Debut albums are kinda special I think.

Maybe a bunch of kids who got lucky and a record deal after touring their butts off, others just effing around and found a sound together, a few people who hit some musical magic confluence, or those who've been building up to it their whole lives and poured themselves into making that first record.

There is sometimes a wonderful weird spark in that debut album that is unique, even if they've gone on to make better albums over a long career.

So, any favorite debuts from long running bands? Jump in the fire!

I agree, debut albums tend to catch something special about a band that's pure. It usually captures the energy, direction and sound of a band before pressure and bias from a scene or label kicks in later on in the discography.

Some standouts for me: Maiden, Deicide, Death's Scream Bloody Gore, even Metallica and Megadeth

Jump in the fire indeed! Kill 'em All is the greatest debut of 'em all! Metallica took the best of the NWOBHM and made it their own. Whiplash, Seek & Destroy, Four Horseman, No Remorse, Metal Militia... hit after hit, it had it all, every song kicked ass on this fucker. I've heard it was quite influential too.

By the looks I generally prefer follow ups on bands which hung around, only three of the albums I'll bring up here are my favourites of the band. I guess it makes sense; if you show up with a masterpiece then fail to match it you'll burn out and vanish into obscurity, being a long running band is easier if you've put out many big hits over an extended period of time.

Onward to Golgotha comes to mind as the best debut of any band I know which hung around. It was so good they never really changed away from it in thirty years. A few others in my top few albums ever would be:

Forgotten Tomb's Songs to Leave. They kinda ditched the sound after 3 and a half albums, well not ditched, just watered down and tried to make less oppressive.

Anaal Nathrakh's Codex Necro. Ditched the sound almost immediately. It was a good sell out which has given several great albums, but I miss Codex sometimes.

Mayhem - DMDS. Untouchable masterpiece, went off to do... stuff. But they'll always have DMDS.

Portal - Seepia. Less impenetrable than they became, and has some classics like Glumurophonel. Techy and cool.

Immolation - Dawn of Possession. Here in after was better, their more angular stuff was more of an identity, but it's a beast.

Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten. The most brutal thing in the world for a while, got techier and Mullen lost his depth, still up there near their best.

Solitude Aeternus - Into the Depths of Sorrow. Probably got outdone by it's two successors, but it's amazing. Guess Candlemass should also count, but I like SA a lot more.

I think I'd have to go for Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz. The album is just pure magic - I know some aren't overly keen on the deeper cuts, but I don't think there's a weak track on it. Randy Rhoads absolutely kills it on guitar with some great riffs and incredible solos (I think "Mr. Crowley" has arguably the best solo(s) ever). Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake are a strong rhythm section who hold things together well (I think Bob's work in particular is really good), and Ozzy delivers his vocal melodies as only Ozzy can. The only shame is "You Lookin' At Me Lookin' At You" isn't a regular album track.

Honourable mentions to Metallica, Kreator, Dismember, Children of Bodom, Fear Factory, Type O Negative, Iron Maiden.

+2 for Ozzy and Kreator. I also left out Sodom

I often prefer debuts. Sometimes they're a bit more abrasive and predate the band noodling around for too long in the studio or experimenting with softer material. Other times they're just in a different style that I prefer.

Black Sabbath's debut is the main one for me. That era was great for it in general as I particularly like the debuts from Budgie, Judas Priest and Lucifer's Friend (plus Deep Purple and Scorpions who are in the Archives but started out as thoroughly non-metal).

Other debuts that are probable favourites: Diamond Head, Mercyful Fate, Stratovarius, Demon, Iron Maiden and Morbid Angel (not counting Abominations).

+1 to solo Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Dismember, Suffocation, Morbid Angel and Metallica. So here's my original contribution - Falconer's self-titled album, with the bounciest, catchiest folksy power metal that bumps and grooves with the best of them while busting out powerful riffs, all the while Mathias Blud tells the tale like the world's greatest travelling bard.

Honorable mentions go to:

Crystal Viper's The Curse of Crystal Viper, with all these delicious riffs coalescing into some real sick and powerful trad joints.

Helloween's Walls of Jericho is some banner great fuckin speed metal.

Scanner's Hypertrace is that, but with added power metal and sheer enthusiasm.

Gotsu-Totsu-Kotsu's Mouryou, channeling Scanner's Hypertrace in death metal format.

Suffocation - Effigy Of The Forgotten
Six Feet Under - Haunted
Abnormality - Contaminating The Hive Mind (not necessarily a long standing band compared to some)

Just to name a few...

Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Cannibal Corpse - Eaten Back to Life
Possessed - Seven Churches
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Dissection - The Somberlain

Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus

Samael's Worship Him is one of the darkest albums ever. I still like plenty of the material they released over the years but they never reached such abyssal sound again.

Ulver's Bergtatt is a monumental album, one of the most influential works in black metal for sure.

Queensrÿche's S/T EP and The Warning as debut album feature some of the best vocals in progressive metal ever as well. Amazing records.

Agreed with Metallica's Kill 'Em All. While I like the other albums from them more, the energy/magic of that album is palpable even almost 40 years later.

I will also mention Show No Mercy. It's my favourite Slayer record. So many great deep cuts on that album. (the tag team of Tormentor/Final Command on side 2 is incredible)

I'd have to say bands like Sonata Arctica (maybe the best debut ever), Wolfheart, Emperor, Nightrage etc.

Came here to say this. De mysteriis dom Sathanas, In the Nightside Eclipse and Bergtatt are the three best Norwegian black metal albums and the best album each band recorded. Ultima Thulee is also the best Blut aus Nord alum imho.

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction. It is my number one favorite album and has been since 1987. Not much can be said about it, that hasn't been said. Members of the band at the time were fans of Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Punk music and all of these influences were mixed into a great album. This is one album where you can hear those influences in the playing. There wasn't too much in the way of studio magic done on this album. I did not have the privilege of seeing them on this tour, but I feel like this album is very close to how they would of sounded live at the time. Filled with a lot of energy and attitude.

Great picks! The early norwegian scene never fails to impress Enslaved would be here too for me if Frost came out a few months before...

Scanner and Helloween's debut are some of the most fun records ever and Anaal Nathrakh's debut is still my favorite.

I've been revisiting Opeth lately and i'm really impressed by Orchid, it's a really unconventional album full of great playing, and also it gets quite dark in some songs

Probably Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise. From what I understand not many people like this album (including the band themselves), but I find it pretty enjoyable.

To be completely honest I'm not that much into early Enslaved. Below the Lights and Isa are their best albums in my opinion.

I like the earlier records, but for some reason Frost resonates with me way more than the others: it's really savage, but i can spot a lot of the sophistication of the later albums, in particular in the guitar riffs. Other than that their 2003 -2010 album run to me is one of the best things that happened to metal

Another band whose debut is total killer is Aborym. I think i haven't enjoyed an album of theirs as much as the first: Most of the songs on it are very different from one another, but at the same time the album feels cohesive, tight and quite technical. I'll put it as one of the high points of italian BM

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness - Just this crazy occult maelstrom of frenetic energy and dark intentions - utterly inimitable.

Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica - Not much else like this due to Tony Kakko's feel for melodies as well as the pure jubilant speed of the guitars and keys and drums. It's a real peppy, caffeine shot of an album, and they began to change almost right after.

Iron Maiden's and Black Sabbath's are up there too, great expansive innovation and kick ass youthful vigor.

So many to pick from

Metallica - KEA
Candlemass - Epicus
Morbid Angel - Alters
Danzig - Danzig
Dio - Holy Diver
Exodus - Bonded by Blood
The Haunted - The Haunted
Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love

Yeah, I'll echo Sonata Arctica's "Ecliptica". One of my favourite PM albums, and absolutely my favourite SA album.

Two albums instantly come to mind:

IRON MAIDEN-S/T I am probably one of five people in a world who prefers Di'Anno's material over Bruce's. "Killers" is a close second. They just resonates with me much better. Punkier, rougher around the edges, grittier and both albums just rock without even trying too hard.

SLAYER-SHOW NO MERCY My fave Thrash album by miles. I just admire their unbridled enthusiasm on this one. I don't carry a clicker with me like a bouncer in a night club, but I'd bet my life that its a most played album ever in my 35+ years of Metal journey, haha

Yeah all those doom debuts are great; Paradise Lost's, My Dying Bride's As The Flower Withers, Katatonia, Anathema, Novembers Doom, Celestial Season etc.

Enthroned - Prophecies of Pagan Fire
If you look at reviews, people seem to favor albums like Carnage in Worlds Beyond (highest % and number of reviews here), but their very 1st album is my favorite by a large margin. Headbanging while screaming "At the sound of the millennium black bells" is one my fondest teenage memories.

Moonspell's "Wolfheart": a flawless mix of Black, Doom, Gothic and Folk Metal, and Satyricon's "Dark Medieval Times" - very cold and atmospheric.

Yup, especially the 90s Doom/Death & Gothic/Doom scene. Beyond the ones you already mentioned, I'm thinking in particular of Theatre of Tragedy, Draconian, The Sins of Thy Beloved, Swallow the Sun, Saturnus and October Tide, though there's a fair few more that were also great.

Napalm Death "Scum". I picked this one because of how influential it was for me when it came to becoming a musician.

Sear Bliss deserves a mention here. Phantoms features some of the most epic and irresistable melodies I've ever heard in black metal.

Oh and another one I failed to mention was Crematory - Transmigration. Old school death metal with tasteful (IMO) keyboards. Vastly different to what they play these days.

I would agree with Motley Crues Too Fast For Love. For 1981, there were only a few bands doing the fast double bass on the drums. Motorhead and Venom are the ones I knew of at the time. Downtuned guitars and and fast double bass, that was a really ferocious album for the time. A lot of people would probably disagree, but you have to put it into perspective. It came out in 1981. Really strong first album for a band. Who knew just a few years later, they would dress up in makeup, lace and put out and album of ballads.

Entombed - Left Hand Path
Dismember - Like an Everflowing Stream
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Gorguts- Considered Dead
Kataklysm - Sorcery
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
At The Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours
Atheist - Piece of Time (do they count? 4 albums over like 20 years but they’re still kinda going?)
Benediction - The Grand Leveller
Darkthrone - Soulside Journey
Gotta agree with Gorgoroth too on Pentagram still being their magnum opus.
Unleashed - Where No Life Dwells
Grave - Into the Grave

I’m sure there’s more, probably a few hot takes in there but considering it’s personal favourites and not a more objective look this is what I’m going with.

Blind Guardian - Follow the Blind
Excellent speed/power metal, of course. I feel like it doesn't get as much love as it deserves.

Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Absolutely agree with the folks that have mentioned this one. Just so full of energy and fantastic melodies.

Moonspell - Wolfheart
Nice mix of symphonic black metal and gothic doom. "Irreligious" is my favorite album by these guys, but this is a close second.

Tristania - Widow's Weeds
Another excellent piece of gothic doom metal. "My Lost Lenore" is a stone cold classic and I always get that piano melody stuck in my head.

Obituary - Slowly We Rot
Obviously a death metal classic. Has the same appeal as old cheesy 80s horror movies - morbid fun.

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Sinister atmosphere, great riffing - what's not to love about this one, honestly?

Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
I like quite a bit of symphonic black metal, and it obviously wouldn't exist without this.

Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
I tend to view "Dusk and Her Embrace" as their magnum opus, but I love the more primitive sound of this one as well. They were definitely doing something different with this one, compared to the other extreme metal acts that were around at the time.

I agree that FtB is a masterpiece and one of it not the best speed metal albums ever... but it's also not their debut.

lol, I meant BoF but I was kinda going fast.
Oops.

Anyway, both are great.

Is Altars really a viable answer here? Even though it's their first official release, it wasn't the first album they recorded?

I forgot to include it in my initial answer earlier in the thread, but I was gonna say Abominations of Desolation, which was recorded in 1986 despite being released in 1991 - this album is probably way more suited to the theme of the thread due to it sounding completely unhinged compared to Altars, and not overly polished. It sounds a bit more leaning towards the death/black side of things before the Dave Vincent influence came in, and of course the influence of 700 other death metal bands that existed around 89-90.

Not to mention Mike Browning's vocals sound like pure evil.

It's the first full length they officially put out so I think it counts. The stuff with Abominations is just some of the weird discography ordering you get with underground bands and all that noise. I consider Altars a debut.

I'm not following what you mean here

Most of the ones that immediately came to kind have already mostly been mentioned, but whatever.

Mayhem - DMDS
Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse
Ulver - Bergtatt
Suffocation - Effigy Of The Forgotten
Swallow The Sun - The Morning Never Came
Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls
Alcest - Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde (this one is cutting it close in terms of “long standing”)
Cryptopsy - Blasphemy Made Flesh
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Leviathan - At The Tenth Sublevel Of Suicide
Napalm Death - Scum (specifically love the B-side with Lee Dorrian)
Boris - Absolutego
Anaal Nathrakh - Codex Necro
At The Gates - The Red In The Sky Is Ours
Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard
Cynic - Focus

Some of the ones mentioned are my favorite by their respective bands (Mayhem, Suffocation, Cynic, Godflesh, Pig Destroyer), and while some of them may have gone on to make albums I enjoy even more, all of these debuts are killer. You always hear this trope of a band’s first album often being their best (“they have their whole life to make that first album”), but I was surprised to find when making this list that most of my favorite long-running bands released debuts that I find to be kind of underwhelming. It seems most of my favorites really find their groove with their 2nd or 3rd album or so.