Metal is a big deal for adolescents, and every time I run into one who is metal-ing, I try to remember that I was once an adolescent too, and 10 years ago was when I was 6 or 7 years old. No need to be a jerk about the behavior. Still - when someone gets uppity with me about metal, I'll ask a question - so you're into Industrial - ever heard Ministry or Skinny Puppy? So you know metal, ever heard of thrash and "Kill Em' All" - ?
In terms of metal, Led Zeppelin was kind of the kick-start, but the three big "proto-metal," groups were Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. None of those groups exactly sounds like metal, but this is the roots of the genre. Sabbath has a killer back-catalog, "Fairies Wear Boots" - Judas Priest was sort of like a Clash-influenced ancestor of Tool, and Iron Maiden was fronted by an operatic tenor. They are all killer groups, and a few tracks can be brought down from Gnutella. If you are a real metal-head, grab their catalog on disc, as it will be sure to inspire and inform you in the direction you might want to take off.
Let us start with Industrial, since that is a real big fad these days. If we want to be real technical, what most people call Industrial today is, "Industrial Metal." The oldest-old-skool "Industrial," was a form of electronica. A lot like Reese Saunderson, this guy who performed as "Eraserhead," in Detroit would run some modules and pan the pots, and then include sounds drawn from tape loops.
Eraserhead was the worst warp-head who ever performed. The luude-swillers started coming to his shows, and he was freaking them to the gates of hell on luudes, and then the tweakers started coming to prove people wrong that the Eraserhead was that hard. The tweakers would be running around urinating themselves trying to find the exit to the club in about 15 minutes.
There are almost no recordings around of Eraserhead's peformances, but I've heard a few scraps. It's obvious that the guy was hitting drugs that the best piplines in the world have never heard of. Remember, in some ways this is funny, but you don't run freakers, and Eraserhead was the king of freakers.
The next move in Industrial would have been what most people would tag as, "darksynth," or "darkwave," or "goth-synth," or "goth-wave." The big collective was Skinny Puppy, and "Addiction," and "Assimilate," and "WarlockED," remain some incredibly well-produced tracks. Also, Skinny Puppy ran lives shows better than anything you can get on recording. Skinny Puppy was a freak, but I've got some respect for that group. Eraserhead can burn in hell - and if there is no hell - there ought to be one for Eraserhead - or at least according to the tales people tell.
There were other groups like Front 242 or Meatbeat Manifesto, and I've managed to pull a few of those tracks down a few times. I generally do a spring-cleaning of my iTunes folder periodically, because my OS X BSD gets whiny if my iTunes folder gets too big. I have a lot less problems since I switched from Limewire to Cabos, but since I can grab it again off of Gnutella if I want to hear it again, a lot of things go into the trash and get dumped in order to keep my spaceball-pod in operation.
The next big collective would be KMFDM. The head of the collective was this German guy named Schorer, and he could produce stuff on 80's equipment that people can't produce today. The best tracks come off of the "Symbols," album, and "Megalomaniac," is the real pick. The KMFDM collective had a lot of Nazi overtones, but they were so incredible. One of their songs, "Sucks," mocks their own collective for programming and producing everything so that they can make money without having to work too hard. Another great track was a mid-90's remix of Skinny Puppy's, "Addiction," by the collective, and that track is the best "gothic-electronica," piece ever produced, although it does have a couple of nearly-rans.
KMFDM had already started using sampled guitars, and then in 90 or 91, "Psalm 69," by Ministry came out. First, Ministry had done some glam versions of goth-synth, and the almost unknown, "Twitch," is actually a landmark album. Psalm 69 was an assault on New-Wave Right-Wing Christianity. "N.W.O," and "Just One Fix," are still some of the hardest and best Industrial Metal tracks ever, but fair warning - this is a black album - very - very - sinister. In particular the title track is a monster, and I laugh at it some days - but you've been given a fair warning. So - "Psalm 69," is the first true Industrial Metal album.
I remember a show where a punk-band pulled off NWO. NWO isn't tough, except to get the speed-riff right you've got to have an incredibly fast right-hand. All of us oldster's started chanting, "Praise Jesus," while the song went off like a bang, and you'd have to know Ministry to understand the joke.
If we're talking the first true metal record, it would be, "Kill 'Em All," by Metallica, which was like 86? - 88? - and that was the proto-typical thrash-metal album. Metallica's later work is totally different - and people always want to say, "sold-out." Okay - but if you have the chance to grab for big g's, pay your taxes and put it in the bank? - I myself might be willing to grab at the chance.
"Kill 'Em All," and "Ride the Lightning," and "Master of Puppets," were the albums, and what you hear there establishes the metal genre. There were other thrash groups, but Metallica reigned supreme in the thrash-scene. You also might want to check out "...And Justice for All," a progressive-metal album, and then "The Black Album," their big-seller, does have some great songs on it.
That is really the history section, and I'd like to mention just a couple of other groups. It's occurring to me I may be doubling material again. Oh well. Faith No More, the oldest mass-market Mike Patton group, "Angel Dust," being the album, and "Smaller and Smaller," being the best metal track on the album. They ran a keyboardist, but they are not to be scoffed at. There are other tracks, and you can go looking for those.
Zao, an indie-Christian group that pretty much started metalcore - although they're so hard that most people tag it, "death-core." The pick tracks are "Rising End," and "Lies of Serpents, A River of Tears." Meshuggah, which I mentioned earlier, the Swedish Aryan-metal band with a Yiddish name, the pick album being Chaosphere, and the pick tracks being, "Chaosphere," and "New Millenium Cyanide Christ."
Anthrax is a band that was doing rap-metal in the late 80's. Megadeth, which was Dave Mustaine's money-maker. Mustaine was a great guitarist, who said before Megadeth broke up that he was so sick of music that he didn't even want to turn on a record, but he's in recovery now and works as a studio-session chip-puncher. He is a big proponent of the digital Gibson guitar, which is one heck of a runner, and is also a real SOB to run.
Korn. Life is Peachy. They were actually good when they were underground. The style is pretty different from most metal, because the bass-lines are independent instead of locking with the rhythm guitar riffs. Slipknot. All the kids were raving a few years ago, and I found a cut by the group called, "Duality," that is total tech-awesome, and hints to me that they may have been Christian-metal. Oh and Sepultura. DO IT. ROOTS! Sepultura may be one of my tribes, even though I'm not really a metal-neon.
Fear Factory, just grab a track or two and see what you think, and get the catalog if you like it. Psychedelic glam, horror metal, some electronic elements. Nice stuff. White Zombie. "More Human than Human." Beware, but its a pick track.
Last but not least, the Tool. First off, "Track #1," (not the real name) and Aenima are the two best melodi-core songs ever done. Second, Aenima is the best metalcore album ever cut, just above Zao's "Serpent and Tears." Third, Aenima is some diseased garbage. You'll get leprosy listening to that stuff.
However, I admit to listening guiltily to the stuff because it's so METAL AWESOME - at least from time to time. The follow-up, "Lateralus," is good, but we're moving into progressive-rock territory rather than metal. It's up to you, but look out for sciatica if you buy Aenima or even try a few cuts off of the album.
