#Genre: NWOBHM Heavy Metal

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Follow the piper follow the drum Follow the footsteps our comrades begun Till the battle's won, the battle's won Follow the Sabre, follow the gun For King and for Country We stand here as one Till the battle's done, the battle's done

We are brothers in arms We fight for the cause Together we stand, divided we fall On the killing ground, killing ground

Saxon - Killing Ground

[metalsongoftheday]

Monday, September 23: Oz, "Total Metal"

The last 30 seconds or so of “Total Metal” largely consisted of Oz chundering steadily while hollering the title over and over again in unison.  That might’ve seemed ridiculous or stupid on its own, but coming at the end of III Warning and when placed alongside its goofball album cover, the beer-soaked chanting made perfect sense: after Fire in the Brain established the Finnish crew as a fun northern European response to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Oz had every incentive to keep the party going, so the tune ripped and chugged along with more than enough good cheer to make up for the lack of brains.  In some ways “Total Metal” reflected the ongoing evolution of heavy metal as a sound in real time, alongside planting seeds for the development of the genre throughout continental Europe- yes, metal was quickly moving past the NWOBHM ethos by 1983, but so much of what would soon take over the world was a logical extension of the energy and enthusiasm of tracks like this.

[teal-skull]

The last metal/rock poll I saw got me thinking

* If it's a subgenre within a subgenre choose the subgenre it originated from, for examble melodeath -> death metal

If it's a fusion genre choose your fave I guess.

I lied, some major genres had to be left out due to limited options, sorry about that.

Also I'm very much aware that many people listen to a mixture of genres so they might not have one major genre they listen to, I myself listen to a mixture of metal subgenres, so feel free to tell in the tags what your personal metal mix includes.

[sendmyresignation]

btw melodic death metal recs please please please (you dont have to, or if you dont have any in mind thats ok! i just read the phrase 'melodic death metal' and nearly blacked out from excitement)

omg no its okay i'd love to give some recs!

first i'll give a little background. so melodic death metal (henceforth referred to as melodeath) is basically a stylistic offshoot of death metal that incorporates aspects of traditional heavy metal/nwobhm (esp Maiden, see Arch Enemy's Aces High cover) for more harmonized guitar riffs, melody, and higher/more discernable growls. Generally, then its pretty accessible, I know a lot of people who got into metal thru melodeath. It was not created by Carcass but their album heartwork was the first real major melodeath release. from their the sound was popularized in Sweden (its why you'll sometimes hear it referred to as the "Gothenburg sound"). Melodeath was also really important in the development of most of the mid-2000s genres that orbit My Chem, the Taste of Chaos and "screamo" sides particularly- i think most people into that era will enjoy melodeath.

So, here's a good beginners list of melodeath albums: - Carcass Heartwork (1993) Carcass started out as a pretty gross pioneer of grindcore/goregrind but switched gears after two albums. really interesting band that managed to be at the forefront of two very different death metal sub-genres. - At the Gate's Slaughter of Soul (1995), which I mentioned in the primer + were an incredibly important influence on modern melodic metalcore (killswitch engage, poison the well, as i lay dying) - Dark Tranquility The Gallery (1995) this miiiight be my favorite album here, its probably the most emotionally compelling melodeath release (lethe is so beautiful...) and i would easily rec this to a my chem fan - In Flames The Jester Race (1996) i don't listen to in flames lmao but they're one of the big three so. here they are - The Edge of Sanity Crimson (1996) probably the most experimental/lesser-known here but easily one of the genres highlights if you find you really like the style - Archy Enemy Wages of Sin (2001) another band mentioned in the primer but deserved a shout-out as one of my favs - The Black Dahlia Murder Nocturnal (2007) TBDM is easily the best of the mid-2000s melodeathy core bands - Amorphis Halo (2022) older band but i did want to include at least one good recent release

anyway, hopefully this is a good place for you to start and that melodeath lives up to your excitement !!

[housewarningparty]

hi! what would u say are starter metal bands/albums/songs for people who have never listened to metal? i'm interested in exploring new genres but i know NOTHING about metal and you seem to know quite a lot!

See I love trying to answer this question but it's honestly a little tricky! The thing that makes metal so great imo is the fact that there's a billion subgenres. But that's also what makes it hard to find the right recommendation for someone off the top of your head! I might send you a metalcore song that does nothing for you, but if I had gone with like. Stoner metal or something you'd have found your niche.

That said I recently made a playlist for a friend asking me the same question. I tried to throw in an array of different styles. Check it out if you have Spotify! Feel free to skip when a song isn't working - there might be something you like more further on

Aside from that, click below for a couple of recommendations for stuff I find to be more accessible/appealing to a broad audience

Sleep Token - here's an alt metal band that's really blowing up right now! They're about to release their third LP. I'd suggest checking out a few of the singles they've already put out for it. This band has been great for attracting new folks to metal: they play with a lot of different genres and while they certainly have heavy moments, I feel like their pop-friendly approach makes them a good band to on board people to the genre.

Invent Animate - this is a metalcore band that also just put out an early contender for Album of the Year imo. There's a mix of harsh and clean vocals, a very atmospheric sound throughout, and a good mix of technically impressive instrumentation and strong hooks. If you like this sound I'd suggest checking out other bands like Spiritbox and Bad Omens.

Lacuna Coil - hey, do you like Evanescence? Do you like beautiful women with incredible singing voices? This band might be for you. I'd recommend their 2002 record Comalies to start, or you can check out their most recent album as well. If you like this sound, you might be interested in checking out bands like Epica or Ad Infinitum next!

Iron Maiden/Judas Priest - interested in a more classic sound? Maiden and Priest were two titans of an era called NWOBHM (the New Wave of British Heavy Metal) - characterized by fast, aggressive music and clean vocals that tend to be on the higher end. I'd highly recommend Number of the Beast for Maiden or Screaming for Vengeance if you want to get into Priest. If you're looking for contemporary bands playing with a similar sound, I'd suggest Sumerlands or Sonja, who both had excellent records last year.

Nu Metal/Alt Metal - sometimes it can be tricky to talk about these genres because people get very passionate and nitpicky about the terms. But generally speaking if you like the sounds that dominated the metal/hard rock charts around the turn of the century you might like the following bands: Kittie, Slipknot, Tallah, Nova Twins

Post-hardcore/metalcore - more into that MCR-ish emo sound? Try Static Dress or If I Die First! Not super heavy, but still with an edge. These are young bands who are again playing in a very 00s space.

Deftones - here's a band that I find pretty accessible! There's definitely a heaviness, but there's also a strong shoegaze influence that creates an opportunity for some really beautiful songs. This band has been active since the 90s, huge catalog of great albums. Start with White Pony. There are a lot of bands right now who are very influenced by Deftones - if you like this band check out Loathe or Moodring next

Stoner/Doom - we're talking about big fuzzy riffs here! Slow/mid-tempo songs usually with a longer song length than more punk-influenced subgenres. Try bands like Windhand, Faetooth, Red Fang, or King Woman

No Harsh Vocals Please - okay, like heavy sounds but don't like the screaming? Check out these bands: Katatonia, Evergrey, Unleash the Archers

There's so much more I could get into but I need to stop eventually. I hope you find something you like somewhere in these recommendations! If you do, feel free to come back to me with what worked for you and I can offer more suggestions along that line.

Happy listening 🤘

[boypussydilf]

i wanted to do a lightning round of assigning metal bands to keroro platoon members but it's too long for a comment so i'm making it a really long ask instead

keroro: this is the one you said doesn't like metal right? either way you're right this dude listens to weird al the heaviest song he's ever liked is his Angry White Boy Polka

dororo: i already did this one i gave him gothic symphonic stuff. and i wanna addendum power metal as well. i cant name any bands off the top of my head but you know the type where a guy dressed like a viking sings about slaying dragons and shit

tamama: easily the frog i know the least about but i skimmed his wiki page and decided he really likes scandinavian black metal. i'm also gonna project Strapping Young Lad onto this guy it's not black metal but i think he'd enjoy the album Alien

giroro: i think he likes the older metal genres. heavy metal and NWOBHM, generally more hard rock stuff than what you'd first think of as metal. AC/DC and Judas Priest vibes

kururu: torn between making him one of those thrash purists who picks sides with one of the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer & Anthrax) and calls people fake fans for liking other subgenres, or assigning him Babymetal/kawaii metal for the lolz. why not both? both is good

hopefully tumblr doesn't eat this for being a small essay. enjoy

SCREAMING. LOSING MY ENTIRE MIND,. I DONT KNOW HOW TO REACT TO THIS (IN THE GOOD WAY) (STUNNED SPEECHLESS IN AWE) youre so fucking right. not that i know what most of this means or easily could but like *shaking your hands* youre right and i know it. Crying . i need to spend 500 years thinking about keroro who listens to weird al. in a better timeline theres a sgt frog weird al guest episode. Yeah kururu would defend kawaii metal to the death (however much you can defend something to the death without standing up or raising your voice) and everyone else assumes its like ironic or something but he really means it. I did enjoy

[influencermagazineuk]

Original Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di'Anno Dies at 66

Long-time heavy metal band Iron Maiden has just lost its original voice: Paul Di'Anno died at age 66. He was known for his raw, gutsy vocal delivery so defining the sound of Iron Maiden during its heydays. Born Paul Andrews in 1958 in Chingford, East London, Di'Anno gained notoriety in the heavy metal world with his work on Iron Maiden's first two albums, Iron Maiden (1980) and Killers (1981). These records assisted in starting the NWOBHM-the new wave of British heavy metal, which blended punk's energy with the classic riffs of rock. Di'Anno's hard-rock voice and the adaptation of the sound from Iron Maiden was a formula that would be realized in the future with success. As fotos da Virada!, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Iron Maiden had, however departed ways with Di'Anno by 1981, as this was when the band started to gain widespread popularity. He himself said back then that his leering hard-partying lifestyle was not just poisoning him but the band as well. "I was partying non-stop, 24 hours a day," he was quoted saying looking back on his life at the time. In a interview, he said that he realized that what he was doing was not fair for himself, the band, and the fans. After leaving, Bruce Dickinson took over and guided Iron Maiden through some of its most influential albums and international success. Even after stepping out of Iron Maiden, Di'Anno continued to make a name for himself in the metal scene. He was performing with bands like Battlezone and Killers and had a really long, eventful career. This summer, he was still touring and playing at rock festivals in Europe, even with all the health problems he'd had in the previous years. Conquest Music, Di'Anno's label, issued a statement on behalf of his family confirming his death. Here they stated that Di'Anno "passed away at his home in Salisbury" and, while they refused to comment on the cause of death, they asked his fans to raise a glass in his memory. Di'Anno's presence is seen to not only contribute to but almost influence the very genre of heavy metal music. His screeching, powerful vocals served to leave a mark on Iron Maiden's early work while, incidentally, creating a basis for all subsequent metal bands around the world. Bands like Metallica, Pantera, and Sepultura also claim that Di'Anno inspired them. Before becoming an Iron Maiden member, Di'Anno had worked as a butcher and a chef while fronting several local bands. In 1977 he came across an opportunity when he met Steve Harris, founding member and bass player of Iron Maiden. Harris needed a new lead singer, and Di'Anno was quite ideal. It was with his arrival that the band sounded out of place in the punk rock environment dominating London's musical airwaves at the time. Recorded from a demo that was three tracks called The Soundhouse Tapes, the band was looking to create more interest. This helped make it a cult favorite, selling 5,000 copies via mail order and helping the band gain ground. By the summer of '79, Iron Maiden had been signed to EMI Records, and their self-titled debut album was out by the following year. Recorded quickly, the album's mix of punk and metal influence was a huge hit: indeed, it made number four on the UK album charts, establishing Iron Maiden firmly as a key part of the burgeoning metal scene. Success was continued, however, with Killers in 1981. But after the world tour and some personal differences in their ideas and dreams, Di'Anno left the band. He later looked back and said that all the pressures of fame along with his lifestyle had overwhelmed him. "I was on another planet, as well as the rest of the band," he recalled in an interview with the Rock Hard magazine of 2004. Iron Maiden indeed went on to become one of the most successful and influential bands in heavy metal, however, Di'Anno never held any grudges against his former band-mates or his replacement, Bruce Dickinson. "Everyone thinks that we hated each other, which is ," he said in 2023, countering rumors of past feud. He also dismissed claims that he had not received a fair deal for his involvement in the early recordings of Iron Maiden, saying that he got full market value for his efforts. In fact, even when Di'Anno was wheelchair-bound by lymphedema, he didn't stop making music. For instance, in 2022 he had to undergo knee surgery funded by his fans, and in 2023 and 2024, he still performed more than a hundred shows. The legend's career was marked by a retrospective album, called The Book of the Beast, which includes highlights from his solo career as well as remastered versions of such Iron Maiden classics as "Sanctuary," "Prowler," and "Innocent Exile.". A documentary covering Di'Anno's life and work is scheduled for release at the end of the year: a fitting tribute to his life and career. Paul Di'Anno's tenure with Iron Maiden was very short but played a massive role in the creation of this massive metal genre that shall be remembered for generations to come. Read the full article

[mysteriis-moon666]

CATEGORY 7 - Category 7

Category 7 n’est pas un projet parallèle mais un groupe de heavy metal mélodique avec des anciens membres d’Anthrax, Armored Saint, Adrenaline Mob, Machine Head, Overkill, Exodus et Shadows Fall. Couillu le truc !

Le guitariste et auteur-compositeur principal Mike Orlando (ex-Adrenaline Mob, Sonic Universe, Noturnall) a posé des riffs contagieux, avec une double lame de guitare avec le guitariste Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head, Vio-Lence, Kerry King). Mike l’affirme "Il s'agit avant tout de gros couplets et de grandes chansons, et il contient de nombreux éléments que nous avons explorés dans nos autres groupes"

Pour l’ossature ryhtmique Jason Bittner a apporté le genre de compétences techniques en matière de batterie qu'il a démontrées dans Shadows Fall et Overkill, mais il est allé au-delà des attentes, injectant une sensation de tonnerre et de tonnerre dans les chansons variées. Orlando a annoncé : "C'est le batteur idéal pour ce groupe car il dégage ce feu et cette passion que j'aime parce que c'est la seule façon dont je joue de la guitare."

Demmel. « Toutes ces parties différentes et ces tempos fous sonnaient un peu comme Racer-X-meets-Pantera. Mais nous avons aimé et pris du plaisir à le faire, donc c’était un bon début. »

Jack Gibson (bassiste d'Exodus) "Quand j'ai entendu leur musique pour la première fois, j'ai vraiment aimé qu'elle soit lourde et mélodique, ce qui est très différent de ce que je joue avec Exodus, qui est très rythmique et chromatique."

Dans cette haute volée riffique de heavy thrash mélo les refrains montent dans un feu de bengale, les solos sont propulsifs et la ryhtmique percutante, c’est une fusion cohérente de NWOBHM et de thrash.

John Bush (Armoraint Saint et ex-Anthrax) au chant distille un punch tenace, robuste et cicatriciel d’émotions.

John Bush : « J’ai écouté la musique qu’ils m’ont envoyée et je me suis dit : « Wow, c’est un truc assez cinglant », se souvient Bush. « C’est génial, mais la question était : que pourrais-je en faire vocalement pour que cela convienne ? Comme Jason l’a dit, « ces gars sont des maniaques des riffs ». Je n’étais donc pas tout de suite sûr d’être le bon gars pour ça. Mais j’ai commencé à bidouiller et à écrire, et, à ma grande satisfaction, tout s’est passé relativement facilement. »

Orlando a travaillé séparément puis ensemble, assemblant des riffs et des rythmes dynamiques qui ont atteint leur apogée en complexité et en lourdeur pendant les intros, les sections médianes et les outros, et se sont installés dans une poche plus clairsemée et plus mélodique pour les couplets et les refrains. « Il y avait un effort conscient pour donner un peu d’espace aux couplets et pour laisser John créer ses mélodies vocales pour eux et les refrains », dit Demmel.

Orlando : « Quand John Bush est entré en scène, je savais pour qui j'écrivais et cela m'a énormément aidé », dit-il. « Je n'écrivais pas juste pour le plaisir d'écrire ; j'écrivais des parties spécialement pour que John Bush les chante. C'était génial pour moi non seulement parce que cela me donnait un objectif à atteindre, mais aussi parce que, en tant que fan du chant de John Bush depuis des décennies dans Armored Saint et Anthrax, c'était excitant de savoir qu'il allait être sur ces chansons. »

Bush a écrit ses paroles sur le désespoir qui imprègne la société et la division destructrice qui a évolué et séparé les gens pendant des décennies mais qui est aujourd'hui pire que jamais. Plus que tout, Bush voulait que des chansons comme « White Flags & Bayonets », « In Stitches » et « Land I Used to Love » inspirent la réflexion tout en étant ouvertes à l’interprétation. « Je dis simplement que c'est un commentaire social, mec », dit Bush. « Il y a une multitude d'informations parmi lesquelles choisir et tout est là. Évidemment, chaque jour, vous pouviez vous réveiller et consulter l'actualité, avoir des conversations avec des gens et des amis et ressentir en grande partie la même chose que moi lorsque j'écrivais ces chansons. Alors, j'ai juste couru avec ça. Mais il y a une certaine ambiguïté dans certaines paroles parce que je ne veux pas expliquer exactement de quoi parlent ces chansons car elles pourraient parler de beaucoup de choses. Et je veux que les gens utilisent leur imagination. Je veux aborder tous ces sujets et scénarios particuliers qui semblent très actuels sans dire aux gens ce qu’ils doivent penser. »

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔖𝔞𝔵𝔬𝔫 - 𝔐𝔬𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔠𝔶𝔠𝔩𝔢 𝔐𝔞𝔫

[areyouafraid]

i wanna go on a little pretentious tangent SORRY but i love music and im sooo lame about it when i was a kid i listened to a lot of what was popular as well as the stuff my parents and siblings listened to. my dad was always into hair metal, NWOBHM, thrash, stuff like that, and my mom liked a lot of the grunge and new wave stuff as well as like, ACDC, nazareth, bon jovi... i was first exposed to the internet when i was ~8 or 9 and liked to lurk around the late emo sparkledog types so i ended up listening to a lot of what those people liked like breaking benjamin & three days grace. when i was a tween i started to get really into metal (namely thrash metal) and developed a fascination with 80s punk. i was never really into green day or the ramones any of the other like pop punk stuff; what i was listening to was more like the grown british men screaming in their underwear and i thought it was the coolest shit ever. i got really into suicidal tendencies (THE BAND) from my dad. when i was 13 - 15 i was listening primarily to thrash and death metal. i liked system of a down, slayer, alice in chains, pantera, goatwhore, slipknot, static-x, etc but namely i listened to a fuckton of megadeth. so much megadeth. i was so annoying about it too. i thought the music i listened to was the best music and everything else sucked. i started mellowing out when i stopped hanging out with shitty people and starting taking lexapro LOL. i also got super into "psychobilly" around this time. i eventually had a weird falling out with megadeth after some shit that dave did (i developed the weird parasocial relationship that every teenager obsessed with music does) and started shifting more into other kinds of music. around 2019 (i was like 15 / 16 for reference) i started hanging out with the "mall goth / 00s goth" crowd on tumblr and started listening to more nu metal / industrial-type stuff. i've been all around the goth spectrum AND its splinter movements but nowadays i don't really like to label myself. i still predominantly listen to various types of metal; mostly nu and industrial now... i've flirted with heavy metal, NWOBHM and glam metal (genres i thought were beneath me as a teenager). i try to stay open to all genres and to move outside what i normally listen to and to not be a dick about it like i was when i was a kid. i think all art has some merit to it even if it's not your thing personally

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, March 26: 220 Volt, "Woman in White"

It was a little strange at first that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was so immediately influential to several Swedish groups emerging just a couple years later, but it was also profoundly significant, as these bands laid the foundation for what would eventually become one of the genre’s major hubs.  220 Volt was one of those key acts, and an early track like “Woman in White”, while bearing little resemblance to the melodic death metal that would define Sweden in the ‘90s, was a ripping NWOBHM-inflected catchy banger with a sense of craft that would carry over to the band’s descendants.  Notably, there was a finely calibrated balance of careening NWOBHM recklessness and northern European frostiness, particularly in Jocke Lundholm’s vocals, while the riffs sounded melodic, aggressive and forbidding in equal measure.  220 Volt was one of those groups that existed in their own time and place, seemingly not really interacting with the rest of the world even though their music was very much part of a continuum, and “Woman in White” was both a marker of its era as well as a predecessor of what was to come.

[metalmessage]

OLYMP Time travel straight into the early 1980s 

Action: OLYMP Title: Olymp Base: Augsburg • Germany Style: Classic Heavy/Speed Metal Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, NWOBHM FFO: Atlain, Stormwitch, Running Wild Type: Full-length Format: CD + Vinyl Label: Independent Release: Oct. 13, 2023 OLYMP are available for interviews via phone, Zoom, Skype & email PR: https://www.metalmessage.de/PR_OLYMP_en.php

Bulletpoints: 🔘 The debut album of the Bavarian Heavy Metallers 🔘 A lively and affectionate homage to the 80s 🔘 Powerful songs full of joy, dynamics and dedication https://www.youtube.com/embed/lTecD7OaE3U [ Official album trailer ]

OLYMP is not just a myth, but rather true teutonic CLASSIC HEAVY/SPEED METAL. Driving riffs in traditional 80´s style, will make your heads bang wild.

The whole is literally old school to the bone. The roaring bass and striking twin-leads will raise even the last sceptic to the peak of Olympus.

LINE-UP: Butschi • Guitar, Vocals Armin • Guitar André • Bass Dommi • Drums

Since the beginning of 2018, Butschi (guitars, vocals), André (bass), Armin (guitars) and Dommi (drums) have been working on original songs in their rehearsal room.

OLYMP emphasize their ambitions to reach the Olympus of the Metal gods by their longtime stage experience and the upcoming release of „Olymp“, their 2023 debut album.

TRACKS: 01. Hades 04:26 02. Death And Glory 04:40 03. Icarus 06:03 04. Hero 04:48 05. City Of Gods 05:02 06. Pandora 03:54 07. Fire And Fury 06:53 08. Metal Priest 03:02

total: 38:48 min. https://www.facebook.com/OlympMetal/

MEDIA FEEDBACK:

8 / 10 ➤ „… absolute pearl … key appeal: I just couldn’t resist the charm of the cover artwork … refreshingly different … somewhere between Angel Witch and Agent Steel the debut album of the Germans entertains non-stop … they actually always find their way into my ear … remarkably creative riffs and solos …“ (Hellfire)

7,5 / 10 ➤ „… OLYMP do their thing really well … know how to turn the Heavy/Speed Metal wheel, how to keep it turning … you can hear the passion of the guys in every minute, as well as the years of work that went into ‚Olymp‘ … powerful riffs, crisp drums and a shouter who performs vocally dirty and raw, as it was just cool and hip in the 80s … I have my fun with the sound and fans of the genre certainly also … extra praise for the very cult cover artwork!“ (Obliveon)

➤ „In the spirit of the 80s, this German Metal sensation creates a sonic universe that combines nostalgia and freshness in a stunning potpourri … epic! … masterpiece … impressive time travel … the driving riffs, the booming bass and the characteristic twin leads are all there … truly ‚old school to the bone‘ … a compact but powerful experience that will surely make hearts beat faster …“ (Metaller DE)

➤ „… this thing makes fun (and thirsty) from front to back with its hearty eighties mix of Omen, Maiden, Running Wild and Grave Digger …“ (Rock Hard DE)

➤ „… sounds so original and old school that it’s hard to believe they haven’t been around since the 80s … with such drive and lots of love and not least dedication and ability … almost a time machine straight back to the 80s …“ (Rancor Metalzine) etc.

[ Artwork: Giulia Schmidt-Kaiser ] [ Pic: Christian Wieser ]

[seashellsoldier]

“Denim & Leather” by Michael Hann (2022)

I had pre-ordered this e-book as soon as the promotional email hit my in-box. Surprisingly, after the book was released just two weeks ago, I had a tough time finding a hard copy to gift my heavy-metal battle buddy for Festivus (I’m on an eight-year boycott of evil Amazon, Barnes & Noble was out, and even the publisher [Bazillion Points Books (https://www.bazillionpoints.com/)] had a tough time filling orders. They sent me one though, and kudos to them for having such a solid hit on their hands.

Now, I’m not a fan of written “oral histories” as they are, and it took me a few chapters to get into a mental rhythm with this book, but I eventually did and it was definitely worth it.

I tally my entrance into heavy metal being in 1985 at the age of 12. In Chicago we had channel 50 on the UHF dial, twisting the rabbit ears just so to get a half-way decent signal. During the summer, at noon (if memory serves me correctly), they’d play music videos. Nobody I knew had cable and MTV was years away from my viewership, but channel 50 played all the Gamera and Godzilla movies and had “Samurai Sundays” packed with bad kung-fu flicks, and all manner of schlocky shows, including mid-80s music videos, so it was our favorite when we only had seven channels to choose from back then. When Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going to Take It” video played for the first time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AbeALNVkk), I was transfixed, then hooked.

The summer before was a hellscape of trauma for my sister and I (abandoned by my mother and trapped in the house with a rampaging, alcoholic, Vietnam-vet dad), and it fundamentally twisted my mindset in long-lasting ways. Parental love was horse manure, the concept of “god” was a cruel joke, and friendships could be ended in a car crash. My home was a battlefield and nowhere felt safe. Seeing that abused suburban kid transform into Dee Snider with his wild hair, pancaked makeup, and feathered Mad Max-Road Warrior football pads was almost precisely what I wanted (minus the makeup). At the local Kmart, I found that song on a compilation cassette tape called “Heavy Metal Thunder”. It was the gateway to what I—to this day—consider a powerful part of my identity. Alongside Twisted Sister was Judas Priest, Blackie Lawless’s WASP, the Scorpions, Quiet Riot, KISS, Dio, Accept, Krokus, and Great White.

Now, I had been subjected to piano lessons and ultimately played trumpet in high school concert, jazz, and marching bands, so I knew music to some degree. Like the Twisted Sister video illuminated, metal music was a direct assault on the status quo and gave furious middle fingers to the hypocrisies of society, politics, and organized religion. Neoconservativism was our enemy (and still is), and man did the bible-thumpers hate us. We fed, and still feed, off their flagrant stupidity, their delusional hypocrisy, and their moronic fantasyland belief systems.

Hann’s Denim & Leather teleports us back in time to what’s known as the “new wave of British heavy metal” (NWOBHM), circa 1978-1983. Short-lived, but this was a crucial evolutionary micro-epoch that warrants such an enjoyable exploration. Music is an amorphous thing and sub-genres are tough to parse out accurately, and most bands are even tougher to wedge into a sub-genre unless one is hellbent on doing so (I think most metal bands don’t like to be siloed into something when any musician could have a thousand other influences going on inside his or her brain, worming such things into their music to a nearly imperceptible degree). I like what Bandcamp does, using many sub-genres and bizarre phrases as adjectives to describe what band X sounds like. Still, such compartmentalization must be done to tackle a book like this, and while I would never lump Whitesnake and Venom into any similar grouping, the NWOBHM has to. For those like me who favor the heavier side of things, having to read about Def Leppard and other FM radio and MTV pop stars was a slog, but chapters on Venom, phenomenal female bands like Rock Goddess, and others made this read truly worthwhile. The photos, like those awful music vids, are often priceless too.

I grew up in the shadow of Chicago and even such a big city did not play heavy music. Z95 was about as heavy as it got, and it pandered to the spandex and mascara crooners of the big-hair rock bands (Bon Jovi, Poison, Mötley Crüe, and that ilk). I vaguely recall some classic Judas Priest and Black Sabbath being played, but not even Iron Maiden was on the airwaves. The tiny college radio station in my hometown had an intrepid dude who, on a Saturday graveyard shift, would play the most off-the-wall metal music he could find. Doors blew off my brain. I also explored on my own, having to travel 45-minutes away to Hegewisch Music outside Merrillville to find the intoxicatingly weird stuff. It didn’t take me long to discover the thrash bands, then the speed metal, then the death metal. (Full disclosure, I truly believe grindcore/deathcore is the timeless paragon of metal music.) My first live venue was the Milwaukee Metal Fest of ’89, a life-altering experience in and of itself, and soon after I was at the Rosemont Horizon seeing Megadeth open for Judas Priest, walls of speakers blowing eardrums out. So, while I was not distinctly aware of NWOBHM as a brief movement, and my interest piqued after its demise, I did have some rudimentary awareness of its place in the evolutionary timeline, and now I have a solid understanding of how the opening guitar chords of Black Sabbath in 1970 turned into today’s global free-for-all. Hann gives us great detail to an important missing piece in the taxonomic order for all of us who weren’t in the UK visiting these venues at this point in time. If you love metal music and can appreciate the history of it, this book will certainly satisfy.

Music is completely subjective and each of us finds the stuff that thrums within our souls. I will never understand why so many favor “popular music”, but it must be the herd mentality and simple psychologies. The fact that Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” (from 1986) surged to the top of playlists after a silly CGI scene in a cool Netflix show this year proves that far too many are completely ignorant of metal music writ large. We have been, and will always be, the outsiders and rejects, the nonconformists and the contrarians (https://aeon.co/essays/on-nonconformism-or-why-we-need-to-be-seen-and-not-herded), the rebels and the doubters, the critics and the scapegoats.

I had a leather jacket with a Napalm Death back-patch in high school with my ripped up jeans, pit-stained shirts, and a giant chip on my shoulder. Today, I listen to metal music while performing my morning yoga routine and grounding myself to the roots of the Earth for the day ahead working in healthcare. Metal music has helped me survive the undulating chaos of life far more than anything else. I don’t need wild hair, an epidermis stained with tattoo ink, or piercings in my naughty bits. I just need the music that communes with me, speaks to me, and speaks for me.

I hope you do too.

All hail science! Happy Festivus >;)

Metal for Life \m/

[imsobadatnicknames2]

@psyko-dexvil

Okay first of all: let's establish what they have in common. Both genres have their roots in speed metal (which is also the parent genre of thrash metal), and branched off from it through the incorporation of influences of more melodic genres such as NWOBHM and traditional heavy metal. They tend to feature:

fast tempos and, in particular, fast double-bass drumming

a more "triumphant" sound and atmosphere (also described as upbeat, uplifting, etc) compared to other metal genres. This is the main defining difference between power metal and speed metal and other similarly high-tempo subgenres.

a focus on technically demanding virtuoso soloing, usually featuring fast arpeggios and techniques such as tapping and sweep-picking.

frequent (although not universal) usage of mythology, high fantasy, sword and sorcery, and science-fiction as inspiration for imagery and lyrical themes.

What I think makes US Power Metal and Euro Power Metal two distinct styles:

US power metal tends to be more riff-driven, with solid rhythm guitar riffs often dominating the mix, while Euro power metal is more melody-driven, with rhythm guitar riffs often taking a backseat to the melody of the lead guitar, keboard, or vocals

Euro power metal tends to aim for a more theatrical style, incorporating operatic elements, and usually featuring anthem-like choruses. Often (but not always) the main vocalist will be joined by a full choir during the chorus and other similar sections to enhance this feel.

Related to the last point, Euro power metal albums are more prone to featuring "epic" 8-10+ minute long songs that deviate from traditional song structure and feature multiple musically distinct "acts". These tracks usually appear towards the start or the end of the album, or in some cases both. Not to say that it's something that Euro power metal bands ALWAYS do, or that it NEVER happens in US power metal, but it's definitely much more of A Thing in European power metal albums.

US power metal tends to stick closer to the traditional 2 guitars+bass+drum metal instrumentation, while Euro power metal often incorporates keyboards, orchestral arrangements, and sometimes even veers straight up into folk metal territory with the incorporation of violins, flutes, etc. Again, not a universal divide (some bands that play very distinctly US-style power metal do incorporate keyboards and string/brass arrangements, and it's perfectly possible to create a distinctly Euro power metal sound without any of these), but this generally tends to be the case.

Some tracks that I consider representative of each style:

US Power Metal:

Euro Power Metal:

The problem with me is that I had a massive power metal phase from like 12 to 18 and I'm mostly over it now but sometimes I still get the urge to explain to people that US Power Metal and European Power Metal ARE two distinct genres but a band doesn't have go be from the US to be USPM nor does it have to be from Europe to be EUPM.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Power Trip - Nightmare Logic Before I say anything about this album, I wanted to make something clear -- this isn’t really a “review,” per se. Just like my Metallica series that I did this past week, where I went through their first five albums, or my Eagles review, where I talked about their greatest hits albums, they weren’t really reviews, but more so retrospective pieces that talked about why these albums and bands are important to me, as well as many other people. These albums are something special, and they’re still worth celebrating all of these years later, so I wanted to write about them, only to talk about their influence as a whole, as well as on me personally. Power Trip’s sophomore album, 2017′s Nightmare Logic, is going to be the same way. This is a record that is still to this day a powerhouse of thrash metal and crossover hardcore, and it’s an influential record to a lot of people, as well as metal and heavy music as a whole. This is a record that defined 2010s thrash, and it still does today, especially with vocalist Riley Gale’s untimely passing a couple of years ago. The album just turned 5 this year, back in February, so I wanted to write something about it, because I have a very interesting history with this band and album, so I wanted to talk about that in more detail. To start off my thoughts on this record, we need to go back to when it came out, at least a little beforehand. I didn’t hear of this band, like many people, until this record came out, but the Texas thrash band has been kicking since the early 00s, including releasing some EPs and 2013′s Manifest Decimation, which is another kickass album that’s worth hearing. Nightmare Logic is the first album a lot of people heard from these guys, myself included, but I wasn’t too huge into thrash metal at the time this album came out. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, and I loved the Big Four, including Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth,a nd Anthrax, but I didn’t listen to the genre in any more depth. I don’t know if it’s where I just wasn’t into the genre’s faster and breakneck speed, or the punky and hardcore foundations of the genre, but I didn’t care for it as much as traditional heavy metal or death metal. Nowadays, I’d consider thrash to be my favorite style of metal, including traditional heavy metal and the NWOBHM scene of the early 80s, but I didn’t care for it much back about five years ago. I heard a lot of buzz for this album, and when I heard it, I didn’t care for it much, either. I remember writing in my original review of it that the album just sounded generic, and it was trying too hard to sound like it came out of the 1980s, which is funnily enough something I love about it now, so I didn’t really get the hype at first. At the same time, thrash metal was going through a bit of a resurgence. Bands like Municipal Waste, Havok, Warbringer, Toxic Holocaust, and many other acts were starting to push through into the forefront of the metal world, so people were starting to take notice that thrash metal is back. Power Trip was another one of those bands, and they really took metal by storm, but it took me awhile to see the appeal and fall in love with this record. I kept going back to the album over time, and by the end of the year, it was one of my favorites of the year. I really ended up growing on the album, and this record ended up doing a lot for me, but it wasn’t for a couple of years that I’d end up really falling for it and considering it one of my favorite albums of all time. Nightmare Logic is the perfect thrash album in every sense of the word. That’s why I love this album so much, especially where it definitely comes from a classic and nostalgic place, yet at the same time, it feels fresh, youthful, and exciting. I’m pretty sure the band was only in their early to mid-20s when they made this record, because Riley Gale was 34 when he passed in 2020, and this album came out five years ago, but you can hear their youthful energy throughout its 33-minute runtime. I mean, just listen to “Executioner’s Tax (Swing Of The Axe)” and you can get a good idea of what to expect from this album. It’s fast, intense, and menacing, but also fun, catchy, and impressively performed and produced. It’s a quick little thrash / crossover rager that really sets the tone for the album, even though opener “Soul Sacrifice” does that pretty well. My issue with a lot of modern thrash bands is that they want to pay homage to the 80s Bay Area scene, but at the same time, they don’t do anything to stand above it, or add anything to it. Power Trip does, even if it’s not necessarily originality. This is the kind of album that sounds like a long forgotten and underrated 80s thrash classic, even down to its production, and it’s great. If you haven’t heard this album yet, and you’re a thrash fan, you owe it to yourself to check this out. Most people already have, though, and this is just a good excuse to blast it loud and proud. There’s no wrong time to listen to Nightmare Logic, it’s one of the best thrash albums of all time, as well as one of my favorite albums, personally. This is easily one of my all time favorites, too, I just love this album and I can’t get enough of it. Five years later, I still play this album regularly, and I fall in love with it over again each time I do. It was a horrible tragedy when Riley passed away, because he’s one of the best vocalists in all of metal. Just like Trevor Strnad from The Black Dahlia Murder, there will never be anyone like them, and it’s still felt among the metal world to this day. It’s great that these records do exist, so we can listen to his voice whenever we want, and his legacy will never be forgotten. I can’t wait for another five years, because when this album turns ten, that’s when it’ll be a certified modern classic. I can’t wait for the ten-year retrospectives on the album, because they’re all going to be overly positive and for good reason -- this is one of the best albums ever made. Rest In Power Riley Gale

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Angel Witch  -  Baphomet