Metal -- a form of music, often synonymous with dissonance, noise, nonsense, disturbance, and possibly all its relatives that one can find in thesaurus. Passers – by dismiss it --- but for the devoted, it’s “a high, that can never be bought or sold” (R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner).
For the uninitiated, metal is a world where feelings take the form of the unholy permutations of the seven notes. It is where happiness and sadness co-exist as unchained melodies, where anger and rage take the form of razor–sharp guitar riffs, where frustration takes a gruesome drum-beat --- yes, metal is not for the faint-hearted!
For those interested in the history, metal began as a movement back in the seventies. Bands like Judas Priest, Kiss, and Led Zeppelin paved the way for heavier acts like Black Sabbath and the melody-laden Iron Maiden, who made it a global phenomenon, duly followed by the heavy metal giants Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer.
Whilst the eighties saw the birth of metal as a form of music, the nineties saw a wide streak of experimentation. The rawness in the music made room for an amalgamation of other forms of music like jazz, blues, progressive, into metal. Metal “diversified” into various sub-genres and the genre “metal” no longer remained a specific term.
There emerged a vast number of bands that conformed to one of the sub-genres, but all of them maintained the feeling of brotherhood deep inside. The Americans emerged as power-maniacs. Bands like Slayer, Sepultura and many other heavy bands came to the fore. The Europeans, on the other hand, turned melody-machines with that inherent “sweetness” in their music.
But sadly, with commercialization, the true spirit of metal has faded away. The new breed of bands has changed the face of metal, which has disappointed and even angered the purists. Music that used to come purely from the heart has been turned into a corporate account, being backed by power and money-hungry giants in the industry.
The aggression no longer exists – the guitar solos have gone --- the spirit and brotherhood have all given way to hunger and greed. Yet, there are people who are fighting to keep its spirit alive --- people who don’t mind being pushed into the background, only to resurface. And to those, as Iron Maiden would say, “UP THE IRONS!”