Traditional heavy metal

Cafe Society
1

Traditional heavy metal - I guess that’s what you call it.

Back in the early 80’s I listened to what my older brothers were listening to, mostly Top 40 stuff. We could get into a few hard rock/ heavy metal songs - your “Living After Midnights,” your “Cum on Feel the Noizes,” your “Hot for Teachers,” etc. For the most part metal scared me. The images of demons, and zombies, and werewolves; YIKES! The kids I knew who listened to that stuff and wore the black shirts and studded bracelets, they were stoners and dropouts, and we’re always drawing Satanic images on their school books; YIKES!

I’m 40 now, that stuff doesn’t scare me anymore, and I’ve been discovering some great music I missed over the years. Ronnie James Dio in all his incarnations, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. In fact I heard Maiden’s “The Trooper” for the first time this weekend. WOW!!! What a great song.

I’m not really a thrash fan. There’s a handful of Metallica songs I like, but nothing by Anthrax, or Slayer.

So, going by the likes I listed can you guys recommend some more metal for me? Any new bands that sound like what I’m looking for?

2

I’m also a Priest and Maiden fan, so perhaps you’ll like these other guys —

The kings of “true metal”, Manowar. They’re an American band that never really “hit” in the US, but have managed to become huge in Europe and South America.

Warriors of the World
Die With Honor

And I like this live version of “Battle Hymn” from their first album. They brought out everybody who had ever been in the band to perform this one :smiley:
I also like Swedish band Hammerfall:

By Any Means Necessary
Natural High
Last Man Standing
Hearts on Fire

I’d share more, but YouTube is giving me grief today.

3

Start at the beginning, Black Sabbath.

4

Metal can still be fun. You just have to crank it up and go a bit… Over The Top.


Enjoy some White Wizzard.
5

Depending on how much time you’re willing to invest in this, there are a couple of good heavy metal documentaries out there. You might find some of the kinds of bands you’re looking for from watching these:

Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey

Heavy Metal Britannia

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

6

If you like Black Sabbath, you’ll probably like some of these bands & songs:

Sheavy - Synchronized
Shrinebuilder - Blind For All To See — I’ve written about this album on my blog, if you want to know more and hear more of their tunes.
Orange Goblin - Beginner’s Guide To Suicide
Wolfmother - New Moon Rising

There’s a ton of sub-genres in metal now, but if what you really like is that NWOBHM/power metal sound like Maiden and Priest, there are a lot of bands that are going back and mining that sound. White Wizzard, mentioned by E-Sabbath is one of the best, but you might also like:

Iced Earth - Ten Thousand Strong
Gamma Ray - Blood Religion
Nevermore - Emptiness Unobstructed

If you kinda like Metallica but not real thrash bands like Slayer, give a listen to:

Trivium - Anthem (We Are The Fire)

A couple of bands that don’t exactly fit what you described but that I hope you’ll like:

The Sword - Tres Brujas
Kyuss - Demon Cleaner

I just saw both of those bands last month, and they were as good live as I had hoped.

I can’t resist the opportunity to push the boundaries a bit; here’s a more aggressive doom/stoner band that I usually don’t go wrong recommending:

Blood Island Raiders - I Am The King

If you like any of that, post here or message me and I can help you find more you’ll like. NWOBHM and power metal are about my least favorite kinds of metal, but there’s a lot worth listening to in those genres, so I know a fair amount of bands/artists.

If you like some of the Sabbath-y stuff, I can be of more help, since my taste generally runs to the more extreme, aggressive types of metal (doom, stoner, death metal, metalcore, hardcore, thrash, etc.).

THIS (↓) IS THE LINK TO MY BLOG

7

Well, I’m a bit more of an extreme metal fan and think Slayer is awesome, but I get the difference. Still, if you haven’t heard it already, I think you might like Seasons in the Abyss, if nothing else.

Anyhow, more in line with the likes of Maiden and Priest, first I’ll echo Bo’s recommendation of Iced Earth. Melancholy (Holy Martyr) is a must-listen.

Also worth checking out is Helloween, particularly their first three albums Walls of Jericho and Keeper of the Seven Keys parts 1 & 2. The lead guitarist sang lead on their first album, then they added a stand-alone vocalist for the Keys albums.
A few examples:
Helloween - Ride the Sky
Helloween - Halloween
Helloween - I Want Out
They had some key lineup changes shortly after these albums and they have a lot more albums with yet another singer. They even released a Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy, not to be confused with the first two. From that:
Helloween - Get It Up

8

I think we’ve given Daddypants enough to digest for a while. Tell you what. How bout you listen to what we’ve found for you, and then you tell us which of the above suits your tastes the best.
… though I might as well toss in one last classic. Some Motorhead.
Motorhead - Bomber - YouTube - Bomber
Well. Actually, Lemmy’s done some interesting work over the years. With Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters.
Probot - Shake Your Blood (Uncensored) - YouTube - Shake Your Blood
And with Slash
- YouTube - Dr. Alibi.

Rock on, man.

9

Holy shit someone invented a time machine and brought the 80s to today. If that wasn’t shot in HD I would have thought I’d missed a band from 20 years ago.

If you’re going for bands like Maiden and Priest you might also like Helloween and Gamma Ray. I also like Savatage who do a wide range of metal.

E-Sabbath, I’ve listened to a number of White Wizzard songs, I’m digging them, thanks.

10

That was great! Exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll check out the rest later this afternoon.

11

I was never a metal fan in particular, but I feel that I like a good tune no matter what the genre. That being said, the soundtrack for the game Brütal Legend is awesome. The game was made by people who love metal, and metal icons Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, and Lita Ford all supply character voices. In the game, your car has a radio that plays selections from a huge list of classics; sometimes I would just drive around listening. In particular, I liked “Drink The Blood Of The Priest” by Broca’s Helm and “The Axeman” by Omen. And of course “Girlfriend” by Kabbage Boy, which is everything that is wrong with metal.

12

Oh dear god. That was painful.

13

If you like Maiden and Priest you should definitely listen to Saxon, as well as Helloween and Manowar.

Candlemass mix Sabbath-style riffs with somewhat operatic vocals and guitar solos not entirely unlike Maiden’s. They’re one of my all-time favourite bands, and I love pretty much everything they’ve done - even the novelty covers EP of Swedish '40s pop songs - but I’d recommend their second album “Nightfall” as the first to check out.

14

One album that just blew me away when I heard it was The Battle by Allen Lande. I love it to pieces and many non metal fan friends of mine dig it too.

Wish for a Miracle
Hunter’s Night
My Own Way Home

15

Blind Guardian
Saxon
Twisted Sister
W.A.S.P.
Jackyl

16

I think the fact that it gives you hope during those initial 9 seconds makes it even worse.

17

I was able to listen to some of what you guys suggested. Thanks for the links.

White Wizzard and Iced Earth I liked a lot.
Allen Lande wasn’t to bad.
Gamma Ray, Nevermore, and Helloween - Jury is still out. I’ll need to hear some more.

18

There’s a wave of bands not entirely unlike White Wizzard. They’ve got a competitor band that’s more hair and less metal. I can’t remember their name, but it’s like Steel Panther, except… not.

19

I’m sorry. I just have to point out that the phrase “traditional heavy metal” makes me think of the Carter Family doing a cover of “Master of Puppets.”:wink:

20

No actual Carter Family versions of metal tunes, but how about Pat Boone?

Enter Sandman
Holy Diver
You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
Crazy Train
Smoke On The Water

All songs from his 1997 album In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.