anniversaries

Ronald Belford “Bon” ScottJuly 9, 1946 – February 19, 1980 Bon Scott could have been my dad. He was the right age. Given his legendary track record, I don’t put it past him. Hell, given his Scottish ancestry, and the fact that I mysteriously have red hairs on my chin — which led an ex-girlfriend […]

by Cosmo Lee Heavy metal turns 40 tomorrow, on the anniversary of the release of Black Sabbath. Without it, you and I would not be gathered here today. There would be no Big Four, Peaceville Three, !T.O.O.H.!, or “One.” There would be no Wacken, Venom, Voivod, or Vader. No Bathory, Beherit, Behemoth, or Belial (Aus, […]

by Chris Rowella It’s impossible to surf the Internet this time of year without running into “best of” lists. As I get older, their appeal has waned. With releases growing exponentially each year, listing favorites has become a pain in the ass. I find myself returning to records that have transcended annual rankings to become […]

Nuclear Assault’s Handle with Care turns 20 today, according to metal-archives.com. Back in the day, I would stare longingly at its longbox in record stores. I never pulled the trigger, though. Metallica and Megadeth were higher priorities. However, I now have a strange predilection for ’80s thrash sung by air raid sirens like Steve “Zetro” […]

Recently I was listening to Godflesh’s Pure/Cold World/Slavestate 3-disc reissue that Earache put out, and I couldn’t help thinking that the music was fantastic but also quite dated. In referencing the techno and hip-hop of the day, Justin Broadrick was pushing boundaries. But contemporary sounds inevitably become obsolete. Streetcleaner, which turns 20 today according to […]

Click to enlarge Motörhead’s Bomber turns 30 today. Incredibly, the band also put out Overkill in 1979 (see here). Bands these days take longer to write worse records. I prefer the music on Overkill, but Bomber is no slouch. The Overkill/Bomber/Ace of Spades trilogy is as fundamental to heavy music as Black Sabbath’s first six […]

2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the best Irish rock band of all time: Thin Lizzy. Their contributions to hard rock and heavy metal have never received the kind of praise heaped on peers like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. However, the groundwork they laid out has influenced countless acts in heavy music. Philip Parris […]

Some think Queensrÿche jumped the shark with Promised Land, which turned 15 yesterday. Some think that happened with the previous album, Empire. Some contrarians even pin that turning point on the much-loved Operation: Mindcrime. However, agreement is universal that at some point Queensrÿche went bad. Once a band plays Rocklahoma, it’s flown the white flag. […]