Kai vs. RYM metal charts: 1988

     1988 might just be my favorite year in metal of all time.   It's the closest it comes to every heavy hitter bringing it.  The only one I can think of that was AWOL was Motorhead, and they at least put out a live album (albeit one inferior to the legendary No Sleep Til Hammersmith).  And I can't really think of anyone releasing an absolute stinker.  Off the top of my head the only albums I can think of that approach low B-high C tier are Ram it Down, Kings of Metal, maybe No Rest For the Wicked.  It's certainly the last important year for mainstream metal in terms of quantity.  So it could certainly be argued that the one's who made the top 10 this year are the cream of the crop, right?  RIGHT?

    I'm gonna make the decision to leave EPs off.  Possibly for good.  I could be wrong, but anything that wasn't album was only notable if it was a demo, and when it comes to demos I'm more discriminating than Jim Crow laws.

1. Iron Maiden- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

    Iron Maiden's tops the RYM metal chart for the second and final time with their final album of the 80s, as well as their first (and only) concept album.  Ironically, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son succeeds in every checkbox except as a concept album.  Seriously, if you think this is a better story than Operation: Mindcrime, you are a fuckin' stan.  That aside, magnificent album, and there's some evidence here that this album, more than any other Iron Maiden is responsible for what we now know as power metal. The keyboards?  Well, they fit perfectly with the album cover because this thing is ice cold.  The best bands are the ones that build to something naturally without appearing obvious to commercial desire, and it felt like from 1980, the member changes, the production changes, it was all building to this.  Of course the trendy thrash people hated it and wanted everything to sound like And Justice For All.  Well as we can see, Iron Maiden get the last laugh, which you can use Bruce Dickinson's at the end of Moonchild for an audio interpretation.

Should this be on a top 10: Hell to the yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Hell to the yes

2. Death- Leprosy

    Ok, it is a no-brainer for a list like this but....alright, hot take: Leprosy has not aged well.  There are absolutely certified hood classics like "Left to Die" and the title track, but "Open Casket"?  "Primitive Ways"?  Even "Pull The Plug" has lost it's luster.  There's no denying this album was seminal for establishing death metal, but these days I find it boring and tedious.  There's quite a few 1988 (and 1989) thrash albums that take this out back and teach it a thing or two about brutality.  People love this album because it's the first "band" album with Death, yet these people will fawn all over all sorts of one-man black metal projects.  I am definitely a firm believer that only the first two Death albums were essential, but only Scream Bloody Gore is essential for one's taste.  Honestly, I think the Massacre album From Beyond, might be better than this.  Haven't heard it in a while.  To be continued.  You know what death metal album from 1988 HAS aged well?  Pestilence- Malleus Maleficarum!  Yeah, I know Patrick Mameli has lost his mind but don't listen to it for him, listen to it for Martin Van fuckin' Drunen.

Should this be on a top 10: 9 at the highest

Would this be on my top 10:  Not anymore.

3. Bathory- Blood Fire Death

    On the other hand, here is an album that aged magnificently.  Another blackened classic by the legendary Quorthon! Debate rages between this and Under The Sign Of the Black Mark as to Bathory's best album.  Me?  I'm on the team of the latter, but I wouldn't dare deny this album's greatness.  This was an album that defied what the genre wanted (in this case thrash), while giving just enough of it to show a blueprint for something cutting edge.  Thematically, we see Quorthon leaving Satanism behind (although again, leaving enough of it bluntly, AND subtly, two of these songs have hidden messages.  IYKYK) in favor of something more historically provable, i.e. vikings.  While these days, vikings are as overdone as pirates, ninjas, zombies and Strong Bad were in the 00s, here it still sounds fresh.  And no assessment of Bathory is completely without telling you that Quorthon was a better lead player than your favorite tech-death lead player.

Should this be on a top 10: Hell to the yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Hell to the yes

4. Metallica- ...And Justice For All

    Spicy take #2, this album accomplishes what Master Of Puppets was trying to accomplish.  Not to mention the greatest band name/album title combo ever.  If anything it seemed like Cliff was holding them back.  This album is darker, more melancholic, more emotional and of course, more thrashy than it's predecessor ever was, with songs  mostly better than it's puppety counterparts!  "Sanitarium?"  Over "DARKNESS IMPRISONING ME"?  Bitch please.  Orion? Peh, give me the soul piercing twists of "To Live Is To Die" any day.  "Battery?"  Decent thrasher, but that acoustic intro was an unnecessary recycling, whereas "Blackened" comes in heavy with a distorted harmonic intro!  "Damage Inc.?"  With its useless bass harmonics dicking around?  "Dyer's Eve" ain't got time for that shit!  Cut right in and cut out before the tape ends like a renegade pirate PPV.  As much as I want to call this the greatest metal album of all time, they just had to be douchebags about the bass.  AND THEY STILL HAVEN'T FIXED IT YET!  Ugh.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Almost

5. Slayer- South Of Heaven

     You know what's really funny, despite coming second to Metallica when it came to putting out an album first, there's a whole bunch of other things Slayer did before Metallica did.  They went darkly progressive before Master Of Puppets, they course corrected from long to short songs before Metallica, and they made the "slow" album before Metallica.  Supposedly the bellyaching for this album would make a newcomer think this is Slayer's black album.  Yeah I'm pretty sure lines like "bastard sons begat your cunting daughters" wouldn't be allowed on an album like Metallica.  And despite the claims of going slow, a) there's still plenty of fast songs like "Ghosts Of War" and "Silent Scream," b) the slow songs are more midpaced anthems than doom.  And I like Patrick Bateman, I stress the word "anthem" in this context.  Even those Nazi-spunk brained assbags at deathmetal.org think this album is amazing.  Very worthy of your collection, and arguably where one should start with Slayer.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Yes

6. Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II

    My favorite record of all time.  When first I heard this, every song was perfect.  Mind you, I'm getting a little tired of "Dr. Stein" live (only Europeans are nostalgic for that one gents, American old fucks have no nostalgia for that song), but that's just setlist nitpicking.  This album is everything that makes power metal great, Michael Kiske's god-tier highs and lows, subtle and not-so-subtle leftism oeuvres, Kai and Weiki riffing and shredding like there is no tomorrow, this is how you make heavy metal happy and yet stomp all kinds of ass.  This is a must.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Yes

7. Riot- Thundersteel

    An album that gets touted as Painkiller a good two years beforehand, and well, I don't really hear it.  I mean this is as intense as speed metal/US power metal can get without an insane onslaught of double bass drums, but that's the thing.  What makes Painkiller Painkiller is the double bass drumming. Thundersteel is great and all, but when it comes to Riot, I prefer Fire Down Under.  What can I say?  I prefer Guy Sperenza as a vocalist.  Tony Moore is a perfectly talented chap, with plenty of clean highs.  A little too clean if you ask me.  The deeper you dive into metal the more you realize that Bruce, Rob and Ronnie are heralded the way they are because of how gritty they sound.  It's astounding how many vocalists in the 80s didn't seem to pick up on that.  I mean Michael Kiske is fairly clean sounding, but he still sounds powerful.  Tony just sounds....light.  I can never quite seem to muster up the love to call this a top 10, but I'm over the moon a classic heavy metal album gets heralded as holding its own post 1983 by the masses.

Should this be on a top 10: 10 at the highest

Would this be on my top 10: No

8. Razor- Violent Restitution

    The second best metal album out of Canada, #1 being Evil Invaders by this very same band.  Violent Restitution, while awesome felt a bit one dimensional to me, but hey, this is thrash, it is THE dimension. If anything could be called a Ramones album of thrash, it's this.  12 short and furious chestbursters that absolutely feel like you're getting chainsawed like that album cover.  And that's before you bring Stace "Sheepdog" McClaren's vocals into the mix.  You may think the name Sheepdog is a ridiculous name, personally I think Stace is worse.  But yeah, you think you've heard a screechy vocalist?  Sheepdog is the screechy vocalist.  Take into account the Carlo brothers clinical string shredding and you've got a recipe that stands up against the franchise restaurants of thrash.  Very underrated album by an underrated band.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10:  No

9. Coroner- Punishment For Decadence

    Oddly enough, this is my least favorite of early Coroner, but don't you dare let that stop you from checking this or any of their other albums out (especially No More Color...holy fuck on a stick, that one).  I didn't get to discuss Coroner before this so let me paint the picture: imagine if you will, after recording To Mega Therion, Tom G. Warrior decides "fuck this extreme avant-garde bullshit, I just want to thrash goddamit!" That's Coroner, and for better or worse, they will always be compared to their Swiss countrymen (at least in my book).  While not as vicious as the previous album, R.I.P., and not as reality-warping as No More Color, Punishment For Decadence still bludgeons you over the head with power-trio perforations like "Sudden Fall," "Arc-Lite" and fan-favorite "Masked Jackal."  Still, thinking this and the album above it (or any of the thrash albums on this list, really) are better thrash albums than Vio-lence's Eternal Nightmare?  Nah, bruh.  Nah.

Should this be on a top 10: Perhaps

Would this be on my top 10: No

10. Queensryche- Operation: Mindcrime

    Yeah, I'm shocked to see it this low too.  Probably got review-bombed by a bunch of Kendrick Lamar and Deafheaven fans like a bunch of other albums.  To be quite honest with you, if I had to be objective, I would rank this as the greatest album of 1988.  Don't believe me?  Bruce Dickinson, shortly after releasing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son heard Operation: Mindcrime on the radio whilst driving, and damn near wrecked himself in tears cursing that this was the album Iron Maiden should have made.  Conceptually, he ain't wrong.  This album was not only so good Metallica hand picked Queensryche to open for them on the Justice tour, it was good enough that one of the cuts, "I Don't Believe In Love" was given a Grammy nod at the inaugural "Best Metal Performance" Grammy category.  Geoff Tate and company craft an iron-clad certified hood classic with a story that is staggeringly relevant almost 40 years later.  Moments like "Suite Sister Mary," "Spreading the Disease" and showstopper "Eyes of a Stranger" have lost none of their power after all this time.  Operation: Mindcrime singlehandedly made Queensryche legends.  One of the smartest albums ever recorded.

Should this be on a top 10: Yes

Would this be on my top 10:  Yes

    So there's 1988.  I gotta say, there ain't a single "oh hell no" on this list.  Sure there's some I've indicated I prefer more than others, but that just informs you as to how fucking awesome this year was in metal.  Well-rounded list too I must say.  Thrash dominates the year (as it should, AFAIC 1988 is peak thrash), but we see entries from just about every other sub-genre. What's interesting to note is while RYM clearly loves Manilla Road, their album of this year, Out of the Abyss, sees dive headfirst into the deep end of the thrash pool, and rages as violently as any other ripper this year.  An unfortunate case of "we don't want YOU doing it."  Peh, as if Mystification wasn't hinting at it.

My alphabetical top 10:

1988:

BATHORY- BLOOD FIRE DEATH 

HELLOWEEN- KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS PART 2 

IRON MAIDEN- 7th SON OF A 7TH SON 

MEGADETH- SO FAR, SO GOOD, SO WHAT?

OZZY OSBOURNE- NO REST FOR THE WICKED

PESTILENCE- MALLEUS MALEFICARUM

QUEENSRYCHE- OPERATION: MINDCRIME

RUNNING WILD- PORT ROYAL

SLAYER- SOUTH OF HEAVEN

VIO-LENCE- ETERNAL NIGHTMARE

Next time, we close out the decade with seismic shifts in the underground.