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While pop me
tal
ruled the airwaves, fans of bands like Motörhead and Venom panicked as they
saw metal become a softer, more mainstream gender of music. They were relieved,
however, by the rise of thrash/speed/power metal (the last label being separated
sometimes because of its strong epic song stylings), spearheaded by Metallica.
Metallica began combining multiple riffing, snarling vocals, and a wide use
of double-pedals in drumming to produce music which was totally uncompromising
and ferocious, therefore being shunned by MTV and commercial radio stations.
Shortly after, bands like Mercyful Fate and the crunching Exodus (an important
part of the blooming San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal scene) appeared to
back Metallica up and bring the harder metal fans together again.
At this time, three other thrash metal bands took
over along with Metallica: Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer (considered by some
a death metal band). Megadeth, founded by ex-Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine,
created what would be later known as techno-thrash, characterized by numerous
tempo changes and complex riffs, which backed Mustaine’s sharp snarl. Meanwhile,
Anthrax produced hard, fast riffs and began experimenting with rap, while Slayer
made the heaviest riffs of its time and its members developed their obsession
with Satanic imagery. Later on, Suicidal Tendencies would reach similar heights
with releases such as Lights… Camera…Revolution, which would incorporate punk,
alternative, and rap influences into singer Mike Muir’s extroverted ramblings,
while Testament would enjoy commercial success through the midperiod of the
80's with albums such as Practice What You Preach and what many consider to
be the disappointing Souls of Black.
The scene would have died out if it hadn’t been for an underground network in which band demos and records were quickly exchanged and distributed throughout the world. Exciter, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, Dark Angel, Destroyer, and a number of other bands became known by the thrash scene underground and developed strong cult followings. However, thrash metal had not yet acquired the influence it deserved.
Speed metal finally hit paydirt when Metallica’s masterpiece,
Master of Puppets, reached the gold mark (500,000 albums sold) in 1986. This
catapulted Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth into stardom as well, and began the
rise of thrash metal in
commercial circles. The answer to pop metal had arrived in the form of an uncompromisingly
brutal form of heavy metal. However, as in pop metal, many excellent bands never
quite obtained the sales they deserved. Coroner, Flotsam & Jetsam, Wrathchild
America, the solid and straightforward Sacred Reich, and early Anvil, despite
their powerful albums and originality, never reached enough exposure. VoiVod,
meanwhile, failed to obtain a well-deserved recognition after changing styles
towards a more progressive speed metal direction. Later on, the splendid Angel
Rat featured a more accessible, mainstream sound that contrasted sharply against
the brilliant Dimension Hatross, Nothingface, and The Outer Limits; yet it failed
to break VoiVod through to the media.
Another trend that suddenly gained impressive influence
during the late eighties would be power metal. A style that took the speed and
heaviness of speed metal and combined it with epic song stylings caracteristic
of classic metal, power met
al
would be divided into two types. The standard, or "American," style
of power metal was played by bands like Metal Church, Savatage, and Manowar;
and despite its epic proportion it inherited mainly from speed metal. Meanwhile,
melodic, or "Euopean" power metal was a style that concentrated mainly
on the combination of speed and classic elements, with the occasional inclusion
of progressive tendencies; a style played by bands like Rage and Running Wild.
Power metal would not, however, reach worldwide exposure until Helloween's Keeper
of the Seven Keys albums reached combined sales of over one million records.
Fronted by the astounding voice of Michael Kiske, Helloween became the epitome
of power metal, producing some of the genre's most memorable harmonies and melodies
at speeds only imagined by Iron Maiden. This in turn caused a sudden sensation
around power metal, allowing the creation of new bands like Blind Guardian and
Iced Earth, and impulsing older bands, such as Budgie and Riot, to adapt to
the style.
Thrash metal spawned yet another kind of metal, which
was to be the most extreme ever: death metal
.
Hellhammer’s Apocalyptic Raids, Death’s Scream Bloody Gore, Possessed’s The
Seven Churches, and Bathory marked the beginning of a gender of music destined
to never attain commercial success. Guitars became as heavy as possible, tempo
changes went from breakneck speeds to turtle slow, double pedaling almost became
a rule for drummers, and vocalists switched from screaming to uttering guttural
growls that were barely intelligible. Venom’s Welcome to Hell had already predicted
death metal’s rise, and the new bands just reassured it. Celtic Frost, Sodom,
and Kreator (these last two considerd thrash metal at times) continued death
metal, but due to a new interest of metal bands in metalcore, death metal was
losing ground.
Then came S
epultura,
Obituary and Morbid Angel to resurrect death metal. Sepultura’s precise and
exacting Beneath the Remains, along with Obituary’s brutal Slowly We Rot, revived
the long-dead interest of metal fans and again established death metal as a
strong branch of metal, propelling the existence of a slew of excellent new
bands and resurgence of old ones, such as Carcass, Dismember, Benediction, Malevolent
Creation, Hypocrisy, Fudge Tunnel, Entombed, Edge of Sanity, and Pan-Thy-Monium;
and the progressive Pestilence, Atheist, Believer, and Cynic. However, death
metal also stagnated into boring repetition. Against the background of success
for bands such as Morbid Angel and Deicide, along with the technically renewed
approach of Death on Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic, most
new bands had nothing new to offer, but instead chose to rehash everything done
before and therefore help begin carving death metal’s tomb again.
During the last half of the Eighties, death metal would churn out the most radical of its variations, grindcore, which would eventually become a separate musical identity in and of itself. Grindcore’s most representative exponent is Napalm Death, which virtually eliminated harmony and melody in albums such as Scum, Harmony Corrupted, and Utopia Banished. Grindcore seems to be the absolute frontier of heavy metal, because the genre thrives on deconstructing music and as such is probably its most radical form ever, that is, if it can be called music. Because of its nature, grindcore is usually just glanced upon by bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Scorn, and several other bands; while bands that originally formed part of the scene, such as Carcass, Godflesh, Treponem Pal, and Pitchshifter, have chosen to move towards less radical musical directions.
On the other side is black metal, a branch of death
metal that began as an underproduced, noisy, but promising type of music ("black"
being a connotation of Satanic imagery) that eventually developed into a more
melodic type of death metal. The greater experimentation range and variety of
influences that remained in it helped several death me
tal
bands move from their heavy intense riffing to a more melodic approach. Among
them, Samael, Satyricon, Cradle of Filth, and Moonspell are fine examples; bands
that have incorporated several new elements into their music: classical music,
flamenco, folkloric European, synthesizers, female singers, and vocalists that
do not growl (although many of these additions are in all honesty rather inferior
to their original versions).
During the early Nineties, bands such as Tiamat, Therion, Sentenced, and Cemetary began moving away from their previous death metal sound in order to pursue diverse musical avenues, including progressive, doom, and classic metal. This in turn influenced other bands to create yet more diverse and musically complex black metal. As of late, Swedish bands At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames have maintained death and black metal’s momentum with their innovative and technical approach, with others like Emperor beginning to catch on and the likes of Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir expanding on the symphonic black metal approach, which demonstrates how black metal has been influential in reviving death metal and in a few cases reminding musicians that execution is just as important as heaviness.
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