Golden Age Of Metal: 1992
’92 also saw the release of a couple of debuts from future black metal icons, including Immortal’s “Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism” and Burzum’s self-titled debut, all of which were records that officially inaugurated the breakthrough of the 2nd wave of black metal.
Golden Age Of Metal: 1991
’91 is most notable for seeing the peak of old-school death metal, as, in addition to all of these classics, even Darkthrone was getting in on the action with “Soulside Journey”, just before they kickstarted the 2nd Wave of Black Metal, but that’s a discussion for next entry, eh?
Golden Age Of Metal: 1990
And finally, besides “Left Hand Path”, the golden age of death metal continued strong this year, and all of this richness in the genre would grow even stronger and result in the greatest year in the history of the style, very, VERY soon…
Golden Age Of Metal: 1989
A number of classic records contributed to ’89 being the true, official beginning of the golden age of death metal, and helped to establish the genre as a newly dominant style, one that we’ll see cross over and blow up in a certain Scandinavian country very, very soon…
Golden Age Of Metal: 1988
You’d think that with ’88 being the only year from the golden age of thrash that we got albums from every single member of “The Big 4”, it would be the greatest year in the history of the genre hands down, but unfortunately, that just wasn’t the case, as all of those bands experienced, in one way or another, a sort of early mid-life crisis in their careers, as they were unable to produce follow-ups that were as iconic or beloved as their previous records.
Golden Age Of Metal: 1987
87 was a bit of an “in-between year” when it came to the most significant metal genres, but, while not as iconic as the previous, peak year for the genre, it was still incredible for thrash, and quite possibly the runner-up for best year in the history of the genre.
Golden Age Of Metal: 1986
Thrash completely dominated the year, as, if we only see saw “Pleasure”, “Reign”, & “Puppets” in ’86 alone, it would already be one of the greatest years for the genre, but add in everything else, and ’86’s status as the absolute peak of thrash is cemented for all time.
Golden Age Of Metal: 1985
Celtic Frost: To Mega Therion We arrive at ’85 with Celtic Frost’s “To Mega Therion”, an absolute classic of 1st wave black metal, and easily the band’s greatest moment, beyond … Continue reading
Golden Age of Metal: 1984
The records I’ve covered in this entry ended up making 1984 one of the biggest watershed years in the history of heavy metal, and, instead of turning out to part of some nightmare-ish dystopian era like Orwell predicted all those years ago, what we got instead was the true beginning of The Golden Age Of Metal, baby!
Golden Age of Metal: Introduction
The Golden Age of the genre would not begin until a bit further into the decade, when we not only began consistently getting an unprecedented (and unmatched ever since) amount of great, classic albums, but also records that would prove to be genre-defining to the biggest, most important styles of modern Metal, as the style really developed, diversified, and expanded outside of Britain to become a truly global(ly dominate) phenomenon.
