"The Roots of Metal" Project

I've given Buffalo's 1976 fourth album "Mother's Choice" a listen this morning. There's no metal there at all but I was a little surprised to find that there was also no psychedelia either. It's predominantly a straight-up hard rock record although there are definitely some significant boogie rock, blues rock & rock & roll influences spread across the tracklisting.

Thin Lizzy 1976 sixth album "Jailbreak" isn't a metal record. It's pretty obviously a hard rock release however I'd suggest that the closing track "Emerald" should qualify as metal.

This morning's track is Quartz's "Mainline Riders" which I I'd suggest should qualify as heavy metal due to that classic galloping metal rhythm:

Today's track is Quartz's "Sugar Rain" which I'd suggest is progressive rock:

I checked out the 1976 self-titled debut album from Japan's Murasaki this week. It certainly threatened to throw a cat amongst the pigeons early on as it starts with two tracks that I'd suggest should qualify as heavy metal but the remainder doesn't continue in that vein with Deep Purple being the clear influence. I'm going with hard rock & blues rock for primaries with heavy metal & progressive rock as secondaries.

This morning's track is Quartz's "Street Fighting Lady" which I'm gonna suggest is generally mistagged as heavy metal when it's really no more than hard rock.

I investigated Budgie's 1976 sixth album "If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules" this afternoon but didn't find any genuine metal/ It's a progressive/hard rock record for mine. 

This morning's track is Quartz's "Hustler", another one that often seems to be referred to as heavy metal or NWOBHM but which I'd suggest is nothing more than hard rock:

This morning's track is Quartz's "Devil's Brew" which I'd suggest justifies a triple tagging of heavy metal, progressive metal & hard rock:

I revisited Rush's 1976 fourth album "2112" today but found nothing in the way of metal. It's purely a progressive hard rock record.

Rush is never gonna be metal.  The closest thing to Rush metal is Dream Theater.

This morning's track is Quartz's "Smokie" which I'd suggest fits best under the folk baroque tag:

I checked out the 1976 "Tickle Your Fancy" debut album from Australia's Taste this morning. It's certainly pretty heavy for the time but I don't think there's a genuine metal tune here as such. I'd suggest that it's a hard rock record with heavy metal & boogie rock influences.

This morning's track is Quartz's "Around & Around" which I'd suggest sits somewhere between heavy metal, hard rock & progressive rock. I'm gonna say that it ticks the metal box though.

I checked out Rush's 1976 double live album "All The World's A Stage" this morning but found no metal there. It's a progressive hard rock release for mine.

Despite the shredding Uli Jon Roth guitar solos, there's not a genuine metal track on 1976's fourth Scorpions album "Virgin Killer". It's pure hard rock as far as I'm concerned.

Checked out Deep Purple's 1976 "Made in Europe" live album this afternoon but found no metal material. It's a straight-up hard rock record for mine.

This morning's track is Quartz's "Pleasure Seekers" which I've tagged as being hard rock:

I explored Thin Lizzy's 1976 seventh album "Johnny The Fox" this morning but didn't find any metal there whatsoever. It's another pure hard rock record as far as I can see.

Today's track is the closer from Quartz's 1977 self-titled album in "Little Old Lady" which I'd suggest is best suited to a progressive rock tag.

That leaves "Quartz" with just three metal tags out of the nine tracks included which is not enough for me to qualify it as a genuine metal release. Tomorrow we'll be beginning a new release in the 1977 "Signal Fire" sophomore album from Japan's Bow Wow. It's often referred to as the root of Japanese metal & I've long held some fairly strong opinions on that so let's see how it holds up to more detailed scrutiny, shall we?

As a taster for that exercise, I decided to check out Bow Wow's self-titled 1976 debut album yesterday but didn't find any metal there. It's a hard rock record with heavy psych & boogie rock influences for mine.

Today we start a new release in Bow Wow's 1977 sophomore album "Signal Fire". Here's the opening track "Prelude" which I regard as being progressive rock (yes, the link also includes the second track):

This morning's track is Bow Wow's "Get On Our Train" which sits somewhere between hard rock & heavy metal but qualified as metal for mine:

Today's track is Bow Wow's "Just One More Night" which I'd suggest is hard rock:

I checked out the 1976 self-titled album from Japan's Ginbae this morning & found only the one metal track from the six songs on offer. It's a hard rock/heavy psych record with heavy metal influences in my opinion.