Awesome video! I did something like this about 3 years ago, but it was a series of video called the top 50 albums that shaped my musical journey. But I'll give you a quick summary of it. I was born in 1971, but despite this I have a similar story. I have a brother who is 2 years older than me and he started listening to classic rock when we were around 8 and 10 respectively. We listened to the Beatles, the Doors and Led Zeppelin. The heaviest thing that we listened to was Black Sabbath and Ozzy. I knew about Twisted Sister because my father used to work with one of their drummers, but I didn't really know the music, just the name. In high school I discovered Def Leppard and Guns n Roses then from there I discovered Metallica and Iron Maiden. Then the grunge years started when I was in college. So I moved away from metal for a few years, but I loved Pantera, especially Vulgar Display of Power. After that I had been a casual metalhead, but it wasn't until about 10 years ago when someone sent me a request to join a facebook group with people talking about metal and that was when I discovered death metal, such as Death Leprosy, and more underground stuff like Opeth with Blackwater Park and since then I got more into all genres of metal then I started my channel in late 2020 which was when I really started to listen to all metal genres.
Very good choices. I was born in 1993, so I first got into metal when I was 17. Here were some gateway albums for me getting into metal: Black Sabbath - Master of Reality Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast Metallica - …And Justice for All Megadeth - Rust in Peace Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power Slayer - Reign in Blood System of a Down - Toxicity Korn - Follow the Leader Slipknot - Self-titled Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
So good mate. I still remember in 1989 when I was 14 putting …and Justice for All on and being stunned by the eeriness of the Blackened opening. Totally blew my mind!!! Was on a slippery slope after that!!!!
Excellent topic my friend, enjoyed your story :) My earliest memory of music listening is that I basically consumed whatever was popular on local radio at the time, mostly local folk and pop artists. Later on, when I was about 11 years old, my dad found his old cassettes and introduced me to Rock'n'Roll. In addition to local rock bands, I first heard The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dire Straits (my dad's all-time favorite band), and also that was my introduction to blues. Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, all the usual suspects. You made a good point about RUclips and streaming not existing at the time, being born in 1992 I'm just about old enough to catch up with the last days of exchanging cassettes (and latter CD's) with other people. So many artists discovered by the word of mouth and exchanging stuff. Thus, the passion was born. And then, one day my mom came home from work with, and I'm not kidding - a huge black trash bag that she barely could carry. It was stacked with CD's 😀 Her colleague from work was so happy that her 90's kid was discovering all those 60's and 70's artists that he sent me all those CDs to discover his favorite artists. First were AC/DC, then Deep Purple, Scorpions, Styx, various artists compilations etc. My dad was so happy as well, it was like being a 16-year-old kid again for him. And then there was it - Black Sabbath best. Holly molly did that hit me as a truck. Never before that have I heard anything as dark and heavy. Was spinning it all day long. My dad is not a metalhead and Sabbath is heaviest band he likes, so his contribution to my metal journey ends here 😀 And then I found in the bag - Best of the Beast by Iron Maiden. And that was it, I became metalhead for life. In the bag, as I recall, was mostly rock and hard rock, not much metal, besides Maiden there was one Metallica compilation. Sometime after that we got the internet, and I started discovering music on my own. That was the first time I actually started appreciating album as a format, while before that it was mainly compilations. Discovered whole army of rock, blues and metal artists on my own and then I went to high school, met new friends and found new obsessions. Highschool was the last time I experienced exchanging discs and cassettes with people. During high school my biggest discovery was thrash metal, all the usual suspects but mainly Megadeth, Slayer, Overkill, Exodus. after them Metallica, Nuclear assault, Testament etc. the only other step forward in term of heaviness I took in high school was discovering of Summoning and Caladan Brood and for the longest time those were as extreme as I was prepared to go. Later on, at university, naturally came new friends and new bands, this time however with no cassette exchange. I turned back to blues, started listening to jazz, classical and film score music. Of course, my passion for rock and metal never burned out. And then I discovered Orphaned Land and Therion. Two bands that made me reconsider my feelings towards death growls 😀 In those days I also started listening to present era Opeth and very slowly was testing their early works. Anyway, to shorten already long story, the last chapter in my journey towards music experience I have today was in late 2019 when I started following several RUclips channels, Sea of Tranquility being my favorite one. There I discovered so many 70's bands I somehow missed in early days, and yet more and more extreme bands sometime after SOT, discovered few more good channels, yours being one of them :) Stage was set for my diving into Black metal. Bathory, Darkthrone, early Gorgoroth and Immortal were the first. And so, to this day I rely on recommendations from the people I value and discovered many more artists. I don't yet consider myself a fan of black and death metal as styles in general, but so many artists I enjoy now, thanks to channels such as yours. Sorry for the lengthy comment and sorry for not including more names and albums, I wanted to share general experience of music discovering. What an adventure it has been, and it will continue as long as I'm around! :) Cheers!
Cheers! And no need to apologize for a long comment, I enjoy reading these! Getting that huge bag of CDs must have been world changing haha! Thats a great story!
@@HammerheartMetalReviews Yes indeed, it was mind blowing experience 😀 Took me few months to get through all of the CD's 😀One of the best adventures of my childhood ! Cheers!
Hi Graham I have to laugh that reaction channels when they do their albums of the month they choose 5 predictable ones lol. Never anything different no death metal black metal etc then say oh its a very quiet month erm no you choose at least 15 or 20 per month. Finally the ones who listen to the single erm hate that phrase it's a preview track then never buy the album lol. Love the channel and you never push like many oh don't forget to subscribe, like etc. You do this for pleasure to share your love for the music you like. Probably why we never see negative comments on your posts/videos
My brother introduced me to Metallica's "Black" album when I was around 13. Before that I had mainly been listening to radiofriendly Punk Rock. I eventually checked out AC/DC and Megadeth. And that kicked it all off for me. When I was 14 I came across Awake by Dream Theater, followed by Glory To the Brave by Hammerfall and Whoracle by In Flames. My life would never be the same after that... the Nuclear Blast mailorder catalogue completely opened the flood gates for me 🤘
It's so interesting to look back on these winding roads of music discovery. We're about the same age so your path is very relatable. One day I'd love to make a detailed timeline, but here's a simplified: Pre-1996 - more or less only radio. Recorded a lot of stuff (I wonder where those tapes went) 1996 - Bad Religion - All Ages: the first album I bought. Got me into a few years of punk rock 1997 - Metallica: First through the Load/Reload albums, but it wasn't long until I looked up the earlier stuff 1998 - Iron Maiden: Just a few songs here and there (mp3s were coming around) but the year after I picked up the Ed Hunter compilation. I wasn't going fully metal yet, I remember buying Britney Spears singles and whatnot lol 1999 - Hammerfall - Glory To The Brave, and Legacy Of Kings (Heeding The Call was a wow moment) 2000 - Metallica - Ride The Lightning: This has to be where my extreme metal journey began, the way more aggressive style compared to all I'd heard before 2001 - Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys 1+2, Judas Priest - Painkiller: Getting there... 2002 - Rhapsody: Epic, bombastic, melodic... This is where I turned into a power metal nerd! In 2001-2002 I also recall hearing some In Flames (Clayman) and Dimmu Borgir. EDT was important, but the album that really got me into black metal was Windir - Arntor (it's still one of the most intense and emotional albums that I know) Bonus plot twist: during the pandemic, I started exploring 80s music and found that I really enjoy AOR and hard rock
Nice one Graham, awesome video! Really cool to hear about the band's and albums that shaped your Metal music taste. For me, it all began with Metallica when I was 12, I wasn't bothered about music before I heard them, then everything changed. Master of Puppets was the album. Then I got into a lot of my parents music, like The Stones, Hendrix, Queen, Iron Maiden, Rush etc. Then in my mid/late teens I got into more Metal like Ozzy, Megadeth and Pantera, then I went on a Metal assault up to present day haha! 😁🤘🏻🤘🏻
@HammerheartMetalReviews You're welcome mate! Cheers, yeah Metallica are a fantastic gateway band into Metal. Haha yeah man, there's no turning back after that point! 😁🤘🏻🤘🏻
Awesome concept! Cool to hear that we started listening to Blind Guardian around the same age (though you began years before me obviously, as I'm 5 years younger than you). The first album I owned by them was Nightfall, and I remember my first copy had an error that had the CD making loud static noises like every 10 seconds, which made it literally unlistenable. So I had to eventually buy it twice. That's not where it began though. My first proper introduction into metal/rock, was a burned CD I got from my cousin, which included a few Metallica songs, a Bon Jovi song, a Limp Bizkit song and most importantly: Two Rammstein songs (Asche Zu Asche and Du Hast). The Rammstein songs completely hooked me, and I really liked Metallica as well (it was mostly stuff from Garage Inc). I probably was around 10-11 years at the time. Later my dad let me pick two CDs from the local recordstore, and I decided I'd get one from each of Rammstein and Metallica. My logic was: pick the albums with the most songs on the back cover, so I went with Live Aus Berlin and ReLoad. I had no idea 'live' meant it was a concert CD at the time, but I'm glad I chose that one because it blew me the fuck away, and I still think it's 10/10. I barely listened to the Metallica CD. I also got an Eminem album around the same time, and I loved that one as well (a lot more than ReLoad). Probably a year or so later, the older cousin of a friend of mine started telling us about all these classic black metal bands (especially Mayhem, who were evil scary dudes apparently), which I thought sounded so cool. He went on to play us a song from the Storm - Nordavind album (Oppi Fjellet) and it was the coolest shit I'd ever heard. After that I started harassing my sister (who was studying on the other side of the country and had access to this magical thing called the internet) about downloading songs from certain bands, and I got a burned CD with Dimmu Borgir - Broderskapets Ring and Satyricon - Mother North, plus the Ulver remix of Emperor - Sworn for some weird reason. It took me yeeears to get a hold of Nordavind though, as it was out of print at the time. As for black metal, I think the first CDs I got were Dimmu - For All Tid and Satyricon - Volcano back when the latter was new, as I remember the Fuel for Hatred video being shown on TV around the same time. Shortly after that I got Stormblåst, and that was my favorite album for a good while. The Norwegian lyrics, the pictures of the band members, the atmosphere and melodies, EVERYTHING about this album just clicked with me. Around the same time, my sister introduced me to bands like Korn and System of a Down (Toxicity especially) and that also blew me away, as I'd heard nothing sounding as crazy as Chop Suey before. I got Toxicity pretty quickly, while Korn became my favorite band for a few years around 8-10th grade. I also remember vividly getting introduced to Windir by watching a music video show on TV that had a chat at the side of the screen, where a lot of people one day were talking about the singer passing away. Later I found the Valfar, Ein Windir compilation at the local record store and bought it. Literally life changing.
Oh, and my sister claims she played me Darkthrone and Dissection when I was very young, because no one else wanted to listen to it with her. I was probably 5-6 and I can't remember anything of it. My guess is I didn't care about the music at that age, I was just glad someone wanted to hang out. I do remember listening to her Twin Peaks soundtrack cassette though, and it scared me so much. And like you, I also grew up listening to Nirvana (my sisters favorite band). But she already had some of their stuff, so I didn't buy it (completed their discography on CD last year actually. Still good shit). To summarize, below's some albums I got early on. These span a handful of years, as I didn't get to buy more than a few CDs a year back then. Even though I saved most of my money (which wasn't much) for music, the record store was 40 kilometers away and I couldn't get there by myself): Rammstein - Live Aus Berlin Metallica - ReLoad Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP Dimmu Borgir - For All Tid Satyricon - Volcano System of a Down - Toxicity Korn - Korn Jorn - Out to Every Nation Misfits - Famous Monsters Children of Bodom - Something Wild/Follow the Reaper (got them the same day) Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger Old Man's Child - In Defiance of Existance Manowar - Kings of Metal Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth Windir - Valfar, Ein Windir Finntroll - Jaktens Tid Pagan's Mind - Celestial Entrance Moonspell - Wolfheart Moonfog 2000 - A Different Perspective (compilation) And my mom gave me Type O Negative - October Rust & Bloody Kisses when I was very young. She bought them because she was in love with Peter Steele, but probably didn't like the music lol Sorry for the wall of text, when I started writing this, it was hard to stop.
No need to apologize for the long story, I enjoyed reading it! Thanks for this, I love hearing about other's musical beginnings, and what albums kind of opened things up for them. Seems like we had some things in common for how we first started exploring. Thought this would be a fun topic to do a video on. Cheers man!
'Theatre of Tragedy - Aegis' was the album that got me into metal. I remember thinking that nothing could sound more perfect. 'In the Woods - Heart of the Ages' was the album that got me into extreme metal. I remember thinking it was the most original thing I'd ever heard.
For me it goes like this: - When I was a kid I hated harsh vocals and intense music, but I always enjoyed classic rock. So I liked bands like ACDC, Beatles, Led Zeppelin. - Eventually I heard Metallica, Priest, and Maiden, and that warmed me up to thrash and heavy metal. No particular album helped just the bands themselves. - At some point I heard Lamb of God and that really warmed me up to harsher vocals. - Then enter Death with Symbolic and Sound of Perseverance, I don't know why but I was super attracted to these albums. At this time it was by far the heaviest shit I listened to. - Then similarly to your list I heard Opeth, for me it was Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed. This opened me up to genuinely low gutturals, this made death metal easy to navigate. - Finally, I had a hard time understanding the hype with black metal until I heard The Mantle and Ashes against the Grain. These albums helped ease me into listening to black metal. Great video, was a fun watch.
Great video and cool to see someones journey into this wonderful music. My beginning was in the summer of 99 at the skatepark with KoRn on the ghettoblaster. So the whole Nu-metal wave was defo my introduction. Then around 2003 i started to dig into bands like Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and “In Their Darkened Shrines” by Nile really changed my life. Then I gotta more and more obscure and heavy shit, until around 2010 when I just dug into every single death metal band I could find and thats has been my jam ever since 🤘 I like different bands in different genres aswell, but death metal is where it’s at for me. Edit: Actually “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” was my very first CD, my mom bought it for me cause I liked the cover but none of us had any idea what kind of music it was lol
@ I have a vivid memory of laying in my room with headphones on listening to that Nile album and I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but the atmosphere just got me. I was confused but so intrigued and just started to hear it over and over
Dude! I also turned 40 this year and Alapalooza was ALSO my first cassette back in the day. Wild coincidence Weird Al is a GREAT musical-hub to branch out into it all
@@HammerheartMetalReviews Yeah haha for sure. You managed to dodge the nu metal trap! I was not so fortunate... Started out with potential perhaps, as Guns n Roses, Offspring and Nine Inch Nails started to grab me, but it was a lost cause once I found Korn and the rest. Bunch of spiked hair and wide-leg jeans later....... I finally found a few lifeboats in the form of Demons & Wizards, Isis, and Pantera. I was finally rescued from the pits of nu metal!
@@Ressic haha I wouldnt say I dodged it completely. Was definitely into stuff like the Deftones (if that counts as Nu metal) and pretty sure I had at least 1 Korn CD back in the day.
I was happy bopping to status quo then i heard black sabbath . Game over 😂.. that was 79 .. dio sabbath was just around the corner then nwobhm .. great days .. great video
@HammerheartMetalReviews yeah but you'd be old now 😂.. was a exciting time I admit .. school was very tribal . Mods metal kids punks romantics goths .. we didn't mingle one bit
Hi Graham agree it's amazing that even those born in 1970s say oh yes I remember Deep Purple Led Zeppelin etc rubbish lol. Another thing even with others who born in 1976 lol say oh I got into Queen with Inuendo lol. At the other end of the scale oldies like me at 67 years old got into Black Metal say 10 years ago 😂😂😂. Have a fantastic week
Hi Graham, interesting listening to your reminiscin. I guess I'm a bit of an old fogey in comparison - the year you were born is the year I left school and went to Uni, lol! I first discovered rock music when my older cousin turned up at my house one day with some vinyl and played me 3 songs on my dad's old record player (so old it played at 78 and 16 as well as 45 and 33!!) These were All Night Long by Rainbow, Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf and Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain. This would have been about 1979, maybe 80 at the latest, so I was already a teenager, so maybe a bit of a late bloomer compared to some, but better than never, as they say! I soon discovered The Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio, but the first hard rock albums I remember getting with my own money were Rainbow Rising, Judas Priest Point Of Entry, Iron Maiden (debut) and AC/DC For Those About To Rock. In fact, AC/DC was the first gig I ever went to and, as a result, the first heavy rock band I ever saw live was their support act, Y&T on their Black Tiger tour. By then, of course, I'd discovered all the classic bands of the 70s like Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath, Rush, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, UFO, etc, the NWOBHM was still a thing too so along came the likes of Saxon, Diamond Head, Demon, Motorhead and Girlschool, and then I fell in love with America and the likes of Aerosmith, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, BOC, Riot, Kansas, Angel, Legs Diamond... Anyway, that's where it started for me, sorry to rabbit on!
No need to apologize for rambling, I enjoy reading this stuff! Thanks for sharing. Looks like you discovered so much good stuff early on. I would have loved to be alive when all that music was just starting out!
I was born in 1999. My Journey: 2006-2009 (Kid/Elementary School): Pop, DJ. 2009-2013 (Teenage/Late Elementary School-Early Junior High School): K-Pop. 2013-2018 (Mid Junior High School-Senior High School): Metalcore, Nu Metal, Alt.Metal/Rock, Power Metal, Progressive Metal. 2019 (Early College): Still Metalcore. 2020-2021 (Mid College): Deathcore. 2022 (Late College): Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal. Late 2022-2024: Black Metal.
Aerosmith- Toys In The Attic was my first album back in maybe 88/89. Good gateway band for a youngster. Oddly enough I remember hearing Bathory for the first time probably around 92/93 and I did not care for the vocals at all. Haha Few years later I bought Dusk And Her Embrace and that was the gateway black metal for me.
haha ya I am pretty sure my first reaction to Bathory was similar. Wasn't love at first listen when I was young for sure. Cradle and Dimmu were definitely the big gateway black metal bands of the time for sure!
So to your statement of taking it with a grain of salt, believe it or not there are people like myself who have been metalheads since(from what I tell people)conception. My dad listened to Sabbath, Priest, Slade, Elf, etc. I'm seven years older than you and I remember the 80s. I remember hearing Bark at the Moon when it came out. Columbia House was around in the 80s too. In elementary school it was what my dad listened to plus Ratt, Twisted Sister, WASP, Maiden, etc. Middle school it was Metallica. Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Testament. High School freshman year was still thrash but my sophomore year in the fall of 92 I found what I disliked about thrash, the at times cheesy vocals thrash bands would have. The vocals didn't match the aggression. Death metal did it though. I heard a little bit of Deicides Legion, my reaction was a chuckle. I went and bought Cannibal Corpses Eatin Back to Life and Deicides debut. Not long after bought Legion. If there is one band and album that defined my high school years it would be Deicide and the album Legion along with Once Upon the Cross and the Self titled albums were the soundtracks of my life back then. There were others Morbid Angel Blessed are the Sick and Covenant, Cannibal Corpses Tomb of the Mutilated, The Bleeding, Incantation Onward to Gogotha, Immolation, Broken Hope etc. If I had to pick the albums that shaped me before I graduated high school in 1995 they would be Black Sabbath Self titled and Paranoid, Alice Cooper Killer, KISS Rock n Roll Over and Double Platinum, Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Oz(later Ultimate Sin and No Rest for the Wicked)Iron Maiden Live After Death, Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet(yeah I know, although I will still defend thier first two albums), WASP The Last Command, Twisted Sisters Stay Hungry, Metallica ...And Justice for All, Slayer South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss, The Black Album, Megadeth Rust In Peace, Testament Souls of Black, Deicide Self titled, Legion, and Once Upon the Cross.
Great list my dude. my intros were: Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind Metallica - Kill Em All Ratt - Out of The Cellar W.A.S.P - S/T Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry Dokken - Under Lock and Key Ozzy - Diary of A Madman Black Sabbath - Paranoid Basically 1983-1985 forged me into the metalhead I am still today.
Great retrospective. Also opeth mentioned, questy neurons activated
Cheers Questy! Ya I still remember that first time listening to Opeth. It was like I had never heard real music before then haha
Awesome video! I did something like this about 3 years ago, but it was a series of video called the top 50 albums that shaped my musical journey. But I'll give you a quick summary of it. I was born in 1971, but despite this I have a similar story. I have a brother who is 2 years older than me and he started listening to classic rock when we were around 8 and 10 respectively. We listened to the Beatles, the Doors and Led Zeppelin. The heaviest thing that we listened to was Black Sabbath and Ozzy. I knew about Twisted Sister because my father used to work with one of their drummers, but I didn't really know the music, just the name. In high school I discovered Def Leppard and Guns n Roses then from there I discovered Metallica and Iron Maiden. Then the grunge years started when I was in college. So I moved away from metal for a few years, but I loved Pantera, especially Vulgar Display of Power. After that I had been a casual metalhead, but it wasn't until about 10 years ago when someone sent me a request to join a facebook group with people talking about metal and that was when I discovered death metal, such as Death Leprosy, and more underground stuff like Opeth with Blackwater Park and since then I got more into all genres of metal then I started my channel in late 2020 which was when I really started to listen to all metal genres.
Cheers! Thats really cool that your dad worked with Twisted Sister! He must have many stories! Thanks for sharing!
Very good choices. I was born in 1993, so I first got into metal when I was 17. Here were some gateway albums for me getting into metal:
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Metallica - …And Justice for All
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Slayer - Reign in Blood
System of a Down - Toxicity
Korn - Follow the Leader
Slipknot - Self-titled
Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
Cheers! Those are definitely some great gateway albums. Always fun to take a trip down memory lane
So good mate. I still remember in 1989 when I was 14 putting …and Justice for All on and being stunned by the eeriness of the Blackened opening. Totally blew my mind!!! Was on a slippery slope after that!!!!
haha no kidding! Those early discoveries always stick in your mind. Nothing is the same after that
Excellent topic my friend, enjoyed your story :) My earliest memory of music listening is that I basically consumed whatever was popular on local radio at the time, mostly local folk and pop artists. Later on, when I was about 11 years old, my dad found his old cassettes and introduced me to Rock'n'Roll. In addition to local rock bands, I first heard The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dire Straits (my dad's all-time favorite band), and also that was my introduction to blues. Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, all the usual suspects. You made a good point about RUclips and streaming not existing at the time, being born in 1992 I'm just about old enough to catch up with the last days of exchanging cassettes (and latter CD's) with other people. So many artists discovered by the word of mouth and exchanging stuff. Thus, the passion was born. And then, one day my mom came home from work with, and I'm not kidding - a huge black trash bag that she barely could carry. It was stacked with CD's 😀 Her colleague from work was so happy that her 90's kid was discovering all those 60's and 70's artists that he sent me all those CDs to discover his favorite artists. First were AC/DC, then Deep Purple, Scorpions, Styx, various artists compilations etc. My dad was so happy as well, it was like being a 16-year-old kid again for him. And then there was it - Black Sabbath best. Holly molly did that hit me as a truck. Never before that have I heard anything as dark and heavy. Was spinning it all day long. My dad is not a metalhead and Sabbath is heaviest band he likes, so his contribution to my metal journey ends here 😀 And then I found in the bag - Best of the Beast by Iron Maiden. And that was it, I became metalhead for life. In the bag, as I recall, was mostly rock and hard rock, not much metal, besides Maiden there was one Metallica compilation. Sometime after that we got the internet, and I started discovering music on my own. That was the first time I actually started appreciating album as a format, while before that it was mainly compilations. Discovered whole army of rock, blues and metal artists on my own and then I went to high school, met new friends and found new obsessions. Highschool was the last time I experienced exchanging discs and cassettes with people. During high school my biggest discovery was thrash metal, all the usual suspects but mainly Megadeth, Slayer, Overkill, Exodus. after them Metallica, Nuclear assault, Testament etc. the only other step forward in term of heaviness I took in high school was discovering of Summoning and Caladan Brood and for the longest time those were as extreme as I was prepared to go. Later on, at university, naturally came new friends and new bands, this time however with no cassette exchange. I turned back to blues, started listening to jazz, classical and film score music. Of course, my passion for rock and metal never burned out. And then I discovered Orphaned Land and Therion. Two bands that made me reconsider my feelings towards death growls 😀 In those days I also started listening to present era Opeth and very slowly was testing their early works. Anyway, to shorten already long story, the last chapter in my journey towards music experience I have today was in late 2019 when I started following several RUclips channels, Sea of Tranquility being my favorite one. There I discovered so many 70's bands I somehow missed in early days, and yet more and more extreme bands sometime after SOT, discovered few more good channels, yours being one of them :) Stage was set for my diving into Black metal. Bathory, Darkthrone, early Gorgoroth and Immortal were the first. And so, to this day I rely on recommendations from the people I value and discovered many more artists. I don't yet consider myself a fan of black and death metal as styles in general, but so many artists I enjoy now, thanks to channels such as yours. Sorry for the lengthy comment and sorry for not including more names and albums, I wanted to share general experience of music discovering. What an adventure it has been, and it will continue as long as I'm around! :) Cheers!
Cheers! And no need to apologize for a long comment, I enjoy reading these! Getting that huge bag of CDs must have been world changing haha! Thats a great story!
@@HammerheartMetalReviews Yes indeed, it was mind blowing experience 😀 Took me few months to get through all of the CD's 😀One of the best adventures of my childhood ! Cheers!
Hi Graham
I have to laugh that reaction channels when they do their albums of the month they choose 5 predictable ones lol.
Never anything different no death metal black metal etc then say oh its a very quiet month erm no you choose at least 15 or 20 per month.
Finally the ones who listen to the single erm hate that phrase it's a preview track then never buy the album lol.
Love the channel and you never push like many oh don't forget to subscribe, like etc.
You do this for pleasure to share your love for the music you like.
Probably why we never see negative comments on your posts/videos
My brother introduced me to Metallica's "Black" album when I was around 13. Before that I had mainly been listening to radiofriendly Punk Rock. I eventually checked out AC/DC and Megadeth. And that kicked it all off for me. When I was 14 I came across Awake by Dream Theater, followed by Glory To the Brave by Hammerfall and Whoracle by In Flames. My life would never be the same after that... the Nuclear Blast mailorder catalogue completely opened the flood gates for me 🤘
It's so interesting to look back on these winding roads of music discovery. We're about the same age so your path is very relatable.
One day I'd love to make a detailed timeline, but here's a simplified:
Pre-1996 - more or less only radio. Recorded a lot of stuff (I wonder where those tapes went)
1996 - Bad Religion - All Ages: the first album I bought. Got me into a few years of punk rock
1997 - Metallica: First through the Load/Reload albums, but it wasn't long until I looked up the earlier stuff
1998 - Iron Maiden: Just a few songs here and there (mp3s were coming around) but the year after I picked up the Ed Hunter compilation. I wasn't going fully metal yet, I remember buying Britney Spears singles and whatnot lol
1999 - Hammerfall - Glory To The Brave, and Legacy Of Kings (Heeding The Call was a wow moment)
2000 - Metallica - Ride The Lightning: This has to be where my extreme metal journey began, the way more aggressive style compared to all I'd heard before
2001 - Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys 1+2, Judas Priest - Painkiller: Getting there...
2002 - Rhapsody: Epic, bombastic, melodic... This is where I turned into a power metal nerd!
In 2001-2002 I also recall hearing some In Flames (Clayman) and Dimmu Borgir. EDT was important, but the album that really got me into black metal was Windir - Arntor (it's still one of the most intense and emotional albums that I know)
Bonus plot twist: during the pandemic, I started exploring 80s music and found that I really enjoy AOR and hard rock
Cheers! thanks for sharing...I always love to hear these journeys. Looks like we had a somewhat similar path
Nice one Graham, awesome video! Really cool to hear about the band's and albums that shaped your Metal music taste. For me, it all began with Metallica when I was 12, I wasn't bothered about music before I heard them, then everything changed. Master of Puppets was the album. Then I got into a lot of my parents music, like The Stones, Hendrix, Queen, Iron Maiden, Rush etc. Then in my mid/late teens I got into more Metal like Ozzy, Megadeth and Pantera, then I went on a Metal assault up to present day haha! 😁🤘🏻🤘🏻
haha cheers Josh! Nice, ya Metallica definitely seems to be the gateway band. Once you hear things like Master of Puppets, you just want more!
@HammerheartMetalReviews You're welcome mate! Cheers, yeah Metallica are a fantastic gateway band into Metal. Haha yeah man, there's no turning back after that point! 😁🤘🏻🤘🏻
Awesome concept!
Cool to hear that we started listening to Blind Guardian around the same age (though you began years before me obviously, as I'm 5 years younger than you). The first album I owned by them was Nightfall, and I remember my first copy had an error that had the CD making loud static noises like every 10 seconds, which made it literally unlistenable. So I had to eventually buy it twice.
That's not where it began though. My first proper introduction into metal/rock, was a burned CD I got from my cousin, which included a few Metallica songs, a Bon Jovi song, a Limp Bizkit song and most importantly: Two Rammstein songs (Asche Zu Asche and Du Hast). The Rammstein songs completely hooked me, and I really liked Metallica as well (it was mostly stuff from Garage Inc). I probably was around 10-11 years at the time.
Later my dad let me pick two CDs from the local recordstore, and I decided I'd get one from each of Rammstein and Metallica. My logic was: pick the albums with the most songs on the back cover, so I went with Live Aus Berlin and ReLoad. I had no idea 'live' meant it was a concert CD at the time, but I'm glad I chose that one because it blew me the fuck away, and I still think it's 10/10. I barely listened to the Metallica CD. I also got an Eminem album around the same time, and I loved that one as well (a lot more than ReLoad).
Probably a year or so later, the older cousin of a friend of mine started telling us about all these classic black metal bands (especially Mayhem, who were evil scary dudes apparently), which I thought sounded so cool. He went on to play us a song from the Storm - Nordavind album (Oppi Fjellet) and it was the coolest shit I'd ever heard. After that I started harassing my sister (who was studying on the other side of the country and had access to this magical thing called the internet) about downloading songs from certain bands, and I got a burned CD with Dimmu Borgir - Broderskapets Ring and Satyricon - Mother North, plus the Ulver remix of Emperor - Sworn for some weird reason.
It took me yeeears to get a hold of Nordavind though, as it was out of print at the time. As for black metal, I think the first CDs I got were Dimmu - For All Tid and Satyricon - Volcano back when the latter was new, as I remember the Fuel for Hatred video being shown on TV around the same time. Shortly after that I got Stormblåst, and that was my favorite album for a good while. The Norwegian lyrics, the pictures of the band members, the atmosphere and melodies, EVERYTHING about this album just clicked with me.
Around the same time, my sister introduced me to bands like Korn and System of a Down (Toxicity especially) and that also blew me away, as I'd heard nothing sounding as crazy as Chop Suey before. I got Toxicity pretty quickly, while Korn became my favorite band for a few years around 8-10th grade.
I also remember vividly getting introduced to Windir by watching a music video show on TV that had a chat at the side of the screen, where a lot of people one day were talking about the singer passing away. Later I found the Valfar, Ein Windir compilation at the local record store and bought it. Literally life changing.
Oh, and my sister claims she played me Darkthrone and Dissection when I was very young, because no one else wanted to listen to it with her. I was probably 5-6 and I can't remember anything of it. My guess is I didn't care about the music at that age, I was just glad someone wanted to hang out. I do remember listening to her Twin Peaks soundtrack cassette though, and it scared me so much.
And like you, I also grew up listening to Nirvana (my sisters favorite band). But she already had some of their stuff, so I didn't buy it (completed their discography on CD last year actually. Still good shit).
To summarize, below's some albums I got early on. These span a handful of years, as I didn't get to buy more than a few CDs a year back then. Even though I saved most of my money (which wasn't much) for music, the record store was 40 kilometers away and I couldn't get there by myself):
Rammstein - Live Aus Berlin
Metallica - ReLoad
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Dimmu Borgir - For All Tid
Satyricon - Volcano
System of a Down - Toxicity
Korn - Korn
Jorn - Out to Every Nation
Misfits - Famous Monsters
Children of Bodom - Something Wild/Follow the Reaper (got them the same day)
Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Old Man's Child - In Defiance of Existance
Manowar - Kings of Metal
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Windir - Valfar, Ein Windir
Finntroll - Jaktens Tid
Pagan's Mind - Celestial Entrance
Moonspell - Wolfheart
Moonfog 2000 - A Different Perspective (compilation)
And my mom gave me Type O Negative - October Rust & Bloody Kisses when I was very young. She bought them because she was in love with Peter Steele, but probably didn't like the music lol
Sorry for the wall of text, when I started writing this, it was hard to stop.
No need to apologize for the long story, I enjoyed reading it! Thanks for this, I love hearing about other's musical beginnings, and what albums kind of opened things up for them. Seems like we had some things in common for how we first started exploring. Thought this would be a fun topic to do a video on. Cheers man!
'Theatre of Tragedy - Aegis' was the album that got me into metal. I remember thinking that nothing could sound more perfect.
'In the Woods - Heart of the Ages' was the album that got me into extreme metal. I remember thinking it was the most original thing I'd ever heard.
Both amazing albums to get you into metal! In the Woods is still so unique to this day. Love it
For me it goes like this:
- When I was a kid I hated harsh vocals and intense music, but I always enjoyed classic rock. So I liked bands like ACDC, Beatles, Led Zeppelin.
- Eventually I heard Metallica, Priest, and Maiden, and that warmed me up to thrash and heavy metal. No particular album helped just the bands themselves.
- At some point I heard Lamb of God and that really warmed me up to harsher vocals.
- Then enter Death with Symbolic and Sound of Perseverance, I don't know why but I was super attracted to these albums. At this time it was by far the heaviest shit I listened to.
- Then similarly to your list I heard Opeth, for me it was Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed. This opened me up to genuinely low gutturals, this made death metal easy to navigate.
- Finally, I had a hard time understanding the hype with black metal until I heard The Mantle and Ashes against the Grain. These albums helped ease me into listening to black metal.
Great video, was a fun watch.
Cheers! Thanks for sharing. Definitely can't go wrong with Death, Opeth and Agalloch to lead you down the rabbit hole of the various genres!
Great video and cool to see someones journey into this wonderful music. My beginning was in the summer of 99 at the skatepark with KoRn on the ghettoblaster. So the whole Nu-metal wave was defo my introduction. Then around 2003 i started to dig into bands like Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and “In Their Darkened Shrines” by Nile really changed my life. Then I gotta more and more obscure and heavy shit, until around 2010 when I just dug into every single death metal band I could find and thats has been my jam ever since 🤘 I like different bands in different genres aswell, but death metal is where it’s at for me.
Edit: Actually “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” was my very first CD, my mom bought it for me cause I liked the cover but none of us had any idea what kind of music it was lol
Cheers, thanks! Oh ya Nile would really have opened things up to dive head first into death metal. So good!
@ I have a vivid memory of laying in my room with headphones on listening to that Nile album and I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but the atmosphere just got me. I was confused but so intrigued and just started to hear it over and over
Dude! I also turned 40 this year and Alapalooza was ALSO my first cassette back in the day. Wild coincidence
Weird Al is a GREAT musical-hub to branch out into it all
haha thats crazy! What are the odds on such a specific cassette being both of our first ones? Amazing
@@HammerheartMetalReviews Yeah haha for sure. You managed to dodge the nu metal trap! I was not so fortunate...
Started out with potential perhaps, as Guns n Roses, Offspring and Nine Inch Nails started to grab me, but it was a lost cause once I found Korn and the rest. Bunch of spiked hair and wide-leg jeans later....... I finally found a few lifeboats in the form of Demons & Wizards, Isis, and Pantera. I was finally rescued from the pits of nu metal!
@@Ressic haha I wouldnt say I dodged it completely. Was definitely into stuff like the Deftones (if that counts as Nu metal) and pretty sure I had at least 1 Korn CD back in the day.
Great video!
Cheers!
I was happy bopping to status quo then i heard black sabbath . Game over 😂.. that was 79 .. dio sabbath was just around the corner then nwobhm .. great days .. great video
Ah man that must have been amazing to be right in the heyday of all that. I wish I was alive at the time haha. Cheers!
@HammerheartMetalReviews yeah but you'd be old now 😂.. was a exciting time I admit .. school was very tribal . Mods metal kids punks romantics goths .. we didn't mingle one bit
Hi Graham agree it's amazing that even those born in 1970s say oh yes I remember Deep Purple Led Zeppelin etc rubbish lol.
Another thing even with others who born in 1976 lol say oh I got into Queen with Inuendo lol.
At the other end of the scale oldies like me at 67 years old got into Black Metal say 10 years ago 😂😂😂.
Have a fantastic week
haha ya so true! Never too late to discover new bands. Cheers man, have a great week too
Hi Graham, interesting listening to your reminiscin. I guess I'm a bit of an old fogey in comparison - the year you were born is the year I left school and went to Uni, lol! I first discovered rock music when my older cousin turned up at my house one day with some vinyl and played me 3 songs on my dad's old record player (so old it played at 78 and 16 as well as 45 and 33!!) These were All Night Long by Rainbow, Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf and Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain. This would have been about 1979, maybe 80 at the latest, so I was already a teenager, so maybe a bit of a late bloomer compared to some, but better than never, as they say!
I soon discovered The Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio, but the first hard rock albums I remember getting with my own money were Rainbow Rising, Judas Priest Point Of Entry, Iron Maiden (debut) and AC/DC For Those About To Rock.
In fact, AC/DC was the first gig I ever went to and, as a result, the first heavy rock band I ever saw live was their support act, Y&T on their Black Tiger tour.
By then, of course, I'd discovered all the classic bands of the 70s like Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath, Rush, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, UFO, etc, the NWOBHM was still a thing too so along came the likes of Saxon, Diamond Head, Demon, Motorhead and Girlschool, and then I fell in love with America and the likes of Aerosmith, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, BOC, Riot, Kansas, Angel, Legs Diamond...
Anyway, that's where it started for me, sorry to rabbit on!
No need to apologize for rambling, I enjoy reading this stuff! Thanks for sharing. Looks like you discovered so much good stuff early on. I would have loved to be alive when all that music was just starting out!
Nantucket Sleighride is such a great album. Love Mountain.
I was born in 1999.
My Journey:
2006-2009 (Kid/Elementary School): Pop, DJ.
2009-2013 (Teenage/Late Elementary School-Early Junior High School): K-Pop.
2013-2018 (Mid Junior High School-Senior High School): Metalcore, Nu Metal, Alt.Metal/Rock, Power Metal, Progressive Metal.
2019 (Early College): Still Metalcore.
2020-2021 (Mid College): Deathcore.
2022 (Late College): Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal.
Late 2022-2024: Black Metal.
Aerosmith- Toys In The Attic was my first album back in maybe 88/89. Good gateway band for a youngster.
Oddly enough I remember hearing Bathory for the first time probably around 92/93 and I did not care for the vocals at all. Haha Few years later I bought Dusk And Her Embrace and that was the gateway black metal for me.
haha ya I am pretty sure my first reaction to Bathory was similar. Wasn't love at first listen when I was young for sure. Cradle and Dimmu were definitely the big gateway black metal bands of the time for sure!
I saw Kiss live when I was 5. Creatures of the Night tour. That was ground zero
Kiss at 5! Thats amazing!!
So to your statement of taking it with a grain of salt, believe it or not there are people like myself who have been metalheads since(from what I tell people)conception. My dad listened to Sabbath, Priest, Slade, Elf, etc. I'm seven years older than you and I remember the 80s. I remember hearing Bark at the Moon when it came out. Columbia House was around in the 80s too. In elementary school it was what my dad listened to plus Ratt, Twisted Sister, WASP, Maiden, etc. Middle school it was Metallica. Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Testament. High School freshman year was still thrash but my sophomore year in the fall of 92 I found what I disliked about thrash, the at times cheesy vocals thrash bands would have. The vocals didn't match the aggression. Death metal did it though. I heard a little bit of Deicides Legion, my reaction was a chuckle. I went and bought Cannibal Corpses Eatin Back to Life and Deicides debut. Not long after bought Legion. If there is one band and album that defined my high school years it would be Deicide and the album Legion along with Once Upon the Cross and the Self titled albums were the soundtracks of my life back then. There were others Morbid Angel Blessed are the Sick and Covenant, Cannibal Corpses Tomb of the Mutilated, The Bleeding, Incantation Onward to Gogotha, Immolation, Broken Hope etc. If I had to pick the albums that shaped me before I graduated high school in 1995 they would be Black Sabbath Self titled and Paranoid, Alice Cooper Killer, KISS Rock n Roll Over and Double Platinum, Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Oz(later Ultimate Sin and No Rest for the Wicked)Iron Maiden Live After Death, Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet(yeah I know, although I will still defend thier first two albums), WASP The Last Command, Twisted Sisters Stay Hungry, Metallica ...And Justice for All, Slayer South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss, The Black Album, Megadeth Rust In Peace, Testament Souls of Black, Deicide Self titled, Legion, and Once Upon the Cross.
Hey fair enough! Oh early Deicide is so good! That's definitely a band that would get you hooked on death metal. Cheers man!
Great list my dude. my intros were:
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Metallica - Kill Em All
Ratt - Out of The Cellar
W.A.S.P - S/T
Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry
Dokken - Under Lock and Key
Ozzy - Diary of A Madman
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Basically 1983-1985 forged me into the metalhead I am still today.
Great albums to get into metal. I still love most of those!