KISS - Unmasked (1980)

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I should hate this, but instead I love it. Total pop-rock, not even pretending to be heavy or even Rock N Roll! But this is a genuine Kiss classic. 'Is That You?', 'Tomorrow', 'Two Sides of the Coin', 'She's So European', these songs are just brilliant pop tunes and this really puts it's predecessor (Dynasty) in the shade. This was Kiss at their commercial peak, selling out stadiums, selling Kiss lunchboxes and camper than ever. Just brilliant. Don't be fooled by the cover, Peter Criss didn't play a note on this album, and Ace didn't play as much as he's credited with either by all accounts!

SLAYER - Haunting the Chapel (1984)

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Only a three track e.p., but a landmark in Thrash Metal history and an essential purchase because none of the tracks feature on any 'proper' Slayer album in their original studio versions. The first thing to notice is that the leap in production from 'Show No Mercy' to this is huge, the guitars here are bristling with energy and the tempo's that Slayer where playing at had dramatically increased too. 'Chemical Warfare' remains a live-set staple and in 1984 this really did sound immense. 'Haunting the Chapel' and 'Captor of Sin' can't quite live with 'Chemical Warfare', but otherwise hold there own against any other early Slayer tracks and again both reek of an increased in aggression and quality over the primitive (but much loved) 'Show No Mercy'. Completely and utterly essential for any Thrash fan.  

METALLICA - Master of Puppets (1986)

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It's a well established fact that 1986 was the best Metal year ever, but it's also the year a number of bands peaked, releasing career defining, never to be bettered albums. One of those bands was Slayer of course, arguably Dark Angel could also be included in that, whereas Kreator managed to reinvent themselves for the unbelievably brilliant 'Renewal' album and thus avoided direct comparison with their 1986 masterpiece 'Pleasure to Kill'. But for Metallica, artistically, if not commercially, this was their greatest work. I've long said that 'Kill Em All' is my favourite Metallica album, but even I can concede that this is 'better'. The step up from 'Ride the Lightning' to this is a large one, you only have to compare the quality of 'Damage Inc' with the slightly off-hand 'Fight Fire With Fire' or the title tracks of these two albums to see that Metallica really stepped up their game to a whole new level. True there are two tracks that are only okay, and yes because there are only eight tracks they do make up a quarter of the album, but really, who wouldn't be pleased to have written 'Leper Messiah' or 'The Thing That Should Not Be'? 

The big question, destined to remain forever unanswered, is how would Metallica's musical growth been different had Cliff not been killed on the tour for this album. By all accounts Cliff's musical input into Metallica was more than considerable, can it really be a coincidence that things started to falter a little in the quality department as soon as he died? I guess we'll never know, but you only have to listen to the depth of quality of 'Orion' to realise that Cliff was something special.

NEVERMORE - The Obsidian Conspiracy (2010)

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Until this album I never really subscribed to the 'Nevermore are awesome' philosophy that so many others do,  but this album really is fantastic. I think what Nevermore finally managed to do with this one was to push the widdling back a little bit and put the focus on the 'songs'. This is an album to sing along with, like me this morning, in Asda with my iPod, walking past the cheese bellowing 'This is why I haaaaaaaate you!' Epic.

DIVINE HERESY - Bringer of Plagues (2009)

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Desperately uncool as it may be to like this band, I really don't give a shit. This is great. Like Fear Factory given a massive kick up the arse and blasted into the Deathcore / Death Metal realm. I love the drumming on this album, it's so clinical and intense, but everything about it is great, the production, the singing, the riffs, the chorusses, just a brilliant album, and bollocks to anyone who disagrees. 

NOFX - Wolves in Wolves Clothing (2006)

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Frankly, since 2003's 'The War on Errorism', NOFX have been unable to do a thing wrong in my eyes. Every three years they pop up and drop their next classic platter and disappear again, leaving me happy and singing along, waiting impatiently for the next one. 'WIWC' is about as perfect a Punk album as you could wish for. Catchy songs, twisted humour and infuriatingly memorable melodies that stick in your head like Napalm sticks to kids!

BLACK SABBATH - Heaven and Hell (1980)

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The best Black Sabbath album, bar none. What is there to say about this classic album. It's immense. Ronnie James Dio elevates Sabbath to a new level of greatness with his awesome voice while Tony Iommi blasts his band into the 80's with a refreshed musical outlook that leaves the 70's behind. Truly this is Sabbath at their absolute peak, it's just a shame that 'Mob Rules' couldn't live with this one and then we had the 'Live Evil' debacle and Ronnie's departure. Oh well.

DEPECHE MODE - Music for the Masses (1987)

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A stupendous album which has a plethora of great songs, hell even the remixes on the CD reissue are great! This is without a doubt the best Depeche Mode album even though I guess it's fair to say it might be their equivalent of Metallica's 'Black' album. Make no mistake, 'Music for the Masses' lived up to it's name and propelled DM to the very top of the popular music tree, selling millions, and for once justifiably so. For me the track which stands out the most is 'Sacred', if only because it was covered by the band 'Moonspell' on their '2econd Skin' e.p. in 1998).

SLAYER - Hell Awaits (1985)

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While ultimately eclipsed by 'Reign in Blood' you still can't knock 'Hell Awaits'. Sure the production isn't the best, such a shame the album didn't have the attack of the 'Haunting the Chapel' e.p., but the songs are awesome, particularly the title track, and well pretty much all of them really, the only slightly less than stellar one being the closer 'Hardening of the Arteries' which seems to serve as little more than a pre-cursor to the clever outro. A legendary album and still a brilliant one too.

MNEMIC - Passenger (2007)

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Supposedly not one of their best according to the people who know (jack shit), this album is the perfect workout album, aggressive and catchy with massive songs that make you want to pump iron! God knows how many times I've listened to this on my iPod in the last couple of years, just fantastic.

RUSH - Power Windows (1985)

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About as close to perfection as it's possible to get. Everything is spot on, the production, the songwriting, the performances, all utterly flawless. I have nothing bad to say about this album whatsoever, it is truly a magnificent piece of work and would doubtless be top 5, if not number one in my all time best album list!

KREATOR - Renewal (1992)

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Heavily criticised for treading water with 'Coma of Souls' (utter bollocks), Kreator set about re-inventing themselves for the post-Nirvana era. Taking on some industrial influences and general nastying their sound up a bit, Kreator created a unique and quite brilliant album that confused their fanbase a little but for those who got it, well it's damn near perfect. 'Karmic Wheel' is the centrepiece of this amazing album and I also recommend checking out the remixed version where you can actually hear the intriguing mid section properly.

This is a genuinely stunning album and fully deserves to mentioned in the same breath as 'Pleasure to Kill'.

MOTORHEAD - Overkill (1979)

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A pretty faultless album this one. Great songs, great production, awesome cover art and a title track that rivals 'Ace of Spades' in the Motor-classic stakes. This was the first Motorhead album's I ever heard and the title track alone is worth the price of the album, but there's plenty more good stuff where that came from. Even the less well known tracks on this one are great, especially the gnarly closer 'Damage Case'.

DWARVES - Come Clean (2000)

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A wonderful album of pop-punk tunes, with an epic running time of about twenty minutes! Still, it's quality not quantity as they are always telling us and this thing has no filler whatsoever. Just brilliant, catchy songs and a perfectly balanced production. Excellent, and their best album to date.

KREATOR - Flag of Hate e.p. (1986)

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Not an album granted, but this is so completely awesome I have to review it anyway. This came out just after the 'Pleasure to Kill' album (and indeed the CD of 'PTK' included these tracks as a bonus) and captured the band at the perfect point where they were making the transition from the brutality of 'PTK' to the cleaner sound of 'Terrible Certainty'. Three tracks, the first a remake of the live favourite 'Flag of Hate' (originally from the 'Endless Pain' debut album) and two new songs 'Take Their Lives' and the crushing 'Awakening of the Gods'. This e.p. is essential, if only for the last track, because 'Awakening of the Gods' is probably the greatest Kreator song of all time and should definitely have been included on a proper album. Fools.

KREATOR - Pleasure to Kill (1986)

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Alongside 'Reign in Blood', 'Master of Puppets', 'Darkness Descends' and a few others, this album was one of 1986's most imposing releases. Brutal Thrash that pummeled you into submission, with some epic chugging parts to make you bang your head, this was just the German Thrash album of the decade, with only Destruction's 'Infernal Overkill' giving it any sort of run for it's money. Buy or F.O.A.D.

SLAYER - Reign in Blood (1986)

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This album has been talked about so much over the years, but the sad fact is that someone coming to it today cannot comprehend the jaw-droppingness of this in 1986. Who would have dared imagine that Slayer could step up so far from such an awesome album as Hell Awaits in the space of a single year? Of course the production was the real killer, where Hell Awaits was dingy and dank, Reign in Blood set new standards for Thrash recording and partly because of that, this is still the only album that has ever literally made my jaw drop. A masterpiece which has weighed heavily on the bands shoulders ever since, truth be told.

WATCHTOWER - Control and Resistance (1989)

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An unreserved 5M's from me here. This album was never far from my stereo in the early 90's and it's such a shame they never followed it up. Supposedly Technical Thrash, although there's not much that's 'Thrashy' about it to be honest, even if it does share some audio cues with that particular genre. Again the vocals won't appeal to everyone, but the guy had some difficult shit to sing over, so you have to make allowances I think! Technically brilliant, just try tapping along and see how long it takes you to get lost, I'm sure Meshuggah were fans back in the 90's.

VOIVOD - War and Pain (1984)

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Still for me this band's crowning glory, in 1984 this truly sounded like the nuclear holocaust come to life. Totally uncompromising, brutal, noisy, and gnarly as hell, this isn't going to appeal to everyone but this primitive noise certainly endeared them to plenty of thrashers back in the day. Of course, over the coming years Voivod's sound became far more accessible and polished, but this for me remains their greatest recorded achievement. 

METAL CHURCH - Metal Church (1985)

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Another massive 1985 release, Metal Church's debut album is another quality album from the US Speed Metal scene. Too melodic to ever really be Thrash, nonetheless Metal Church (unlike say Armored Saint) were wholeheartedly embraced by the Thrash fraternity as one of their own. Great songs, great vocals, great melodies and terrific musicianship as demonstrated on the classic instrumental 'Merciless Onslaught'.