The Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums of All Time
Reviewed. Rated. Ranked.
150 - 101
150. MC5 - High Time (1971)
Mark: The beating heart of Motown’s rock scene, MC5’s star burned spectacularly bright and spectacularly short. In this, their final album, they pick up where they left off: songs bursting with polarising social commentary. But boy, this rocked!
Richard: A huge melting pot of styles and so much thrown in to every track, but superbly arranged so it doesn't feel clogged-up. A must-listen because you don't know where it's going to go next. High Time has it all.
Steve: The journey from a nun "who don't give a damn about revolution" to a crescendo of out-of-tune horns is fun and frantic, in the capable hands of Rob Tyner, whose voice of protest is as relevant now as half a century back.
Top Rated Tracks: Gotta Keep Movin’, Sister Anne, Over and Over
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.20417
149. Doro - Force Majeure (1989)
Mark: With the rights to the Warlock name tied up in litigation, the Queen of Metal strikes out under own moniker and proves, one crushing riff or soulful ballad at a time, why the Warlock brand was always immaterial to her upward trajectory.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Save My Soul, World Gone Wild, Beyond the Trees
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.25000
148. Judas Priest - Stained Class (1978)
Mark: A couple of years short of the sound-defining British Steel, there’s much to admire on an album that came to wider public attention for all the wrong reasons - but only if you can endure Halford’s shriller-than-usual vocal histrionics.
Richard: Priest start to redefine metal and lay the foundations for NWOBM. Better By You drew the undeserved attention but classics like Exciter and Beyond The Realms of Death best sum up Priest’s shift to another gear.
Steve: An album forever unfairly tainted because of a court case which should never have happened, a sour footnote to a piece of work which continued Priest's progression. The first speed metal album? Discuss.
Top Rated Tracks: Beyond the Realms of Death, Exciter, Heroes End
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.27037
147. Bloodrock - Bloodrock (1970)
Mark: A small gem from the year when heavy rock was born. In the early 90s this would doubtless have been labelled ‘stoner rock’, but it’s much, much, much more interesting than that as it juggles heavy grooves with myriad jazz and funk styles
Richard: Such variety in this debut in a time when bands had real creative freedom and used it! Some very enjoyable tracks with real groove and great musicianship. Really worth a listen.
Steve: Long before the days of chillaxing, these Texan redneck rockers took us into another timezone completely with this most hypnotic of offerings. A fusion of good things; to be enjoyed with a spliff.
Top Rated Tracks: Timepiece, Gotta Find a Way, Fatback
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.27037
146. Europe - Wings Of Tomorrow (1984)
Mark: In 1986 The Final Countdown would catapult Europe to superstardom and about as far from this as it’s possible to get. In truth, this is fairly ordinary mid-80s metal fare; but it’ll blow your mind if the cheesefest that followed is all you know.
Richard: The album that got them noticed before they became massive. A few glimpses of quality, but many very average moments too.
Steve: Stormwind, Lyin' Eyes and the title track are heavyweight highlights from a band making their name with a fascinating palate of Euro rock which in no way hints at what was about to come.
Top Rated Tracks: Scream of Anger, Treated Bad Again, Wings of Tomorrow
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.27667
145. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick At Budokan (1978)
Mark: The live album that finally brought Cheap Trick commercial success is a riotous romp through their superior brand of melodic pop metal, all against the backdrop of several thousand Japanese girls going absolutely batshit. Fabulous stuff.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Need Your Love, Surrender, I Want You to Want Me
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.29000
144. Dio - Holy Diver (1983)
Mark: The signature tracks of Holy Diver and Rainbow in the Dark aside, rose-hued nostalgia has managed to successfully obscure an uncomfortable truth: quite simply, this is not as good as many of us once thought it was.
Richard: I still think this still cuts the mustard and was a great ‘solo’ debut from the little wizard. And make sure you heed RJD's advice and Don't Talk to Strangers!
Steve: Dio disciples were in heaven when he unveiled his first solo slab of vinyl and are still lauding it. Its downfall is that it will always be compared to what he did in previous lives - and to that end it remains a modest affair.
Top Rated Tracks: Rainbow in the Dark, Holy Diver, Stand Up and Shout
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.29259
143. AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch (1983)
Mark: Much maligned at the time of its release, but an album that deserves greater acclaim in retrospect than it has received. Fans are split, and it certainly doesn’t scale the heights of the band’s previous catalogue. But there are some stellar moments.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Bedlam in Belgium, Nervous Shakedown, This House is on Fire
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.29333
142. Living Colour - Time’s Up (1990)
Mark: Fusing jazz, funk, hard rock and reggae, Time’s Up is an album full of invention, social observation, sublime musicianship and a moment-in-time snapshot of a socially-enlightened sub-genre about to stage a palace coup and claim glam rock’s throne.
Richard: No compromise on the second outing from Living Colour. A huge mixture of jazz, funk, reggae and soul glued together by some crunching hard rock, challenging themes, clever lyrics and brilliant musicianship.
Steve: An eclectic fusion of the good, the bad and the downright inexplicable; they can rock, but probably not enough for my liking and there's only so much clever-bollox music any man can endure.
Top Rated Tracks: Type, Someone Like You, The Solace of You
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.29722
141. KISS - Crazy Nights (1987)
Mark: Destroyer it ain’t, but say what you like about KISS, their unerring ability to change their colour to suit their surroundings is supremely effective. This time Simmons, Stanley & co. reinvent themselves as artisans of super-catchy pop metal.
Richard: A few classic KISS moments on this album although one senses that the drive for commercial success was being prioritised over creating quality music.
Steve: Blessed with more cheese than a French menu and just as whiffy. Crazy Crazy Nights and Bruce Kulick's axe-work would take any sad soul to a happy place; the rest reeks of a band standing still creatively.
Top Rated Tracks: I’ll Fight Hell to Hold You, Crazy Crazy Nights, Good Girl Gone Bad
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.32121
140. Baby Tuckoo - Force Majeure (1986)
Mark: An accomplished set of up-tempo British melodic hard rock tunes from a band that deserved more than they ultimately got. Hampered on release perhaps by a slightly outdated NWOBHM sound, the blurring of time has been very kind to it.
Richard: A really pleasant surprise and lots to like on here. A nice blend of some great melodies and real power.
Steve: Blessed with a singer in Rob Armitage whose rock vox got him on Accept's radar, our friends from the north dish up a seriously hooky dollop of post-new wave rock. A hidden gem.
Top Rated Tracks: Rock (Rock), Over You, Falling Star
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.32333
139. Angel Witch - Angel Witch (1980)
Mark: Generally solid song-writing and a compelling brand identity are let down by poor commercial decision-making, lousy production and poor vocals. Essential listening for NWOBHM context-setting, but they deserved much more.
Richard: They deserved to be bigger. Not your usual NWOBHM album, displaying some real variety, great arrangements and real atmosphere.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Angel Witch, Sorceress, Angel of Death
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.33000
138. Foreigner - Foreigner (1977)
Mark: An ultra-safe and horribly insipid release that’s high on saccharine and low on ambition, despite the unquestionable talent in the band. Saved by two monster songs that pretty much sealed its commercial success.
Richard: A great debut and calling card from a band who sounded like they'd been together for years. Tracks like Feels Like the First Time and Cold As Ice are timeless.
Steve: A band forever associated with I Want To Know What Love Is. Thankfully, that isn't on here, nor anything like it, and Foreigner are better for that.
Top Rated Tracks: Feels Like The First Time, Starrider, Woman Oh Woman
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.33000
137. Girlschool - Demolition (1980)
Mark: Full of post-Punk attitude, delivered with a knowing smile and a beer in hand, this remains a timeless classic that epitomises the best of NWOBHM
Richard: This should have been bigger. Great attitude and music throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering Demolition in its entirety.
Steve: It’s hard not to like a bunch of metal rookies enjoying themselves with a playlist of such thundering simplicity. It’s not big, it’s not clever, but it’s bloody enjoyable.
Top Rated Tracks: Nothing to Lose, Demolition, Race With the Devil
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.33666
136. Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps From The Move (1984)
Mark: Were the Rocks too late for the Ramones-esque punk sensibilities that infuse most of these songs? Or too early for the glam scene that might have made them superstars? A riot of out-and-out fun, daubed with mascara and eyeliner.
Richard: An album that should have been bigger. Lots of influences here - glam rock, punk, a bit of prog and even a sprinkle of Chas n Dave. Who knows how Michael Monroe picked up that Nigel Tufnell accent.
Steve: Hanoi Rocks did decent production after a quartet of previous tin-can efforts but the spirit of this glam-punk-rock quintet from Finland wasn’t lost. So much fun, so many good tunes, so many regrets that the end was nigh.
Top Rated Tracks: Underwater World, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Cutting Corners
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.34000
135. Marseille - Touch The Night (1984)
Mark: Released during NWOBHM’s second invasion, Marseille’s third and final album is part misfire and part metal-armoured AOR heaven. Hard to find other than on YouTube, it’s well worth the effort even if 30% of the album falls short.
Richard: Some nice touches and a good mix of AOR and Hard Rock. But lightweight production and a few poor tracks (including an awful title track) meant that this would never be the vehicle to help Marseille break into the big time.
Steve: Any early punkiness is well and truly parked as these earnest Scousers try to bridge the gap from NWOBHM to MTV. A "closet classic" according to Kerrang! on its release; it isn't but it is very listenable.
Top Rated Tracks: Gatecrashin’, Walking on a High Wire, Crazy
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.34034
134. W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children (1989)
Mark: The enfants terrible of heavy metal grow up, musically. Fuelled by Blackie Lawless’s evisceration of the global social and political landscape, some humongous riffs & melodies, and Chris Holmes’s screaming guitar, W.A.S.P. finally come of age.
Richard: Probably their best effort with some really good tracks. Much better songwriting, arrangement and production and proof that Lawless is an accomplished musician. You can tell there was more time and care taken here.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: The Heretic (The Lost Child), The Headless Children, Mean Man
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.35333
133. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1993)
Mark: An angry man ranting to music by some extraordinarily good musicians - a fascinating hybrid that will be as essential to some as it is irrelevant to others.
Richard: A wildcard debut from me that brought a few challenges. Stonking riffs and rhythms from Commerford, Wilk and Morello. The energy in this album is immense and it would still be fresh (and as angry) if released today.
Steve: Incessant anarchy is easy to dismiss at my time of life, but that would be to downplay some clever musicianship and a handful of high-class anthems. Eight tracks would have been enough, however, and I’d have said the same in ’92 as well.
Top Rated Tracks: Killing in the Name, Bullet in the Head, Bombtrack, Take the Power Back
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.37666
132. Jethro Tull - Aqualung (1971)
Mark: Often seen as the definitive Tull album, Aqualung is full of inventive storytelling, rolling melodies and, lyrically, social commentary that is in some cases as relevant now as it was then.
Richard: Definitely an album that, given your full attention, will reward you. Wonderful storytelling, good songwriting and great arrangements. Mother Goose is the standout track and although Anderson is sometimes a little over-dramatic, that's what you get with Tull.
Steve: Standing on one leg and playing the flute should earn Ian Anderson a place in the nuthouse rather than a hall of fame, yet only the certified insane would doubt Aqualung’s majesty.
Top Rated Tracks: Mother Goose, Locomotive Breath, Aqualung
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.37778
131. Phantom Blue - Built To Perform (1993)
Mark: A gem of an album comprising endless nut-crunching riffs, earwormy hooklines and, in the late Michelle Meldrum, a lead guitarist gifted enough to give the very best of them a run for their money.
Richard: A wonderful discovery. Meldrum is the Goddess of Guitar. Gigi Hangach is my new favourite female singer. Fantastic hard and melodic rock. It's a shame - they deserved to be massive. And they deserve their music to be on Spotify, Apple, Amazon etc - please sort it out!
Steve: Wow. In a world full of predictability it’s nice to be surprised. How these girls didn’t make it big is a real mystery given the stunning wall of sound they create with this, their second album.
Top Rated Tracks: Time to Run, Better Off Dead, Nothing Good
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.38056
130. Hawkwind - Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974)
Mark: The godfathers of Space Rock return with another slice of heavy groove in which mad moments comfortingly abound. But you’ll lose your mind - and your resistance - to cuts like The Psychedelic Warlords and You’d Better Believe It.
Richard: A very varied and well constructed album with really broad soundscapes. One to immerse yourself in and get lost.
Steve: Stoner pioneers teaching the newbies a thing or two about dreams, drugs and downright weird. Quite literally a trip down memory lane.
Top Rated Tracks: The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke), You’d Better Believe It, D-Rider
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.38148
129. Angel - Angel (1975)
Mark: Early American prog rock featuring the keyboard artistry of a young Greg Guiffra. Angel deliver a suite of well-crafted pomp rock that refuses to be overshadowed by the flared white catsuits that defined the band’s stage wear.
Richard: A real discovery. A brilliant 70s blend of melody, power and complexity. A must-listen.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Long Time, Tower, Sunday Morning
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.38571
128. White Sister - White Sister (1984)
Mark: A debut album that packs a much beefier punch than its keyboard heavy, guitarless and lightweight (though still enjoyable) follow-up. Huge melodies, chuggy riffs and two singers who know how to bring a tune over the line. Just fab.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Love Don’t Make It Right, Whips, Don’t Say That You’re Mine
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.39667
127. Metal Church - The Dark (1986)
Mark: The first side of Metal Church’s sophomore release is probably as near perfect a suite of power metal as you’re likely to hear anywhere. Thereafter, and Burial at Sea apart, it falls off a cliff. Worth owning for the first 4 cuts alone.
Richard: Side two. is well below par, but Side one is one of the best sides of proper Metal you will hear anywhere, which means this must be one to have in your collection.
Steve: Would have had the mother and father of all EPs if they'd stopped at track four and regardless of what follows (which is hot and cold) that opening quartet guarantees this celebrated status.
Top Rated Tracks: Watch the Children Pray, Start the Fire, Method to Your Madness
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.39667
126. Quartz - Quartz (1977)
Mark: A big fat slice of great British heavy rock that owes much to early Sabbath but manages to fuse hefty rifferama with some killer melodies. No great wonder that by ‘79 keyboard player Geoff Nicholls found himself in the Sabbath line-up.
Richard: A must-listen album not only for great tracks like Mainline Rider, but also to guess which bits Tony Iommi stole for Black Sabbath.
Steve: The greatest NWOBHM album you've never heard of (as one reviewer extolled) it certainly ain't, but it's an interesting listen nonetheless.
Top Rated Tracks: Mainline Riders, Sugar Rain, Pleasure Seekers
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.40000
125. Overkill - The Years of Decay (1989)
Mark: Like the bastard offspring of a Big Four orgy narrated by Metal Church's David Wayne, this is a big, big slice of chunky themes, chainsaw riffs and assured musicianship
Richard: Thoroughly enjoyed discovering this. Just lay back and allow yourself to be pummeled to death. The title track is brilliant and Skullkrusher? Well … you can guess what that does to the listener.
Steve: Overkill were thrashing on the East Coast before thrash was invented and while the aural headlock remains brutally intense, prepare for plenty of assured and welcome invention.
Top Rated Tracks: The Years of Decay, Playing With Spiders/Skullkrusher, Time to Kill
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.41481
124. Uriah Heep - Firefly (1977)
Mark: Whilst fans mourned the departure of David Byron, the arrival of John Lawton undeniably adds a new dimension to the band’s musical range. A couple of monumental moments reinvigorate Heep’s signature sound.
Richard: Thought-provoking and soulful - and John Lawton's voice is immediately apparent. Some really strong songs including The Hanging Tree and Been Away Too Long.
Steve: The usual carte blanche for Box and the boys to do what they want and they oblige nicely. John Lawton never sounded better and take a bow Trevor Bolder on bass, underpinning it all with real class.
Top Rated Tracks: Rolling On, Been Away Too Long, The Hanging Tree
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.42083
123. Def Leppard - Hysteria (1987)
Mark: Ignore the hype: all three Leppard albums that preceded this overblown and overrated excurison into musical onanism are vastly superior in every way. If you like pop metal of the largely vacuous variety, then this will be right up your strada.
Richard: Commercially huge, but a mixed bag when critically analysed. The production may have seemed modern when the album was released, but now it sounds lifeless and over-layered. That said, the title track, Run Riot and Animal are still epic.
Steve: Seemed to take a lifetime to craft, seems to take as long to listen to, though there is no need to go past the title track. Overthought, overlong and overproduced - but with enough highlights to overcome those negatives.
Top Rated Tracks: Animal, Run Riot, Hysteria
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.43889
150. Peter Gabriel - Melt
Mark: Gabriel’s third (best?) solo effort unsurprisingly amps up the socio-political commentary. It’s all wrapped up in dark, innovative art rock, gated drums, haunting textures, fearless experimentation, and an overriding sense of urgency.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Games Without Frontiers, Family Snapshot, Biko
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.60741
149. Free - Heartbreaker (1973)
Mark: Free’s swansong fittingly captures the band’s blues-rock essence but fails to match the highs of their golden years. The oft-covered Wishing Well promises much, and album closer Seven Angels delivers, but ‘patchy’ best describes what lies between.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Seven Angels, Common Mortal Man, Wishing Well
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.60833
148. Bon Jovi - 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
Mark: So much better than its sneering critics would have you believe. The bubblegum of the debut is dialled back, but the saccharine horror show that is Silent Night aside, Jovi’s second release is packed with superior earwormy pop-metal anthems.
Richard: Definitely in the bucket of ‘difficult second album’. It was rushed and is all but disowned by the band now. But, despite the bad production it boasts some of the best songs they’ve ever recorded.
Steve: The Bon Jovi thermometer was an album shy of erupting though their second platter boils along beautifully. It's all toothy grins and shoulder pads, too much organ, not enough guitar and in Silent Night a ballad to die for.
Top Rated Tracks: Tokyo Road, In and Out of Love, Always Run to You
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.61000
147. TOTO - IV (1982)
Mark: There are only two reasons why this sold by the truckload at the time. No doubting the quality of the musicianship but between the monolithic but still-fresh bookends of Rosanna and Africa lies an entire continent of largely insipid cabaret numbers.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Africa, Rosanna, LOvers in the Night
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.61667
146. Queen - Queen (1973)
Mark: One of the most important rock albums ever released, though lack of consistency means it isn’t necessarily the best of them. Queen would sort that out within two years, but this is a must-listen for anyone interested in the genesis of the genre.
Richard: Everyone should own a copy of this most special of debuts which explores every direction and style (often in the same song!) and laid the foundations for all that was to come. So far ahead of its time it took the world three years to catch up.
Steve: The point of entry for the one of the world's biggest bands and, fittingly, given what the next two decades would bring, the ride isn't dull. Whiffs of the future jostle with stuff they wisely left behind in a far-ranging kaleidoscope.
Top Rated Tracks: Doing All Right, Keep Yourself Alive, Jesus
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.62963
145. Sword - Metalized (1986)
Mark: Like their countrymen Coney Hatch and Headpins, Sword managed to remain one of Canada’s best-kept secrets despite serving up a collection of songs that fuse crunching buzzsaw guitars with impressive melody. Go find it, and buy it.
Richard: Proper, proper riffs and some real power and pace. No wonder they find their way onto Dave Mustaine's playlists.
Steve: Power metal at its slickest from a bunch of Canucks who would surely have found fame and fortune had they hailed from south of the border.
Top Rated Tracks: Dare to Spit, Where to Hide, Children of Heaven
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.63000
144. Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad (1985)
Mark: Powered by the unmistakeable assault of John Prichard’s guitar, John Bush and company deliver a powerhouse follow-up to their 1984 debut that takes several big steps up in class.
Richard: Hugely enjoyable and varied album, perfectly captured by Max Norman. This is proper melodic heavy metal. Standout track is Over the Edge - genius.
Steve: And the Saint go marching into the higher reaches of any hall of fame with this. Max Norman's ear for detail ensures the production matches singer John Bush's towering vocals on an album with gems at every turn.
Top Rated Tracks: Over the Edge, Aftermath, Nervous Man
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.63000
143. Babylon A.D. - Babylon A.D. (1989)
Mark: A solid debut packed with a tightly written blend of radio-friendly pop-metal, some hard rocking tunes and a then-obligatory ballad. It should have taken the band far beyond where they ultimately stalled.
Richard: Some classic riffs, good structures and real swagger. In Bang Go The Bells this album has one of the best openings and an immediate hook. A couple of misfires but overall an undiscovered gem that everyone should try out and enjoy.
Steve: BAD's debut album which came out in the middle of '89 and was filed under O for Overlooked. It comes out two years earlier and it's filed under TB for The Bollocks. But them's the breaks I guess.
Top Rated Tracks: Hammer Swings Down, Bang Go the Bells, Back in Babylon
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.63667
142. A Foot In Cold Water - A Foot In Cold Water (1972)
Mark: There’s under the radar and there’s under the radar. A wonderful odyssey into soulful, groovy rock that’s as surprising as it is glorious. A record to completely in which to completely immerse yourself.
Richard: A long lost gem of an album. Wonderfully writted, layered and arranged. The type of album you can immerse yourself in. Come on in - the water's lovely.
Steve: Parameters? What parameters? Bunch of Canadians drain the reservoir of musical genres to come up with a real hidden gem.
Top Rated Tracks: Over the Hills and Far Away, The Rain Song, No Quarter
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.63750
141. Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy (1973)
Mark: What can you say about Zeppelin that hasn’t already been said a thousand times? Houses … is adventurous and unbound – funk grooves, reggae touches, epic rock, and radiant acoustics coalescing in a bold, genre-blurring statement brimming with confidence and colour.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Over the Hills and Far Away, The Rain Song, No Quarter
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.64167
140. R.E.O. Speedwagon - You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish (1978)
Mark: Crammed full of the band’s signature harmonies and yearning sentiment, this prelude to the all-conquering Hi Infidelity is a dreamy, though occasionally misjudged, exercise in classic AOR.
Richard: The album that launched them to AOR greatness. Some huge songs like Roll With The Changes and Time For Me To Fly, but the album is pulled down by a couple of weaker moments.
Steve: The usual Speedo smorgasbord where nothing tastes quite as good as Roll With The Changes and the back end is only marginally less irritating than the album name itself.
Top Rated Tracks: Roll With the Changes, Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again, Sing to Me
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.64444
139. The Cult - Love (1985)
Mark: Lacking the harder edge of both the Electric and Sonic Temple albums that followed it, Love is nevertheless a consummate exercise in dazzingly catchy, guitar-driven goth rock doused with a healthy ability to surprise.
Richard: The Cult's second outing combined Led Zep backlines, Doors psychedelia and poppy grooves with post-Punk attitude to create a masterpiece.
Steve: A final resting place for '60s psychedelia, folded into a Goth punkiness which might sound like an oxymoron yet works superbly. Ian Astbury's pipes never sounded better.
Top Rated Tracks: Rain, The Big Neon Glitter, She Sells Sanctuary
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.64667
138. Guns ‘N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)
Mark: Don’t believe the overnight success hype - it took the world a year to accept this neo-punk debut assault. Lifting the drain cover on the cultural sewer of mid-80s L.A., G’n’R unleash an explosive narcotic of pain, guitars and paranoia.
Richard: Still unique after all these years. Such swagger and groove. Lots of famous tracks, Welcome to the Jungle not least among them, but the album deserves the listen end-to end.
Steve: Aspiring to controversy is the easy bit, backing up the bad attitude with good music a tougher call, but G’n’R more than met the brief with a vibrant cocktail of sass, class and badass which properly rocked.
Top Rated Tracks: It’s So Easy, Welcome to the Jungle, Out Ta Get Me
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.64722
137. Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (1973)
Mark: A sumptuous blend of weight and whimsy – crushing proto-metal riffs, elastic rhythms, and sly melodies make Budgie’s sophomore effort both thunderous and strangely playful. Hugely influential yet distinctively eccentric.
Richard: A very different Album - in a good way. Brilliantly bookended by Breadfan and Parents, which are both classics.
Steve: Any album containing a track called In The Grip of a Tyrefitter's Hand deserves exploring, and you'll find there's far more than titular surrealism to keep you amused.
Top Rated Tracks: Parents, In The Grip of a Tyrefitter’s Hand, Breadfan
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.65714
136. Asia - Asia (1982)
Mark: Glossy, arena-ready prog-pop – towering hooks, sleek production, and virtuoso pedigree distilled into radio-friendly grandeur. Everybody will know the chart-bothering Heat of the Moment - but there’s so much more to it than that.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Heat of the Moment, Sole Survivor, Only Time Will Tell
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.64815
135. Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)
Mark: The previous year’s Sad Wings Of Destiny saw Priest break through rock’s glass ceiling. This sharpens their steel - a lean, aggressive record that fuses bluesy roots and emerging heavy metal dominance epitomised by fan favourite Dissident Aggressor.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Dissident Aggressor, Diamonds and Rust, Starbreaker
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.65833
134. Warrior - Fighting For The Earth (1985)
Mark: The debut from this ahead-of-their-time environment-conscious hard rock quintet is as solid as any album you’ll find crawling out of the Los Angeles HM market in ‘85. Catchy harmonies, relentlessly riffy and generally glorious.
Richard: Wonderfully overblown 80s power metal with an environmental theme. Some colossal riffs, great guitar work and McCarty's vocal dexterity has to be experienced - even though he takes it a little too far at times.
Steve: A cult classic from a power metal band who didn't just drop off the radar, they didn't even get airborne. That's the world's loss because this is a gigantic slice of great fun, OTT, epic metal.
Top Rated Tracks: Fighting for the Earth, Defenders of Creation, Welcome Aboard
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.65833
133. Axis - It’s A Circus World (1978)
Mark: From the gorgeously heavy, riffy opener Brown Eyes to the closing notes, this odyssey into prime one-hit-wonderland leaves you wishing for more and wondering what might have been had Sabbath not come calling for Vinny Appice.
Richard: Another gem worth adding to any collection. An exceptionally talented power trio turn out some absolute corkers with influences ranging from Purple to Zep to BÖC to Nile Rogers.
Steve: Brace yourself for an album that boasts one or two gems - Brown Eyes is such a classy opener - while never fully deciding whether it's an homage to the 70s or the 80s.
Top Rated Tracks: Brown Eyes, Busted Love, Train
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.66061
132. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978)
Mark: Loads of innovation and experimentation from a band who already sounded like the superstars they would ultimately become.
Richard: The ultimate debut album. A reminder just how groundbreaking Eddie was, backed by a colossal rhythm section and fronted by the wonderfully outrageous DLR. The band's swagger and attitude brilliantly captured by Ted Templeman.
Steve: Bring two super-showmen into a studio, give them a licence to enjoy themselves, add a top-class backroom, light the fuse and enjoy. Hardly a surprise that the world’s greatest variety act should kick off their careers on pure entertainment mode.
Top Rated Tracks: Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, Running With the Devil, Little Dreamer
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.66061
131. Survivor - Vital Signs (1984)
Mark: Get past the soppy sentimentality of some of the lyrical content and it’s nigh on impossible not to be drawn to about half of this post-Eye of the Tiger Billboard botherer. But the rest of the album deflates faster than the Hindenberg.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: I Can’t Hold Back, High on You, It’s the Singer Not the Song
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.67037
130. Metal Church - Metal Church (1984)
Mark: A thunderous debut – razor-sharp riffs, apocalyptic atmosphere, and soaring yet fierce vocals deliver speed, precision, and melody and establish Metal Church as founding fathers of American power thrash.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Gods of Wrath, Beyond the Black, In the Blood
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.67037
129. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres (1973)
Mark: A platter of heavy old blues and good ol’ Texas wit, served up in a perfectly balanced run order that hits you like a runaway train that just keeps on rollin’. What’s not to like?
Richard: Their finest album and the one where the real ZZ Top sound was created. Everyone knows La Grange, but so many other classics on here, too. A must for every record collection.
Steve: Rock meets boogie meets blues meets jazz and that barely scratches the surface of an album blessed with so much wit and charm that it just makes you smile. ZZ Top's finest hour.
Top Rated Tracks: Jesus Just Left Chicago, La Grange, Shiek
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.67667
128. Dokken - Breakin’ The Chains (1981)*
Mark: Dokken rode the glam and hair metal train to the world’s arenas and stadia, but their music was always a a cut above most of their peers, as this Europe-only debut (repackaged 2 years later for the US and RoW) proves. The title track is the stand out cut, but there’s so much more to love here.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Breakin’ the Chains, Stick to Your Guns, Young Girls
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68000
(*Original European release)
127. L.A. Guns - L.A. Guns (1988)
Mark: The other half of the G ‘N’ R family tree serve up a rapid fire onslaught of catchy tunes that are part-punk, part-sleaze, and completely addictive.
Richard: A very tidy collection of 3 minute gems and a real grower. Some incredibly catchy songs add weight to the argument that they deserved to be bigger.
Steve: Mean, nasty and very sassy; think Kiss, hungover, after a night in the slammer. This is earthy, hi-energy sleaze, done far better than most around that time.
Top Rated Tracks: One More Reason, Electric Gypsy, Shoot For Thrills
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68000
126. Tank - Honour And Blood (1984)
Mark: Old skool metal for the second wave of British heavy metal movement. Honour and Blood lets loose a battery of pounding rhythms, barked vocals, and battle-scarred riffs. A glorious exercise in uncompromising power and street-level aggression.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: The War Drags Ever On, Honour and Blood, Kill
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68095
125. The Cult - Sonic Temple (1989)
Mark: A release that polarised fas and critics alike, as the band more or less abandoned the gothic-Native American fusion of previous releases for a more traditional metal vibe. Purists can bleat all they want - but this is polished hard rock excellence.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Fire Woman, Soul Asylum, Edie (Ciao Baby)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68333
124. Motörhead - Bomber (1979)
Mark: Motörhead hit the studio for the second time in a calendar year and prove Overkill was no fluke. Cuts like the title track and Stone Dead Forever cement the no-nonsense knack for a killer riff, and pave the way for the following year’s commercial juggernaut.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Stone Dead Forever, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Bomber
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68333
123. Flotsam and Jetsam - When The Storm Comes Down (1990)
Mark: The thrash ferocity evident on the first two albums is balanced with melody and mood – brooding riffs, dynamic shifts, and ambitious songwriting create a darker, more expansive statement - and a hint at the direction to come.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Suffer the Masses, October Thorns,The Master Sleeps
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68333
122. KISS - KISS (1974)
Mark: The commercial longevity of KISS relies entirely on their draw as a live act, which is why this album, like all the others, is just an appetiser to the main course - albeit a superior appetiser that's more caviar than calamari.
Richard: A debut album that set the musical template for the rest of their career. The whole thing is driven by Simmons’ basslines and attitude. Strutter is their ‘album 1, track 1’ calling card.
Steve: Cabaret rock from a band who sounded great on vinyl – but far, far better live. This was their opening shot and they’ve been re-stirring the same ingredients ever since - though they never did anything tastier.
Top Rated Tracks: Strutter, Deuce, Cold Gin
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68667
121. Flotsam and Jetsam - Cuatro (1992)
Mark: Cuatro finds Flotsam and Jetsam stretching beyond thrash – darker grooves, sharper hooks, savage hooks and tighter songwriting that combine to deliver a mature, melodic edge without sacrificing intensity or technical bite.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Swatting at Flies, The Message, Cradle Me Now
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.68889
120. Mötley Crüe - Theatre Of Pain (1986)
Mark: Album number three dials down the sleaze factor, but it’s no less fun for that. Loads of gloss and bubblegum set to infectious riffs and choruses you’ll belt out forever. Arguably the last record that captures the trüe essence of the band at its peak.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Keep Your Eye on the Money, Louder Than Hell, Tonight (We Need A Lover)
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.69333
119. Twisted Sister - You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll (1984)
Mark: The New Yorkers follow up debut release Under The Blade with some shine on the belligerence. The punk anthems are still there in all their singalong-friendly glory, but there’s a more measured sensibility afoot. The kids are definitely back.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: We’re Gonna Make It, I Am (I’m Me), The Kids Are Back
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.69333
118. Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards (1972)
Mark: Heep’s fourth album is a masterclass in prog-focused hard rock that balances gentility with grit, due in large part to a more upfront guitar sound than we got with Look At Yourself. It makes for sublime listening in places and sets the bar for the future.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: The Wizard, Easy Livin’, Rainbow Demon
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.69630
117. Fates Warning - Parallels (1991)
Mark: Fates Warning may be less widely known in the holy trinity of prog metal bands, but Parallels’ high quality, complex soundscape demonstrates why they’re so highly regarded.
Richard: Intricate, melodic and powerful. Highly recommended. They deserve to be there with Dream Theater and Queensrÿche. But who influenced who?
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Life in Still Water, The Eleventh Hour, Point of View
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.7000
116. Bad Company - Bad Company (1974)
Mark: Free from Free, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke reunite to repeat the trick of creating a sweeping soundscape that brings to mind big sky and empty plains Americana. Beautifully executed, this is 70s rock at its rolling best.
Richard: A beautiful album from a bunch of blokes who only got together to make music. Ralphs' guitar shines through and Rodgers’ voice is sublime. So many great songs - but the title track is perfect.
Steve: You can have too much of Can't Get Enough but the same cannot be said of Paul Rogers, a man who I could happily listen to singing the phonebook. Average songs - and there are one or two here - he takes to dizzier heights.
Top Rated Tracks: Bad Company, Seagull, Ready for Love
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.70417
115. Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door (1979)
Mark: Considered the poor relation in Zeppelin’s rich pantheon, the band’s ‘final’ album (we’ll argue about Coda later) is so much more than both critics and fans believed at the time. Quirky, eclectic, confident and indulgent. So far, so Zeppelin, then.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: In the Evening, Carouselambra, I’m Gonna Crawl
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.70952
114. Black Sabbath - Born Again (1984)
Mark: Ian Gillan fronting Sabbath? It simply shouldn’t work … and for many Sabbath diehards, it didn’t. Come to that, it didn’t work for Gillan, either. But if you suspend your disbelief and don’t overthink it, this is a brutally efficient, heavy-as-fuck triumph.
Richard: Better than the critics and fans would have you believe. Gillan's vocal power and dexterity added a new dimension and some considerable wit. A couple of classics in Trashed and Hot Line.
Steve: Sir Ian Gillan adds vocal might to this era Sabbath, an addition which irked the diehards but should generally be seen as a positive.
Top Rated Tracks: Trashed, Disturbing the Priest, The Dark/Zero the Hero
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.71429
113. Tygers Of Pan Tang - Wild Cat (1980)
Mark: In the white heat of the NWOBHM, Tygers dared to be different. Wild Cat is individual, brave and vital, yet still an essential building block in the British hard rock story - and perhaps more than any other band, their debut defines their sound.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Slave to Freedom, Insanity, Euthanasia
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.71667
112. Slayer - South Of Heaven (1988)
Mark: An absolute masterclass in controlled aggression. Even if the band aren’t great fans of it, there’s no denying the sublime cocktail of power and pace that makes this album a commercially accessible tour de force.
Richard: Brilliant use of tempo changes, better arrangement and control over the aggression make this a more rounded and really accessible album from Slayer. Brilliant.
Steve: Less skullcrushing, more headscratching for Slayer diehards, who saw an airier side to their beloved thrash idols. The upshot is their most sophisticated effort yet - ok, perhaps sophisticated is overdoing it!
Top Rated Tracks: South of Heaven, Mandatory Suicide, Ghosts of War
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.72667
111. AC/DC - Highway To Hell (1979)
Mark: The album that finally broke AC/DC in America would be the last time we would hear Bon Scott on record. It's a perfect epitaph.
Richard: My first and still favourite AC/DC album. The band were on fire. The first three chords of the title track; the build of Walk All Over You; the energy of Touch Too Much; the spine tingles of Night Prowler - this album had everything.
Steve: Bon Scott’s final hour wasn’t his finest though this punky farewell to part one of the AC/DC story had more than enough sparkling moments to make it a good listen.
Top Rated Tracks: Highway to Hell, Walk All Over You, Shot Down in Flames
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.73000
110. Y&T - Open Fire [Live] (1985)
Mark: San Francisco’s finest bring their live set to vinyl. It was always bound to fail to capture the essence of the band’s stage show, but it’s decent enough - and offers a then-first outing for Summertime Girls, and a rarity in the never-on-record rocker Go For the Throat.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Forever, Rescue Me, I Believe in You
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.74167
109. Rush - 2112 (1976)
Richard: A down-the-tubes tour, financial hardship and a make-or-break album. Play it safe? No. Rush believed in themselves and recorded a masterpiece. The record company took a risk and the rest is history.
Steve: Not easy to summarise an album boasting quite so much breadth. Side One was the kind of concept which stirred the Pistols into life and still asks too many questions for my tiny mind. Side two is a welcome breeze in comparison.
Top Rated Tracks: The Twilight Zone, Tears, A Passage to Bangkok
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.74444
108. Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Mark: Worried that the creative well had run dry, Sabbath still manage to return with another nailed-on classic to add the the four that had preceded it. The title track sets the bar, but the album has its fair share of surprising diversions, too.
Richard: Recording in a haunted castle helped Sabbath reach darker and deeper depths. Some real variety in their most accomplished album with Ozzy, including a star turn by Rick Wakeman.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabbra Cadabra, Spiral Architect
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.74583
107. Blue Ӧyster Cult - Spectres (1977)
Mark: Another gorgeous excursion into the unexpected, and while there’s an occasional misfire, Roeser & Co manage to effortlessly blend the haunting beauty of tracks like I Love the Night with wonderful moments of outrageously joyful pomp.
Richard: The album that followed Agents Of Fortune was always going to be a challenge. But persevere with it because this one is a grower and, in I Love The Night, features one of their best ever songs.
Steve: Never a dull moment on a ride with the BÖC massive, with this selection as unpredictable as they are impressive
Top Rated Tracks: I Love the Night, Golden Age of Leather, Nosferatu
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.74667
106. Coney Hatch - Outa Hand (1983)
Mark: For the relative few who were in on the secret, Coney Hatch offered big melodies, big hooks and enough hard rock experimentation to make it all interesting. A band and catalogue that sadly failed to make it onto the global radar.
Richard: A really well balanced album, but the songwriting in parts lets it down. There are still a few great tracks and Don't Say Make Me is a classic.
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Don’t Say Make Me, To Feel The Feeling Again, First Time for Everything
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.74815
105. Rush - Grace Under Pressure (1984)
Mark: An unfamiliar saturation of keyboards and lyrical content that plays on 1980s Cold War sensibilities means this is inevitably rooted in time. Musically, a couple of misfires at the back end render it superior rather than exceptional.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Red Sector A, Distant Early Warning, Afterimage
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.75000
104. Heart - Little Queen (1977)
Mark: Heart were never better than on this. From the snapping Barracuda to the mesmeric Dream of the Archer, a masterpiece from end to end.
Richard: The barnstorming Barracuda opens an incredibly varied album with beautiful songs, and mesmerising vocals from Ann Wilson. Dream of the Archer is their Battle of Evermore - and just as good. An album for every collection.
Steve: An album probably best known for its fiery opener, Barracuda; yet that is merely a bloody good introduction to a timeless web of divine soundscapes and sumptuous elegance and artistry, all held together by the beauty that is Ann Wilson's voice.
Top Rated Tracks: Dream of the Archer, Love Alive, Treat Me Well
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.76000
103. Rainbow - Long Live Rock And Roll (1978)
Mark: It lacks the overall punch of Rising, but the sheer grunt of tracks like Kill the King and the title track, and the exquisite composition on pretty much everything else still makes this an essential gem in the Rainbow story.
Richard:
Steve:
Top Rated Tracks: Kill the King, Long Live Rock and Roll, Lady of the Lake
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.77917
102. Strangeways - Native Sons (1987)
Mark: It's not just the Americans who can do AOR as this assured and accomplished band proves, transcending their working class Scottish roots to deliver a glossy package of melody-rich songs that often out-REO that most famous of Speedwagons.
Richard: Some superbly well-crafted songs and a sound that has echoes of Survivor meets Hogarth-era Marillion. They deserved to be bigger than they were.
Steve: A band who criminally slipped through the net – and the fault very definitely wasn’t theirs. Voice-for-hire Terry Brock’s captivating vocals were the tin lid on a wonderful work, surely one of AOR’s best-kept secrets.
Top Rated Tracks: Where Do We Go From Here, Only a Fool, Dance With Somebody
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.78333
101. Whitesnake - Ready An’ Willing (1980)
Mark: Whitesnake hit their stride with a classic line-up in full pomp. Leery subject matter like Sweet Talker is offset by the chart-friendly bounce of Fool For Your Lovin' and mournful beauty of Blindman. Musically, they were never better.
Richard: The arrival of Ian Paice gives the band a new groove and provides the missing piece to take them up several gears. Blindman is immense, and Coverdale never sang as well as he did on this album.
Steve: Blues and rock are escorted down the aisle in a marriage made in heaven though Coverdale’s somewhat risqué lyrics suggest the honeymoon got a bit bawdy. Blindman is as gold as gold can be.
Top Rated Tracks: Blindman, Ain’t Gonna Cry No More, Carry Your Load
Enter Sadmen Rating: 7.78519