By 2003 I knew a bit about the musical genre Heavy Metal, but it was only when I read a book, Sound of the Beast by Ian Christe, that was released that year, that I realised how little I actually did know about it. I’d grown up listening to Black Sabbath, and was familiar with some of the big metal bands like Metallica, but boy, the book really opened up a new world for me. I read about bands and metal sub genres I’d never heard of before: like Black Metal, Power Metal, Nu Metal, Goth Metal, NWOBHM, Death Metal, and bands like Kreator, Emperor, Helloween, Morbid Death, and so many others. I at least knew Thrash Metal, because that was Metallica, and I guess I’d read about the controversial Cannibal Corpse, a Death Metal band, but that was it. The book gave good descriptions of these sub genres too. Death Metal was characterised by gruff ‘cookie monster’ vocals and gore themes. Black Metal, a somewhat loose term, often lead with shrieky creature-of-the-night vocals and almost operatic music. New Wave of British Heavy Metal was basically the heavy British bands from about 1974 to 1980 like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Saxon. Thrash and Power Metal were characterised by their speed and attack. I learned about the somewhat rocky path Metal took from its inception with Sabbath, from the suicide trials of Judas Priest, through the metal doldrums of the Grunge era and the various controversies like the church burnings and murders of some mostly Norwegian Black Metal bands, the success of Ozzfest and beyond. There was even a handy Top 25 Metal Albums list that helped as my core reference for collecting Metal albums once the bug hit me with the discovery of the book. Because it did hit me. It was definitely the beginning of another Phase, one which lasted most hotly throughout the rest of the Noughties.
I particularly liked the author’s thesis that Heavy Metal starts with Black Sabbath. That sounded about right. There were other bands at the time and just before, like Blue Cheer and Cream, who came close to the sound, but it was Sabbath, with their down-tuned riffs and doomy lyrics that set the template. In fact, the best discovery I made with the book was that there was a metal genre called Doom Metal that consists of bands that set out to emulate that early sound of Black Sabbath: slow, ponderous, heavy riffs, doomy lyrics and great singers. Once I read that, I paid close attention to the bands mentioned as part of that genre, bands like Candlemass, Sheavy (whose singer Steve Hennessy’s voice is a dead ringer for Ozzy’s), Trouble, St Vitus, The Obsessed, Cathedral and many more. They were the ones, apart from that Top 25 list, I really focused on collecting. My favourite metal sub genre was, and always has been since then, Doom Metal.
Man, it was such a good time discovering all these bands and their great albums. I couldn’t wait to get home from work (as a teacher) to play my metal Loud. I loved the imagery of Metal. All that darkness, often with fantasy or supernatural themes, and hot leather babes. Like Victoria Frances paintings come to life. Metal is the Mordor of music, if you know what I mean.
There were certain bands and artists that I really connected with, particularly in the Doom genre. One was the British band Cathedral. I first bought their album Supernatural Birth Machine and really enjoyed their mostly more uptempo take on Doom. I eventually collected all of them. Guitarist Gaz Jennings pulled out all kinds of great riffs, while singer Lee Dorian’s lyrics featured science fiction and huge dollops of classic horror and cult film themes. He sang like a corpse that had just been resurrected, with a range of accents that were sly and deeply funny. Most of their albums have this more uptempo ‘groovy’ feel (sample lyric: ‘Let’s groove, sonic motherfucker!’) bordering at times with Stoner Rock, but there is one big exception. Their first album, Forest of Equilibrium, must be one of the slowest, heaviest (most ponderous?) albums I’ve ever heard. There would be later bands and albums, like Sunn O))), that would take the Doom sound into a new genre called Drone Metal, but Cathedral got there first. I treasure my Cathedral albums.
The other artist that loomed large in my Metal collection was a fellow called Wino (AKA Scott Weinrich). An American, he’s fronted or been part of a bunch of Doom bands, including The Obsessed, St Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Shine, The Hidden Hand, Probot (Dave Grohl side project), Place of Skulls and others, plus his own solo stuff. He has blessed each and every one of these outfits with his whisky-soaked voice, great songwriting and classic guitar tone. And he looks exactly like you want your classic Doom dude to look. Long hair, tatts, piercing sullen stare, no bullshit attitude, and heaps of attitude and charisma. I saw him perform with St Vitus back in 2013 at the HiFi Bar in Melbourne. He only sang on that occasion, but it was a privilege and a pleasure to finally see the man in action. Probably my favourite incarnation of his is with the band Spirit Caravan. The double cd album The Last Embrace, which compiles both their albums plus extra singles, hits the sweetest spot in tone and feel and theme of all my Metal albums. It’s perfect, and I love it. But everything Wino does is quality.
As the Noughties moved on I started buying a metal magazine called Terrorizor. It always came with a great sampler cd full of new metal bands to explore. Another one called Revolver did a series of special Hottest Chicks in Metal issues, that for obvious reasons became very popular. One of their main poster girls was a singer called Cristina Scabbia, from Italian Goth Metal band 
Lacuna Coil. I got into them through Cristina, but once I heard some of their albums I quickly became a fan. Cristina actually shares lead vocals with a dude in the band called Andreas, and together they make for a nice gruff male versus soaring female vocal combo. I also saw them at the HiFi Bar back in 2016, and as of this writing will see them again soon. Cristina’s a pint-sized ball of energy and hotness.
Another ‘metal babe’ featured in these issues was Sharon Den Adel from Dutch Symphonic Metal band Within Temptation. She and they have since become another real favourite of my metal bands. I got to see them last year at Knotfest (see my Review), along with Japanese sensations Baby Metal. They’re another band, like Cathedral, that like to reference pop culture, like Game of Thrones and the anime film Grave of the Fireflies, which they’ve featured in their songs. They’re very epic and melodramatic with powerful ballads, and Sharon’s voice is a thing of operatic wonder.
Late last year, Ozzy Osbourne, the man who helped first bring all this goodness to my table, died. He did one final concert with Black Sabbath where he sat on a throne and performed from there. It was a sad but fitting finale to a fantastic career. I got to see the Sabs play the Rod Laver Arena around 2013 (all originals except for Bill Ward, with Vinnie Appice replacing him). Ozzy jumped about as he did of old, and he was still in fine voice. Toni Iommi and Geezer Butler played their guitars like the metal motherfuckers they were, with Toni’s rubber-tipped fingers banging out those tuned down riffs that sparked off the sound that is Metal, that he most of all invented. It was so good to finally get to see them. I remember listening to an eight track tape (remember those?) of Sabbath’s album Master of Reality in my brother’s car in the 1970s. The creepy end part of Children of the Grave always gave me chills. The song Solitude filled me with sadness. But, to be honest, it was a happy sadness. And that sums up Metal for me.
My Favourite Metal Albums
- The Last Embrace – Spirit Caravan
- Caravan Beyond Redemption – Cathedral
- Seventh Coming – Cathedral
- Paranoid – Black Sabbath
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Black Sabbath
- Mother, Teacher, Destroyer – The Hidden Hand
- In the Nightside Eclipse – Emperor
- The Heart of Everything – Within Temptation
- Comalies – Lacuna Coil
- Nightfall – Candlemass
- Bonded By Blood – Exodus
- In Rock – Deep Purple
- Dopethrone – Electric Wizard
- Stained Class – Judas Priest
- Rust In Peace – Megadeth
- Ride the Lightning – Metallica
- Lunar Womb – The Obsessed
- Turn To Stone – Pentagram
- Rising – Rainbow
- The Skull – Trouble
- With Vision – Place of Skulls
- V – St Vitus
