Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with the producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The artwork, based on a concept by the band, depicts an electric chair being struck by lightning flowing from the band logo. The title was taken from a passage in Stephen King's novel The Stand, in which a character uses the phrase to refer to execution by electric chair.
Spreading the Disease is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Anthrax, released on October 30, 1985, by Megaforce Records and Island Records. It was the band's first album to feature vocalist Joey Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello. A special two-disc edition of the album was released in 2015, celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Among the Living is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was released on March 16, 1987, by Megaforce Records in the US and by Island Records in the rest of the world. The album is dedicated to Cliff Burton of Metallica, who died in a bus accident six months before its release while Metallica were on tour with Anthrax as the opening act.
Persistence of Time is the fifth studio album by the American thrash metal band Anthrax. It was released on August 21, 1990, through Megaforce Worldwide/Island Records and was nominated in 1991 for a Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category.
Danzig is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Danzig, released in August 1988. The album was the first release on producer Rick Rubin's new label Def American Recordings. Def American's successor, American Recordings, reissued the album in the United States and United Kingdom in 1998. It remains the band's best-selling album having been certified gold in the U.S. in 1994, and has since been certified platinum. Danzig promoted the album with a successful world tour in 1988–1989.
Pyromania is the third studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983 through Vertigo Records in UK and Europe and through Mercury Records in the US. The first album to feature guitarist Phil Collen who replaced founding member Pete Willis, Pyromania was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album was a shift away from the band's traditional heavy metal roots toward a more radio-friendly sound, finding massive mainstream success. Pyromania charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, No. 4 on the Canadian RPM Album chart and No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart. Selling over ten million copies in the US, it has been certified diamond by the RIAA.
The Jester Race is the second studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in February 1996. It is the first album to feature Anders Fridén as the band's vocalist, Björn Gelotte as the drummer, and Jester Head as the band's mascot.
Dead Horse was a thrash metal band from Houston, Texas, which was active in the 1980s and 1990s and again during the 2010s. They have also been described as death metal and crossover thrash. Dead Horse also incorporated elements of country music and Texas culture that can be heard on songs such as "Hank" from Horsecore and "Chiggers" from Feed Me.
Speak English or Die is the debut album by the American crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death, released in August 1985.
Bigger than the Devil is the second album by crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.). The album was released in May 1999 on the Nuclear Blast label. Its cover design is based on Iron Maiden's 1982 album The Number of the Beast and its title is a play on words on The Beatles member John Lennon proclaiming The Beatles were "bigger than Jesus Christ".
Mortification is an Australian Christian death metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
Death Angel is an American thrash metal band from Daly City, California, initially active from 1982 to 1991 and again since 2001. Death Angel has released nine studio albums, two demo tapes, one box set and three live albums. The band has gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Rob Cavestany as the only constant member; he and vocalist Mark Osegueda are the only members of Death Angel to appear on all of their studio albums.
Leprosy is the second studio album by American death metal band Death, released on November 16, 1988, by Combat Records. The album is notable in its different tone and quality from the band's 1987 debut, it is the first example of Scott Burns' work heard on many of the death metal and grindcore albums of that era. The cover is featured in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. It is the first album to feature drummer Bill Andrews and the only one to feature guitarist Rick Rozz.
Contradictions Collapse is the debut studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. The album was released on 1 May 1991 by Nuclear Blast. Contradictions Collapse was originally titled (All This Because of) Greed. The album leans more towards a thrash metal and alternative metal sound than the band's later works, featuring heavy riffs and influences of industrial dance in the drum patterns. It was re-released as a digipak with an incomplete version of Meshuggah's second EP, None, in 1998, with no liner notes or lyrics included in the booklet.
Bonded by Blood is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus. Although the album was completed in the summer of 1984, it was not released until 1985 due to issues with Exodus and the record label. It is considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time. This is also the only full-length studio album of Exodus to feature Paul Baloff on vocals, though he was also on their 1982 Demo and appeared on their 1997 live album Another Lesson in Violence.
Brutality and Bloodshed for All is the eighth and final studio album by American punk rock musician GG Allin, recorded with his backing band the Murder Junkies. Released after his death in 1993, the first recording on Alive Records. All songs were written while GG Allin was in Michigan State Prison. Copies of the album come with a photograph of GG Allin from his viewing, alongside a copy of his birth and death certificates.
Hed PE is the debut album by the American rock band Hed PE. It was released on August 12, 1997, by Jive Records, and has sold over 100,000 copies.
"Got the Time" is a song written and performed by the British new wave musician Joe Jackson, appearing as the closing track on his 1979 debut album, Look Sharp!. The song has since been performed frequently in live concerts by Jackson.
Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers is the second album by the Houston, Texas based death/thrash metal band Dead Horse. It was released in 1991 on the independent label Big Chief Records, and again eight years later on Relapse Records, with four bonus tracks. Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers was Dead Horse's last studio album for 26 years, although the band had released three EPs of new material in the interim.
