THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST IS MEANT TO BE LIGHT-HEARTED AND FUN IN LOOKING AT METAL. IF YOU TAKE THIS BLOG POST COMPLETELY SERIOUSLY AND ARE OFFENDED OR ANNOYED BY THE CONTENT, TAKE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE BECAUSE I COULD NOT GIVE A TOSS.
Hey, casual music fan!
Did you hear a Metal song on the radio and thought it was pretty good?
Did someone you know play some Metal and you enjoyed it?
Did it whet your appetite for the genre and you want to hear more?
Then you're in a place that might not be the best source of music advice but sod it, you're here now, I might as well have a crack at it!
Unless you're listening to a specific Rock/Metal station, chances are there are only a few bands you heard on the radio. Two that immediately spring to mind are Iron Maiden and Metallica, although it's possible that you could've heard some Judas Priest, Saxon, Motley Crue, the list goes on. The aim of this blog post is to give you some recommendations and guide you as you get into more and more Metal bands. Obviously, I don't know what you're into and I can only really guide you based on what I assume is correct mixed with my own taste so I apologise if I'm wrong.
However, if you disagree with the content of this post and still want some decent Metal, I recommend going on Spotify and getting the Last.FM app. You can play the song(s) you like and then get it to make a playlist of similar songs that you can check out. It's kind of like the Genius function on iTunes only it isn't completely unreliable and crap. Anyway, let's get started!
Whilst I could talk for ages about different Iron Maiden songs and their best albums (for top quality Heavy Metal, check out "Powerslave" and "Number Of The Beast"), I'm gonna write about The Big Four. The Big Four are four Thrash Metal bands who are generally considered important in the world of Metal. What's more, they can be arranged into four tiers that get steadily more aggressive and "Heavy". At tier #1, it's Metallica.
Yep, there is a picture above. Might be worth clicking on it or something.
"Metallica" (or "The Black Album") has divided Metal fans for years. Some say it's good and has quite a few solid Metal tracks whilst most say it's shit and Lars Ulrich should burn at the stake. My opinion? It's not bad. It's different to their earlier material and I would say it's nowhere near as good but it has a couple of cool songs on it. The big hit from this album was Enter Sandman, although if you heard a Metallica song on the radio then it could've been that or (more likely) Nothing Else Matters.
Now, if you liked either or both of those, it sounds like you're not repelled by songs being quite heavy. I would recommend giving the rest of the album a try. If you enjoyed it, the next album I would recommend is my personal favourite from Metallica: "Ride The Lightning".
Whilst it's full of aggressive Thrash tracks such as Fight Fire With Fire and Trapped Under Ice, you can also find varying strengths of Metal on this album. If you liked softer tracks such as The Unforgiven, you might like Fade To Black. If you liked relatively heavy songs such as Sad But True, check out For Whom The Bell Tolls. If you liked faster songs such as The Struggle Within, you might find Creeping Death to your liking. After listening to those songs, your next best bet is probably the following album, "Master Of Puppets".
People tend to cite this as the best Metallica album. Personally, I think it's overrated. However, it still has some great songs like Orion, Welcome Home (Sanitarium) and the title track. Now, if you've enjoyed what you've heard so far, that's a good sign. Of course if you've heard some of the heavier tracks like Battery and you they're not to your taste, that's fine. You might grow to like them at a later stage, which means moving onto the next tier of Metal.
The next logical leap from Metallica is Megadeth, a band with similar riff based Rock but with more of a political stance in the lyrics and more fury in the guitar work. Small note: I haven't listened to every album by The Big Four, so I could miss some tunes that you'll enjoy more than others. However, I have listened to their most well known albums, along with a few that might not be as popular. At the end of the day, your best bet is to do a bit of independent research into these bands and their music.
Saying that, if you can't be arsed to trawl through entire back catalogues for the sake of finding a few decent tunes, carry on reading. Onto Megadeth and a passable album that's easily accessible if you're into Hard Rock.
Released last year, "Super Collider" received mostly negative reviews from critics for being less of a Thrash album and more of a generic Hard Rock one. However, for a first time listener, you're gonna find songs that may appeal to you such as the title track or The Blackest Crow. I also recommend the album opener, Kingmaker. This song is more typical of Megadeth's older sound from the 90's and if you enjoyed it, I've got another great album for you: "Countdown To Extinction".
A great follow up to a better album that contains quite a few of the band's classics, such as Symphony Of Destruction and Sweating Bullets. I also recommend the title track and, if you like your Metal a bit heavier, Skin O' My Teeth. You may have noticed that some of Megadeth's riffs are a bit darker (for lack of a better term) than Metallica's. You've got more songs in minor key and the riffs sound like they've got more power behind them.
However, Megadeth also have a fair amount of faster, aggressive tracks too. The two iconic Metal albums that contain several of these are 1986's "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" and 1990's "Rust In Peace". We're gonna look at the one I prefer.
Maybe I just prefer blue to red but I personally think this album tops "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?", even if critics and Metalheads think that album is superior. Don't get me wrong, that album has a few awesome songs like Peace Sells, Wake Up Dead and Devils Island but I believe this album is better to listen to overall.
From the blistering rage of the opening track, Holy Wars... The Punishment Due, to the exceptional soloing in Tornado Of Souls, this album demonstrates the band at their best. If you like fast songs, Take No Prisoners might catch your interest. If you like slow ones with catchy riffs, Lucretia is one for you.
By now, if you've spaced out the listens to each album, you should be into Thrash a little bit more now. I would recommend revisiting Metallica's debut album, "Kill Em All" before making the leap to the next tier of The Big Four, or maybe their fourth album "...And Justice For All", which contains a fair helping of fast Thrash.
So you've listened to Metallica and you've dabbled in Megadeth. These guys are the easier bands to get into but what's that? You want more? You want to keep journeying further and further into The Big Four's music? Alrighty then, time to bring out the next band: Anthrax.
Anthrax have a sort of Punk sound to some of their well known songs but that doesn't mean they go any easier on the riffs and soloing. It simply means you can expect some fantastic bass and drums from them. Whilst it may not be their biggest album, I would say this next one is their best. Not only in terms of the music on it but also as a way to move from one tier to another.
Boasting quite a striking cover, "Spreading The Disease" is one of those great albums that keeps you engaged start to finish. Tracks like the album opener, A.I.R, go full throttle with every instrument whereas more familiar songs such as Madhouse act as great bridges between Megadeth and tunes from this band's following album. However, before moving onto the next album, you may want to spend a bit more time on this one.
Tracks like Medusa and Lone Justice are ideal for those who still want steady Heavy Metal but you've also got songs such as Armed And Dangerous, starting off slow and gradually gaining power. If you like that song, now might be a time to revisit Metallica tracks such as Battery and The Four Horsemen.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, Anthrax incorporated some Punk elements into their music (particularly in the vocals and drums) for their next album, "Among The Living".
This album contains two of their signature songs, Caught In A Mosh and Indians. Dealing with rapid tempo changes, this music might not be to your taste but if there is a part of the song you like (for example, the main riff in Indians) then it's worth sticking with them over a couple of listens. As with a lot of songs, you find that the more you listen to them, the more you grow to like them. However, this album also has a few that you might instantly enjoy. For me, that track was One World which sounds like it could've easily fit onto "Spreading The Disease".
Now by this point, I reckon you've heard enough Metal to dip your toe into the water with the final band. Some are able to listen to this band and instantly like what they hear, although others might need some warming up first. However, if you find the right material, you should grow to like them. The last band in The Big Four is Slayer.
If I were to compare these bands to drugs, I'd say Metallica is the gateway narcotic. It's relatively harmless although still frowned upon by society. After that, you've got Megadeth. A bit heavier and probably something you should avoid in large doses unless you're happy to take on the side effects. Next is Anthrax, dangerous territory. However, not as dangerous as Slayer who, in the drug world, would be the equivalent of needles and blow jobs for cash. Luckily, there's a positive to this! As is the case with quite a few 80's bands, their first album is awesome.
At this point in their career, the band hadn't quite found their groove yet. You can tell in tracks like Black Magic and Die By The Sword that the blueprints are all there but they haven't quite settled on the lightning fast guitar strumming and hellish vocal growling yet. As a result, you've got songs such as Crionics and Tormentor that might be best to start on. As an added bonus, this music is incredibly similar to the NWOBHM subgenre (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) so if you liked those songs, check out early Iron Maiden, Saxon and Venom, the band that were undoubtedly a strong influence for Slayer.
Despite containing fan favourites, Slayer's biggest song comes from their third album, "Reign In Blood". That song is appropriately titled Raining Blood and if you like that song, chances are the rest of Slayer's 80's and early 90's music will appeal to you too. However, before you check out that album, there is one more that you may consider listening to first.
Ahhh, another freaky album cover. Excellent!
Anyway, "Seasons In The Abyss" certainly contains songs that bear the Slayer rhythm, such as War Ensemble, but the band have other tracks that blend the rhythm with slower riffs, such as Spirit In Black. If you're still reading and, months down the line, you've been periodically improving your resistance to Heavy Metal, congratulations!
So, what next? You've sampled from four plates and now it's time to get out there and do some more feeding! But where to begin?
Well, there's that Spotify/Last.FM thing I mentioned near the start of this post. You could also do research into the bands that influenced The Big Four such as Diamond Head and Judas Priest. As for modern Metal...well, there are good bands who keep the Heavy Metal feel alive (see my last review), bad bands who are just emo pussies writing angsty music about suicide for tweens and bands who divide opinion and deserve a listen first before you believe comments online like "DragonForce suck! They just speed up their music in the studio and can't play it live!" (They can. I've seen them. You have no idea what you're talking about).
But if there's a message to take away from this post, I'd say it was that you'll never know what's right for you until you listen to it. You could discover your new favourite band tomorrow after just one play and if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you may find a song by a band you hate that doesn't suck as much as the rest of their material. Bottom line is you shouldn't stop at hearing one decent song. If you really liked what you heard, check out some of their other tunes.
Of course, you might be unlucky and only find one good song on the entire album, despite the band being popular and well loved. I call this The Meat Loaf Paradox.
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