Maybe you just want to justify that Metallica hoodie you bought at H&M when you’re not actually a fan or maybe your dark and wet mornings need a new soundtrack. Plug in your headphones and click here as Felix Fridays takes you on a heavy metal odyssey that will empower your darkest soul!
Heavy metal represents one of the broadest and most loyal fan groups in the world as dedicated followers share in a common language which a lot of people find hard to understand. This playlist takes a snapshot across the forefront of metal over the short few decades it has existed – an introduction for curious novices and an instant compilation for hardened fans. The rule is just one song per band so you can get the best overview of the sounds and styles out there.
Heavy Metal History
The prelude to heavy metal came in 1964 in the surprising form of You Really Got Me by the Kinks when one of the guitarists (which one is disputed to this day) slashed the speaker cone of his amp and taped it back together with board pins. The roaring result was the first use of artificial distortion shortly before the blues rock popularised by Led Zeppelin set the tone that would come to define hard rock. In 1970 the first true heavy metal song was released as Black Sabbath, on the debut album Black Sabbath by the band… Black Sabbath. The Birmingham-based musicians tried to recreate the sense of classic horror films in music and their haunting sound was part due to the guitarist Tony Iommi losing the tips of his fingers in an industrial accident. His strings were instead held by his DIY prosthetics of a melted-down Fairy liquid bottle wrapped in leather.
Later in the ’70s Venom is credited with separating black and thrash metal from the more mainstream path of hard rock. Iron Maiden formed one of the leading groups of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with Bruce Dickinson’s operatic style making a classic sound that lacks the harshness of some heavier breeds of metal.
Thrash and Other deviations
Metallica represents one of the biggest global metal successes ever but owed much of their sound to Motorhead – the former’s drummer Lars Ulrich even forming an enduring friendship with the late Lemmy Kilmister while just a teenager. They formed a key corner in the “Big Four” bands of thrash metal alongside Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth – the latter established by Metallica’s guitarist Dave Mustaine after he was sacked for his disruptive drug and alcohol abuse.
The 1990s brought the famous grunge sound of Nirvana as well as the first major fusion of hip hop with metal by Rage Against the Machine. That sealed the fate of mainstream metal to its half-brother “nu-metal” that, although regretted by many purist fans, has become one of the genre’s most popular forms with bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
After that our playlist briefly samples more niche varieties of metal including the progressive blackened death metal of Akercocke. Post-millennium metal has continued to grow and stages across the world continue to host new and upcoming talent with a power and energy that touches the rawest emotions of its fans.
by Stewart Vickers
The post Felix Fridays: Ultimate Metal Classics appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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