Let's set the scene for this Metal Friday.
God I hated this period.
And please don't try to change my mind. It sucked, hard. I saw it all, first hand, at multiple Ozzfests and a lot of shitty listening sessions in college surrounded by assholes in flannel. Yes, I gave it the old 'college try,' for FOUR YEARS, and can confirm it sucked, Pearl Jam and all.
I saw Limp Bizkit come out of a toilet, literally, at Ozzfest. They should have stayed there. I'd gladly hit flush, as the world cheered.
Spare me your nostalgia and stories; this was fucking dark times for heavy metal.*
And then came 2000.
Iron Maiden came roaring back with Brave New World, and Rob Halford came out of a post Judas Priest funk with Resurrection. And suddenly the world tilted back on its correct axis, and all was right again.
Heavy metal was back.
"Resurrection" was Halford telling the world, "Fight and 2wo were interesting ... okay not 2wo. But I needed these albums at this point in my life. I've gotten them out of my system. Now? Fuck that noise. I'm back, with legit music."
This was a repudiation of the 1990s. Don't believe me? Here's the lyrics:
I'm digging deep inside my soul
To bring myself out of this god-damned hole
I rid the demons from my heart
And found the truth was with me from the start
Holy angel lift me from this burning hell
Resurrection make me whole
This song is awesome. It resurrected heavy metal.
Listen and enjoy. And remember how fragile it all is, boys.
* I don't hate you, I just think you have terrible taste in music.
4 comments:
I don't disagree with you that the 90s were a bad decade for metal overall, but there is some nuance worth pointing out. Extreme metal actually exploded during that decade, but that still left slim pickings for more traditionally minded metalheads like you and me (that said, I actually like some black metal, though most death metal bores me). Also, things already started looking up late in the 90s, as European power metal was beginning its resurgence at that time. I do fully agree with you about nu metal, though. I have zero patience for any attempts to rehabilitate that genre.
Yeah, take everything I say about the mid-late 90s and metal with a grain of salt... I have much residual bitterness and no objectivity. I did find much solace with Blind Guardian in that time.
Halford is a beast! Saw JP in San Francisco as a teenager in the 80's, and saw him recently for the 50th anniversary tour. Never saw him solo, but Resurrection is some serious metal!
Yeah he's the real deal! I did get to see him solo and multiple times with JP, first on the Painkiller tour.
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