The First Ten Album Reviews

 My list of playlists also has an Album Review series and I began that on my youtube channel the same time as my Movie Review Series

I begin with Queensryche's first full length album "The Warning" recently celebrating it's 40th anniversary of it's release (September 7,1984) The record went Gold and made it to #61 on the Billboard 200. I first uploaded this review on October 2,2023 "The Warning" was inspired by the World Events and the 1949 George Orwell novel "1984" and the record was recorded in multiple studios in London including The Beatles' old Abbey Road Studios now the positives behind making "The Warning" was Queensryche got to work with Producer James Guthrie and he had produced many of Pink Floy's classic albums and Pink Floyd was a major influence on the quintet from the Pacific Northwest USA. The negative is that when the band went over budget,the label took it out of their hands and gave it to someone else to mix. Plus it was the only time their creative freedom was restricted during the recording. Now whoever mixed the album had no clue who Queensryche was,even though that guy never listened to the music. So the idiot who mixed it according to how he thought the band would sound. In which Queensryche HATED it. 

I gave the overall rating a 5 out of 10 the only song that was worth listening to was "Take Hold of the Flame"  arguably the strongest song off of "The Warning"

The NEXT week I reviewed Metallica's second studio album "RIDE THE LIGHTNING" uploaded on October 9,2023

I often cited that "Ride the Lightning" was the album where they found their trademark sound while their next record "Master of Puppets" took them to another level and broke them to the mainstream. 

"Ride the Lightning" showcased Metallica's musical growth and lyrical sophistication they began to record "Ride the Lightning in February of '84 at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen,Denmark with Producer Fleming Rasmussen. It was the idea of Drummer LARS Ulrich to create the album outside the U.S. due to his admiration for Fleming after being impressed with his work on Rainbow's "Difficult to Cure" album released in 1981. At first he never heard of Metallica,but after listening to their demos,he was impressed and they showed alot of promise. They ended recording sessions on March 14,1984 and the album would be released on July 27,1984 around that same time their European label Music for Nations paid the studio cost,due to Megaforce owner Jon Zazula unable to afford to pay them and due to the lack of promotion for the album via Megaforce Records Metallica and Johnny Zazula parted ways which lead them to Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein of Q Prime becoming their new managers and they signed with Elektra Records shortly thereafter. Ride the Lighting would be re-released in November of 1984. The album peaked at #100 on the Billboard 200 and went close to 7 times platinum making it the fourth highest selling Metallica album behind Puppets,Justice and the legendary Black Album. 

I gave it an overall rating of 8/10 and I still stand by this statement that this album was where Metallica solidified their sound through musical growth and lyrical sophistication songs like the title track "Fight Fire with Fire" "For Whom the Bell Tolls" "Fade to Black and "Creeping Death" are my favorite tracks from this record. 

I uploaded the album review of Def Leppard's "Pyromania" on October 16,2023 

This was the album that broke the band from Sheffield,U.K. big time in the U.S. as the album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and is the first of two Diamond selling albums from the band. This marked the debut of guitarist Phil Collen who joined the band after they fired Pete Willis and Phil had done all of the former's guitar work on this album including the lead guitar parts the album was recorded in two studios  Park Gates in Battle,Sussex and Battery Studios in London. "Pyromania" was released on January 20,1983 and this album transitioned the band's traditional metal sound to a more radio friendly direction that would be shown on later albums. Some call it the first Pop Metal album which is actually Glam or Hair metal whatever genre you want to use. Favorite tracks are the major hits Photograph,Rock of Ages,Foolin' and Too Late for Love and the underrated gems like Die Hard the Hunter and Rock Rock Til you Drop 

I gave the album an overall rating of 9/10 despite not reaching the top of the U.S. Charts they were getting popular around that time frame and they would continue to gain success.

The fourth album review I done was Whitesnake's self titled 1987 album uploaded on October 23,2023

Whitesnake to me had filled the void that was left open when Led Zeppelin split up following John Bonham's passing. However frontman David Coverdale seemed dissatisfied with Whitesnake after the tour in support of "Slide it In" and considered to disband the group until their then label Geffen Records insist that he work with guitarist John Sykes he was then known for bands such as Tygers of Pan Tang and Thin Lizzy. So Coverdale and Sykes started writing together in the Spring of 1985 and during those sessions two songs would come out to be the band's biggest hits in "Still of the Night" and "Is This Love" in which was originally written for Tina Turner,however it would end up on the 1987 album. When it came down to putting a new version of Whitesnake together to record the album,David Coverdale came down with a sinus infection which lead to him having surgery,that required a year and a half of rehabilitation without the promise of his singing voice would return to form. This lead to problems between him and Guitarist John Sykes leading to a very bad falling out. Then when Coverdale finally recovered he recorded all of his vocal parts and then he turned to Adrian Vandenberg as his new hot shot guitarist once the recording was finally done in late 1986. Coverdale fired the guys who helped record the record because he had trust issues still stemming from his fall out with John Sykes,but kept Adrian Vandenberg and hired Vivian Campbell,Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge once Whitesnake went on tour to support the 1987 album which is called "Serpus Albus" in Japan Whitesnake's 1987 record was released on March 23,1987 in the U.S. (8 DAYS LATER in the U.K.) reached to #2 on the Billboard 200 and went 8 times platinum "Here I Go Again '87" is the band's only #1 single when it reached the Billboard Hot 100 in that spot while "Is This Love" reached #2 on that same Billboard Hot 100 chart.

This album got an 8/10 overall rating mainly due to the 2 top hits along with the epic Still of the Night and the underrated Give Me All Your Love.

The day before HALLOWEEN 2023 was when I uploaded by fifth album review and it's King Diamond's "Fatal Portrait"

After Mercyful Fate went it's separate ways Danish frontman King Diamond formed his own band by using his own name. Joining him are his Mercyful Fate brothers Timi Hansen and Michael Denner along with future Motorhead and Scorpions drummer Mikkey Dee and a hotshot guitarist Andy La Rocque  and they started putting together songs for what would become "Fatal Portrait" Before the debut album release King Diamond released a Holiday single called "No Presents for Christmas" on Christmas Day of 1985 what a crazy way to celebrate Christmas huh folks????

Anyway "Fatal Portrait" was released in March of 1986 though it didn't chart on any album charts it would sell 100,000 copies in North America alone. Five out of the Nine songs form a short story and I stated this when I first reviewed it I loved King Diamond's storytelling and that would continue on future albums which most were all concept albums I didn't particularly care for most of the songs except for "Halloween" "Fatal Portrait" and 1995's "Spider's Lullabye" are the only King Diamond albums that were not whole concept albums.

November 6,2023 I reviewed Dokken's most recent album "Heaven Comes Down"

When I reviewed this album I never bothered to rank Dokken's whole discography because on Episode 2 of my album rankings series I ranked the classic Dokken line-up albums from worst to best and I explained that in between 1999's "Erase the Slate" which is the only Dokken disc to feature Winger and Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach,Don Dokken had considered ending the band all together however they soldiered on he even hired a lawyer who also happens to be a guitar player in Jon Levin and he's been with Don ever since. Dokken had released albums such as 2002's Long Way Home,2004's Hell to Pay,2008 Lightning Strikes Again and 2012's Broken Bones but when this album came out "Heaven Comes Down" it features two former members of The House of Lords Bassist Chris McCarvill and Drummer B.J. Zampa

The overall rating I gave this album is an 85/100 because the sound reminded me of the classic Dokken sound which made then famous in the mid 80's with such albums like "Tooth & Nail" and "Under Lock and Key"

On November 13,2023 I reviewed Queensryche's second full length record "Rage for Order" released on June 27,1986

Following the dissatisfaction of "The Warning" album Queensryche took a more progressive approach with a more layered and complex musical structure which employed a twin guitar attack,but also Keyboards were brought into the mix as well. "Rage for Order" explores social,personal,political and technological themes even going so far as to highlight the dangers of artificial intelligence and government intrusion. Prior to the record's release management wanted them to go down the path of looking like glam rock stars and that really didn't fit the bill for them having them wear trenchcoats,get perms and wear heavy make up AGAIN they really didn't fit with that style at all.

None the less Rage for Order went to #85 on the Billboard 200 and went Gold. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10 rating my favorite tracks were "Gonna Get Close to You" "I Dream in Infrared" "Screaming in Digital" and "Walk in the Shadows"

November 20,2023 I reviewed King Diamond's "Abigail" his overall second album and first as a concept record uploaded on youtube.

"Abigail" tells the story of a young married couple named Jonathan LaFey and his wife Miriam as they move into a mansion in which Jon inhereited in the summer of 1845,however seven horsemen showed up and warned them not to enter the mansion otherwise 18 become 9. Foolishly the married couple move into the mansion and alot of weird shit started to happen. One of Jonathan's dead relatives Count de La'Fey shows him the coffin and inside the coffin is the corpse of a girl named Abilgail and then The Count reveals that Miriam is carrying Abigail's spirit. The reason why that Jonathan must end Miriam's life is because when he was alive on the 7th day of July in 1777 The Count's wife The Countess got pregnant and the child wasn't his. So the Count pushed her down the flight of stairs killing her in the process. Next thing you know Miriam is possessed by the demon Abigail and Jonathan is Killed,when the Horsemen arrived baby Abigail is reborn and she ate the corpse of her previous body. This lead to the Horsemen burying her in a hidden chapel in the forest impaled with seven silver spikes by O'Brian of the Seven Horsemen making damn sure she is never ever resurrected again. 

Released on June 15,1987 "Abigail" became King Diamond's solo masterpiece and unquestionable one of heavy metal's greatest concept albums I don't know if I gave the album an overall rating or not but my favorite songs off of there were"The Family Ghost" and "Black Horsemen" 

I now move onto Bon Jovi and the 1986 megahit record "Slippery When Wet" which I reviewed on November 27,2023 on my youtube channel 

Alot of the material was mostly written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora except for four songs "You Give Love a Bad Name" "Livin on a Prayer" "I'd Die for You" and "Without Love" they were co-written by Desmond Child a hitmaker who had already banged out hits as a contributing songwriter for Kiss on such hits like "I Was Made for Loving You" from "Dynasty" and "Heaven's On Fire" from "Animalize" matter of face this was the first collaboration between the band Bon Jovi and Desmond Child following the writing and rehearsal of the songs the recording took place on the first half of 1986 produced by Bruce Fairbairn again another first for the band working with a hit making record producer. "Slippery When Wet" was released in August of 1986 and it automatically became a global mainstream success featuring three top 10 hits two of them went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100  the record was Bon Jovi's first #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 spending 38 weeks in the Top 5 including 8 weeks at #1. 

"Slippery When Wet" is Bon Jovi's only Diamond Selling album in the U.S. and the current number of albums sold is at 12 million units. The overall rating I gave  this one is a 7.5 out of 10 The three hit singles and the power ballad "Never Say Goodbye" were the songs that stood out on this record...

AND FINALLY Episode 10 from my Album Review series was Def Leppard's multi-platinum seller "Hysteria"

Making this album was a living HELL for the five lads from Sheffield. First Mutt Lange contributed to help the band write and arrange songs,but when it came time to produce the album he was burned out and could not do it so they went with Jim Steinman whose claim to fame was writing an entire Meat Loaf album the critically acclaimed "Bat out of Hell" but he was not the best fit to produce the album not by Def Leppard's standards. Then Rick Allen the drummer loses his left arm after a car crash on New Year's Eve of 1984. Allen persevered and soldiered on despite his disability he started to us an electronic/acoustic drum kit with a set of electronic pedals that triggered (via MIDI) the sounds he would play with his left arm. Slowly but surely the band continued to work on "Hysteria" until Mutt Lange returned in the summer of '85 however the material recorded needed more work so that lead to more delays and I didn't know this until I reviewed this episode that producer Mutt Lange was in an auto accident of his own where he suffered injuries to his leg,that he quickly recovered from and that singer Joe Elliott had the mumps in late 1986. See Mutt's Goal once the album was finally finished in early 1987 was "Hysteria" to be a hard rock version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in that every track would be a hit single (7 out of the 12 tracks were hit singles in their own right).

"Hysteria" became a popular album in their home country topping the British Charts the first week of it's release and highly successful across Europe as well,however States side the album struggled to regain the momentum from "Pyromania" until "Pour Sone Sugar on Me" became a hit single and the album steadily climbed up to the top of the Billboard 200 charts The only single off of the album that reached the Top of the Billboard singles charts was "Love Bites" I believe I gave  this record an overall rating a 9.5 out of 10 (or in the video 95 out of 100) based on the seven singles that were released from the album "Women" "Animal" "Rocket" "Pour Some Sugar On Me" "Love Bites" "Hysteria" and "Armageddon It" along with a song that should have been a single but it wasn't "Gods of War" Sadly this would be the last Def Leppard album with founding member Steve Clark as he would pass in January of 1991.