Happy 1989

It is 1989 in the Year-a-Month project, but really this month is all over the place. Black Sabbath released Headless Cross this year, but I'm having some trouble getting it; maybe I'll include it next month. It was a light year otherwise, with Accept and Overkill being the only bands on my list releasing any metal albums in 1989. So I used the light month as an opportunity to catch up with the early Motorhead albums I missed.

Also worth mentioning is that Nine Inch Nails released their debut Pretty Hate Machine. You won't ever see NIN on this list, because I already own every studio album that Trent Reznor ever recorded under this band name. My college roommate picked up a copy of Pretty Hate Machine over the summer of 1990 and left it with me while he spent a term in Scotland. I think I nearly wore that CD out that fall, and when we went our separate ways after graduation a couple of years later, I picked up my own copy. Even now, 23 years later, it remains one my favorite albums.

Accept: Eat the Heat - Accept's sound continues to evolve. I can't believe this is the same band I thought sounded like AC/DC just a few months ago. After reviewing Wikipedia, I see why this one sounds so much different: it's the only Accept album on which Udo Dirkschneider wasn't the lead singer.

Overkill: Years of Decay - Overkill is starting to sound like a real band. The raw semi-produced sound of the last couple of albums is gone, and the riffs are all tight and precise. I was surprised to realize that the rhythm guitar sounds quite a bit like Anthrax, but that's where the similarity ends.

Motorhead: Bomber (1979) - This album has the original version of Stone Dead Forever, which is a song that I've been listening to Metallica cover on their album Garage, Inc. for many years. It was one of Motorhead's bigger songs from this album, but I didn't even know its origins until now.

Motorhead: Ace of Spades (1980) - Like most Motorhead albums, Ace of Spades sounds just like all the others. I was listening to Bomber while I did some other things, and then looked to see when Ace was due to play... I was on the last song.

Motorhead: Iron Fist (1982) - Wikipedia talks about a video made with the band in leather armor with swords. Lemmy described the experience as "prancing about in the woods" with armor on. Try as I might, I cannot picture this scene.