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As death metal rose from thrash metal, and playing as fast as possible became the vogue for the heaviest bands, some musicians decided to take things slowly and revive doom metal, a branch of metal that had practically died with the end of Ozzy’s stint in Black Sabbath. Witchfinder General, Trouble (leader of the white, or Christian, metal movement), and Saint Vitus were probably among the best bands since Black Sabbath to take a slow approach to metal, with heavy riffs and a bluesy influence. Unfortunately, despite its innovative style and original twin guitar approach, the quasi-religious Trouble never quite obtained the recognition it deserved and the rest of the scene did likewise.
Later on more bands would continue with the advances
of Witchfynde, Angel Witch (which, along with Witchfinder Genera
l
and Witchfynde, had been part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal), and the
dying scene of doom, and would eventually join the ranks and introduce a more
operatic style in singing, as evidenced in the legendary and innovative Candlemass’
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Pentagram was there too, along with others like
the Obsessed and Dream Death (to later turn into Penance), but the doom metal
movement was not to flourish until the coming of two bands composed of former
members of death, thrash and punk bands: Paradise Lost, and, more importantly,
Cathedral. Paradise Lost, on their album Gothic, incorporated orchestral keyboards
and guitar licks into their music while maintaining a general haunting tone
and impulsing the so-called "doomdeath" sound. Cathedral, meanwhile,
seemed to revive a more modern Black Sabbath, which progressed from growling,
death metal-like vocals to screeching eerie howls. With the moderate success
of th
ese two
bands, a slew of new bands came to being, and doom metal was suddenly affected
by several influences: orchestral movements, operatic vocals, death metal heaviness
and singing, and female singers; but never losing the slow, eerie and emotional
side of things. The death-like Sorrow, Crematory, and Winter; the Sabbath-like
Count Raven, Sleep, Internal Void, and Iron Man; the more orthodox Solitude
Aeturnus and Memento Mori; the evolving My Dying Bride and Anathema and several
others began to rise in the metal world. However, an important sector of doom
metal has been dying out lately, because of a general lack of interest from
the metal crowd.
Out from the doom metal scene and the Misfits came
Glenn Danzig, the man responsible for Samhain and Danzig. The first w
as
much heavier than the punk music of the Misfits, yet it shared much of the aforementioned
band’s shock imagery. Shortly after the release of November Coming Fire, Danzig
disbanded Samhain and created Danzig, which’s self-titled debut album consisted
of a variety of feelings which ranged from haunting to melodic to powerful,
all circling about the soulful p
ersona
of Glenn Danzig. The unique musical style, reminiscent at times of early Black
Sabbath, along with its openly Satanic image, lasted during four outstanding
albums; only to change direction after the industrial metal revolution of the
Nineties. Along with the aforementioned bands, Loudness and King Diamond, then
formerly of Mercyful Fate, would maintain a more traditional heavy metal sound.
King Diamond moved progressively away from speed metal and gradually incorporated
his grunts and high pitched squeals increasingly into his music, while the Japanese
Loudness released constantly powerful albums throughout the Eighties, such as
Thunder In the East and Soldier of Fortune. Others like GWAR, Haunted Garage,
and Green Jelly expanded on the rock shock approach by worrying more about customes,
stage shows and videos than about music, alienating censorship organizations
along with bands like the controversial and infamous W.A.S.P.
As heavy metal began diversifying itself continuously,
certain musicians would decide to relieve its characteristic vocals to a sec
ond
plane, or to completely eliminate them. Among these were guitar virtuosos Joe
Satriani, his student Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen. The first, often called
"the guitarist’s guitarist," created masterworks like Surfing With the Alien
and The Extremist; the second has an illustrious career, having played with
the likes of Frank Zappa and Whitesnake, and later working on his solo projects;
meanwhile, Malmsteen is recognized for his heavy and constant classical music
influence and swift dexterity, while criticized because of his ego and extroverted
persona. Meanwhile, others like bassist Stu Hamm, Scorpions drummer Herman Rarebell,
and guitarists Eric Johnson (pertaining more to the blues than to heavy metal),
Steve Morse, and Richie Kotzen have slowly created a name for themselves by
the release of solo albums and working with other bands and musicians, either
temporary or permanently. The prominence of instrumental variations of metal
has gradually grown through the years; however, only few of its exponents have
achieved wide commercial and media exposure.
During the heyday of thrash and pop metal, two bands
became responsible for holding progressive metal’s ground: Queensrÿche and Fates
Warning. With Rush approaching a softer sound during most of the Eighties, and
progressive rock having lost much of its popularity during the late Seventies,
progressive metal had lost most of its appeal. Queensrÿche failed to obtain
commercial success with prodigious releases like The Warning and Rage For Order,
but the single "Eyes Of a Stranger" propelled Operation: Mindcrime into gold
status quickly and cemented the group’s reputation. Empire would later obtain
platinum (1,000,000 albums sold) sales through the heavy rotation of "Silent
Lucidity," while Fates Warning maintained a low but strong profile on albums
like Awaken the Guardian and Perfect Symmetry. Other bands, such as Crimson
Glory with its melodic progressive metal and King’s X with its combinations
of vocal harmonies with heavy riffs (later made heavier by the Galactic Cowboys)
would also tread the path of musical complexity, therefore contributing to an
important resurrection of progressive metal which culminated in the 1993 release
of Rush’s Counterparts, featuring the band’s return to a heavier direction.
While Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, and Rush were creating
complex music backed by intellectual lyrics which ran the gamut from philosophy
to science fiction and beyond, several young bands began what would eventually
be known as ha
rdcore;
the marriage of heavy metal and punk rock. Hardcore music was somewhat comparable
to punk rock in its simple approach and politically minded lyrics, while borrowing
a considerable portion of heavy metal’s crunch and arrangements. Washington
DC and New York City provided the genre with a majoritary portion of its bands.
Among them was the Bad Brains, perhaps the most intense hardcore band ever;
blending jazz, reggae, metal, and a large portion of hardcore, in order to produce
bona-fide hardcore albums such as I Against I and Rock For Light. Meanwhile,
Los Angeles’ Black Flag was setting the world on fire with its "I’ve heard it
all before, don’t wanna hear it again!" ethic, Henry Rollins’ manic roars, and
Greg Ginn’s dissonant guitarwork which made up their classic Damaged. The Dead
Kennedys were to epitomize the righteous political stance of hardcore with Jello
Biafra leading the way, while Minor Threat stood against all conformism on its
exhilarating live shows. Others like Circle Jerks, D.O.A., Hüsker Dü, Murphy’s
Law, Reagan Youth, Antidote, Agnostic Front, War Zone, Gorilla Biscuits, the
Cro-Mags, Youth of Today, Sick Of It All, Laughing Hyenas, and Life of Agony
kept adding fuel to the fire throughout the genre’s explosion, which provided
yet another sharp contrast to the reigning pop metal scene.
As Black Flag and the Bad Brains were continuously attracting the wariness of police departments all across the United States, several bands decided to take hardcore even further into heavy metal domains, thus creating metalcore, or crossover. Discharge had begun the turmoil on Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing in the early Eighties only to spearhead a movement which would have its brightest moments throughout the rest of the decade. D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) would release albums like Crossover and Definition while Corrosion of Conformity created Eye For an Eye and Animosity, both bands attracting the attention of hardcore and heavy metal fans only to pave the way for S.O.D (Stormtroopers of Death). The ironic Speak English Or Die is perhaps the album most representative of crossover yet. Featuring singer Billy Milano along with Anthrax and ex-Nuclear Assault members, S.O.D. was the greatest metalcore band of all times, and even today a reunion tour is highly requested. However, crossover has yet to reach the commercial heights it attained during the Eighties, while hardcore is still somewhat prominent through bands like Fugazi, the Jesus Lizard, Madball, and Biohazard.
During the last half of the Eighties, yet another
branch of heavy metal began to rise out from the underground into comme
rcial
circles. Industrial metal, which’s most important feature was the use of electronic
instruments and sounds such as drum machines and synthesizers, had been around
since the early Eighties with outfits like the innovative and legendary the
Swans and Killing Joke. But it evolved much quicker through the last half of
the decade, through the efforts of bands like Skinny Puppy, Controlled Bleeding
(which would later produce Skin Chamber), the heavy and aggressive KMFDM (Kein
Mehrheit für die Mitleid), Cop Shoot Cop, and Godflesh, all remaining often
within a dark musical spectrum. The final breakthrough, however, came about
with Al Jourgensen’s Ministry, which after outstanding albums like Twitch and
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste came around full circle on Psalm 69: The
Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs. The previously released "Jesus Built
My Hotrod" had earned considerable video rotation, and songs like "Just One
Fix" helped maintain the initial momentum of industrial metal.
| Prologue | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Main | Part VI | Part VII |
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