Autothrall's Best Metal Albums of 1981

The Top 20 Metal Albums of 1981

01. Venom (UK) - Welcome to Hell
02. Iron Maiden (UK) - Killers
03. Accept (Germany) - Breaker
04. Def Leppard (UK) - High 'n' Dry
05. Riot (USA) - Fire Down Under
06. Ozzy Osbourne (UK) - Diary of a Madman
07. Demon (UK) - Night of the Demon
08. Black Sabbath (UK) - Mob Rules
09. Tygers of Pan Tang (UK) - Spellbound
10. Raven (UK) - Rock Until You Drop
11. Loudness (Japan) - The Birthday Eve
12. Saxon (UK) - Denim and Leather
13. Killer (Belgium) - Wall of Sound
14. Cirith Ungol (USA) - Frost & Fire
15. Saracen (UK) - Heroes, Saints & Fools
16. Girlschool (UK) - Hit and Run
17. Holocaust (UK) - The Nightcomers
18. Samson (UK) - Shock Tactics
19. Budgie (UK) - Nightflight
20. The Rods (USA) - The Rods

Let's all take a few moments to recite "God Save the Queen", because 1981 is all about the red coats. Yes. Again. 65% of the choices hail from the same damned islands, which is not much of a surprise since that is where the whole shebang got started, but here you were starting to see parallel developments in sound. Bands like Venom and Raven were taking things to a faster paced, dirty speed while other bands were seeking a more mainstream, refined sound like Def Leppard and Tygers of Pan Tang. At the time, I had not yet heard Welcome to Hell, so it wasn't until my teens that I became such a huge fan of their filthy Satanic follies, but in retrospect it's really the only choice for the top here and the one album on the list I consider perfect as is. Truth be told, the list might seem a little weak compared to later years, but only because there was such a limited field to play in.

UPDATED FOR 2020