I think that this is definitely contentious given that many of the best bands that formed that year didn't peak until much later. Death's best album, for exampl

I think that this is definitely contentious given that many of the best bands that formed that year didn't peak until much later. Death's best album, for example, is probably either Leprosy or Human, which are both from several years later. Also, Stryper were formed that year, which is an automatic black mark for me (no offence to Stryper fans intended, it's definitely a matter of personal taste...). And why is Bon Jovi in a list of heavy metal? From the list of albums released, I see a lot of cheese and a few classic albums, with some degree of overlap. It's not very impressive to me personally. Electric Wizard and Nile won't even form for another decade, Immolation won't start putting out their most important work until '96, Emperor until '91-ish. Actually, I find 1991 or 1993 way more convincing personally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_heavy_metal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_heavy_metal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_in_heavy_metal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_in_heavy_metal_music I still reject the idea that metal has peaked yet. Are you maybe a NWOBHM/Speed metal fan? I could definitely agree with that style peaking in the early-mid '80s.