The rise of metal in 10 albums

Oct 30, 2023

There would always be more than rock and roll than just a bunch of chords. Although the genre's early days may have seemed dangerous, with acts like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard lighting up the stage, there was always room for other artists to push the envelope regarding what was acceptable for mainstream culture. That meant things were about to get heavier and acts like Black Sabbath and Metallica paved the way for a new breed of music known as metal.

Though not every artist knew it at the time, their records were pioneering the concept of metal music, taking rock and roll's building blocks and injecting a lot more attitude into the mix. While not every one of the artists in question necessarily identified as a metal artist in the true sense of the word, their albums had a much broader impact on the music world at large, with fans afterwards discovering their albums and making bands that would become metal mainstays.

Throughout each album, the listener can also see the different facets of metal evolving. While some of them may have started as a distinct offshoot of the blues, what they did with the genre later on gave rise to a host of different styles of music, some of which are still going strong to this day.

Despite metal not having the greatest relationship with the mainstream, each album encapsulates the spirit of what metal would become, from the loud guitars to screeching vocals to that subtle hint of danger that creeps into the background of every track. Rock and roll may have lasted a long time, but metal music was where fans started to tap into their primal side.

As omnipresent as metal is these days, there was a long time when it didn't have a name to wrap everything around. Although The Rolling Stones may have songs that were heavy for the time, there was something different about metal that spoke to the aggressive side of one's brain that made them want to headbang. And if it was one album that marks ground zero for the entire movement, it happened when Black Sabbath first ducked into the recording studio.

Looking to document what they were doing live, Sabbath whistled through a handful of their classic blues covers with a gothic twist. Although there are bluesy phrases laced throughout every track, the tone is drastically different, with Tony Iommi unlocking the spawn of Satan between his fingers to create demented riffs like the title track. The lyrics also took on macabre subjects, like Geezer Butler writing a love song interpreted by Lucifer on the single ‘NIB’.

While Sabbath were perplexed about starting any new movement, their unapologetic wall of noise struck a nerve with everyone looking for something a bit edgier than standard Flower Power, adopting the same scraggly hair and trying to get their six-strings to thunder as Iommi's did. Sabbath could have easily stayed as a standard blues band, but they accidentally started a new genre without even trying.

Most of the greatest rock bands start with a decent blues lick to get them going. If someone were to ask any aspiring rock guitarist what the first thing they learn outside of ‘Smoke on the Water’, it's usually the barebones blues shuffle that makes them feel cool when plonking out songs about love and heartache. Led Zeppelin was never that far away from the blues starting, but Jimmy Page's vision took the genre to heavier places it had never been before.

While Zeppelin's debut precedes Sabbath's by a year, their influence on what metal would become cannot be overstated. Despite having a fair bit of acoustic material in their arsenal, the sound of John Bonham's drums matched with Page's vocabulary for guitar licks, gave the world the bizarro version of The Yardbirds, making the blues sound like the oncoming apocalypse over six-minute epics like ‘Dazed and Confused’.

Robert Plant's vocals led the charge, with a feral shriek that would become emblematic of what metal music was supposed to be on future metal legends like Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson. Zeppelin may not have self-identified as a metal band throughout their history, but the sounds of their debut captured the moment when the ground started to shake.

Out of the stone age of metal, Judas Priest were one of the first to wear the label on their sleeves. Even though most other bands like Deep Purple were playing songs heavier than most, the sounds of dark guitar riffs with no prior blues antecedents were solidified with Priest, being proud to fly the flag throughout the ‘70s. After years of honing their craft on every album, British Steel marks the first time when every element of their sound clicked.

Recorded in the same house John Lennon lived in to create his album Imagine, Priest worked daily to create their unholy hymns of doom. Outside of the traditional stomper tracks like ‘Grinder’, this marked one of the first times metal songs could get played on the radio, with fans loving the singalong choruses on tracks like ‘Breaking the Law’ and ‘Living After Midnight’.

Once casual fans popped open the record, the band had something much heavier inside, paving the way for future offshoots of metal on tracks like ‘Metal Gods’, complete with percussion that sounds like a robotic monster stomping across the Earth. Priest had found their congregation by the time of British Steel, now it was up to the modern missionaries to spread the gospel of metal to the rest of the world.

In the wake of bands like Judas Priest, the British hard rock scene began to take notes. As bands were getting heavier, a strong scene for underground metal music began taking shape, with future trailblazers like Diamond Head and Angel Witch scoring their first hits off the back of Priest. Though other European acts like Scorpions and Def Leppard would have their fair share of hits at the time, it took Iron Maiden to turn metal into a headbanging lifestyle.

As the movement began, replacing original vocalist Paul Di’Anno with Bruce Dickinson was a match made in Hell. Dickinson possessed the trademark raid siren pipes to blare over the searing guitar riffs. Although Dickinson's vocal range was one of a kind, this would become the archetype for what singers were supposed to equal, with every other metal band of the ‘80s trying to out-high-note each other.

An impressive vocal range is only worth its salt with great songs, and Steve Harris’ trademark gallop across like ‘Run to the Hills’ gave fans the adrenaline rush of a lifetime, alongside more epic material like ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’. Whereas metal was starting to garner mainstream attention here and there, Iron Maiden's global takeover assured any fairweather fan that metal was here to stay.

Any casual music fan might have a bit of a strange adjustment period getting into metal music. For all of the excitement the genre can stir up, there are always a few people sceptical of what the genre can do outside playing at insanely fast tempos and screaming at the top of one's lungs. Though Van Halen may have had both those attributes in spades, their debut had something none of the other metalheads had at the time: fun.

When listening to the first Van Halen record, fans are treated to a non-stop party all the way through, with Eddie Van Halen becoming one of the best guitar players in the world overnight thanks to songs like ‘Eruption’. Right alongside him was David Lee Roth, transforming himself into a cartoon character onstage, with charisma practically dripping out of every orifice. Once fans listened to the songs, there was more than just standard heavy metal mastery.

Sure, the licks may have been intense as hell, but Van Halen were still as much entertainers as they were metal gods, playing the perfect music to listen to when going out on the town for the weekend and wanting to get into as much trouble as possible. AC/DC and Aerosmith may have suggested this kind of sleazy hard rock in the ‘70s, but Van Halen were the first band to pair that attitude with breakneck intensity.

For all of the great qualities of Van Halen, their rise to the top was an extremely mixed blessing for metal. As bands started to get picked up off The Sunset Strip, some of the more superficial bands in metal started rising to the forefront, getting one decent band like Motley Crue out of 12 flashes in the pan like Warrant. Metallica never concerned themselves with looking good, though, and their third album got them massive success without a single to their name.

Following in the footsteps of legends like Sabbath, these metal maniacs from The Bay Area sculpted an epic on every single track off of Master of Puppets, laying one insane riff after another just like bricks on a skyscraper. Although the impressive runtimes of the album were intimidating, the songs never got boring, with James Hetfield's knack for melody always giving the listener a new hook, whether it's the solo section of the title track or the insane gallop towards certain death on ‘Disposable Heroes’.

With the rest of the scene looking to catch up, some of the most intense metal bands in the world began bubbling up to the surface, marrying the frantic energy of punk rock with the complex structure of metal to form what most now call thrash. Metallica may have crossed over to radio later on with The Black Album, but this was as pure as their sound would ever get.

For all of the great havoc metal wreaked in the ‘80s, the ‘90s ended the genre fairly quickly. Although the grunge revolution is blamed for killing hair metal in the early ‘90s, most metal bands weren't so lucky, either scrambling to change with the times or pursuing other projects. All while acts like Nirvana, were lighting up the charts, a band from Texas was showing the rest of the world what the next phase of metal would look like.

Though Pantera had started life as a glam-metal band, their transition into heavier fare with Phil Anselmo made for some of the harshest music ever. For all of the great licks coming from Dimebag Darrell, Anselmo's roar carried the album, even infusing some tortured screams into the back half of the song ‘Cemetery Gates’. The real game-changer behind Pantera was how it made the crowd move.

Based on the sounds of artists like ZZ Top, almost every song on Cowboys From Hell has a strange swing, as if some Texas swing band decided to switch genres. Metal might not have had much to be proud of in the age of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, but Pantera was still flying the flag through the thick of it.

Alternative music has never been that far away from metal. Both genres have been about deviating from the normal confines of rock music, and both have used loud guitars and inner angst to drive most of their frustrated tendencies through music. After the age of grunge fell in 1994, something heavier was brewing a few miles south of Seattle.

Down in California, Korn were putting together the first nu-metal sounds, with Jonathan Davis possessing a borderline-atonal cadence on songs like ‘Blind’. For all of the great riffs that were being pumped out behind him, Davis's strange mix of singing, talking and rapping his vocals made fans want to tap into their own inner feelings, creating songs that were more in tune with the disturbing sides of life rather than metal-god heroism.

Korn were also the first to utilise detuned guitars to the nth degree, tuning them down to unimaginable levels to create a guttural smack in the face whenever their riffs kicked in. Though this album would eventually spawn a handful of regrettable acts like Limp Bizkit and Hollywood Undead, Korn's debut was what happened when metalheads started to search the deepest corners of their psyche.

One of the trademarks behind metal music is just how shocking it can be for the uninitiated. Back when Black Sabbath was starting to play their first handful of songs, a majority of the audience was horrified to see a bunch of British lads singing about the wonders of Satan. Though Sabbath was used to giving the audience a decent shock or two, Slipknot was looking to unleash war whenever they went onstage.

Donning foreboding masks and playing at breakneck speeds, Slipknot's debut was intense upon its first release. Though there had been more intense bands in the world of black metal and doom metal, Slipknot was the first to bring these macabre ideas to the mainstream, as Corey Taylor shrieked his lungs out about all of the problems that were afflicting society and biding his time to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who stood in his way.

For all the ways that the masks could have been cheesy, Slipknot won out in the end, becoming the ultimate outlet for youthful aggression across the world and finding their Maggot army that created the biggest moshpits known to man at the time. Nu metal may have started to run its course, but Slipknot didn't need turntables and scratching to get their point across. It was all about causing as much mayhem on record as possible.

Every generation of metalheads has that one band that helped get them into the genre. When the nu-metal craze started, though, that band became a bit shameful, with great acts like Deftones only scratching the mainstream in favour of more ridiculous acts like Limp Bizkit. For all the awkward rappers singing about their problems at home, it took a collective out of California to make everything fall into place.

Whereas most other nu-metal acts sacrificed good singing for a rapper, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda gave Linkin Park a unique edge, blending the sounds of singing and screaming with a flow that worked well over chugging guitars. Without any profanity to speak of, Hybrid Theory spoke to legions of kids who dealt with their troubles at home, from singing about not being understood to having to struggle with matters of depression day after day constantly.

While metal had already been around for a while, Linkin Park's debut crossed genre boundaries, having equal space with boy bands on MTV and earning the group a Diamond certification on their first record. Where once metal had been the antithesis of the mainstream media and the spawn of all things evil with rock music, the rest of the world had embraced one of the genre's kings with no questions asked by the new millennium.