10 Perfect Metal Albums With No Bad Songs

Once metal started to really get its sea legs in the late '70s, the world was in for another heavy update of the British Invasion. In the wake of the punk movement happening around the same time, the British metal scene was about to pump out some of the most aggressive bands that the world had ever seen, with acts like Raven and Diamond Head kickstarting the movement that would give birth to offshoots like thrash. Change was definitely in the air, and Iron Maiden was the one band leading the charge on Number of the Beast.

After ditching their first singer Paul Di'Anno for Bruce Dickinson, everything was locked in for the band's third record, resulting in some of the most high energy metal songs that the '80s would ever see, from the galloping rhythms of Steve Harris's basslines to Bruce's siren like voice. If you go back and listen to songs like Run to the Hills or the title track, it's practically combining metal with opera half the time, bringing an added layer of melodrama as they talk about everything from satanic cults in the woods to the real demons that men find within themselves.

For all of the darkness that surrounds metal, it's also strange to hear songs like these in major keys, with most of the originators of the genre favoring either the blues or minor keys to give them that dark sound. Maiden were metal through and through, and this is where the genre tossed all of the blues aside and found its own identity.