best 80's speed metal band

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:10 pm

stormspell wrote:Pure speed metal albums in my opinion not mentioned so far:

REALM - Endless War
AMULANCE - Feel the Pain
LAST DESCENDANTS - One Nation Under God
PARADOX - Product of Imagination
BLESSED DEATH - 1985 & 1987
TOXIK - Think This
HAVE MERCY - EP/Demos
BLOODLUST - Guilty as Sin
VISITöR - S/T
CACOPHONY - Speed Metal Symphony

Please don't take offense, but I'd have to disagree with your interpretation of these albums being pure speed metal.
Maybe only Amulance, Paradox & Cacophony.
But Realm, Blessed Death, Toxik, Visitor, Have Mercy are just thrash, well technothrash etc... whatever... IMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nightlock · Post by **Nightlock** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:13 pm

Yes because I could argue this whole thing out and define speed in a completely factual/structural way as to how I see it, but I really couldn't be bothered. Maybe now you've forced me into doing so haha, Okay give me 24 hours.

Helm nothing nerdy about anything you said, I understood it all with ease, Nice little write up!

Cochino · Post by **Cochino** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:48 pm

What Helm said about speed and tempo was very interesting, but you also have Death/Grind bands like Macabre who in my opinion are really fast.
Well, actually, there's no such a thing as bands like Macabre, they're one of a kind.
(PS: bye bye to my 666 posts and my Number Of The Beast member title).

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:52 pm

What about the early Grave Digger stuff? I haven't heard it in years

omen of hate · Post by **omen of hate** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:01 pm

The belgian WARHEAD released two albums of straight speed-metal, not original at all, but perfect albums for headbanging !

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:05 pm

Macabre are pretty speedy yes. And their Dennis the Menace drummer is good enough to keep his beats pretty clean, which helps.

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:43 pm

Amulance is another good example of what I consider to be a pure Speed Metal band.

Grave Diggers first three albums come close in a lot of cases, but I'd label them in the same vain as Preyer (UK) as a Heavy/Speed Metal band.

As for Realm and Toxik these are both mixed bag bands where they jump between Power/Speed//Thrash simultaneously.

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:41 am

sovdat wrote:Avenger & Nightlock - you're both just saying "that's power" / "that's speed", "just listen / compare to" .... the real question is WHY are Agent Steel power / speed? WHY (in your opinion) are Helstar speed, thrash, heavy or whatever?

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:12 am

Helm wrote:
sovdat wrote:Avenger & Nightlock - you're both just saying "that's power" / "that's speed", "just listen / compare to" .... the real question is WHY are Agent Steel power / speed? WHY (in your opinion) are Helstar speed, thrash, heavy or whatever?

I'm simply giving my opinion; I'm not saying that it's written in stone. I don't have the time nor am willing to put in the effort to go through every single bands release that's mentioned here, song by song and explain why it falls into a specific or multiple sub-genre, especially, with bands from the 80's, where one album could say contain songs stretching through multiple different sub-genres, or one band may start playing one sub-genre and progress with each following album to another.

Just because lets say a Power Metal band has that one or two obligatory Speed Metal songs on each of their albums because it was almost formulistic at the time of it's release does not mean that the band is a Speed Metal band. The same goes for bands that say play in the vein of both sub-genres consistently. You can’t ignore one sub-genre and label them, as the other, they are a split of both.

I will return in a few hours and break down the specific characteristics as to what makes metal fall into each of the sub-genres that seem to get mixed up on a regular basis.

Stormspell · Post by **Stormspell** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:24 am

Helm wrote:...but Realm and Toxik are technothrash!

Technothrash was a tag created by Metal Hammer critics to label TESTAMENT - "Legacy" album. Afterwards it became very popular and during 1987-1988 all sorts of bands got stuck under it.
The same people in 1986 used to call STEELER, RUNNING WILD and KING DIAMOND "black metal" and included all 3 in their infamous "black metal" article (forgot in what issue, April or May 1986 I think) along with Bathory and Celtic Frost. Shall we call STEELER and RUNNING WILD Black metal for that reason alone? I dont think so. For that matter REALM and TOXIK are as much technothrash to me as STEELER or RUNNING WILD are black metal.

I dont dissect an album to bits and tempos in order to define if it is speed or thrash. For me personally it goes down to the overall sound and how I feel a particular album. That's all.

decibelrebel · Post by **decibelrebel** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:34 am

hooley dooley, you guys sure take the fun out of heavy metal don'tcha?

more headbanging, less analysis.

Stormspell · Post by **Stormspell** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:36 am

Nightlock wrote:Yes because I could argue this whole thing out and define speed in a completely factual/structural way as to how I see it, but I really couldn't be bothered. Maybe now you've forced me into doing so haha, Okay give me 24 hours.

Helm nothing nerdy about anything you said, I understood it all with ease, Nice little write up!

You are bothering way too much. It is and always will be a matter of personal opinions, no matter how scientific you can argument yourself. Just let it go and enjoy different opinions, regardless how strange they would be.

I had a great chuckles with bands listed here I'd never in 1000 years imagined to be associated as speed metal.

Nightlock · Post by **Nightlock** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:27 am

Look about 2 - 5 posts before that I tried to let it go but people called me back

.

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:49 am

I enjoy reading peoples' opinions, I don't want to convince anyone of anything. Just some argumentation is more interesting than 'these are speed metal records'. I'm not dogmatic!

stormspell: the story about technothrash is fascinating! I think the genre becomes legitimate when Watchtower (circa 1987 or so) start printing fliers naming their band that. It might have been some sort of brand of shame by Metal Hammer for Testament, but it's brilliant that metal took it and said 'well yeah? *WE'LL* show you technothrash!'. Realm and Toxik are very clearly informed by the tropes of Watchtower and I for one call them technothrash with an informed mind, not because any hack on any magazine decided that's a new name worth spreading around. Just like Running Wild might not be black metal but Mercyful Fate for me surely are, even if today most would call them 'heavy metal' or even worse 'traditional metal'. There's a bit of well-deserved fun in taking back the names that were - no doubt - at first used just to create niches and sell more records and substantiating them, reclaiming them as valid categories.

This is what people are trying to do with speed metal here but it's not working very well, hah!

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 am

I've seen some retardedly long and ridiculous, made up sub-genre's over the years that bands use to describe themselves in attempt to sound unique and separate their band from the inevitable fall into obscurity.

Does that mean that these bands are of this new “sub-genre"?

Defiantly not.

As metal evolved and became a more solidified genre, it also became so varied that sub-genre's were needed.

Today metal has pretty much been pushed as far as it can and this being the case there are now distinguished sub-genres where bands can be correctly placed.

Calling Running Wild "Black Metal" today when we are all fully aware what Black Metal really is now is just being ignorant. It's refusing to accept and adapt to modern day advances.