Rayo de Metal Pesado: Heavy Metal

HEAVY METAL THUNDER

Years: 1970 - ???

We're now at the turn of one of the longest-running, most intricate, and undoubtedly the most powerful genres to emerge to date. My warning is that I'm not a die-hard fan of the genre; I'm a follower of only a few bands, especially those from the classic '70s period, and some thrash and prog metal. So don't expect an in-depth analysis, or boasting about band names I'm completely unfamiliar with. I only know many bands, especially the more recent ones, from a handful of songs, so I have some knowledge, but I don't consider myself an expert, nor do I pretend to be one. Still, we have plenty of material for this extremely interesting genre that has had its ups and downs, but has somehow managed to stay alive for almost 40 years now. So, let's begin this review of the history of Heavy Metal.

Returning to the story of our beloved Rock, a teenager driven crazy by all the drugs he took during the Psychedelic Era, we noted that during the Silver Age, he developed a multiple identity disorder that degenerated into wild Hard Rock on the one hand and Prog on the other. Heavy Metal, or Metal to our friends, was also a result of these identity problems, although it developed somewhat separately from the aforementioned. In other words, Prog and Hard Rock were like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, opposites but always parallel, from their timid birth around '68 to their decline and decline around '76, although both remained at a much lower level after those dates.

Metal developed separately, derived from a sub-personality of Hard Rock, and as such is also a nightlife genre, but much more aggressive and wild, taking the characteristics of the Hard Rock from which it emerged to the extreme: more distorted guitars, amplifiers, and pedals modified to make the guitars sound more powerful and dirty; bigger drums, with double bass drums, with a deeper sound and allowing for greater foot speed, while the drums developed a wrist speed never seen before, with the number of drums and cymbals; the bass was distorted for the first time, while the vocals first became much higher (many of the glass-breakers belong to this genre) and then became deep, dense, and guttural, striving to achieve that "black color" of voice.

But let's take it step by step. It's very complicated to date the birth of Metal because it's very difficult to define it to begin with. The line that separates it from Hard Rock is sometimes very, very thin. So far, they haven't been able to agree on a concrete definition, and so for many we have that "Wild Thing" by the Troggs is Metal, which would make it the first in history, or that the powerful riff of "Purple Haze" by Hendrix already has elements to be considered, or they even say that "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles inaugurated the genre. The truth is that with so many genres and subgenres it is impossible to agree. The most fierce discussion about the birth basically lies between Black Sabbath's debut album and that of Led Zeppelin. My position is that Led Zeppelin is NOT metal, but the greatest exponent of Hard Rock, which at times took elements of Metal when it began to define itself as a separate genre, and many of its songs are SO powerful that the most purist metalheads have no qualms about recognizing them as part of. While I don't consider Led Zeppelin the father of Metal, I can't deny that they were at least its godfather, contributing many elements, characteristics and sounds that many metal bands would later adopt. That's why I accept the more typical nickname they give them as the "Godfather" of Metal, in one of the most curious cases of influence in the history of Rock.

My opinion is that Heavy Metal began with Black Sabbath's self-titled album, as this is the first album to fully capture that atmosphere, more funereal, mammoth, slow, and mysterious than anything previously produced. Listening to this album was the equivalent of watching a horror movie, and in essence, that could be the definition of Metal: creating the same atmosphere and provoking the same adrenaline and anguish as a horror movie. In 1970, this album represented a dynamite-laden watershed... And not only that, but it was produced with great quality and achieved absolute success on the charts. So, if Metal wasn't truly invented with this album, it did point the way it would follow from then on, and that makes it a revolutionary and tremendously influential album in the history of Rock.

In its early days, Black Sabbath, under the name Earth, was producing music that leaned more toward Hard Rock, in the style of Cream. In August 1969, while on tour in the UK, they realized there was already another band with the name "Earth," so they were forced to find a new one. Geezer Butler was the one who came up with the idea, as across the street from the hotel where they were staying was a cinema showing Boris Karloff's 1963 horror film "Black Sabbath." Butler and Iommi were fans of those horror films, and after seeing it there, they wondered why, if watching those kinds of films caused so much stress and terror, people would line up to see them. So, they not only decided on a new name, but also a new direction, trying to create music "parallel" to those films, with riffs, notes, and lyrics full of darkness. "Black Sabbath" would be the first song composed in this vein, inspired by the occult work of Dennis Wheatley and a dream Butler had about a "black, mysterious, and terrifying figure" standing next to his bed. After being pleased with this first song, they set about creating new compositions with this new sound, which they polished and began perfecting in late 1969. The rest is history. Our Rock, no longer so small and already showing a dissociation of personality, drew on the madness of Ozzy Osbourne and the guitar of Tony Iommy, the strength to give a twist to the power and virtuosity of Hard Rock and take it to new extremes. Therefore, we can give its birth date as February 13, 1970, the day Black Sabbath's self-titled album was released. At the end of the same year, they would release the LP Paranoid, which would definitively establish them, with the use of the tritone, known as "the Devil's Interval" by Iommi, and a rhythm reminiscent of Birmingham metal-pressing machines, which gave it a heavy and dense sound, so characteristic that other bands would soon try to copy. “N.I.B,” “Paranoid,” and “Iron Man” are the songs that, without question, are considered the first Heavy Metal songs. With these albums, Iommi began a search for sounds increasingly removed from the Blues, which also constituted an important difference from Hard Rock. By the middle of the decade, Heavy Rock had purged almost all influences in the base, tones, and sequences derived from Blues.

By 1970, the hippie dream was ending. Hard Rock showed some commitment to social, racial, and political themes, although to a much lesser extent. Metal abandoned them almost completely, focusing on themes of horror, fantasy, the occult, violence, death, etc., although still with a strong sense of rebellion against the system due to the very nature of the sounds. That year, while Sabbath rose to superstardom, Judas Priest was also struggling in Birmingham to stay alive despite constant lineup changes, but still pursuing a very heavy sound. Meanwhile, Deep Purple had removed vocalist Rod Evans and replaced him with Ian Gillan, with a much more powerful voice, forming "Mark II" with Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), Ian Paice (drums), and Roger Glover (bass), Deep Purple's most successful and emblematic lineup. That year they released In Rock, which consolidated them as one of the most powerful and solid Hard Rock bands and began the search for a stronger, rawer sound that would be consolidated in the masterful Machine Head of '72, which many already considered Metal. Songs like "Smoke On The Water," "Highway Star," and "Lazy" are absolute anthems that debate the fine line that separates these genres. Later, with the departure of Gillian and Glover in 1973 and the start of Mark III, Deep Purple's sound lost its approach to Metal, especially after the subsequent departure of Blackmore.

In '73, Queen burst onto the scene with their self-titled album. Although Queen isn't exactly a metal band, but is generally considered a rock opera and later a pop band, many of their early songs are incredibly powerful, and could easily be considered heavy metal pieces. Their first album features "Keep Yourself Alive," with sounds even heavier than Purple's. Queen II (1974) features "Oggre Battle," and Sheer Heart Attack (1974) features "Stone Cold Crazy," a lightning-fast metal track that boasts being the first piece of trash, and which would inspire Metallica to pursue their signature sound in the early '80s, according to Hetfield himself.

That same year, Rob Halford joined Judas Priest as vocalist. Judas Priest had been through an endless series of changes and failures, and had even been without a vocalist for quite some time, since founder Al Atkins defected. Shortly after, Glenn Tipton joined the band on guitar and John Ellis on drums to inject even more power and begin preparing their first album, Rocka Rolla, released in 1974. The album, despite still containing some Zeppelin influences (the band even wore similar outfits), was the first to be considered completely metal. In 1976, they released their second LP, Sad Wings of Destiny, which was much more successful than their debut and also consolidated the group's metallic sound. In '77, Sin After Sin definitively launched them to stardom, sending metal to the forefront of music while hard rock was already clearly in decline. On this album, Halford would also make a direct allusion to his homosexuality in the song of the same name, and the band was already wearing their characteristic attire of leather jackets, chains, black gloves, and metal pieces, which would become the sado-maso image typical of bands in the genre. Thus, faced with the decline of prog and hard rock, people who weren't satisfied with the superficiality of pop and disco, or who disliked the simplicity of punk, had to take refuge in the metal bands that were beginning to multiply, still underground.

Around this time, the founding bands began to crumble. Blackmore left Deep Purple to form Rainbow in 1975 with Ronnie James Dio, but in '79, Black Sabbath, in the midst of a creative crisis caused by Ozzy's mental and professional instability, decided to oust Osbourne and was replaced by Dio. Ozzy would embark on a successful solo career in '80. Deep Purple, meanwhile, moved toward more funky and commercial sounds and eventually broke up in 1976, splitting into Rainbow, Whitesnake, the Ian Gillian Band, and the Gary Moore Band. The regrouping with Mark II didn't last until 1986, but without the same strength.

In Australia, AC/DC caused a stir with the power of their riffs, Bon Scott's heartbreaking vocals, and Angus Young's fiery guitar virtuosity. AC/DC always belonged to the Hard Rock scene, as confirmed by Angus himself, who stated in an interview that he had never played a single Metal song. However, they were a very powerful band, whose hard sound influenced Metal's rise to prominence at the end of the decade, especially after 1979's Highway to Hell, which launched them to worldwide stardom. In 1980, after Bon's death from aspiration (very fashionable at that time), Brian Johnson joined the band for one of the most impressive comebacks since the loss of the frontman, the 1980 album Back in Black. In 1980, Ozzy Osbourne released his first solo album, the magnificent "Blizzard of Ozz", which, with guitarist Randy Rhoads, confirmed his nickname as the "father of metal". Rhoads died in 1982 in a stupid plane crash.

In the late 1970s, with the decline of the bands that pioneered or most influenced metal, Geoff Barton of Sounds magazine dubbed the movement's new bands the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" (NWOBHM), among which were Motorhead, led by bassist Lemmy Kilmister; Iron Maiden, founded by another bassist, Steve Harris; and Venom, among those who began to stand out. These bands intensified their distancing from the blues, increased distortion, drew influence from the image of Judas Priest (which at the time was the model to follow), and made the hardest sound possible. And they began to reap hits on the charts, managing to place several songs among the most listened to. Now a genre invented by the British, the first American band to begin to stand out were the Los Angeles-based Van Halen, with the virtuosity of Eddie and Alex, although sometimes flirting with Hard Rock.

In LA, taking advantage of Van Halen's success, several bands formed on the Sunset Strip circuit. These bands shared some characteristics, such as a sound derived from the NWOBHM, but incorporating elements of the Glam of David Bowie, Kiss, and Alice Cooper. Thus, bands like Motley Crue, Ratt, Quiet Riot in LA, and Twisted Sister in NY borrowed some elements from the Glam sound, but above all, the image, performing theatrical shows with pyrotechnics and special effects, wearing extravagant clothing, wigs, makeup, etc., focusing more on their image than on making real rock.

Due to the influence of the NWOBHM, a new movement began to emerge in California in 1980, initially called "Bay Area Trash Metal." Taking influence from Queen's aforementioned lightning-fast grooves, some bands sought to speed up their tempos, increasing the distortion of their guitars and basses, adding bass drums, snare drums, and cymbals to create massive drum sets, acquiring lightning-fast guitar riffs and bass solos thanks to the influence of the "Guitar Heroes" who emerged in the late 1970s, such as Satriani and Malmsteem, and using scratching techniques with their picks. This is how the "Big Four of Trash" emerged: Metallica, originally formed by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, and Dave Mustaine. Dave was kicked out of the band before recording their debut album and was replaced by Kirk Hammett. Mustaine, for his part, wasn't satisfied and founded Megadeth. The other bands that complete the "Big Four" are Anthrax and Slayer. The Trash movement began to move slowly and underground in the Californian college circuit, but it gained more and more followers. In my very personal opinion, the Trash albums by these bands during the 80s were the greatest revolution and the highest point in the evolution of Metal in the 40 years it has existed, but I insist, I'm no expert on the subject.

The nascent MTV was forced to cede small spaces to the videos of Glam Metal bands, and it became the main means of distribution, capable of sending an artist to fame overnight. We can literally say that "Video Killed The Radio Star." Incidentally, Trash bands operated at a much more underground level and in the early days, they didn't receive TV airplay. However, college and independent stations dedicated entirely to the genre multiplied at an astonishing rate throughout the US, and record labels began to inject more and more money into their respective bands.

By 1983, a metal boom was undeniable in the United States, something that had been resisted since the 1970s. Other glam metal bands emerged, such as Bon Jovi and Poison, although I prefer to call them pop metal, more concerned with their image and getting as many dollars and girls as possible through syrupy songs, bland power ballads, and a macho attitude that, frankly, didn't fit with that effeminate image. However, it was a commercial formula, more than a musical one, and it worked as such. Glam metal, or '80s pop metal, or hair metal (as trash-heads contemptuously called it), despite being aberrant, generated millions of dollars and popularized the genre on commercial radio and MTV.

By 1986-1987, trash bands already had millions of fans and released some of their best albums, such as Metallica's Master of the Puppets and ...And Justice for All; Slayer's Reign in Blood and Megadeth's Peace Sells, reaching gold and platinum, bringing this aggressive genre into the global spotlight for the first time.

Around this time, Guns N' Roses emerged, a band led by Axl Rose on vocals and the talented (we have to admit it) Slash on guitar. Despite the band's focus on hard rock, borrowing many elements used by Zeppelin 10 years earlier, and Slash's guitar playing featuring many blues elements, Guns was considered a kind of bridge between glam metal and trash. Thoughtful and well-thought-out and structured, Guns' image was closer to that of glam bands, but with a more defiant and aggressive attitude, similar to trash. In any case, their sound is unique and doesn't belong to either genre, but 1987's Appetite for Destruction, due to its power, was considered part of that Heavy Metal boom.

Pop metal began to decline in the early 1990s. In 1991, Metallica reached new heights with their self-titled album, better known as the "Black Album," in which they invested hundreds of hours in studio and production to create powerful songs that were also slightly more accessible to audiences outside of trash. And it worked out for them, selling trillions of records, reaching #1 on Billboard, deciding to record their first video for MTV, and completely mainstreaming metal. Metallica was, for a time, the most important band on the planet. This is a curious case for me, because while I accept that the Black Album is NOT the best of Metallica's discography musically, it's the one I like and listen to the most. Unfortunately, they couldn't maintain that balance, and in pursuit of a wider audience, their remaining work during the '90s became weaker and far from the virtuoso sound of the '80s, even cutting their hair for a cleaner image.

In '92, Megadeth would follow in the footsteps of success with Countdown to Extinction, reaching #2. Anthrax, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, and Testament also placed albums in the top 10. Trash fully emerged from the underground and went mainstream, kicking the butts of many of the Pop Metal bands that couldn't withstand the transition to the '90s and ended up collapsing or fading from the charts. However, after Trash's moment of glory, many bands continued with this more commercial direction and pushed the boundaries, moving away from virtuosity and their original audience. Around '94-95, many claimed that Metal was dead... with some reason.

After Trash was stifled by more commercial trends and Glam became extinct due to the '90s' inability to tolerate clowns, the genre began to merge and divide in the 1990s, influencing other genres. Thus, Alternative Metal emerged. The first band to receive the nickname was Jane's Addiction, but many other bands, such as System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Tool, Faith No More, and White Zombie, were categorized within this subgenre and produced very good material.

Grunge developed separately, borrowing more elements from Punk than Metal, but many consider it a subgenre of the latter, or at least many believe that Alice In Chains would also be part of Alternative Metal. For me, it's the purest exponent of Grunge, but we'll mention it anyway.

In the mid-90s, after the decline of the '80s masters, a new generation emerged that blended elements of trash and hip hop, giving rise to Nu Metal, which is almost worse than Glam. This is how bands like Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Deftones, and Korn emerged, aimed at a teenage, idiot audience influenced by MTV.

Finally, progressive metal emerged in the '80s with bands that fused the intricate structures of King Crimson and Rush, making conceptual albums or albums in parts, with songs divided into movements and such, but they added some metal characteristics, enhancing and creating this quite interesting fusion. The most representative bands were Queensryche, Symphony X, and Dream Theater, which is the one I've followed most closely and seems to me to be the greatest conjunction of virtuosos of all time. I hope to soon start reviewing the albums of this tremendous band.

Well, basically. Metal dried up in the mid-90s, but it has branched and divided into currents and genres that keep it alive. Furthermore, Metallica's spectacular return in 2008 with their Death Magnetic vindicated disastrous works like Loads and St. Anger and reclaimed the trash audience that had felt betrayed, bringing Trash back to the forefront. Of the genres that emerged, I don't really know many and can't go into depth. In the "Best of..." lists, many of those mentioned are virtuosos on their instruments or with Heavy Metal vocals in any of its forms, but for that reason, there are often bands I didn't even know existed and they demand that I include names as if it were my obligation to know everything. And no, no. Suggestions are welcome, and I've discovered some very pleasant surprises, but this isn't a Metal blog, but a Rock blog.

To conclude this review, I'll add a list of some subgenres and some of their best-known exponents:

Trash Metal: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Anthrax, Sepultura.

Death Metal: Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death and Obituary.

Black Metal: Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory and Darkthrone.

Doom Metal: Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and Candlemass.

Power Metal: Yngwe Malmsteen, Helloween, Manowar, Stratovarius and Dragonforce.

Synphonic Power Metal: Kamelot, Rhapsody of Fire, Nightwish y Sonata Arctica.

Progressive Metal: Dream Theater , Queensrÿche, Fates Warning and Symphony X.

Folk Metal: Mägo de Oz, Korpiklaani, Folkearth and Moonsorrow.

Goth Metal: Lacrimosa, Therion, Haggard, Tristania, Theatre of Tragedy.

Alternative Metal: Janes Addiction, Pantera, White Zombie, System of a Down, Faith

No More Primus, Tool and Rage Against the Machine.