In the 1980s heavy metal in all its weird and wonderful forms morphed into a genuinely international phenomenon. This was true of artists making inroads into mainstream charts and hearts, and of the underground movement, which propagated itself through tape-trading and word of mouth. Sarcofago, a little known metal outfit from Brazil were to gain... Continue Reading →

By the mid-1980s thrash metal had captured the hearts and minds of the metal community, it had established itself as a legitimate musical variation on heavy guitar music with many of the originators achieving legitimate mainstream success. The lyrics were typically obsessed with justice, comments on the threat of nuclear war and the coming apocalypse,... Continue Reading →

Disparate artists across Europe and the Americas, growing up on a strict diet of Motorhead, punk, NWOBHM, and even some classical music, were in turn picking up guitars themselves (often for the first time) to emulate these musicians and hopefully surpass them, pushing the boundaries of just how noisy guitar music could be. This abrasive... Continue Reading →

With most histories tracing the line from Black Sabbath through to the extreme metal of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it’s easy to forget those artists that held on to one of the original credos of old school heavy metal, the slow droning powerchords and apocalyptic lyrics that led to what would be known... Continue Reading →

I can ignore Iron Maiden for the purposes of this feature. I can ignore Metallica. I can ignore Manowar, Megadeth, Anthrax, Queensryche, and that other band what got pretty famous. Enough has been written about these artists by fans far more familiar than myself. Enough has been written about Slayer, but so pivotal were they... Continue Reading →

Listening to classic thrash metal of the mid 1980s, it becomes apparent that it really had more in common with punk artists like D.R.I. than it did with the heavy metal of the previous decade. The aggression, the speed, the atonal riffs formed exclusively from power chords with frantic structureless soloing, the socially conscious lyrics,... Continue Reading →

And its discontents Any semi functioning society enshrines a fundamental respect for the individual in law, it is enshrined through the intuitions of its individual members (the majority at least), it pumps through the veins of its institutions and culture. This could be a respect for the individual’s need to fulfill short and long term... Continue Reading →

By the mid-1980s heavy metal had become a legitimate global phenomena, and like any other counter culture, when its appeal stretches too far, it simply becomes culture. At this point there was a clear distinction between heavy metal artists who made no secret of their aim to garner as much fandom as possible - the... Continue Reading →