Part V: Long Live Rock 'n' Roll ... the 2010s Our journey through 50 years of metal ends (for now) on a high note. Over the course of the last few years, particularly in the second half of the past decade, we witnessed an increasingly large amount of quality releases across the ever widening landscape, culminating with traditional heavy metal and other retro styles making an indisputable comeback. Metal’s affinity to the underground reached unequaled comfort levels. Acts aide

Part IV: A World Ablaze ... the 2000s Starting around the mid 1990s, alongside grunge, metal maintained a quasi-mainstream edge via nu-metal and other deviations … (A/N: not something that I care to represent here.) Despite the rise of the extreme underground the future of the genre was rather dim by the late 1990s. Starting to lose steam and to an extent diluting from their core, death and black were simply insufficient in maintaining the entire genre’s status quo. By the e

Part III: Death ... The Only Solution ... the 1990s This time I’ll spare you my silly astronomical metaphors … Yes. The 1990s were uneven and somewhat unfathomable in regards to metal. It’s also true that outstanding, proper metal saw the light of day during this decade. Transitioning from the 1980s, thrash metal has reached a new soaring peak and marked huge milestones in the early 1990s. By 1991 Metallica has reinvented itself, releasing perhaps the most popular metal albu

Part II: Metal For The Masses ... the 1980s Following such respectable size big-bang, an equally sizable expansion was unavoidable … and it arrived! Heavy metal experienced an intensely thriving period during the 1980s, managing to carve its' way into music’s mainstream by the later years of the decade, ushering an array of sub-genres and styles during the process. From the dawn of the decade, both sides of the North Atlantic were producing acts that were attracting larger f

Part I: From The Start ... the 1970s February 13th 2020 marks the fifty year anniversary of Black Sabbath's self-titled debut. Metal was born! Driven by this extraordinary event, DENIM & LEATHER's "50 Years of Metal"series seemed to be the appropriate personal contribution to this occasion. While metal could trace its lineage back to the 1950s, it was during the late 1960s when all the constellations began to collide, resulting in the "big bang" of February 13th 1970! The res