Text by Eliberto Batista
There are albums and then there are albums . I write this because there are materials throughout the vast world of metal that have reshaped the future; there are albums that simply changed everything. And this is where the idea for this text comes from: to mention some albums that have made this musical medium even more vast and complete. Of course, it's impossible to mention them all – and many will probably comment that I forgot this one or that one – especially since each work, single, and song, in a way, influenced an entire generation. It's music overflowing the very limits it created and "blowting the minds" of a person, or a group, and why not the globe. The intention here is to bring some of the main examples that achieved this feat. That said, let's go!
It's impossible to start this list without mentioning the masterminds behind it all; those who created the darker side of music: Black Sabbath . The contribution of Ozzy , Tony , Bill , and Geezer is countless and has been recounted for a long time – but it's essential to mention these guys. An interesting fact, often overlooked, is that, musically speaking, Tony Iommi invented the power chord (that looser note widely used later) due to a lack of fingers. This, of course, without mentioning the famous tritone , the devil's note .
An invented chord and a note associated with the devil… done! Contribution made. The first album ( Black Sabbath ), with its dark atmosphere, macabre themes, and well-crafted chords, would change the entire history of music – forever. It's no wonder that many consider Sabbath the "fathers of heavy metal ".
This label ends up excluding bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple .
(I personally believe that Black Sabbath invented metal because of its dark and mysterious, almost diabolical, atmosphere – with all due respect to the "subliminal messages" in Stairway to Heaven, haha ).
Finally, Black's second album, even while abandoning the dark themes, addresses issues related to war, violence, and cruelty – even due to the historical context of the time. And tell me, how many bands have you heard that talk precisely about war, violence, and cruelty?
Around the same time as Black Sabbath, another band emerged that would also redefine the course of heavy music: Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister 's Motörhead .
Lemmy contributed musically, of course – as I will discuss later – but he also helped shape the idea of the rock star that permeates people's minds. The triad: sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll never made more sense than in the life of the creator of Motörhead.
But let's talk about music. The album in question is Overkill . The drums used in this heavy (and beautiful) work contained an element that would influence an entire generation. I'm talking about the famous double bass drum pedal used by Phil Taylor . The sound of the drums is, in fact, different from anything that had been done until then and gave a heavier feel to a band that was already taking its first steps in that direction.
The most significant contribution of the double bass drum pedal was to directly create thrash metal . Yes! The Bay Area bands went crazy for Taylor's drumming. Lars Ulrich would later state that the double bass drum pedal changed his life and, of course, helped create Metallica .
(An aside: some people, and I include myself in this group, point out that "Sinner" by Judas Priest , due to its famous drum beat, also influenced the creation of thrash metal .)
And speaking of Metallica, how can we not mention James Hetfield with their incredibly heavy Master of Puppets ?
The album's contribution is immeasurable. It was the cornerstone of thrash metal – although, in that sense, I consider Kill 'Em All . The themes, the bass lines, the memorable solos; all of this helped build a new landscape, not only for the band members themselves, but also for everyone in the Bay Area and, of course, the world. Germany itself is included in this category.
But here we're going to focus on a particular band that felt shaken by Master of Puppets : Pantera .
Yes, for those who know the history, the early Pantera… well… wasn't exactly THE Pantera. A poorly founded mix of glam metal and God knows what else. However, when Master was released, the members of Pantera realized they had to recreate their sound and, to make a long story short, they released the incredible Cowboys from Hell .
Cowboys from Hell , to use a cliché, was a watershed moment in Pantera's career – and, obviously, for the whole world. But Pantera wouldn't just stay influenced. No! They also made their contribution to the world through Vulgar Display of Power .
The influence of this album was the creation, perhaps unintentionally, of the metal groove Phil Anselmo 's vocals are evident and would change a lot of the sound in the following years.
Ah! One additional note: there are stories that recount that James Hetfield had shown some guitar lines and a demo of what would become …And Justice for All to the Pantera band. This was before the album's release. Most likely, this musicality, along with Master of Puppets , influenced Pantera to rethink their musical style.
And since we're talking about Metallica, why not mention Megadeth ? Well, one of the biggest influences on Mr. Mustaine , for me, is Rust in Peace .
Rust in Peace – an impeccable work, it must be said – helped create a faster and more furious offshoot of what was already fast and furious: speed thrash metal . That's it. Weight and speed have never been so precise in defining an album as in this case.
This album would take Megadeth to another level and lay the groundwork for bands to become faster; it wasn't just thrash metal . It was something so well-crafted and, at the same time, so fast, that it would define an entire scene.
(Yes, I'm a big fan of this album. There are albums that I consider perfect from beginning to end. Rust in Peace is a prime example. Painkiller is another.)
And since we've mentioned thrash , let's close this section with what would be the extreme: Slayer . But mentioning Slayer is incomplete if we don't talk about another band that influenced Tom Araya : Venom .
Still active today, Venom, with their debut album Welcome to Hell , forged a new path for metal; a more extremist and very dark one. It would be fair to say that this was the beginning of black metal .
The satanic theme wasn't new – after all, Sabbath themselves had already done it – but the way the trio did it was what set them apart. And it was so striking that it would influence the fledgling Slayer of that time.
Slayer is an extreme band. And that's directly due to Venom's sound.
Well, Slayer recreated Venom's sound, but of course, they forged their own identity. This breakthrough – and many will disagree with my humble opinion – happened with Hell Awaits.
I write about Hell because the sound, the themes, the imagery expressed there, transcended America and reached another, previously remote place – Norway.
death and black metal (and all its countless offshoots) imported the sound of Venom, the Hell Awaits of Slayer, and the corpse paint of Kiss , and well… that's what came of it .
Mayhem and company worked at the extreme end of the musical spectrum and helped create their own identity in that regard.
We explored heavy, thrash, speed, black metal … Therefore, we can't leave out the band that helped tell the whole story of power metal . Who am I talking about? Rainbow ! The Rainbow that would give the world its masterpiece: Rising .
In other news: the first two albums helped to outline what would become known as power metal . It's unknown if the guys from Rainbow were the first to talk about epic themes (most likely not), but they certainly laid the groundwork – and laid it well, it must be said.
Rising is, without a doubt, the pinnacle. “Stargazer” perfectly exemplifies this; anyone who loves Rainbow, par excellence, loves the song “Stargazer.” The virtuoso solos (present in all the songs) imposed a new landscape on the world of metal.
To conclude this text, I have to talk about Sepultura . I need to because, besides their great musical legacy, Sepultura elevated national pride before the world through their metal. In Global Metal , a documentary by Sam Dumm , it's said that Brazil, today, is a country without a tradition in heavy metal but that, nevertheless, it gave the world one of the greatest bands of this style, Sepultura. And this became very clear with Roots (well, I'm a defender of Beneath the Remains … but Roots is extremely well-crafted and creative). That's it.
Writing about albums and their influences is a complex and abstract task, but the above has been a thorough exploration of important works for equally important events. As mentioned, there are albums and albums.
Stay strong!!
*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.