The Future Of Metal

Mark Hunter of Chimaira has, apparently, questioned the future of metal. He stated, in and interview with Noisecreep:

“Our tier of bands, our wave, (Killswitch Engage), Lamb Of God, we were the last legitimate new style of music to come out of metal,” says Hunter. “There hasn’t been anything new. Where’s the next Slipknot or Metallica or the next band that takes over and changes what heavy metal is all about and gets everybody interested in it again?”

Well, I have an answer for him. I can see a band capable, potentially, of taking over the world. But I'll come to this later, as this a far more interesting question he has raised than it might seem at first glance.

First, that is a very Americanocentric viewpoint. While metal was once largely limited to the UK, US and Germany, it is now a global phenomenon. Although in the UK and US, Slipknot are totally enormous, they are not quite so dominant in Europe. If you don't believe me, look at it this way. Slipknot headlined Download. It was, however, their first ever headlining bill. On the Dutch and Spanish legs of Sonisphere, they were support to Metallica. Granted, pretty much everyone bar Maiden plays second fiddle to 'Tallica, but the point stands: Slipknot were NOT big enough to headline.

There has, however, been one band during Slipknot's time that Mark has missed out. One band DID conquer the world. As much as I hate to admit it, having hated them since I first heard them, Limp Bizkit were the biggest name on the planet in 2001. That band has come along, even if they went out of fashion faster than beer gets drunk at a Municipal Waste gig. Let us not forget either how big System Of A Down became. Far more than Lamb Of God, Killswitch or any others from the NWOAM that never happened, System DID reinvent what metal could do, adding the Armenian elements to the music and proving, as Dimebag did, that you can have only one guitarist. And they did it despite being overtly political and alienating the mainstream- they survived an attempt to be blacklisted over Chop Suey, remember.

But this is also ignoring the varied global market that now exists within metal. While Slipknot have been bringing their evolution to all corners of Britain and the States, other bands have got huge in their own markets. The Finns may not go quite as batshit for the Nine as us Brits, but they DO go mad for Nightwish. Tuomas Holopainen is as bigger deal in his home nation as anyone you could possibly name in the UK music world. Power metal and it's variants, of whom Nightwish can be considered, mean bugger all in the UK and America, but are frequently giant on the continent. But the mention of Scandinavia brings me on to a yet wider point.

Black Sabbath. Judas Priest. Iron Maiden. Metallica. Pantera. Slipknot. This is how Mark appears to be defining the evolution of metal. Ignoring his Limp exclusion, this misses out some rather key progressions.

Yes, all of those bands have, at the time of their emergence, redefined metal, and ended up absolutely colossal- and rightly so. But other trailblazers have been no less- and in some cases, far more- evolutionary than these bands. The rather bizarre German quartet of Sodom, Destruction, Kreator and Helloween all redefined metal in the eighties- although the latter did so very differently. The Teutonic thrash trio showed that Slayer had not marked the limit of how heavy you could go, or how evil you could sound. Helloween proved that you really could be THAT fast and still be melodic and beautiful. The extreme sub genres evolved, with such luminaries as Death, Carcass and Mayhem showing different ways to be brutally heavy. At The Gates and In Flames showed how that heaviness could incorporate melody. And this is my point.

Redefining metal and being utterly huge are not linked by default. Although Emperor's reunion may have led to a Wacken headlining spot, no extreme band is ever going to dominate the world- the extreme moniker would be inaccurate if they did. But they do redefine metal, and are just as important to the mainstream evolution as the very biggest bands. Don't believe me? Here's how.

The death metal bands were an evolution of the heavier end of thrash. Melodeath evolved from death metal. The NWOAM bands are heavily influenced by melodeath. Or, put simply, Slayer led to Death, Death led to At The Gates, At The Gates led to Killswitch Engage. I can hear the pedants screaming about my oversimplification, but that's not too far off how we got to some of the biggest bands around- including Mark Hunter's Chimaira.

My point is that metal will be constantly redefined, but that the bands doing it may not necessarily be that popular. Conversely, the most popular and best bands do not really need to be that original. Iron Maiden were hardly revolutionary, coming along later in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal than most. They were, however, the best of them, and the most successful (sorry, Priest fans- I love them too, but the ticket and album sales don't lie).

There are plenty of bands trying new things, I feel. For example, Britain's very own Sylosis and Viatrophy are doing exciting, new and original things based on existing metal. If you haven't heard their albums Conclusion of an Age and Viatrophy, I suggest you do. They're both fantastic, and prime examples of people moving metal on. Chthonic's Taiwanese-infused melodic black metal is another. Metal will continue to evolve, even if the originals are not the most commercially successful.

At the start, I promised to name one band who I think can be totally huge and take over the planet. The list of bands that have done suggest the type of band that can is fairly specific. They can't be too controversial, or they will lose media coverage. They can't be too extreme, as mainstream radio stations won't play them. They need to be able to relate to the younger generation. They need to be good- seriously fucking good. They need huge hooks, both vocal and instrumental. They need to be able to pull it off live. They need major label support, eventually at least. And looking at the list of the biggest bands, it would appear they need to be able to shred. There is one band I can think of capable of doing this. They are not there yet. They need a better album and more touring. But I have felt, for quite a while now, that they will be the Next Big Thing.

That band is Black Tide. Think about it- they sound like a cross between Metallica and Megadeth and Guns 'N' Roses. Fairly big bands, after all. They can shred like fuck. They have a major label. They are young enough to immediately connect to the younger audience in the way a band emerging in their late twenties can't. They sing- not emo moaning or punk shouting, it's pure singing- but with plenty of metal balls. They have hooks. They are good and should get better. And they have the major label push already. I really hope they make it, too. My one fear is that they'll go heavier and lose mainstream coverage, which would be a shame as they're exactly at the right level to be utterly enormous.

My overriding message, Defenders Of The Faith, is that metal is more popular than ever, has a stronger, more varied, more widespread array of bands than ever before, and that's without the emerging generation having their own giant yet. If Mark Hunter's worried about the future of metal, give him the names of Sinocence, Viatrophy, Sylosis, Sworn Amongst, Evile, Bleed From Within or dozens of others not from the UK as evidence that we're not doing too badly. And there is room to get better. That next big thing will come, whether it's Black Tide or anyone else. No one saw Black Sabbath getting anywhere, yet forty years on, here we are. As long as we keep finding new music, as long as we keep going to gigs, as long as we want to play music and form our own bands, heavy metal will survive.

Defend The Faith.


Oh, and if you wondered why I ignored Linkin Park when talking about huge bands, it's because THEY'RE NOT METAL!!!! Only kidding. Actually, it's more that they're the band that I do not see lead on to other rock and metal. I know plenty of people who love Hybrid Theory but would never touch Powerslave or Vulgar Display Of Power. The people I know who like The Black Album or Significant Other would do.