Metal Month - Day 19: Death Metals flame didnt last long. Starting in the early to mid 1990s and tapering off into the latter half of that decade, Death Metal became that friend that was really funny and cool to hang with at first, but then got on your nerves after a while. The 1990s introduced new genres of music to which subversive youths flocked. Grunge music with its life-in-the-gutter look and sound attracted tuned-out nihilists. Trendy alternative bands with their catchy choruses scooped up anyone interested in what was hot at the time. And Nu-Metal corralled the remaining goth rejects. Real, extreme metal appeared on the way out. What will those that crave headbanging beats and inflammatory lyrics listen to now? Hardcore seemed to be the answer. It took the up-beat tempos of punk music, but added down-tuned guitar riffs and growling vocals. In fact, Hardcore is simply hardcore punk music. One band did it almost better than most others: Pantera. Though they started out as a glam rock band in the 1980s, they eventually shifted gears into hardcore music. With the distorted and technical guitar playing of Dimebag Darrell (RIP) and the visceral shouting of Phil Anselmo, true fans of extreme music found their outlet. With their 1990 release of Cowboys From Hell, Pantera kicked off the Hardcore movement. As well see later, Hardcore stuck around for years to come - maybe not as a popular genre itself, but its style permeated that of other genres that followed. The metal of today got its heaviness and larger than life sound directly from Hardcore. And ask any early 30-something today in any metal band what CDs are in their collection, theyre bound to say such and such...and I got some f#$&king Pantera, too! Todays video is a 1992 performance in Italy. Panteras stage presence was relentless, and their sound remained crisp even with all the running around they did. How that crowd didnt tear everything down during the show, I dont know. https://youtube/watch?v=YFcrecJ6-Og
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:25:27 +0000