The Classic Heavy Metal Resurgence

I never thought I would live to see the day when the music that I listened to as a kid would grow to be “classic” music.  I still remember to this day listening to bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and Anthrax among countless others.  I can vividly remember hearing my father say stuff like “Those guys won’t be here 20 years from now.”  I can remember arguing my point that his folks said the same of The Beatles and Elvis Presley and his only response was, “They made good songs.  These bands are just loud and obnoxious.”

Over the years, Heavy Metal has seen it’s peeks and valleys.  It has weathered the storms of bad pop music, grunge and even more recently Nu Metal as they have called it.  When the young people of this generation hear the term “Heavy Metal” they think of modern metal bands such as Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch and Avenged Sevenfold.  I don’t necessarily know that the kids today are very aware of the classics.  One could only hope that the way I was turned on to bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and KISS that these kids will be turned onto the “classics” of my generation such as Iron Maiden and the above mentioned bands.

Heavy Metal is kind of like a weed of sorts or maybe even cockroaches in the sense that it is impossible to kill.  Just when you think it’s gone, here it comes again.  It may look slightly different but it’ll grow just as tall and fast as it did before.  Just over the past few years there has been a resurgence in that classic metal sound of old.  Bands like Icarrus Witch from Pittsburgh, PA, Holy Grail from Los Angeles, California and White Wizzard from LA who I happen to think just may be the saviors of that classic metal sound.  Founding member/bassist/songwriter of White Wizzard Jon Leon said that one of the reasons he formed White Wizzard was because he was tired of hearing this “Nu Metal” genre of down tuned guitars and bands whose recordings saturated by autotune and the use of backing tapes.

Even today the classic metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are still going strong which is so amazing for new generations of Metal kids.  I envy the kids who got to see their first Iron Maiden show.  I wish I could see Iron Maiden for the first time all over again and relive the excitement of seeing such an amazing band.  Its also really comforting to know that there is a whole new generation of bands that are keeping that classic sound alive today.  Will they ever be as big as Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?  I wish I could guarantee that they will be but at least for now we have them.  These bands are putting out stellar albums and putting on in your face live shows so instead of wishing that more bands played this type of music, go out and support them and keep them on the road.  What was old is now new.  A whole new generation has the opportunity to experience classic Metal in a 2nd wave that will hopefully point them in the direction of the classics that we grew up with.  Sorry Dad but you were wrong.  Not only has his music and these bands lasted for well over 20 years but they have created an offspring that will hopefully last another 20 to carry the torch when they are gone.

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