genesis wannabes, evidence of Marillion's profound musical artistry and Fish's poetic talent for lyric-writing is at its best on Fugazi. To turn the haunting into the beautiful, the melancholy into the uplifting, is a soul-touching and extraordinary achievement.
Top Rated Tracks: Jigsaw, Assassing, Incubus
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.13333
26. Van Halen - Women and Children First (1980)
Mark: Full of knowing swagger, infectious riffs and wryly clever lyrics - all underpinned by Michael Anthony's thumping bass and on-point harmonies
Richard: By this point VH were doing whatever the fuck they wanted … and they did it in spades on this album. The variety and brashness they always had was at its peak on this album.
Steve: No one saw this coming from Diamond Dave and the boys but their third opus, markedly different from albums one and two, was darker, heavier and, quite simply, better.
Top Rated Tracks: And the Cradle Will Rock, Everybody Wants Some!, In a Simple Rhyme
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.13750
25. Y&T - Mean Streak (1983)
Mark: Dave Meniketti's vocals and epic lead guitar work blend with the unapologetically relentless rhythm section of Phil Kennemore,, Leonard Haze and Joey Alves. A masterclass in melodic, hook-laden power rock.
Richard: From the opening chords you know it's Meniketti & co. with Y&T sounding as melodic yet hard hitting as ever. The title track and Take You to the Limit are the standouts, but there are a couple of misteps in Breaking Away and Down and Dirty.
Steve: Part three of a stunning trilogy which saw Dave Meniketti and pals elevated to the realms of metal royalty. That's right, metal royalty. No? Quite. The, and I mean THE, most under-rated and overlooked band in rock history.
Top Rated Tracks: Mean Streak, Midnight in Tokyo, Lonely Side of Town
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.14444
24. Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound (1981)
Mark: The Wild Cat debut is a superior piece of original NWOBHM excellence, but the arrival of Sykes and Deverill on lead guitar and vocals respectively sharpens both teeth and claws for what may well be the band’s finest hour.
Richard: A NWOBHM classic played at a blistering pace. Tons of energy, great guitar work from Sykes and Weir and an instant impact from Jon Deverill on vocals.
Steve: Rigidly principled - and to their detriment - yet you can't find fault in any of this, the epitome of the best of NWOBHM which should have been a launchpad to the stars.
Top Rated Tracks: Take It, Gangland, Hellbound
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.17778
23. AC/DC - If You Want Blood [You’ve Got It] (1978)
Mark: Capturing the essence of AC/DC live is tough but happily, this - one of only a handful of truly definitive hard rock live albums - manages to bottle the band’s secret sauce in a whirlwind of riffs, screams and cheering.
Richard: The best live rock album ever? Probably! They are at their absolute best and this recording puts you right in the middle of an AC/DC gig. Everyone knows how good … Rosie is, but there are other, equally awesome tracks to appreciate here.
Steve: If you want ACDC live, doing tracks you've heard countless times before only marginally differently and with a backdrop of people shouting, then this is your thing.
Top Rated Tracks: Let There Be Rock, Whole Lotta Rosie, Problem Child
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.18000
22. Def Leppard - On Through The Night (1980)
Mark: Boundless energy and earnest youth, driven by the superlative Willis/Clark guitar attack, equals a scintillating collection of hard rock tunes that the band would eclipse only once. A different - and better - album than any among the post-Pyromania cheese-fest that has since defined them.
Richard: A brilliant debut and still one of their best. Wonderfully varied and containing all the Leppard building blocks including power, rhythm, melody and classic riffs.
Steve: Hello America, crooned Elliott, acutely aware that was where his future lay. Yet no amount of Stateside gold would ever outshine this riff-laden slab of British steel.
Top Rated Tracks: Wasted, Sorrow is a Woman, Rock Brigade
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.18485
21. Motӧrhead - Overkill (1979)
Mark: Quite simply one of the greatest heavy metal albums ever recorded, period. An all killer, no filler affair proving that far from being media-painted noise merchants, Lemmy, Eddie and Phil were consummate musicians in their swaggering prime.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Overkill, Capricorn, (I Won’t) Pay Your Price
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.24000
20. Scorpions - Blackout (1982)
Mark: From the unmistakable crunch of Rudy Schenker’s Flying V to the blistering lead work of Matthias Jabs and Klaus Meine’s never better vocals, Blackout is a triumph of hope over expectation as the Scorps overcome the odds to produce one of the hard rock albums of the 80s.
Richard: The Scorpions at their finest. Brilliant songwriting, tons of energy and a frontman who scaled new heights after nearly losing his voice altogether.
Steve: The Scorps at their absolute peak with a tell-tale blend of melody, power and chart-searching which they arguably never bettered.
Top Rated Tracks: Dynamite, No One Like You, Blackout
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.24074
19. Led Zeppelin - III (1970)
Mark: Hugely experimental album that proved to both band and fans that whatever Zeppelin touched instantly turned to gold. With softer edges than its predecessor, Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham plant the seed for the epic release that came next.
Richard: Brilliant. Immigrant Song and Gallow’s Pole are iconic. Only the dip on the last track stops this from challenging for the top.
Steve: After rewriting the hard rock manual with 1 and 2, Zep go off-message with 3 to the amazement of many, but strike gold with a folksy slab of musical gold.
Top Rated Tracks: Immigrant Song, Gallow’s Pole, Since I’ve Been Loving You
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.25000
18. Threshold - Psychedelicatessen (1994)
Mark: Monumentally good prog metal that manages to meld ear crushing riffola with some of the most beautiful and delicate compositions you’re likely to hear this side of prime-era Rush. Exquisite.
Richard: Brilliant. Buy it, buy it, buy it! Amazing writing, arranging and songsmanship. 24 carat power prog.
Steve: The rebirth of British prog rock never sounded better in the capable hands of Threshold, whose second album spits outs big riffs, twinkly fills and a vocal masterclass from Glynn Morgan. An unheralded triumph.
Top Rated Tracks: Sunseeker, A tension of Souls, Into the Light
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.29630
17. Blue Ӧyster Cult - Secret Treaties (1973)
Mark: There’s never a dull moment with Blue Ӧyster Cult, and rarely a missed beat. Yet again this innovative, compelling collective up the creative ante with a clutch of songs that are as assured as they are unique.
Richard: Yes. It's that good. BӦC at their varied, curious and disturbing finest. This must be in everyone's record collection. Astronomy is perfect.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Dominance and Submission, Astronomy, Flaming Telepaths
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.30417
16. AC/DC - Let There Be Rock (1977)*
Mark: AC/DC’s shit-or-bust fuck-you stand-off with Atlantic Records is a writhing mass of infectious and thunderingly epic songs dominated by relentless riffs and an anthemic title track.
Richard: The energy is massive and they are so, so tight. The title track, Overdose and …Rosie are close to perfection. Crabsody in Blue is the weak link.
Steve: AC/DC at their jaw-dropping best. To serve up one show-stopping riff would satify most bands; to serve up one after another after another is showing off.
Top Rated Tracks: Overdose, Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.32083
*Original Australian release
15. Rush - Moving Pictures (1981)
Mark: A collection of songs that are as technically complex as they are beautifully constructed - and made to feel utterly effortless by three gifted musicians
Richard: From the first time I heard Red Barchetta on the Friday Night Rock Show it will always be my favourite track and album. As close to perfect as you can get and I will never tire of listening to it.
Steve: Arthouse, post-prog kaleidoscope from a band who were definitely in their stride. If Geddy Lee’s voice splits opinions then Neil Peart’s writing and drumming doesn’t, and the whole is a massive pleasure to listen to.
Top Rated Tracks: Limelight, Red Barchetta, Tom Sawyer
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.32857
14. Journey - Escape (1981)
Mark: The ultimate in radio friendly ear candy as Journey move up through the AOR gears with a timeless treasure trove of carefully constructed, musically superior tracks that are momentarily capable of stopping time.
Richard: Journey reached their peak with Escape. Five musicians at the top of their game creating a fantastic album that is still unique and special today. Thoroughly deserving of it's position in the Hall of Fame.
Steve: A peerless illustration of what AOR is all about. Any weak links on side two (and weak is probably too strong a word) are utterly overshadowed by the majesty of the big hits on side one and a title track to die for.
Top Rated Tracks: Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Crying Now?, Stone in Love
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.33000
13. Genesis - Foxtrot (1972)
Mark: Boasting the near-mythical Supper’s Ready, this is as near a perfect set of songs as it’s possible to get when you consider progressive rock is, by definition, imperfect and experimental. Superior in every way. But it needs time. And lots of it.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Supper’s Ready, Watcher of the Skies, Get ‘Em Out by Friday
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.33889
12. Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning (1983)
Mark: Lizzy's final outing is an album of wonderful surprises, enormous fun, sublime balance and, above all, the enduring genius of Phil Lynott. A spectacular epitaph for both the band and its iconic leader.
Richard: Thunder and Lightning gets better with every listen. The title track is huge!
Steve: Lizzy’s farewell and, given what befell the magnificent Mr Lynott, poignant in so many ways. Poignant though barely scratches the surface – big, bold, clever, imaginative, bouncing are a handful of other descriptives that sum up this gem.
Top Rated Tracks: Thunder and Lightning, Bad Habits, The Sun Goes Down
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.34444
11. Lucifer’s Friend - Lucifer’s Friend (1970)
Mark: An astonishing piece of work, not just in its own time but in all time. Meticulous song construction + John Lawton’s soaring vocal + confident experimentation = killer album. If you don’t know it, put it on your listening bucket list right now.
Richard: A lost Godfather of Metal? Absolutely. Up there with Sabbath, Zeppelin and Purple as a foundation stone of the music we all know and love.
Steve: And you thought the starting point for Teutonic metal was the Scorpions? Think again. Welcome to an album which, without overegging it, might just have been the green light for heavy metal. Go listen!
Top Rated Tracks: Ride the Sky, Lucifer’s Friend, Toxic Shadows
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.35000
10. Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations (1980)
Mark: Diamond Head were - and remain - a band out of time, and these 7 songs combined to create the game-changing gold standard for British heavy metal in the genre-defining year of 1980.
Richard: A brilliant debut by a bunch of very young men who couldn’t have known their week-long recording session would become the influential starting point for so many bands, including Metallica.
Steve: NWOBHM pioneers based on a sound which was definitely exceptional rather than the rule. An album with plenty of bash but also no end of panache – no wonder it powered its way onto the Metallica radar.
Top Rated Tracks: Am I Evil?, Sucking My Love, Lightning To The Nations
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.36667
9. Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (1982)
Mark: An absolute game changer of an album, not just for Maiden but for hard rock and heavy metal as a whole. Bruce Dickinson’s arrival unshackles the sound that would soon achieve global domination. Piece Of Mind fans will argue otherwise, but while Maiden matched this often, they never improved on it.
Richard: Still colossal after all these years. Dickinsons's arrival transformed the band. Brilliant end-to-end and in Hallowed Be Thy Name - what an ending!
Steve: Quite simply a metal classic from the band that typifies metal more than anyone else. A 40-minute gallop which cemented Eddie's boys a place in hard rock folklore.
Top Rated Tracks: The Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, Hallowed Be Thy Name
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.36667
8. Faith No More - The Real Thing (1989)
Mark: FNM grabbed the hard rock world by the collar, put it against the world and then funked it up reeal good with The Real Thing. Every track hits home, dwarfing Extreme’s limpid chart assault and showing the world how funk could be fused with bludgeoning riffs to create something fresh and new.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: From Out of Nowhere, Epic, Zombie Eaters
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.39630
7. Y&T - Black Tiger (1982)
Mark: Y&T continue their hard rock trajectory, rounding off the sharp edges of Earthshaker with a more polished, more commercial, more melodic but no less uncompromising guitar fuelled attack. On balance, its predecessor is better musically, but this should have sealed their place in the world’s stadia.
Richard: Huge emotion and energy, superbly balanced and just so damn tight. This must have a place in anyone's rock music collection.
Steve: Criminally undervalued piece of consistent rock, dripping in chugging riffs, dazzling solos and a vocal masterclass from Meniketti which few other frontmen have the talent to pull off.
Top Rated Tracks: Black Tiger, Forever, Winds of Change
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.42500
6. Metallica - Metallica (1991)
Mark: A beast of an album in which all but two songs prowl, growl and howl in a storm of threat and menace. A reminder that Metallica were once capable of reshaping how we defined excellence. Beyond that, nothing else matters.
Richard: A game-changer and still unique after 30 years. The quality of the writing, singing, playing and production on 75% of this album is peerless. And it would be sitting atop our Hall of Fame were it not for a few lower quality inclusions.
Steve: Metallica's finest hour. Every crash, bang and wallop from previous offerings is fused into as fine a piece of heavy metal as there ever will be. Relentless power, towering riffs, menacing mood; it's an album that stands alone in its field.
Top Rated Tracks: Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Wherever I May Roam
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.46667
5. Van Halen - 1984 (1984)
Mark: Arguably the record that defines the sound of radio-friendly 80s hard rock better than any other, and one that disguises the personal internal conflagration that would end this era of VH soon after its release. A joyride from first note to last.
Richard: Eddie Van Halen drove the album he wanted to make and what an album. Full of classics - including the brilliant trio of Drop Dead Legs, Hot for Teacher and I'll Wait.
Steve: The fondest of farewells to the original VH with Diamond Dave and Eddie Van Halen both getting to showcase the music they loved. Pop and rock was never fused together better.
Top Rated Tracks: I’ll Wait, Jump, Panama
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.47500
4. Deep Purple - Machine Head (1972)
Mark: From Highway Star and Smoke on the Water to Lazy and Space Truckin', Machine Head is the album of jewels that started it all
Richard: A bunch of musicians who were completely in their groove producing the hard rock template for all to follow. The balance and power of this album is sublime. Lazy is the stand-out track for me - unreal.
Steve: The charge? Loving Machine Head once upon a time but then ignoring it for far too long. The plea? Guilty and ashamedly so. Thank the Lord then for Enter Sadmen to get me back on the straight and narrow. Utter genius from Purple.
Top Rated Tracks: Lazy, Pictures of Home, Smoke on the Water
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.49524
3. Led Zeppelin - IV (1971)
Mark: There are 9 exceptional reasons why this sits at the top of most 'Best Of' lists - damn near perfect from front to back.
Richard: Their average age was 24 when they did this. The writing, playing, arrangement and production are stunning even after all these years. An absolutely unique album.
Steve: When Stairway to Heaven merely shares top billing on this classic platter then you know you’re listening to a piece of music history. Simply stunning – from top to bottom.
Top Rated Tracks: Stairway To Heaven, When the Levee Breaks, Battle of Evermore
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.55833
2. Metallica - Ride The Lightning (1984)
Mark: Everything about this album is colossal. The riffs, the production, the drums, the songs, the lyrics, the vocals, the guitars. Just 12 months separate this from Kill ‘Em All, yet the speed of the band’s progression is breathtaking. Brilliant in every conceivable way.
Richard: The album where they really arrived. Just brilliant. Their finest album? Maybe! Revisit it and play it end-to-end and decide for yourself.
Steve: After the brutality of Kill ‘Em All, here came the refinement, the elevation of Metallica from thrash to something quite different, and astonishingly accomplished.
Top Rated Tracks: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fade to Black, Creeping Death
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.56250
1. AC/DC - Back In Black (1980)
Mark: Proving that 31 million flies (and counting) can’t be wrong, Back In Black is the world’s biggest selling hard rock album for 10 very good reasons. Though not wholly without flaws, it’s one of the very few records that, regardless of personal preference, deserves a place in every collection.
Richard: Is this album really that good? Yes. Consistently so. As well as having three absolutely perfect rock tracks.
Steve: The Aussie pack's stunning transition from Bon to Jonno, done with such jaw-dropping splendour that this will top halls of fame long after hell's bells chime for the last time.
Top Rated Tracks: Hells Bells, Back in Black, You Shook Me All Night Long
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.73000
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