The Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums of All Time
Reviewed. Rated. Ranked.
50 - 1
50. Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986)
Mark: 29 minutes of relentless extremity that redefined thrash’s limits. Rick Rubin’s stripped-down production sharpens every monstrous riff, every tortured scream and cements Slayer as the genre’s most uncompromising and influential force
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Angel of Death, Postmortem, Raining Blood
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.09333
49. 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
48. Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law (1980)
Mark: Released just seven short months after predecessor Wheels Of Steel, Saxon’s third studio outing finds the band full of new ideas and creative punch. From the hammer of soon-to-be live favourite Heavy Metal Thunder to the infectious chug of album closer Dallas 1PM, this is Saxon at their bruising best.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Strong Arm of the Law, Dallas 1PM, Hungry Years
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.11250
47. Diamond Head - Canterbury (1983)
Mark: Diamond Head double down on their credentials as pioneers of thoughtful, artistically ambitious rock. More prog (and more) than metal, at the time it was arguably a step too far - not just for the fans and label, but for the band itself, which split not long after. But 40+ years of distance reveals the majesty hidden within/
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Hall of the Mountain King, Strange Wings, 24 Hrs. Ago
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.11852
46. Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King (1987)
Mark: Savatage break into the mainstream with something darker, grander, and more theatrical than anything before it. Jon Oliva’s dramatic vocals and Criss Oliva’s blazing melodic guitar work propel the band into near-operatic territory.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Hall of the Mountain King, Strange Wings, 24 Hrs. Ago
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.12222
45. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975)
Mark: Moments of untarnished brilliance abound - not least in the title track - but it lacks the earnest charm of Dark Side Of The Moon, and its unrelenting inclination to moralisation is as mildly irritating as its occasionally vacuous detour into arty wank.
Richard: Up there with Dark Side of the Moon. An incredible album that still must be listened to in its entirety. Stunning.
Steve: A lament to Syd but without any of his playfulness and eccentricity. Just lounge-bar pomposity which makes a nice listen to nod off to.
Top Rated Tracks: Wish You Were Here, Welcome to the Machine, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.12667
44. 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
43. 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
42. 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
41. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (1969)
Mark: Led Zeppelin detonate hard rock’s future in just nine tracks, fusing blues tradition with seismic riffs and primal swagger. Page’s production crackles with intent, Plant howls like a man possessed, Bonzo floors it, Jones grooves. Raw, heavy, revolutionary, exceptional.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, How Many More Times
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.15926
40. UFO - Walk On Water (1995)
Mark: Michael Schenker reunites with the band that made him, and helps to pull off a remarkable about-turn in UFO’s fortunes. Heavy, riffy, yet managing to retain the melodic edge that made them the darlings of late-Seventies British rock.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: A Self Made Man, Venus, Pushed to the Limit
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.16667
39. 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
38. 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
37. 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
36. Def Leppard - High ‘N’ Dry (1981)
Mark: Leppard march on into NWOBHM lore with what I consider to be their finest hour. A velvet glove of irresistable melodic brilliance wrapped around the cold hard steel of unforgiving riffs and ‘Mutt’ Lange’s laser-sharp production. bludgeon riffola, indeed.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Another Hit and Run, Let It Go, Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.22593
35. 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
34. 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
33. Queensrÿche - Empire (1990)
Mark: Everything about this album is colossal - the songwriting, the execution, the production. If Operation: Mindcrime had served notice that Queensrÿche were a good deal more than arthouse prog, then Empire is the album that drives the message home.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Silent Lucidity, Jet City Woman, Empire
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.24848
32. 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
31. Metallica - … And Justice For All (1988)
Mark: Much maligned both for its length and the thin production that all but expunges Jason Newstead’s bass from the entire affair, this is nevertheless a marauding brute of an album boasting some of Metallica’s greatest compositions.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: One, Blackened, Harvester of Sorrow
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.25556
30. Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick (1972)
Mark: “You want a concept album? I’ll give you a bloody concept album!”Ian Anderson’s witty, brilliantly observed and musically extraordinary ‘fuck you’ to the world’s music press. Everything from the sleeve to the final note is pure genius.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Thick as a Brick (Part 1) & Thick as a Brick (Part 2)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.27917
29. 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
28. 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
27. Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)
Mark: And Leppard finally set sail for superstardom across The Pond with a heady clutch of MTV- and radio-friendly tracks that not even Rick Allen’s accident and an enforced hiatus of four years could stop. Arguably the last truly great Def Leppard album.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Photograph, Stagefright, Die Hard the Hunter
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.31667
26. 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
25. 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
24. 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’, Stone in Love, Escape
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.33000
23. Scorpions - Love at First Sting (1984)
Mark: An album that proved beyound doubt that the Scorps could blend commercial pop appeal with their stock-in-trade power and riffola and cemented their place in the hearts of rockers the world over.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Rock You Like a Hurricane, As Soon As the Good Times Roll, Still Loving You
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.32222
22. Anthrax - Spreading The Disease (1985)
Mark: Anthrax’s thrash attack is honed with precision riffs and newfound melody. Tracks like Madhouse and A.I.R. balance speed and hooks, while the likes of Medusa prove that the New Yorkers can chug with the best of them. Joyous from start to end.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Medusa, Madhouse, Armed and Dangerous
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.32963
21. 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
20. 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
19. 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
18. 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
17. 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
16. 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
15. 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
14. 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
13. 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
12. Babe Ruth - First Base (1972)
Mark: A gloriously unpolished burst of early-’70s hard rock that melds prog ambition with blues swagger and a streak of theatrical flair, First Base captures a moment when hard rock still felt dangerous, exploratory, and gloriously excessive.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Black Dog, King Kong, Wells Fargo
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.47778
11. 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
10. 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
9. Metallica - Ride The Lightning (1984)
Mark: Just one year on from the groundbreaking clanging and banging of Kill ‘Em All, Metallica’s astonishing rate of progress is here for all to see. More controlled, more malevolent, no less brutal. An epic album for the ages.
Richard: The album where they really arrived. Just brilliant. Their finest album? Maybe! Revisit it and play it end-to-end.
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: Fade to Black, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Creeping Death
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.56250
8. Ratt - Invasion Of Your Privacy (1985)
Mark: There was a time when everything Pearcy, Crosby, Blotzer, DeMartini and Croucier touched turned to gold. This is the pinnacle of that period. Groove, guitars, glitter and girls, and all the right notes in all the right places.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Lay It Down, You’re in Love, Dangerous But Worth the Risk
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.58667
7. Y&T - Earthshaker (1981)
Mark: A breathtaking exercise in how to deliver melodic hard rock magic from Meniketti & Co., who turn the collapse of former label London into pure rock gold with a seemingly effortless suite of sumptuous riffy bangers that’ll stay with you for decades.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Hungry for Rock, Dirty Girl, Hurricane
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.68333
6. Diamond Head - Borrowed Time (1982)
Mark: An album that, in referencing the past glories of early heavy rock and prog pioneers and fashioning it into something new and vibrant, redefined the very future of the genre. Exquisite on every level.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Am I Evil?, In the Heat of the Night, Call Me
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.68571
5. AC/DC - Powerage (1978)
Mark: Often overshadowed by Let There Be Rock and the commercial behemoths of the ‘Mutt’ Lange era, but this is where AC/DC really hit their stride. Full of cocky swagger and joyous riffage. Grabs you by the throat from the opening chords of Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation, and never lets go.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Gone Shooting, Down Payment Blues, Sin City
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.70370
4. Metallica - Master Of Puppets (1986)
Mark: We thought Ride The Lightning was a giant leap forward, but Metallica eclipse that achievement here with a masterclass in caged malevolence. So menacing you can almost feel its breath on your neck
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Master of Puppets, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Battery
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.71250
3. Marillion - Script For A Jester’s Tear (1983)
Mark: A remarkable debut in every sense. Lyrically and musically beautiful, witty social commentary, and crisp production that captures the light and shade that will come to define Marillion for all time. Forget the lazy Genesis wannabe jibes. This is the real deal.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Garden Party, Script for a Jester’s Tear, He Knows You Know
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.71667
2. 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
LISTEN TO THE REVIEW (23 minutes)
1. Scorpions - Lovedrive (1979)
Mark: From the mesmerising guitar overture of Loving You Sunday Morning to the hurly-burly rapid fire attack of Another Piece of Meat and the colossal majesty of surely the best rock instrumental of all time, this album is as close to perfection as it’s possible to get. Absolutely essential listening.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Loving You Sunday Morning, Coast to Coast, Holiday
Enter Sadmen Rating: 8.75000