Death's last outright raw slab of death metal, but shows significant signs of progression. "Flattening Of Emotions" is one of my favorite Death songs, and "Cosmic Sea" is a tremendous instrumental. "Together As One" and "Suicide Machine" are amazing too.

Dio's second solo effort is another classic metal masterpiece! The biggest highlight of this album is undoubtedly "One Night In The City."

I had to buy it because it's Iron Maiden. Half the album is phenomenal, but half of it is passable at best.

The Maiden revival began with this fantastic release. Songs like "The Wicker Man," "Out Of The Silent Planet" and the title track simply own.

Another gem of pure adrenaline fist-pumping arena rock from Steve, Neal and company. Gotta love "Separate Ways" and "Send Her My Love," plus "Faithfully" is one of the all-time great ballads, syrupy as it might be. Outside of radio hits, "Edge Of The Blade" is a standout.

Trippy early prog-rock classic. "21st Century Schizoid Man" absolutely rips.

The classic debut from the loudest band in the land! "Strutter," "Nothin' To Lose," "Cold Gin" and "Deuce" are what it's all about.

The loudest band in the land returns with their fifth album, less than 8 months after the breakthrough smash Destroyer. "I Want You," "Calling Dr. Love," "Baby Driver" and "Making Love" are some of the finest heavy songs they have released, while "Hard Luck Woman" really proves how awesome drummer Peter Criss was on vocals - and shows a less sappy soft side than "Beth."

Early Megadeth with improved production and musicianship over the debut. "The Conjuring" is my favorite early Megadeth song, and the title track, "Wake Up Dead," and "I Ain't Superstitious" are pretty sweet too.

Queensryche's full-length debut is often overlooked, and with songs on it like "En Force" and "Take Hold Of The Flame" it's very hard to understand just why!

Rush's debut, on which they sound a pretty fair amount like Led Zeppelin oddly enough. You'd never even think it was Rush hearing songs like "Finding My Way" or "Working Man," but there's no denying their awesomeness.

After their synth craze peaked, they mellow out on the mellotrons and stick to a lighter sound that is truer to their roots. "Force Ten" is one of my all time favorite Rush songs, as is "Time Stand Still."

Saxon's breakthrough sophomore effort, a slice of pure NWOBHM greatness that is horribly underrated. "(747) Strangers In The Night" and the title track are just monster songs.

One of the last bands of the hair metal era, and this is by far one of the best albums to come out of there. It's obvious that their ballad "I Remember You" was written to get the attention of MTV, but it drowns out killer songs like "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Big Guns."

Cost a pretty penny but I managed to get my hands on this sludge-metal classic. Clearly an influence from early Sabbath and Hendrix. A rare gem. Just give "Come Touch The Sky" and "'Scuse Me" a listen.

Van Halen's aptly titled sophomore effort continues the sleaze-rock awesomeness right where their debut left off, with killer tunes like "Dance The Night Away," "Bottoms Up," and "Beautiful Girls."

Van Halen's final studio recording with Dave on vocals, this album brought their success to new heights. Certainly an interesting mix of music, with heavy rockers like "Hot For Teacher" and "Panama," synth driven rockers like "Jump" and "I'll Wait," and cleaner-sounding stuff like "Top Jimmy."

Another early prog-rock gem, "Roundabout" is among the finest songs to come out of the early years of the movement.