"The Roots of Metal" Project
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "Gypsy" which is a hard rock number:
Also, I checked our Rush's 1975 sophomore album "Fly By Night" yesterday & there's no metal there whatsoever. It's a progressive hard rock record.
I would personally also include Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Scorpions albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, because I also consider those releases equally heavy metal/hard rock, and they're worth discussion to see if anyone agrees with me and if they should end up in the site, but that's just my opinion.
Andi, I revisited "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" in great detail over the last two days & have to ask where you're finding any genuine metal on that album because I can't identify any personally.
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "All Moving Parts (Still Still)" which I don't consider to be any more than hard rock:
I would personally also include Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Scorpions albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, because I also consider those releases equally heavy metal/hard rock, and they're worth discussion to see if anyone agrees with me and if they should end up in the site, but that's just my opinion.
Andi, I revisited "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" in great detail over the last two days & have to ask where you're finding any genuine metal on that album because I can't identify any personally.
It's been 5 months since I last listened to Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, so I decided to give it a little more listening today. Now back then I was in the zone of checking out albums from the 70s in my side of the Roots of Metal project, and many of those albums I was listening to at the time sounded metal enough for my ears, and my thoughts carried over to this Rainbow album that made me think similarly to what those other bands/albums have done. Then in this recent revisit after listening to and reviewing a lot of modern metal albums, I've realized that this Rainbow album sounds nothing like any release I would consider metal. So you're right, Daniel, there's barely any genuine metal. I guess listening to an album at a different time can trick my mind, huh? So yeah, let's discard Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow from the project and carry on with all you've planned.
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" which I regard as being hard rock.
Also, I gave Budgie's 1975 fifth album "Bandolier" a couple of listens this morning. It's not a metal record. It's a hard rock release with heavy metal influences for mine. The closing track "Napoleon Bona-Part One/Napoleon Bona-Part Two" is pure heavy metal though.
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "She's Gone: which I'd suggest is best suited to a baroque pop tag:
The final track from Black Sabbath's "Technical Ecstasy" album is "Dirty Women" & my take on this one is bound to be controversial. While the first two minutes of this lengthy seven minute track hark back to the traditional doom metal sound that Sabbath had founded on their first four albums, the remaining five minutes sees them veering away from metal altogether which sees my tagging the track as a progressive hard rock piece overall. I just don't think the metal component is significant enough for a primary tag.
So, that leaves "Technical Ecstasy" with a metal ratio score of just 26 which is only enough for a heavy metal secondary underneath a hard rock primary. Tomorrow we'll be kicking off a new release in Judas Priest's classic 1977 third album "Sin After Sin".
Also, I checked out Thin Lizzy's 1975 fifth album "Fighting" this week &, even though it was clearly their heaviest release to the time, there's no metal to found with the majority of the tracklisting indulging in a hard rock sound.
I checked out Rush's 1975 third album "Caress of Steel" this morning & found no trace of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.
I checked out Rush's 1975 third album "Caress of Steel" this morning & found no trace of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.
i think it's pretty safe to say that Rush, great band that they were, have never made a metal record.
i think it's pretty safe to say that Rush, great band that they were, have never made a metal record.
Quoted Sonny
Yes, I agree but I'm not just looking for full releases here. The other project I'm preparing for requires me to identify individual songs, techniques & influences so I'm just being thorough & are enjoying the process from an educational perspective.
This morning sees us kicking off a new release in Judas Priest's "Sin After Sin" album from 1977 with the opening cut "Sinner". This has obviously gone on to become known as one of the great heavy metal anthems of the 1970's & with good reason too. It's interesting though that only about half of the track is actually metal. The other half is made up of hard/blues rock (just listen to that riff at 2:20 for example) & a fairly lengthy heavy psych guitar solo section. The drumming sits in the hard rock space most of the time too. So, while it certainly qualifies as metal & I don't think it requires a second primary tag given that it's inherently built around metal concepts, I'm gonna suggest that it's worth a couple of secondaries.
I checked out Deep Purple's 1975 "Come Taste The Band" tenth album this afternoon & found no metal at all. It's a pretty pure hard rock record for mine.
Andi, I also gave Scorpions' 1975 "In Trance" third album a couple of listens. The opening track "Dark Lady" qualifies as heavy metal but that's about it I'm afraid. "In Trance" was easily Scorpions' heaviest release to the time but that doesn't make it metal as the vast majority of the album is pure hard rock. There aren't even many riffs included with most of the rhythm guitar work comprised of ringing open-string chords (i.e. hard rock).
I took a look at the 1976 “El Reloj II” sophomore album from Argentina’s El Reloj this morning but found no metal. It’s a progressive rock record for mine.
I also visited the 1976 “Coming” debut album from German singer Jutta Weinhold which is nothing more than hard rock.
Today's track is Judas Priest's "Diamonds & Rust" which is certainly a tricky one. There's no doubt that it possesses a galloping rhythm which is usually something that's associated with metal but here it's performed exclusively by the bass guitar & reminds me more of a Blondie disco track than it does Iron Maiden. Despite what some people seem to think, I don't think there's any double-kick work here & the rhythm guitars are limited to ringing open-string chords. It sounds pretty unintimidating too so I'm gonna go with hard rock on this one.
I would have been very surprised to see a Joan Baez cover tagged as metal. Still, stranger things have happened!
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Starbreaker" which I'd suggest is heavy metal.
Also, I checked out the 1976 self-titled debut album from Switzerland's Krokus yesterday & found no sign of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.
I definitely concur with your heavy metal tagging for Starbreaker.
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Last Rose of Summer" which I consider to be AOR or adult-oriented rock:
Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.
Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.
I considered going with soft rock but then noticed that it's a subgenre of pop rock which doesn't seem quite right in this situation.
Today's track is Judas Priest's "Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest" which I'd suggest is the earliest example of speed metal:
I had this on in the car a couple of days ago and the first thing that came to my mind was speed metal. I had always considered Exciter off Stained Class as the first example of speed metal and hadn't thought of it in relation to this before then.
Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.
I considered going with soft rock but then noticed that it's a subgenre of pop rock which doesn't seem quite right in this situation.
Priest were certainly capable of writing pop tunes - Take on the World, United and Take These Chains were all stabs at making a dent in the UK pop charts.
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Raw Deal" which is one that I'm gonna have to go against the consensus & say is hard rock rather than heavy metal:
Also, I checked out La Tierra Prometida's 1976 "Vida" album this week & there's not even any rock there, let alone metal. It just sounds like Mexican folk music to me.
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Here Come The Tears" which I regard is being progressive/hard rock:
Also, I checked out La Tierra Prometida's other 1976 album "Él volverá" which again offers barely any rock music, let alone metal.
Today's track sees us closing out Judas Priest's "Sin After Sin" album with the classic "Dissident Aggressor" which I regard as being heavy metal:
This leaves "Sin After Sin" with a successful 52% metal ratio & giving it ninth place in our chronological journey thus far. Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in the 1977 self-titled debut album from England's Quartz.
You can see our running chronological list here:
Checked out Lucifer's Friend's 1976 fifth album "Mind Exploding" this week but found no metal at all. It's a progressive rock record for mine.