Metal
Here you'll find album histories, birthdays, and anniversaries connected to the artists who built metal and its branches, along with vinyl reissue news as titles reappear. Metal has a particularly active underground pressing culture: independent labels regularly issue small runs in colored or splatter vinyl, and older catalog titles get reworked into box sets and remasters aimed at longtime fans rather than casual listeners. The stories here follow how specific records came together — band lineups, studio choices, the scenes around them — and note when a reissue gives an older album a reason to be discussed again.
202 STORIES
Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss Risked It All
Slayer released Seasons in the Abyss on October 9, 1990, a record that had to balance the speed of Reign in Blood with the slower mood of South of Heaven.
· 4 min read
John Entwistle, the bassist who made The Who louder than anyone
John Entwistle turned the bass into a lead instrument for The Who. He stood behind the 126-decibel concert that entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1976.
· 4 min read
How Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar Rose from Ruin
Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar was recorded from February to August 1996 at Nothing Studios in New Orleans. The album appeared on October 8, 1996 through Nothing and Interscope.
· 3 min read
Iron Maiden's Raw Turn on No Prayer for the Dying
Iron Maiden recorded their eighth album, No Prayer for the Dying, in a barn in Essex in the summer of 1990. Producer Martin Birch worked the desk of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.
· 3 min read
Terry Balsamo: The Stroke That Almost Silenced His Guitar
Terry Balsamo, born in Florida in 1972, joined Evanescence in January 2004. He co-wrote most of The Open Door with Amy Lee before a stroke nearly ended his playing career.
· 4 min read
Why Did Korn Need The Paradigm Shift?
Korn's eleventh album The Paradigm Shift brought guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch back after eight years away. The record debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200.
· 3 min read
Why Did Bon Jovi's Bounce Miss Platinum?
Bon Jovi released Bounce on Island Records on October 8, 2002. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, yet became the band's first album to miss platinum certification in the United States.
· 4 min read
Why Did Slayer's Reign in Blood Scare Its Own Label Away?
Slayer's Reign in Blood arrived on October 7, 1986, but Columbia Records refused to distribute it after its president called 'Angel of Death' offensive.
· 3 min read
Why Eddie Van Halen Built His Own Guitar
Eddie Van Halen built the Frankenstrat from a 50-dollar body and an 80-dollar neck because no factory guitar could keep up with his hands.
· 3 min read
How Eddie Clarke Became Fast and Then Lost Motörhead
Eddie Clarke earned the nickname 'Fast' for a rapid tremolo technique, not sheer speed. He turned that trick into the engine of Motörhead's classic line-up.
· 3 min read
How Joakim Brodén Walked 560 km to a Sabaton Gig
In 2015 Sabaton frontman Joakim Brodén lost a bet with his bandmates and walked roughly 350 miles to a gig in Trondheim, Norway. He slept in fans' homes along the way.
· 4 min read
Janis Joplin: The Outsider Who Outsang Everyone
Janis Joplin grew up bullied in Port Arthur, Texas, and became one of America's best-selling female vocalists before her death at 27 in October 1970.
· 4 min read
Why Did Dio's Angry Machines Fail So Hard?
Dio released Angry Machines in October 1996, a darker, slower record that became the last studio album for drummer Vinny Appice and guitarist Tracy G.
· 4 min read
How Herman Li Made a Guitar Sound Like an Arcade
Born in Hong Kong in 1976, Herman Li turned the arcade bleeps of his childhood into the signature sound of DragonForce. He co-founded the English power-metal band in 1999.
· 3 min read
How Did Tommy Lee Turn a Drum Solo Into a Flying Circus?
Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, turned his solo into a rotating and suspended drum kit that swung out over the audience. The boy born in Athens, Greece, became the visual center of the band.
· 4 min read
Iron Maiden's The X Factor: The Risk of a New Voice
Iron Maiden's tenth studio album, The X Factor, arrived on 2 October 1995. It introduced Blaze Bayley on vocals in place of Bruce Dickinson.
· 3 min read
Jim Root: The Last Man into Slipknot
Jim Root nearly turned Slipknot down before joining as guitarist #4 in 1999, becoming the last member of the lineup that held from 1999 to 2010.
· 3 min read
Why Did Testament's Low Sound So Different in 1994?
Chuck Billy's newly introduced growl on Testament's sixth studio album, Low, marked a deliberate rupture from The Ritual. The record was released on October 4, 1994.
· 4 min read
Slipknot Closed a 28-Year Chapter in Under an Hour
The first fragment of 'The Chapeltown Rag' surfaced on a cryptic website in November 2021, and within days Slipknot fans were dissecting every distorted second.…
· 4 min read
Les Claypool: Why the Primus Bassist Walked Away From Metallica
Les Claypool, born September 29, 1963 in Richmond, California, walked into a Metallica audition in 1986. He lost it by being 'too good,' freeing him to build Primus.
· 5 min read
The Rolling Stones album that broke their own UK rule
In 1997, The Rolling Stones released Bridges to Babylon, their twenty-first British studio album. It became the only one of their studio records to miss the UK top five.
· 4 min read
Mark Farner: How Grand Funk's Captain Steered to No. 1
Mark Farner, born in Flint, Michigan on September 29, 1948, wrote Grand Funk Railroad's first Top 40 single 'I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)'. It peaked at No. 22 in October 1970.
· 4 min read
Why does Led Zeppelin's 1976 live album miss Black Dog?
Led Zeppelin's 1976 live album The Song Remains the Same omitted Black Dog and other film tracks. The puzzle stems from fitting three Madison Square Garden nights onto four vinyl sides.
· 4 min read
Why did Black Sabbath's last Ozzy album almost fall apart?
Black Sabbath's Never Say Die!, released September 29, 1978, was made with a returning Ozzy Osbourne who refused most songs, forcing drummer Bill Ward to sing.
· 4 min read