Saxon’s ‘Wheels of Steel’: The NWOBHM Classic That America Mostly Ignored
The first time I heard Saxon’s “Wheels of Steel,” I was crammed into the back room of Dirk’s Records in 1980, a dingy little import...
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Slayer’s ‘God Hates Us All’: The Unfortunate Album Released on 9/11 That Still Deserved More Attention
There’s bad timing, there’s really bad timing, and then there’s releasing an album called “God Hates Us All” on September 11, 2001. I remember sitting...
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Slipknot’s Self-Titled Debut: Nine Masked Maniacs Create the Most Terrifying Album of 1999
I first heard Slipknot on a Tuesday night in August 1999, and I nearly crashed my car. Seriously. I was driving home from a late...
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Stratovarius’ ‘Visions’: The Album That Defined Modern Power Metal for a Generation
I first heard Stratovarius’ “Visions” in the most appropriate setting possible: a tiny, overheated record shop in Helsinki during a brutally cold January. It was...
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Iron Maiden’s ‘X Factor’: From the Guy Who Said ‘Maiden Can’t Fail’ – The Album That Did Just That
I need to start with a confession that’s going to undermine about 70% of my credibility as a metal journalist: I own five—yes, FIVE—different Iron...
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Phil Collins’ ‘No Jacket Required’: The Album Metal Fans Secretly Love But Won’t Admit To
Let me start with a confession that might get my metal credentials permanently revoked: I know every word to Phil Collins’ “No Jacket Required.” Not...
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Paradise Lost’s ‘Draconian Times’: When Gothic Metal Got Just Accessible Enough to Break Through
I first encountered Paradise Lost’s “Draconian Times” in the spring of 1995 at a listening station in Tower Records. I remember standing there with those...
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Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Bark at the Moon’: Jake E. Lee’s Thankless Task of Following Randy Rhoads
I still remember exactly where I was when I heard Randy Rhoads had died. March 19, 1982. I was flipping through the used vinyl bin...
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Iron Maiden’s ‘Rock in Rio’: The Live Album That Proved Their Reunion Was No Nostalgia Act
I’ve got this theory about reunion tours, forged from about three decades of watching bands get back together and try to recapture whatever lightning they...
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Iron Maiden’s ‘Self-Titled Debut’: The Dawn of a Metal Empire That Started With Punk Energy
The first time I heard Iron Maiden’s debut album, I was actually pissed off. Not because it was bad—quite the opposite—but because some jackass at...
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Metallica’s ‘Garage Days Re-Revisited’: The Covers EP That Introduced Jason Newsted to the World
I remember the day I first got my hands on “The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited” like it was yesterday—August 1987, standing in my local...
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Mercyful Fate’s ‘Don’t Break the Oath’: King Diamond’s Falsetto Created the Template for Theatrical Metal
The first time I heard King Diamond’s falsetto, I was seventeen and alone in my bedroom with a dubbed cassette that had been passed to...