Number Two

By 1985, the LA Metal Scene was big and a lot of bands were getting signed, but up the road the scene in San Francisco things were heating up as well. Eventually the bay area scene would produce a lot of speed metal bands who would achieve varying levels of success. One of those bands released their debut in 1985 and it just happens to be number two on my top ten list of the best hard rock/metal awards of 1985. That album is.......

Exodus- Bonded by blood

As I previously stated, this was my favorite album of 1985 for a long time. My opinion of this album has not changed, but the other album has gotten better. Anyway, these guys roared onto the scene with their debut. I think this album showed that speed metal was progressing fast. Exodus succeeded in merging coherent speed riffs with a tremendous heaviness and they were doing it better than almost anyone else around in 1985. They toured with Slayer and Venom on Combat's Ultimate Revenge tour that year. I am sure they made Slayer take notice and Venom had to realize the bands they had influenced had begun to pass them up. I think this album was hugely influential on the speed metal scene and it's the best thing Exodus ever did although their 1989 album Fabulous Disaster may come close. No disrespect to the late Paul Baloff, but I think the vocals department is one of the top reasons as to why I ultimately had to give this album the number two spot instead of number one.

I almost can't believe it, but I am down to the final spot. Over the last few months, I have listened to a lot of albums from 1985 to determine my top ten and eventually it became very evident what album deserved number one. So who could it be? Could it be Motley Crue with their hugely popular Theater of Pain? Or maybe the Brian Johnson era of AC/DC finally got it together and Fly on the wall will get it. Or maybe it's that Irish hard rock band Mama's Boys and their album Power and passion. Uh, well, I can safely say that it's not any of those albums. The hint is that two members of this band were involved in a side project that same year.
Number one is coming on Saturday.