Meddling with Metal

Even though my interest in music was born out of the harmless pop of the 60's, things began to get hairy when I learned about heavier, darker music in the 70's. Stuff like KISS (to begin with), then Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions, AC/DC, and a bit of Deep Purple (who never made a big impression upon me). All of those bands, except Purple, became favourites for many years to come. In fact, I still revisit their music on a semi-regular basis. A bit less metallic but equally excellent was the progressive music of Rush, in whom I developed an all-consuming passion. All the while, though, the influence of metal ran deep.

I had some vinyl records of Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Angel, and AC/DC in my very first music collection. My goal in life at the time was to have the house to myself (in other words, for my parents to vacate the premises) so that I could crank up my favourite music on my cheap little stereo. After upgrading my audio system in 1980, I accumulated recordings of Priest, Scorps, Accept, Anvil, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Dio, Def Leppard, and Ozzy's solo albums, not to mention hard rockers like Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Nazareth, Cheap Trick, Max Webster, Triumph, Van Halen, and Boston. 

Sabbath's Heaven and Hell was among the best metal albums in my record collection back in the early 80's. It still stands as one of my "desert island" albums, and even its title track would be among my top metal songs of all time.

Dio with Sabbath created some of my favourite

metal music of all time

The metal scene began to expand exponentially as the 80's got rolling. The heavy pioneers like Sab and Priest continued to chug along in one form or another, but the new breed carrying the torch (mainly the New Wave of British Heavy Metal) faced a lot of competition from other genres that were dominating the music scene. Punk and New Wave and dance and their cross-over styles were everywhere. Metal was slowly but surely working its way toward greater acceptance (the mainstream) but it wasn't quite there yet. Van Halen imitators were beginning to sprout up in the U.S., most notably along L.A.'s Sunset Strip. Among the glittery glam metal crowd were Ratt, Poison, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, and Twisted Sister. I wasn't too crazy about that stuff, Ratt being the only act that I did latch onto for a while (their song Lay It Down will forever be one of my favourite guitar songs). 

About mid-decade, guys like Guns'n'Roses, Joe Satriani, Savatage, Metallica, and Megadeth fell onto my radar. The metallic content in my bloodstream was highest during the 80's thanks to a profusion of great loud music. My attendance at rock concerts was also at an all-time high then, as I was taking in the live shows of many of my favourite artists. I lost a bit of hearing along the way, but hey, this is the way it goes for headbangers. 

Sliding out of the 80's and into the 90's, bands like Metallica and Megadeth reached even greater heights in the music biz. This was a double-edged sword, though. We saw both bands falter.... the money, the fame, the business side, creative and personal issues... these were all to blame at one time or another. But before all that transpired, we the fans enjoyed some years of massive metal albums. Bands like Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Testament, and Dream Theater were among my faves at the time. Though Slayer, Sodom, Sepultura, and Pantera were huge then - and much earlier in the cases of Slayer and Sodom - I simply wasn't exposed to much of their music and never got into them then. But with Slayer, it wasn't long ago that a friend let me listen to their whole catalogue and I must admit that I was really pumped about much of it. And I did find something to like about Sodom's music, as well as the very dark and disturbing Carpathian Forest. 

I remember buying this Angel record sight unseen, based only

on the look of the band and their logo... I thought they might

sound something like Kiss. And yes, they did. But more forgettable.

Alice in Chains produced one of the coolest and heaviest songs of the 90's with Them Bones. Not only did I love that song and the album Dirt to death back then, I still get a hankering for it now and then. The dropped tuning, devastating riffs, and what actually sound like great vocal harmonies made Dirt a hallmark album for the era.

My interest in modern metal is, quite frankly, very limited nowadays. So much that's out there now sounds either like complete noise to me or like a re-tread of something that's already been done much better by somebody else. 

It was only through a patiently pushy friend that I discovered and now quite love the Swedish band Opeth. Opeth embraces every little thing I love about music... great musicianship, stunning vocals, and highly creative and listenable songwriting. Opeth strikes the perfect balance between heavy and melody, and that stark contrast contributes to the often spine-chilling beauty of the music. The progressive approach, blending genres like metal, folk, blues, classical, and jazz, allows Opeth to do what Rush once did - perhaps even better. The song Reverie/Harlequin Forest is an epic musical feast that I'd recommend to any newcomers to Opeth's work. 

So.... though I no long follow the modern metal scene, at least I'm listening to one of the best of today's scene. And I still dig into the history of the genre when I haul out masterpieces like Sad Wings of Destiny and Master of Reality. 

Opeth - the present and future of metal

(photo credit: Sebastiaan Petiet / LFLMagazine.nl)