Metal is alive and well and living in Europe. Americans futz with knuckledragging nü metal and ’til-you-grow-outta-it hardcore, European metal pushes forward.
Split (kinda) into power metal on disc one and extreme on disc two, tracked alphabetically per disc, there’s so much to open yer eyes, if yer at all into metal.
If you follow these genres, most of these bands are familiar. They’re mostly the big names, with little “filler,” and omissions were probably licensing issues.
The soundtrack to Stratovarious’ Timo Tolkki’s life, and that’s sometimes a sweet thing, sometimes dark and angry, sometimes thoughtful or lonely or wistful.
From melodic heavy metal pioneers like Helloween (and later Gamma Ray and Iron Savior) to thrash greats like Kreator, and black metal forefathers Celtic Frost.
A fine line between reverence, cuz the shit mattered, and chuckling cuz it was kinda silly. Ya gotta respect it, but you have to acknowledge the cheese.
Love at First Sting brought guitarists to their knees, something it’s time for again with all the half-assed heroes with more facial piercings than chops.
In the ’80s, fluffy-haired men in tight clothing sung sappy songs to young girls. This here’s 16 examples of the same trite, sleepy crap a decade later.