(ThyBlackMan.com) We’ve talked about heavy metal and hard rock quite a bit here. Black bands, artists, and so on. For those still curious about heavy metal but also interested, here’s a starter kit for you to dive into. The seven albums on the list are favorites but also both accessible and really strong albums. Hopefully, you find an album or several you enjoy and you delve deeper—there will be deeper dives in the future. Let’s get into The Metal Starter Kit!
Judas Priest – Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
When it came to picking an accessible but awesome album for the list, there were several to choose from. That’s mainly because Judas Priest has nineteen albums across 50 years of being around.
In those five decades, the band’s sound remained mostly the same with a few transitions. Screaming for Vengeance came along over a decade after heavy metal’s birth in 1970. Looking at Judas Priest’s catalogue, this is one of the best albums and pretty accessible.
This is a Priest that had long left the earlier blues rock/hard rock origins of Rocka Rolla. What you get here is a collection naturally heavy songs—such as “Electric Eye” which predates a time when government surveillance/CCTVs are commonplace—along with a few songs that are heavy because of the band’s guitar attack and Rob Halford’s vocals.
Screaming for Vengeance is one of a few Judas Priest A+ or better albums and one of the best examples of harder-edged 80s heavy metal.
Standout Tracks: Electric Eye (highly recommended), (Take These) Chains, Screaming for Vengeance (highly recommended), You’ve Got Another Thing Comin, Fever
Riot – Fire Down Under (1981)
This New York City band tends to go under the radar outside of metal circles but have dropped some very accessible albums early on. Their third release, Fire Down Under is the first bridge in the band’s discography.
The first two albums Rock City and Narita were dominated by the hard rock of the mid-late 70s and made it easy for the band to be overlooked everywhere besides Japan. However, on those two albums there were embers of the speed metal direction Riot would take when Tony Moore joined as lead vocalist in 1986, following a two-year hiatus.
Fire Down Under is headed up by the amazing duo of singer Guy Speranza and up until his death in 2012, guitarist Mark Reale, the band’s most consistent member. By the time of this release, Riot was deep in heavy metal territory with a speed metal tunes “Swords and Tequila” and the title track.
It’s a heavy but smooth listen that gives you a taste of America’s metal contribution from this period.
Standout Tracks: Swords and Tequila (highly recommended), Fire Down Under (highly recommended), Outlaw, Run for Your Life
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell (1980)
Oh, how I love Heaven and Hell. I put two Black Sabbath albums on this list so that you can experience the difference in direction the band took over a decade with different singers.
The late Ronnie James Dio joined Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne left to begin his solo career and personally, I’ve always preferred Dio’s powerful, mood-setting vocals over Ozzy’s mood-setting vocals.
During the early Ozzy years, Black Sabbath was the band that birthed heavy metal proper. The early 70s albums—one of which made the list—were dark, drug-laced, bassy, sometimes bleak, and mainly ploddingly slow.
Heaven and Hell and the follow up Mob Rules weren’t exactly uplifting albums but the tempo was kicked up several notches without being extremely fast. If I were to use albums on this list as an example of the tempo, I’d go with Screaming for Vengeance and upcoming recommendations Holy Diver and Fire Down Under.
Standout Tracks: Neon Knights, Heaven and Hell (highly recommended), Wishing Well (highly recommended), Die Young
Dio – Holy Diver (1983)
Formed after Dio left Black Sabbath, his band played music in the same vein as Heaven and Helland Mob Rules—only more positive and uplifting for the most part. An eternal fan of fantasy, Ronnie James Dio’s songwriting focuses on that, life, and makes heavy use of metaphors like in the song “Rainbow in the Dark.”
This debut album hit it out the park off the bat. Throughout, it’s straight-forward heavy metal. It doesn’t flirt with doom metal or speed metal but there are still a lot of bangers on here. Holy Diver is a ridiculously strong album.
Standout Tracks: Holy Diver (high recommended), Don’t Talk to Strangers, Straight Through the Heart, Rainbow in the Dark (highly recommended), Shame on the Night
Iron Maiden – Powerslave (1984)
Maiden is known for ridiculously strong guitarwork, dynamic songwriting, and the soaring vocals of Bruce Dickenson—the Air Raid Siren. Also, Iron Maiden released an album every year between 1980 and 1984. When Bruce Dickenson joined Iron Maiden in 1981, the band’s sound had a whole new sound.
This was down to the vocals as the band was constantly shaping up into a tight unit. Iron Maiden’s string and percussion assault were always overpowered. Founder and bassist Steve Harris was big on several hard rock and progressive rock acts with Thin Lizzy and its dueling lead guitar approach being a major influence on the band’s sound.
Previous singer Paul Di’Anno’s punk rock approach to singing and stagecraft between 1978 and 1981 gave Iron Maiden a different sound and attitude. It was definitely metal but this was some particularly up-tempo metal without being speed metal. Powerslave is pretty much in line with The Number of the Beast (1982) and Piece of Mind (1983), only the band was still sharpening its steel on this release.
Lyrically, Powerslave gives you a bit of military history, the 80s concerns about nuclear war, with a blurred side of mythology and religion.
Standout Tracks: Aces High (highly recommended), 2 Minutes to Midnight (highly recommended), Powerslave, Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)
“Two Black Sabbath albums? You must be a fan.” Ehh…it depends on the period. I love when Dio was the singer and I appreciate Ozzy as singer. Paranoid is one of two albums the band released in 1970 with the first being Black Sabbath. As mentioned in the Heaven and Hell entry, Paranoid was added to offer the other side of Sabbath.
Whereas Heaven and Hell was pretty much straight-forward heavy metal, Paranoid (and Black Sabbath) leaned heavily into doom metal—making the self-titled debut both the first heavy metal and doom metal album. It’s pretty slow and plodding but doom metal would get much slower as the years pass. This album has one of the band’s best-known songs in “Iron Man.”
I say check out this and Black Sabbath close to when you check out Heaven and Hell to see the change in direction and differences between Dio and Ozzy as singers.
Standout Tracks: War Pigs, Paranoid (highly recommended), Iron Man, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom
Motorhead – Ace of Spades (1980)
There have been many speed metal songs on what were mostly heavy metal albums. Motorhead is a band that didn’t mess around and mashed punk with that 70s hard rock.
The path to creating Motorhead is a winding one. Tenured member, founder, vocalist, and bass player Lemmy had been involved in rock since 1960, starting out in British blues rock, R&B, and beat bands.
He then worked as a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the late 1960s before joining space rock band Hawkwind in 1971 as a bass player. Booted from the band in 1975 due to erroneous drug charges. During his time with Hawkwind, he was responsible for singing its best charting song “Silver Machine.”
Motorhead’s name was taken from the final song he wrote for Hawkwind—but it was close to being called “Bastard.” As for Ace of Spades, it’s Motorhead most commercial album while it’s not their best. It’s a very good album nonetheless. If you want something fast and hard rockin’, you can’t go wrong with Ace of Spades. Plus, the title track is probably Motorhead’s most heard song outside of WWE wrestler and executive Triple H’s theme song.
Standout Tracks: Ace of Spades, Love Me Like a Reptile, (We Are) the Road Crew (recommended), The Hammer (highly recommended)
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.