Classic Rock Magazine

Manowar's debut album Battle Hymns laid out the band's future path in an early, loinclothed manifesto: Death to false metal!

Credited to Joe Walsh, Barnstorm's second album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get was their last before Walsh jumped ship fly solo

A debut album to savour from Ronnie James Dio, and part of the singer's Triple Crown Of Metal

Malice In Wonderland was perhaps Nazareth's most commercial album, but it was also a commercial disaster

Turning 35 this month, Appetite For Destruction is generally accepted as one of the greatest debut albums ever. Does it still hold up to such high praise?

Ditching the studio polish of Mutt Lange, AC/DC went back to basics on Flick Of The Switch and recorded what's often seen as their weakest album. But was it?

Recorded in The US, France and Germany, Scorpions' second live album World Wide Live showcased the band at their pyramid-building, fearsomely well-drilled peak

Steely Dan's Can't Buy A Thrill was the debut album from two of music's great smart-asses, or as one reviewer puts it, "Yacht rock captained by two cranky eggheads"

Fusing Afro-Latin rhythms and West Coast rock more more successfully than previously, Santana's Abraxas was also the soundtrack to at least two European back-packing adventures

Two new members – including a future member of Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake – and an album rush-recorded to keep the record company happy: Crazy Nights by Tygers Of Pan Tang

Blackbird was the album that fully heralded the arrival of the Alter Bridge sound, the shackles of Creed shaken free for once and for all

Released in autumn 1975, Face The Music was a US hit but missed the British chart before an Evil Woman came to the rescue

The first live album to top the UK charts in its week of release, Dr. Feelgood's Stupidity showcased the band at their fiery, menacing best

Jeff Buckley's Grace: the ultimate example of an album that's passed into legend as much for what might have been as for what is was?

Made during Thin Lizzy downtime, Phil Lynott's Solo In Soho album was less of a busman's holiday than a true break from the dayjob

Ronnie James Dio's swansong with Rainbow contained hints of what was to come, but still delivered swords 'n' sorcery aplenty