By 1985, heavy metal was no longer moving in one direction. Arena bands were becoming bigger, but the underground was growing faster, darker and more extreme. Thrash metal produced several of its foundational albums, doom regained the crushing weight of early Black Sabbath, and records by Celtic Frost and Possessed pointed toward black and death metal. At the same time, Dio, Accept and Dokken showed that traditional and melodic metal still had enormous strength.

Exodus finally released Bonded by Blood after delays kept it from appearing in 1984. The wait did nothing to weaken its impact. Gary Holt’s violent riffs, Paul Baloff’s unhinged vocals and songs such as “A Lesson in Violence,” “Strike of the Beast” and the title track captured the dangerous energy of the Bay Area scene. Anthrax found its classic voice on Spreading the Disease, the first full album with Joey Belladonna and Frank Bello. “A.I.R.,” “Madhouse,” “Medusa” and “Gung-Ho” blended East Coast aggression with melody and personality.

Slayer descended further into darkness with Hell Awaits. Its longer arrangements and sinister atmosphere made “At Dawn They Sleep” and the title track important steps toward the band’s next breakthrough. Dave Mustaine introduced Megadeth through the raw, technically ambitious Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good! Together, these records proved that thrash was becoming a major movement rather than a brief underground reaction.

The edges of metal became more extreme. Possessed’s Seven Churches fused thrash speed with guttural vocals and openly demonic imagery, helping establish the language of death metal. Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion was stranger and more experimental, moving from primitive attack to orchestration and oppressive atmosphere. Helloween’s Walls of Jericho, Kreator’s Endless Pain and Destruction’s Infernal Overkill showed that European speed and thrash metal had developed identities of their own.

Trouble resisted the race for speed. The Skull built massive riffs around Eric Wagner’s haunted singing and deeply personal writing, becoming an essential American doom album. Accept polished its Teutonic attack on Metal Heart, Dio maintained his arena-metal power with Sacred Heart, and Dokken’s Under Lock and Key balanced George Lynch’s guitar brilliance with memorable hooks. Canada also delivered Exciter’s Long Live the Loud and two Razor attacks, Executioner’s Song and Evil Invaders.

Although this ranking now concentrates on studio albums, Iron Maiden’s Live After Death cannot be ignored. Released in October and recorded mainly during four Long Beach Arena performances on the World Slavery Tour, it captured Maiden at a towering live peak and became one of metal’s defining concert albums. In one year, metal documented its arena power while the underground created several of the genre’s next great branches.