The Greatest Band That Never Was: Black Sabbath and Ian Gillan

When your first album lays the foundation for an entire genre of music, it isn't going to be easy to follow it up. The original Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath put out a record bubbling with so much evil, thick grooves, and pouring with jazzy jams, it is arguable an album without compare. However, Sabbath went through a fair few line-up changes, and occasionally re-invented the wheel again.

Drafting Ronnie James Dio into the band in 1979, the band would unleash Heaven and Hell a year later, a record which pushed the boundaries of what Black Sabbath meant as a band, and what metal could be. Then, by some stroke of pure metal genius, the band followed it up with Mob Rules the next year, an album of arguably equal standing.

The following year, Dio would leave the band, Bill Ward would return to the fold, and a new front man had to be found. Although we can only speculate, the position of vocalist for Black Sabbath is something that would be sought after by many (including Michael Bolton). Through it all, the band landed on another Ritchie Blackmore affiliate, and perhaps the most revered of Deep Purple's vocalists, Ian Gillan.

And just as casually as that is mentioned, just as casually that line-up has been received. It doesn't really make sense, all things considered: the original three instrumental members of Black Sabbath teaming up with the guy often thought to have invented the headbang. Okay, most people probably wanted an Ozzy reunion, and fair enough too, but holy hell! A line-up like this could do so much. It could bring Sabbath back to their bluesier roots. It could be the band's chance to invent another genre of metal, it could be...

...Well, never mind what it could have been, because this is what it looked like:

Pretty terrible cover art aside, Born Again isn't a bad record, it just...isn't quite what it could be. Although we might view both bands in a similar light as part of metal's history, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath were very different entities, and you can tell just from band pictures that Gillan simply wasn't doomy enough.

The song-writing on the album is interesting, that's for sure. Although Dio had a career before his time in Sabbath, Heaven and Hell defined his identity just as much as Rainbow and later Dio. Gillan however, had already been well-established during his time fronting Deep Purple as much too fun a guy to be singing Children Of The Grave.

At times, this makes the album feel awkward - Gillan almost terrified of the riffs that surround him, with Iommi and Butler holding back the doom for Gillan's sake. But there are some amazing tracks, Disturbing The Priest being probably the most classic Sabbath song no one talks about, whilst Hot Line sounds like the perfect blend of Sabbath and Purple sensibilities. At other times though, such as on Trashed, it feels this mix just can't work.

But hey, despite their long careers, this was a new line-up, of course there are going to be some awkward moments. The plot thickens when one considers how this incarnation of Black Sabbath handled themselves live.

Unable to remember the lyrics to a lot of the Ozzy and Dio tracks, Gillan kept a book in front of himself that he turned with his feet. The almost occult vibe of a Sabbath show would certainly put the colourfully-dressed Gillan on edge, as a Deep Purple show was (and still is) a much brighter affair. Sure, to a lot of us, both Purple and Sabbath are early metal bands – they both played heavy, right? True, but that doesn't mean there weren't some stark differences.

Whilst Gillan might not sound the best belting out a Dio number – what did everyone expect? This is the power-house voice behind Child In Time, Space Trucking, and the incredible vocal-guitar duels of early MK.II Purple. There is no denying Gillan has one of the best voices in rock n' roll, but it is a different beast to Dio's, and for the matter, Ozzy's, too:

The strong personalities and voices of the singers that have passed through the Sabbath ranks has meant that performing songs from other vocalists will always seem a bit skewed, with Tony Martin perhaps the only guy who has ever managed to leap between eras without too much trouble. But I wonder what would happen if Sabbath were to play an old Purple number...

Woh! Woh! “That felt right!” Yes, yes it did Ian. Iommi, Geezer and Ward certainly knew how to take such an iconic (and let's face it – overplayed) song and turn it into something straight out of hell.

With that in mind, perhaps Gillan led Sabbath shouldn't have done an album straight away. Maybe there should have been an EP featuring re-recordings of The Wizard and Smoke On The Water, as well as Disturbing The Priest and Hot Line. Maybe then, given a bit more time to grow together as a band, we would have seen them become what they could have been.

There's no doubt that each member has more talent in their pinkie than most do in their entire bodies, but it was just a bad time for Sabbath, evident in their collapse shortly afterwards. Iommi and Gillan would team up again in the future, and make some incredible music, most recently in WhoCares. But still, you gotta wonder: could Ian Sabbath have been the greatest band that never was?

(Image from metal-rules.com)

Iron Maiden: Lighting the NWOBHM Fuse

The relationship between metal and punk has always been contentious. The first wave of bands that fell under the heavy metal umbrella are often cited as having been ushered out not by the next generation of headbangers, but by punk rock.

Being born years after the fact, I can only speculate that the simplicity and ferocity of punk rock must have struck a chord in the hearts and minds of those dis-interested in the lengthy drum solos and jazzy jams that many metal and hard rock bands were evolving into. Put simply, punk rock wasn't about building on the established – it was about tearing it down, and starting again.

However, the history of music is never linear, and just as punk was destroying metal's position in the mainstream, the next generation of metal bands were already beginning their crusade. All in one year, The Sex Pistols, Motörhead, and NWOBHM's champions Iron Maiden were formed, but it took the latter a few years to find their feet.

By the time of Maiden's debut, the fusion of punk and metal wasn't completely unheard of. Motörhead perhaps embodied the concept, and lay out the blue-print for the likes of Venom, Tank and Warfare. However, many of the metallic elements that the first wave of metal bands had to offer were stripped back  in favor of a balls-out approach. This was all about to change when punk rock singer Paul Dianno was drafted into the Iron Maiden fold.

With Dianno behind the mic, Maiden's blend of The Who, Deep Purple and Yes was injected with a dose of unpolished, raw tenacity. The sound on Maiden's debut was abrasive and coarse, but unmistakably metal. Stratton and Murray's guitar harmonies litter the album, forging a criss-cross of spider-webs throughout. The late Clive Burr's shuffling, head-shaking drum beats stand-out on the record to this day, with himself and Steve Harris' bass lines forming a crucial part of the albums make-up, especially on tracks like Running Free, possibly one of the best Iron Maiden songs recorded.

Curiously, the self-titled stands out as a unique entity within the Maiden chronology, less representative of the legacy the band would forge (Killers marking the appearance of a lot of the band's trademarks), and more so of the bands they would inspire, at least in the immediate. The sound of NWOBHM is encapsulated in the album – dancing between the boundaries of prog, melody and attitude all at the same time. Whereas you might want to look to Venom for the origin point of extreme metal, Maiden are definitely a turning stone for the more melodic side of things.

Burr would go on to appear on two more Maiden records, Dianno would cut one more, and this marks Stratton's only album with the band, but the songs continue to resonate to this day. Whilst Prowler and Sanctuary may not have had the lasting-power as cuts from other Maiden albums, they still remain enjoyable. The majority of this album is classic – Charlotte The Harlot and Remember Tomorrow displaying the bands range, whilst Transylvania and The Phantom Of The Opera allowing the band to show off their chops. Of course, the most enduring moment of the record comes in the form of Maiden's self-titled anthem, the chorus sounding a warning to headbangers everywhere that Iron Maiden make good on to this day – Wherever you are, Iron Maiden's gonna get you, no matter how far!

Steel Panther - Feel The Steel: Playing For Laughs & Keeping It Real

It was around 2007 when I first heard the quartet that would later go by Steel Panther. At seventeen, admittedly, I was still pretty wet around the ears when it came to heavy music. Fortunately, myspace had provided an unprecedented way for young broke guys and gals to directly connect with bands.

As strange as it sounds, I have a bit of nostalgia for what was only half a decade ago. Myspace gave the chance for every band to have a unique online presence easily, with every page having its own layout and flavour. Realistically, this freedom for the users was perhaps eventually its downfall (Facebook chews up a lot less data), but for a time, it gave a lot of the bands, including the then-named Metal Skool, plenty of freedom with getting their name out there on their own terms.

The music of Metal Skool instantly clicked with me. It was loud, obnoxious, heavy and coated in hairspray. As a big fan of hair metal, I got the joke straight away. These were real musicians who could play damn well, but these were characters – a modern day Spinal Tap. With blog posts about Michael Starr's sister's boobs, and Lexxi Foxx talking about soap causing STIs, I wondered how anyone could miss the joke, but that is just what seems to have happened.

Admittedly, Steel Panther sounds a bit more like a “real” band name than Metal Skool, and international touring and a couple of records under their belt have perhaps given the band a bit more legitimacy. But I mean, come on – don't the lyrics say it all?

The other side of the fence, however, is people writing the band off for the fact they are humorous. The lyrics they sing and the characters they play are obviously parodying the excess of 80s pop metal, but behind that you have musicians who have earned their stripes in the metal world (Satchel's alter-ego playing alongside Halford in Fight) and the music itself, whilst not life changing, is a hell of a lot of fun, and stands up alongside the more serious of retro bands.

One thing it is perhaps easy to overlook is that the difference between Russ Parish becoming Satchel isn't that far removed from Vincent Furnier becoming Alice Cooper. When Chaim Witz renamed himself Gene Simmons and loomed onto talk shows in full war paint and armour, then answered – to the question “are you a bat?” - “No, I am evil incarnate.” was he not playing a part? Perhaps not for laughs, but wasn't he taking on a role? Truly, Steel Panther is only a few more steps removed from the stage personas that fill the genre of hard rock/heavy metal, and then it isn't much further until we get end up in the realm of Spinal Tap or Dethklok.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they are one in the same. Steel Panther, jokes or not, are a band of hard working, talented musicians.

Whilst stylistically not as focused as its successor, Panther's debut record stands up as slab of good-time, rockin' metal tunes. What this album does that Balls Out doesn't is treat each song, it seems, as a parody of a different band or scene. Hells on Fire absolutely reeks of Accept's crunchy guitar tone, and Fat Girl would be just as convincing with Coverdale on vocals. Like any self-disrespecting glam record, there's a power ballad or two thrown in, and Community Property boarders on lyrical genius, Steel Panther surpassing many of the cheesy bands they are parodying in terms of wit. This perhaps isn't across the board, however, as Death To All But Metal is nothing but an over-the-top, ridiculous battle cry for all things heavy, and I for one love it.

At the end of the day, there are often bands you can laugh with, or bands you can headbang to, it is pretty rare that you find a band that can do both. Sometimes you wanna listen to something ridiculous, but sometimes you just want to put on some damn good metal and have some beers with your friends - with a band like Panther, you can do both.

If you are yet to feel the studded-codpiece that is Steel Panther gyrating awkwardly against your face, either of their two records will do fine to introduce you to the awesomely ridiculous, ridiculously awesome stylings of the four piece. Death To All But Metal!

Nature Of The Priest - When "Selling Out" Just Ain't True

 The world of hard rock and heavy metal is a pretty diverse place. Be it the 70s pub rock of Australia or the current wave of speed and glam metal in Canada, one phrase that never ceases to get thrown about is “sell-out”. Perhaps as old as the genre itself, the frustrated cry that eases the pain whenever your favourite band decides to cut their hair, down-tune or throw in clean vocals never fails to sum it all up. Or does it?

Take for instance a band that, throughout their career, have been met with the two word phrase a number of times, and undoubtedly proved their detractors wrong every time: Judas Priest.

When examining the diverse sounds of Judas Priest's extensive catalogue, a trend-hopping mindset might be the first thing to explain the often starkly different flavours throughout, but in reality what is on offer is a band who have always written their own book, playing metal exactly how they see fit – ranging from straight-up rock n' roll on Rocka Rolla, to early speed metal and occasionally funky sounds on sounds of Screaming For Vengeance, Killing Machine/Hellbent For Leather and British Steel, to the heavy-as-a-heartattack, metal extravaganzas of Jugulator and Domination, and right up to the symphonic metal leanings of Nostradamus. The band have adapted to the metal environment that surrounds them - but on their terms, not the trend's.

Wit that said, it is easy for a 20-something to look back on the 80s glam scene and see it as nothing but a good time. After all, there are guitar solos, bluesy riffs and pounding drums – what's the problem? I can't vouch for how much the hatred may have been exaggerated over time, but it does seem that to a lot of headbangers, Glam was the enemy – watered down riffs, poppy lyrics and way too much synth.

Even as a big fan of the genre, (Although beer and my stomach seem to have other plans for my wardrobe...), it was clear to see that the corporate music world saw they could make a lot of money out of glam metal – did some of the bands, too? Saxon, Whitesnake and Tygers Of Pan-Tang all at some point – for whatever reason – took their cues from the synth-laden genre to varying degrees of success, and so did Priest with Turbo.

Turbo was – to put it lightly – busting at the seems with big happy riffs, choruses for stadiums, and hairspray. Not only that, but the band were donning a lot more colours, and put out a number of commercials that were...well...

Undoubtedly, songs like “Turbo Lover” and “Parental Guidance” had more hooks than a fisherman's tackle box, opening the band up to a new market of fans. The after-effects of this resonated into the release of Ram It Down and subsequent tour with Dokken. As well as making this guy pretty damn famous:

So, was Turbo a “sell-out”? For my money, absolutely not. Sure, it might seem convenient that the band had decided pompadours and colourful clothes were a good idea around about the same time the record labels did - but despite what may have gone on behind the scenes, Turbo spawned some Priest classics that could easily be woven into live sets today without too much trouble - “Out In The Cold” being an undeniably epic, fist-raising ballad.

The thing is – what's the difference between Priest's turn to a glammier sound with Turbo, and their reverting to a much heavier sound on Painkiller? Both fit in nicely with the metal surrounding them at the time, but stand out as benchmarks in the genres. Priest, like many of their peers, took cues from the younger generation in the 80s. This is something that Priest has done throughout their career,drawing on the influences of the bands that surround them, and releasing records that offer their own – often superior – take.

No one can know the true thought process behind a band's latest record except for the band themselves. The way it is marketed, the image adopted, and the bands they tour with are often decided by management and promoters. With this in mind, is it really fair to sweepingly judge all bands who “went glam” in the 80s as sell-outs and dishonest? The notion can be echoed throughout the history of popular music.

Priest are an example of growth for the better – they are a band who have stood the test of time by remaining fearless enough to look at the current state of metal music and say “we can do better”. Hell, I'm still waiting on that Halford/Ihsahn project I heard rumours about awhile back.

So whilst sometimes a change in a band might be based completely on the dollar signs in their eyes, other times? Its just the nature of The Priest.