If the original explosion of punk in 1977 gave NWOBHM a renewed energy and zeal, then the punk-plus versions that followed in the form of thrash and hardcore punk from both sides of the Atlantic would prove to be an essential element in crafting extreme metal of the 1980s. Add the hyper speed and aggression... Continue Reading →

The year is 1982. Heavy metal has taken over the world, Iron Maiden are about to blossom into the well-oiled global touring machine we know and love today. The original impetuous of punk may have run out of steam, but the music and ideas have morphed into new and unexpected forms; from post punk, to... Continue Reading →

By 1980 some interesting developments had occurred, developments that were to prove to be essential for heavy metal to stay relevant and fresh into the new decade. The most important external factor was punk. I often view the punk movement as a catalyst of sorts. Whatever value it held in its own right, as protest... Continue Reading →

In recent months the temptation to do a self-indulgent top 100 list has become overwhelming. The problem with lists is that they either become a musical biography of the writer, based mostly on albums that were significant to them at the time with anecdotal tales related to the music, the appeal of which depends completely... Continue Reading →

Listening to the new Queens of the Stone Age album ‘Villains’, it is apparent that a desire for exhibiting the so called virtues of ‘progression’ and ‘musical exploration into new and uncharted waters’ has - for these musicians - completely taken the helm from the more traditional catalyst of creativity: the undefinable artistic impulse behind... Continue Reading →

​Our young hearts are born with grief, And we have paid the penalty of truth, A season, of our stolen youth, Shall teach old hearts to break Between the years 1845 and 1852 some 2 million Irish people left Ireland in search of a better life abroad. The chief motivation for this mass displacement of people was intolerable... Continue Reading →

Rammstein’s Mutter was essentially the sound track to my mid-teens. It rarely left my stereo. For the Kerrang! TV generation they were something of a staple. The interesting thing about them as a popular phenomenon is the same line many of the more metallic industrial bands must walk. Too metallic for goths and cyber-goths, too... Continue Reading →

So I guess it's time to say a thing or two about alcohol. One thing that distinguished heavy metal and its offshoots in the late 1970s and early 80s from its fellow counter-cultures was the departure from human centred themes in the lyrics. Metal was not the first nor the only form of contemporary music... Continue Reading →

In order to survive in the day to day, we possess a wealth of behavioural norms carefully cultivated to navigate the complex world of the civilian. To engross oneself in the world of metal is to temporarily take leave of these things. Part of the point of subcultures is their offer of an alternative and... Continue Reading →