"The Roots of Metal" Project
I'm just gonna say it: Black Sabbath were already heavier than Sad Wings on their barely-metal debut album.
You could argue that Black Sabbath's debut was "heavier" than "Sad Wings of Destiny" but I'd challenge anyone who claims that "Black Sabbath" was as metal as Priest's sophomore album. I don't think it's a very fair comparison anyway as the first four Black Sabbath records weren't really "heavy metal" records per se which means that you're essentially comparing releases from different genres. Early Sabbath took on more of a stoner metal format by today's genre definitions in my opinion & that description would generally bring to mind thoughts of a heavier sound than your average heavy metal band anyway. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" & "Sabotage" are more of a like-for-like comparison with "Sad Wings of Destiny". Regardless... how many heavy metal bands are as heavy as the early Black Sabbath even today? I'd suggest that the answer is not all that many.
I don't really care if it's stoner or heavy or what. I have a top 100 of genres spanning from metal to ambient to pop to experimental. I will literally compare an apple to an orange at the snap of a finger. The real secret is to compare the two items to their like items first, and then compare the scores. In terms of heaviness, neither fit the bill. But if we have to get technical, I'd say it's all about the spirit. I feel like Sabbath's brooding atmosphere is more in tune with what metal should be than Judas's pre-Meat Loaf fantasy style. And even then, Rainbow did that better. You could say that Black Sabbath had a better idea of what metal should feel like, and their delivery of "stoner heaviness" in comparison to other stoner bands outweights Judas's heavy metal delivery in comparison to other hard rock bands.
The final track from Judas Priest's "Sad Wings of Destiny" album is "Island of Domination", a song that I consider to skate along the border between heavy metal & hard rock so a dual tagging is required.
That leaves me with a result that clearly places "Sad Wings of Destiny" in the metal camp but also sees rock playing a strong part in the result with primary tags in five of the nine tracks so I'm gonna suggest that a dual tagging of heavy metal & hard rock is appropriate here. Congratulations to Judas Priest though! We've finally seen another band dragging genuine metal status outta me after six straight Black Sabbath albums.
Tomorrow we'll be kicking off a new release & a highly divisive one it is too in Rainbow's classic 1976 sophomore album "Rising".
Now Rising deserves a slot. Hard rock heavy metal perfection.
Well, here I am again in the Roots of Metal project. I see that we are in the second half of the 70s that I have tested out a few months ago. 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. Anyway, here's how I would genre-tag the 9 tracks in this Judas Priest album:
1. Victim of Changes - Heavy metal
2. The Ripper - Heavy metal
3. Dreamer Deceiver - Art/soft rock
4. Deceiver - Heavy metal
5. Prelude - Art rock (with classical synths)
6. Tyrant - Heavy metal
7. Genocide - Heavy metal/hard rock
8. Epitaph - Piano ballad
9. Island of Domination - Heavy metal/hard rock
Primary genres: Heavy metal
Secondary genres: Hard rock, art rock
With all that, I consider Sad Wings of Destiny a prime example of classic heavy metal, with a couple of the metal songs leaning into hard rock, two softer art rock tracks, and one piano ballad. I look forward to our track-to-track discussion about Rainbow's Rising and my track-by-track genre analysis that will follow...
This morning track is Rainbow's "Tarot Woman" which I regard as being close enough to heavy metal, despite the clear presence of hard rock influence:
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
Andi, I don't feel like those investigations would be fruitful & I don't want to waste our time when there are so many genuine metal releases to get to. I know two of the albums you mentioned really well (i.e. "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" & Scorpions' "Virgin Killer") & I've never felt there was much in the way of metal on them. The consensus on RYM is unanimously in agreement too (18-129 & 25-58 respectively with "In Trance" coming in at 33-66) & I've always found that RYM has an itchy trigger finger with wanting to label releases hard rock records as metal so that's pretty telling. I'd rather focus on releases that have a chance of being successful rather than exploring releases that I know aren't likely to reap any rewards. I will however be exploring all of those releases in great detail behind the scenes in order to see if there's any merit for the other project I'm preparing so they may pop up again in the future if there's anything of relevance there. I'm a bit behind this thread in that regard (i.e. in the middle 1974) but will have no hesitation in sticking an older release out there if I see there's potential.
I gave Judas Priest's 1974 debut album "Rocka Rolla" a few good revisits this morning. There are a few metal tracks included in "Winter", "Deep Freeze" (both stoner metal) & "Dying To Meet You" (traditional doom metal/heavy metal) but it's not enough for a metal primary tag in my opinion. "Rocka Rolla" is more of a hard rock record with heavy metal, progressive rock & psychedelic rock influences for mine.
Interestingly, the only songs in Rocka Rolla that I consider metal or at least metal enough are the hard-rocking title track and "Run of the Mill", both of which foreshadow their metallic sound. The rest of the album I say has a blues/hard rock sound with some prog-rock, a bit like Wishbone Ash but without any folk.
I would suggest that the title track is a simple hard rock song with a poppy hook that’s intended for radio play. It admittedly has a metal gallop behind the chorus but the lightweight percussion does its very best to nullify it. Not that it’s a bad song but I wouldn’t call it metal. I’ve always thought of “Run Of The Mill” as Priest’s attempt to make an atmospheric progressive/hard rock epic like Deep Purple’s “Child In Time”. I don’t hear much metal in that track apart from one short-lived doom metal although it’s the clear album highlight nonetheless.
You don’t hear the Black Sabbath worship in the songs I mentioned? I would say that the back end of “Dying To Meet You” is the part of the album that best foreshadows Priest’s signature heavy metal sound personally.
I've mentioned that Rocka Rolla has some Black Sabbath worship, but it sounds like the only Black Sabbath style they were following at the time was that of "The Wizard" and "Evil Woman", both blues/hard rock songs from Black Sabbath's 1970 debut. It's not until Sad Wings of Destiny when they finally go the proper Black Sabbath route of heavy metal with their own sound.
We'll have to agree to disagree on all of that Andi.
This morning's track is Rainbow's "Run With The Wolf" which is a clear example of hard rock:
I examined Scorpions' 1974 sophomore album "Fly To The Rainbow" this weekend which was my first experience with it. There's no metal on offer whatsoever. The hard rock tag is certainly appropriate but I can't imagine why RYM wouldn't have a dual tagging with progressive rock because it's obviously required.
This morning's track is Rainbow's "Starstruck" which is a hard rock/blues rock hybrid in my opinion:
Today's track is Rainbow's "Do You Close Your Eyes" which is clearly hard rock:
Now we're gonna get really controversial ladies & gentlemen because, despite being a wonderful track in its own right, Rainbow's most influential track "Stargazer" isn't the obvious pillar of metal that it's so often made out to be. In fact, the riffs & drumming are pure hard rock for the most part & I've often viewed "Stargazer" as Rainbow's attempt to make a more epic version of Led Zeppelin's monumental symphonic hard rock anthem "Kashmir". So why is it so often linked to heavy metal? It's because of the over-the-top use of keyboards to create a massively epic atmosphere, the lumbering gallop from the rhythm section, the utilization of exotic Eastern scales within the guitar solo, the soaring vocal performance from Ronnie James Dio & the huge crescendo at the end of the song & I have to admit that these things see me being confused about what outcome is warranted here. Contrary to popular opinion, I strongly feel that "Stargazer" is more of a symphonic hard rock song than it is a heavy metal one but, after listening to it five times in a row this morning & still not coming up with a definitive answer & at the risk of having to change my tune on the metal credentials of "Rising" overall, I'm gonna finally give in by ticking the heavy metal box as well, mainly because this song simply sounds so different to what your traditionally bluesy hard rock number should sound like.
Also, I revisited Randy Holden's 1970 "Population II" debut album yesterday & I can honestly say that it threw a cat amongst the pigeons for a while there because it's doomy heavy psych is easily as heavy as Black Sabbath's debut, perhaps even more so. I'd even go so far as to say that the two versions of "Fruit & Iceburgs" are fully fledged traditional doom metal & opener "Guitar Song" went pretty close to being tagged that way too but the Jimi Hendrix influence ultimately ended up overcoming the Sabbath one & saw me finishing up with a heavy psych primary & a traditional doom metal secondary.
The last track from Rainbow's "Rising" is the highly influential "A Light In The Black" which is another one that's not quite as straight forward as people seem to make it out to be. The main riff is definitely not a metal riff. It's pure hard rock for mine but the use of double kick from drummer Cozy Powell (a technique that was still very rare indeed & is a defining attribute of metal music) makes those sections a lot more ambiguous. The solo section however is a total metalfest with the strong use of tremolo-picking being the major influence on early speed metal & power metal that Andi was referring to recently. I'm gonna go with a dual tagging of hard rock & heavy metal here which leaves "Rising" with an overall positive result as far as metal credentials go, despite half of the tracklisting having nothing to do with metal whatsoever. Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in Black Sabbath's 1976 seventh full-length "Technical Ecstasy" which should prove to be a divisive one too.
Also, I gave Thin Lizzy's 1974 fourth album "Night Life" & Deep Purple's 1974 ninth album "Stormbringer" a couple of listens this week & neither offered anything in the way of metal so I've now explored 1970-1974 in great detail & feel that we have complete coverage with the eight releases selected to date. I think I'll start a list this week so that we can keep track of it all visually.
Here's how I would genre-tag the 6 tracks in this Rainbow album:
1. Tarot Woman - Heavy metal/proto-power metal
2. Run with the Wolf - Blues/hard rock
3. Starstruck - Hard rock
4. Do You Close Your Eyes - Hard rock
5. Stargazer - Heavy metal/epic doom metal
6. A Light in the Black - Heavy metal/power metal (perhaps the first true power metal song from what I hear)
Primary genres: Heavy metal, hard rock
Secondary genres: Power metal
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Back Street Kids" which is predominantly a chuggy heavy metal tune even though the bridge sees them taking a detour through proggy hard rock:
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "You Won't Change Me" which I regard as being heavy metal, mainly due to the thick & powerful metal guitar tone as the strong use of crunchy drawn-out chords could have gone either way given that it's a tool that is just as commonly seen in the heavier examples of hard rock. This track really does sound a lot like some of Ozzy's darker & more brooding 1980's solo work.
Here's the running chronological list of my results so far:
I just checked out the 1975 self-titled debut album from Argentina’s El Reloj & found no metal whatsoever. It’s a progressive rock record with jazz-rock influences.
Quiet Riot’s 1975 “Suicidal Show” E.P. doesn’t contain any metal either. It’s a generic hard rock record.
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "It's Alright" which I'd suggest sits somewhere between piano rock & pop rock: