"The Roots of Metal" Project

December 11, 2023 02:20 AM

Future Shock, I'd say doom/heavy, reminds me of a track I can't quite remember from a decidedly not metal band.

December 11, 2023 07:25 PM

I've got hard rock for "Questions":



December 12, 2023 05:01 PM

Unquestionably hard rock.

December 12, 2023 07:01 PM

The final track from "Bang" is "Redman" which I regard as being hard rock:



So, my ultimate result for "Bang" is that there's not enough metal included to qualify as a genuine metal release with only "Lions, Christians" & "Future Shock" making the cut. It's a hard rock record with metal influences in my opinion.

Still feel differently Shezma?

Tomorrow we'll be starting on Budgie's 1972 "Squawk" sophomore record.

December 13, 2023 02:47 AM

That one seems to me to be hard rock/heavy metal, not just a hard rock song.

That puts me at 3 out of 8, which I guess is ambiguous enough to go either way.

December 13, 2023 04:04 AM

The Guardians members, I encourage you to submit your vote on the legitimacy of Bang’s metal claims at the below-linked Hall of Judgement entry:

https://metal.academy/hall/105

December 13, 2023 07:15 PM

We're kicking off an new album today in Budgie's 1972 sophomore record "Squawk" with the first track being "Whiskey River" which I regard as being hard rock.




That one seems to me to be hard rock/heavy metal, not just a hard rock song.

That puts me at 3 out of 8, which I guess is ambiguous enough to go either way.

Quoted Morpheus Kitami

I believe it was "Lions, Christians", "Future Shock" & "Redman" that you thought were metal, was it not Morpheus? If so then that accounts for 39% of the total run time. By the 40% minimum requirement I laid out at the start of this exercise that would see "Bang" not qualifying as metal.

December 14, 2023 04:43 PM

There's enough metal in the rest to put it to 40%.

Anyway, Whiskey River is a hard one to put my finger on, it seems like a mix of about 4 different genres despite being such a simple thing.

December 14, 2023 07:57 PM

Suit yourself mate. Looks like it'll be decided in the Hall of Judgement then.

Today's track is "Rocking Man" which I regard as being hard rock.


December 15, 2023 05:58 PM

Today's track is "Rolling Home Again" which I regard as being folk pop.



Also, I checked out Bang's 1972 sophomore album "Mother/Bow to the King" yesterday & didn't find even a second of metal. It's purely a hard rock record.

December 16, 2023 02:22 PM

M-A has them as pop rock for a period, it might very well be most of their '70-s albums.

Rocking Man, this one's another very hard to define song, but I'm going to go with hard rock/heavy metal.

Rolling Home Again, acoustic I guess.

December 16, 2023 07:32 PM

Today's track is "Make Me Happy" which I once again tagged as folk pop.



December 17, 2023 07:12 PM

Today's track is "Hot as a Docker's Armpit" which I've tagged as hard rock:



December 18, 2023 12:26 AM

I don't see any reason to argue on those two tracks. (well, more like not caring about the specifics of something that isn't rock on the former...)

December 18, 2023 06:09 PM

Today's track is "Drugstore Woman" which I feel sits somewhere between hard rock & blues rock:



December 19, 2023 06:47 PM

Today's track is "Bottled" which I regard as being blues rock:


December 19, 2023 07:45 PM

I checked out Thin Lizzy's 1971 "New Day" E.P. yesterday but found no metal on there. It's a combination of various rock & folk subgenres really.

December 20, 2023 08:48 PM

Today's track is "Young Is A World" which I've got tagged as sitting somewhere between blues rock, hard rock & symphonic prog.


December 21, 2023 06:55 PM

Today's track is "Stranded" which I regard as being hard rock & that signals the end of another Budgie release where I've struggled to find any metal material at all. This result is really cementing my long-time feeling that Budgie would never have been linked to metal if not for the links to Metallica who've covered a number of their tracks over the years. We'll of course be examining a couple more of their releases during this exercise though so I'll be keeping an open mind with those. 


On a related note, I checked out Deep Purple's "Made In Japan" live album from 1972 this week & found it to contain just the one metal track in opener "Highway Star". The rest is generally bluesy hard rock.

To summarize our results for the exercise so far, the only three releases that we've unanimously claimed as being metal are the first three Black Sabbath albums although Deep Purple's "In Rock" & Bang's self-titled debut album have received mixed responses & will need to be decided in the Hall of Judgement. Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in Black Sabbath's "Vol. 4". Can it continue Sabbath's early run? I'd like to think so but who knows!?

December 22, 2023 01:37 AM

Drugstore Woman/Bottled, blues rock.

Young is a World, opening/outro is prog, while I'd say the in-between bit is hard rock/heavy metal.

Stranded, hard rock with bits of metal here and there.

This result is really cementing my long-time feeling that Budgie would never have been linked to metal if not for the links to Metallica who've covered a number of their tracks over the years.

Quoted Daniel

(side note, can we get a quote function in the reply box? It's annoying to have to quote the whole message to have to quote one particular bit)

I don't think that's true in the slightest. What made Budgie get linked to metal is how they were the heaviest thing in 1970 outside of Sabbath themselves. There have been bands who have gotten linked to early metal for far less material than Budgie did.

Also, unless there's a pretty massive difference, I think it's safe to remove live albums from the running.

December 22, 2023 07:26 PM


I don't think that's true in the slightest. What made Budgie get linked to metal is how they were the heaviest thing in 1970 outside of Sabbath themselves. There have been bands who have gotten linked to early metal for far less material than Budgie did.

Also, unless there's a pretty massive difference, I think it's safe to remove live albums from the running.

Quoted Morpheus Kitami

I'm not talking about why Budgie were linked to metal back in the early 1970's. I'm referring to why they continue to be linked to metal today, despite not possessing the required attributes to warrant it, while others with stronger claims don't receive the same privilege. I'd suggest that it's almost certainly the Metallica link. Besides, it's been clear for a while now that you & I are working off different criteria when judging a release's metal credentials.

Also, there's no reason not to consider live releases for inclusion as they have the potential to be just as influential as studio records.


This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Wheels of Confusion" which I'm going against the grain by claiming as heavy psych.



December 23, 2023 08:24 PM

Today's track is "Tomorrow's Dream" which I've tagged as being stoner metal:



December 24, 2023 10:34 PM

Today's Xmas Day anthem is "Changes" which I'd suggest is close enough to piano rock.



December 26, 2023 08:45 AM

Our Boxing Day track is Black Sabbath's "FX" which I'd suggest is a good candidate for sitting under the Experimental tag: