"The Roots of Metal" Project
Here's how I would genre-tag the 8 tracks in that Rainbow album:
1. Long Live Rock 'n' Roll - Hard rock/heavy metal
2. Lady of the Lake - Hard rock
3. L.A. Connection - Hard rock
4. Gates of Babylon - Hard rock/heavy metal/progressive rock
5. Kill the King - Heavy metal/power metal/speed metal
6. The Shed (Subtle) - Hard rock/heavy metal
7. Sensitive to Light - Hard rock/blues rock
8. Rainbow Eyes - Medieval folk
Primary genres: Hard rock, heavy metal
Secondary genres: N/A
With all that, I agree that Long Live Rock 'n' Roll is more of a hard rock album, but I consider half the amount of tracks metal enough to make heavy metal a primary genre for the album. So that Rainbow album is, to my ears, another hard rock/heavy metal album, experimenting on a few other genres that each only appear in one song which isn't enough to constitute its position as a secondary genre for the album.
I honestly can't imagine where you're finding any metal in songs like the titled track & "The Shed" Andi but anyway... we'll move on.
I checked out the 1978 self-titled debut album from Sarajevo outfit Divlje Jagode today but didn't find any metal. It's a progressive/hard rock record as far as I'm concerned.
This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's title track from their 1978 debut album "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis", a song that I'd suggest should qualify as heavy metal:
I just checked out Japanese hard rockers Bow Wow's 1978 fourth album "Guarantee" but found no metal whatsoever. To my ears it's a hard rock record with AOR tendencies & was clearly an attempt at cracking a more commercial market as any sign of the band's harder edge have been smoothly filed off in the name of accessibility.
This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's "Llega la destrucción" which I regard as being heavy psych:
This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's "Contaminación" which I'm gonna suggest sits best under the heavy psych tag. I can't find a YouTube link for the individual song so you'll have to skip to 11:14 in this full album link to hear the song:
I have not read all 26 pages of discussion here, so I'm largely going off the content of the 1st post, and I apologize if there is re-treading here.
My interpretation here is that there are two objectives: Draw the line between very hard rock and roll, and heavy metal, and then identify the first 10 metal albums.
I think a lot of us ponder the question of where Hard Rock ends and where Heavy Metal ends. It's definitely something my friends and I have drive ourselves crazy over, but this is what we have mostly agreed upon.
2 critera:
1) Does the band embrace itself as Heavy Metal?
2) Does Heavy Metal accept that band?
It's about consent in other words.
Pros of this solution: It excludes bands like Deep Purple, who vehemently rejected the Heavy Metal label. Ritchie Blackmore said in no uncertain terms that he hated heavy metal and thought it was a belligerent term that did not do his band justice. It also excludes bands like Ghost, who the mainstream often considers to be a metal band, but a great deal of metalheads would disagree.
Cons: What I call the Motorhead problem: Lemmy Kilmister was steadfast that Motorhead was not a metal band, just a very loud and fast rock and roll band. Yet the man is damn near universally beloved by the metal community, and it just seams really sad to leave them out. Motorhead isn't the only band in this position just an easy example of the problem.
Yet, that is where I am so far.
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As far as identifying early heavy metal; there is a website already in existence: https://mapofmetal.com/ That attempts to chronical the most important metal releases in given sub-genres, including some of the heaviest pre-Black Sabbath rock and roll. We don't have to agree with what it says, but it's not a bad launch pad.
2 critera:
1) Does the band embrace itself as Heavy Metal?
2) Does Heavy Metal accept that band?
I disagree. There are very clear lines between metal & rock from a purely technique point of view as far as I'm concerned & I find it very easy to identify those but over time I've discovered that progressively less metalheads seem to understand what those guidelines are, potentially due to the virtual death of hard rock in the modern music world. It's got very little to do with vocals, lyrics or image & it's all about the way the guitars & drums are used & sound. I've been thinking that I might conduct an educational video on it at some point in order to share the defining characteristics of each genre are & how to identify them. This thread is about dispelling the myths that have gotten well out of hand over time. There are many bands that simply shouldn't be associated with metal but strangely seem to be when they've got no stronger claim to than other bands that are nailed to hard rock. There's no logic to it & I've always hoped that Metal Academy could become the place for people to go when they want to seek clarity on these critically important topics for mankind.
Anyway... today's track is Zarpa Rock's "La guerra cruel" which I'd suggest fits best under heavy psych:
Yes I would agree. That is a heavy psychedilic offering.
As far as identifying early heavy metal; there is a website already in existence: https://mapofmetal.com/ That attempts to chronical the most important metal releases in given sub-genres, including some of the heaviest pre-Black Sabbath rock and roll. We don't have to agree with what it says, but it's not a bad launch pad.
Now that map looks impressive and accurate! I actually made my own clan map for if we ever make a Metal Academy MMORPG. Here's the link: https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/271
The final track from Zarpa Rock's "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis" album is "El hambre" which I'd suggest should qualify as metal & sits somewhere between heavy psych & heavy metal:
That leaves the album with a metal ratio of 40% which just meets the minimum requirements for qualification into our chronological list of metal releases at number 11.
https://metal.academy/lists/single/271
Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in Black Sabbath's 1978 sixth album "Never Say Die!" which I'm guessing could prove to be fairly controversial & divisive. Please feel free to join me.
This morning we kick off Black Sabbath's 1978 eighth album "Never Say Die!" with the opening title track, a number that people often seem to want to label as being heavy metal but which is really nothing more than hard rock in my opinion:
Today's song is Black Sabbath's "Johnny Blade" which is close enough to heavy metal in my opinion:
I checked out the 1978 "Four by Three" E.P. from English trio The Next band this morning but found no metal whatsoever, despite it being claimed as an early NWOBHM release. It's purely a hard rock record in my opinion.
Today's song is Black Sabbath's "Johnny Blade" which is close enough to heavy metal in my opinion:
Johnny Blade man.... It's kind a of bloated and mediocre song, but it contains one of my all time favorite Tony Iommi Riffs. If I remember correctly from "I am Ozzy" the Autobiography; Iommi was getting heavily into Queen and was wanting Sabbath to adapt more of the exploratory elements Queen was doing at the time-it's even more prominant on Technical Ecstacy. Still I would call Johnny Blade a Metal entry if not the heaviest thing in the world.
This morning's song is Black Sabbath's "Junior's Eyes" which some people will have you believe is heavy metal but which I'm gonna suggest is hard rock with progressive/psychedelic rock influences:
Also, I checked out the 1978 "Give Me A Smile" E.P. from England's Anniversary yesterday as it's often touted as an early NWOBHM release. It's not. It's not even hard rock & sounds more like what we know as alternative rocks there days.
Juniors Eyes is a tough song to classify. It's definitely not Metal though. The best thing about the track is Geezer's rolling bassline.
I checked out Iron Maiden's four-song demo that was recorded at the very end of 1978 yesterday. To my ears, it's a heavy metal release with hard rock & progressive rock influences.
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "A Hard Road" which is clearly a hard rock number:
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Shock Wave", a song that most people same to associate with heavy metal but I don't see as anything more than hard rock personally. The main instrumental elements are classic open-string hard rock riffs with the rhythm section possessing a rock swagger. The only time that things start to head in a metal direction is during the guitar solo & outro with a trademark stoner metal riff being utilized but it's not enough to see the song qualifying overall.
This morning's song is Black Sabbath's "Air Dance" which I'd suggest fits best under progressive rock:
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Over To You" which is a pretty clear-cut hard rock tune:
I checked out the 1978 "Kiss Heaven Goodbye" sophomore album from US outfit Granmax today. There's definitely a couple of metal songs included but not enough to qualify as a metal release as such. It's hard rock for mine.
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Breakout" which is best described as jazz-rock: