“1993 marked a brave time in the realm of heavy metal. It wasn’t unheard of to see a band do a massive about-face musically, in fact, it was oftentimes celebrated not only for the bravery of the act but also because said act blazed new trails for other bands to follow. When many death metal acts like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse were pushing the envelopes in terms of speed, a select group of bands like Cathedral, Paradise Lost, and Halifax, West Yorkshire sextet My Dying Bride were going the opposite route by slowing things down to a crawl.” Olde swans and dead brides.
Yer Metal Is Olde
Yer Metal Is Olde: Death – The Sound of Perseverance
Death metal’s legacy is inextricably wrapped around the works of Death. Their final release The Sound of Perseverance is now very olde, so let’s reflect on what once was.
Yer Metal Is Olde: Cynic – Focus
“Dolph does Focus, who could have seen that coming? Certainly not a ramshackle group of kids in Florida who drank death metal in the wild and jazz fusion in the heat of endless study and rehearsal.” We said FOCUS!
Yer Metal Is Olde: Morbid Angel – Covenant
“As I’ve said before, Morbid Angel changed my life. I listened to thrash and heavy metal in my impressionable years, but never clicked with anything more extreme. Then one day over winter break in high school, I stumbled upon the music video for “Where the Slime Live.” Life was never the same. The criminally underrated Domination opened the doors to old-school death metal and shoved me through them headfirst.” Angel of brutality.
Yer Metal Is Olde: Bloodbath – Resurrection Through Carnage
Bloodbath’s ginormous debut full-length is one for the ages. It’s also really olde now. Is the blood still wet? You bet!
Yer Metal is Olde: Blut Aus Nord – The Work Which Transforms God
“Before we dive headfirst into today’s induction, I want to address the impressively large, off-salmon-colored pachyderm that’s currently occupying a large space in the corner of the room. Black metal, especially in the late nineties and early 2000s, wasn’t all that terrifying, despite what their chief songwriters would have you believe. Behind all the church arsons, bullshit posturing, literal back-stabbing, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and murder, the music didn’t even come close to attaining a faint whiff of what they were trying to achieve aesthetically.” And then, transformation.
Yer Metal is Olde: Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer
“To put things ever so gently, the 1990s were not a good time for heavy metal, especially not the classic triumvirate of British heavy metal. Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, both riding the winds of success of the 1980s, were struggling to stay afloat due to dips in quality of music, the change of musical tastes in people, the looming flannel-cloaked spectre of grunge, and both their vocalists leaving to pursue solo careers. Black Sabbath, though… hoo boy.” More Humanizer than a human, man.
Yer Metal is Olde: Metallica – Metallica
“The first Metallica song I heard was “Enter Sandman,” although it wasn’t Metallica’s version. I’d become familiar with the song via one of Weird Al’s polka medleys, and one day, when I was around 10 or 11 years old.” Blackened nostalgia.
Yer Metal Is Olde: Katatonia – Last Fair Deal Gone Down
“The year of our Angry Metal Overlord 2001 was a “very good year,” to quote the everyone who has ever spoken about wine in a movie. Indeed, the year that produced Opeth’s epic and scene-changing Blackwater Park and Propagandhi’s Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes, also gave us Mutter by Rammstein, Awakening the World by Lost Horizon and Laundry Service by Shakira. But is Last Fair Deal Gone Down the best album released in 2001?”
Yer Metal is Olde: Opeth – Blackwater Park
“There are very few albums that I consider to be 5.0s or, in AMG money, ‘iconic.’ There are even fewer that I can actually picture the moment I first heard. One of those, however, is Blackwater Park. Opeth’s fifth full-length album probably shaped my extreme metal tastes more than any other single record and I cannot believe it is already 20 years old.” Park of the beast.