Heavy Metal - A Chronological Review

Well, yes there's a couple of metal tracks on the Bang album but I don't think the record as a whole qualifies as metal. It sits much more comfortably under hard rock for mine.

You probably just need to go back and relisten to it a couple of times. Give it time to soak in, also consider the time- 1972. Consider it's contemporaries, outside of Black Sabbath. I saw them live on October 25. 2014 at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids Michigan. They shared the stage with Radio Moscow and Pentragram. They were damn heavy that night I can tell ya that!

From Bang's Wiki: The group was formed by drummer Tony Diorio, bassist/singer Frank Ferrara, and guitarist Frank Gilcken and released three albums on Capitol Records, scoring one minor hit single with "Questions", which reached number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] They were strongly influenced by Black Sabbath,[5] and are considered forerunners to the doom metal genre.[6]

And here it is from the horses Mouth 
https://www.bangmusic.com/Story.html
"Back in the spring of 1972, heavy rock trio Bang were shaping up to be the proverbial Next Big Thing. Having signed a few months earlier to Capitol (home, of course, to the Beatles and the Beach Boys), the band’s first single, ‘Questions’, was nestling proudly in the Billboard Hot 100. With the enthusiastic support of their record label, their debut album, Bang, was also climbing the charts. Moreover, they had recently opened for their idols, Black Sabbath, and, by common consensus of opinion, stolen the show. With two band members, guitarist Frankie Gilcken and lead singer/bassist Frank Ferrara, still in their teens, Bang seemed to be unstoppable.

Somehow, though, it didn’t quite work out. Even as ‘Questions’ was charting, changes at Capitol saw the band’s supporters moving on, replaced by A&R men who had their own signings to promote. With the band’s producer also leaving the label, Bang’s support system crumbled. Their new producer engineered a change in personnel that left the band’s drummer and lyricist, Tony Diorio, out in the cold, while Capitol insisted that Bang develop a more mainstream, pop-oriented sound. They changed management companies, only to discover that they were being blackballed, leaving gigs hard to come by. By 1974 - just a couple of years after their initial success - a tired and disillusioned Bang had long since lost their direction, momentum and self-belief, and they went their separate ways."

Their idols were Black Sabbath, and they switched Management over lightening their sound. I'd say that's pretty Metal. Want me to ask Frank how he feels about it?


Here's what they got up to last year: 

Nah, I’m very well versed in that record & early metal in general given that I’m a long-time metal historian who ran a podcast focused purely on early metal for many years. It makes no difference how “heavy” the music is as far as I’m concerned. Rock music can be heavier than metal at times. It’s about the tools being used & I don’t see it outside of a couple of tracks with “Bang”. We went through the album track by track in the “Roots of Metal” thread some time ago & came up with the same outcome. These threads are 100% about dispelling the myths that have been perpetuated over the decades since so I’ve been completely ignoring the traditional stances, instead drawing upon my musical training & experience in both rock & metal. There have been some controversial results at times but I stand by them as I’ve put in the work & have come to my positions after detailed consideration. Feel free to disagree with me though as everyone’s entitled to their opinions & I encourage the debate as long as everyone remains respectful & doesn’t claim that they know more than everyone else.

Fair enough. I'm going to side with the artist themselves as the ultimate authority of their own music.

See, this is why we have a Hall of Judgement where clan members can vote on contentious genre-tagging issues like this one. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with it already, I’d encourage you to do so.

I'm familair with it. I've even weighed in on all the stuff I feel knowledgable enough to vote on. I'll give a lot more to that dynamic when we have 15 regularly activce members. Still, if I have 1st-hand access to an artist, as I do in the case, I will always differ to the artist over any online website, journalistic publication, or popular opinion.

...and when I'm wrong I'm wrong. I'm also honest. Big Frank says Hard Rock (wifey reached out to him):  Well done Daniel!
*handshake*

Today we examine an epic track from Welsh trio Budgie's "Never Turn Your Back On A Friend" third album which was released in June 1973. Budgie are generally regarded as being a metal band but frankly that's one of the myths we're trying to free ourselves of with these threads. This track is as close as they got to metal in their early days & even then it's pretty borderline. "You're The Best Thing Since Powdered Milk" sees them combining blues rock, psychedelia, stoner rock & heavy metal as the 10+ minute piece transitions through a number of different phases. After giving it a fair few revisits I've decided that there's enough metal to warrant inclusion here, mainly in the two main riffs. The first presents that classic bottom string pedal-point although the vocals sound like The Black Crowes & the rhythm section are stuck in blues rock land. The second sees Budgie clearly showcasing the influence of Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" with that lumbering gallop. There's even an unaccompanied bass solo in the middle that was clearly ripped off by Iron Maiden. I could probably have opted for a stoner metal tag here given the non-metal components but ended up going with heavy metal as the metal material takes that direction even if the overall track "feels" more like stoner rock most of the time. See what you think.

August 1973 heralded the earliest roots of the Sydney metal scene I grew up in with heavy psych four-piece Buffalo's sophomore album "Volcanic Rock" kicking off with this heavy metal number that contains high-energy, chugging riffage & a bad-ass Chris Cornell-like vocal delivery:

Also on Buffalo's "Volcanic Rock" album from August 1973, we receive this closing track "Shylock" which is an up-tempo head-banger of a heavy metal number. Seriously, if Chris Cornell didn't model himself on this blokes vocals then there's been some fairly drastic coincidences occurring:

This morning we take a look at one of the most important & genre-defining tracks in heavy metal history in Black Sabbath's title track from their "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" fifth album which was released on 28th December 1978. The main riff is one of the most influential in all of metal while the progressive song structure is a clear example of the artistic freedom that Sabbath were enjoying as by far the leading players in the metal game. It was an absolute game-changer.

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" also included "Killing Yourself to Live", an expansive & creative piece that combines heavy metal, hard rock & stoner rock in engaging fashion. Despite the general consensus, it's actually more rock than it is metal but the chorus is metal as fuck which ensures it qualifies for metal status.