Classic Metal
Like a soaring phoenix burning in the night sky, metal came to life from the ashes of the postinfluenced rock of the time. While these bands provided much of the groundwork of later heavy metal music, heavy metal wasn't truly born until a bunch of weirdos from Birmingham got together and called themselves Black Sabbath.
Black Sabbath rocked. They brought a big ominous thundercloud to the feelfingered "devil horns" salute that is still in use today.
As Sabbath faltered due to personal and professional issues, punk rock music came to dominate the angry British music scene. However, in the late 70s/early 80s, a new wave of British heavy metal came to the fore. Dominated by bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, they pushed their instruments and vocals harder and faster, broke away from the traditional bluesjazz structures in favor of a more punk rock sound, and paved the way for the speed/thrash metal rise of American bands like Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth.
Breakin' The Law, Breakin' The Law!
I've written most of the guides on heavy metal music and ''nothing'' has stirred up more debate among my colleagues and me than where the boundaries of hard rock ends and heavy metal begins. While bands like Led Zeppelin, Kiss, AC/DC, Queen, Deep Purple, and Blue Oyster Cult have harder, edgier sounds, they are either too structured along traditional blues and rock and roll riffs or they straddle too many genres to really fit the metal mold. Hashing over a list of recommendations was a bloody, toothnail process, but the albums listed below are fantastic places to get started.
Also, RIP Ronnie James Dio. ''Holy Diver'' still rocks my face off.
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Metal Music
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Speed Metal
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Symphonic Metal
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Power Metal
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Death Metal
