X Japαn - Jεαlousy (1991)

Speed metal mixed with pompous classical arrangements, loaded with ballads, blistering guitar work and a strange mix of pop yet punk sensibility? Sounds like another great day in the world of early Visual Kei to me!

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Iroи Sαvior - Battεring Rαm (2004)

Being a great thrashy-speed metal band is a bloody, vicious business: you need power, the riffs, the acceleration of a creative mind and hand, and a knack for performance that goes beyond what is expected.

Iron Savior are one of those bands ladies and gents, and this is one of their best records in an entire discography of unbridled balls-to-the-wall excellence.

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Nitro - O.F.R. (1989)

An album so ridiculously full of itself that you almost want to be it, Nitro's debut 1989 extravaganza O.F.R., an apt acronym for Out. Fucking. Rageous,, is probably the best party metal album of the 80's despite it's perchance for vocals so high and over-the-top nuts that even somebody like King Diamond might as well be Tom Waits.

This record is hair metal that's been fired up to the fucking max, nuff said, from the guitars to the percussion to the songs themselves. The drums chatter toward Mach 5 at the best of moments and keep time like a sundial even at its rare sedated segueing, shining especially on the speed metal pieces like the title track and 'Bring It Down'. And in all honestly, I can't think of any other hair metal album that even comes close to touching the intensity of most of this record's material. For this, I blame the incredulously talented Jim Gillette - his pipes are beyond peer and dimension when it comes to cheese & crackers.

Listen and judge for yourselves though. Persoanlly, I think fans of that good ol' 80's heavy metal (NWOBHM, etc.) and over the top insanity will think they've hit the motherload tonight!

Listen Here - "Bring It Down"

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