I haven’t heard any of the honorable mentions, but Willie’s Top 10 Metal albums are pretty sweet. That’s him behind the guitar there, and wearing a Death shirt (if you can’t tell).

If I could describe this album in only a few words, I would call it Black Sabbath on steroids. Many of the riffs here do bring to mind Vol. 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but there is more: more energy, more volume, more head crushing. If Hello Master was the band just after inventing the tank, then Prior to the Fire is that same band dropping an atomic bomb on our minds.