(TheBRHM.com) Running into fellow Black metalheads is always a surprise and a pleasure. It’s not so much that there are so few of us—we are legion—but actually coming across another Black person who enjoys the Sound of the Beast in person or even online can be a chance encounter. My ...

(TheBRHM.com) When I first started to frequent online heavy metal communities, one of the things that was constantly praised or focused on was the band demo. Now, I tend to focus on full-length releases and sometimes live albums, but demos were something I was never particularly big on. I won’t ...

(TheBRHM.com) While discussing demos and how Sodom’s Victims of Death got me to appreciate demo releases, Skelator and their Give Me Metal or Give Me Death came up as the other release that really helped. We’ll get around to Victims of Death as it’s a great demo but Give Me Metal ...

(TheBRHM.com) We’ve only done one “Head 2 Head” at this point and there are so many bands to compare! This time we’re looking at Motorhead and Venom, two bands with similar sounds and speeds of play. I’m excited about this one since speed metal and thrash are my favorite genres ...

(TheBRHM.com) New York-based act Riot V is a band that I discovered after delving into the act’s days as Riot and discovering Thundersteel. Released in 1988, Thundersteel would’ve made for a tremendous topic for our “Greatest Debut Albums” segment because of how strong of an album it is from start ...

(TheBRHM.com) Metallica is one of the legends of heavy metal as the band that really took the genre mainstream. Coming out of the 1980s Bay Area thrash scene, Metallica has seen a few changes in members and sound but always maintained the core songwriting duo of singer/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield ...

(TheBRHM.com) Speed metal is a subgenre of metal that I’d place between old school, more traditional heavy metal and just before power metal and thrash. It always existed alongside heavy metal as it wasn’t unusual for bands to kick up the speed a bit. A band I really enjoy—Riot—started out ...

(TheBRHM.com) This time we’re looking at extremely strong debuts! We’ll start with a band we’ve discussed a bit before in Blind Guardian with their 1988 debut Battalions of Fear. What Type of Vibe Is Blind Guardian? To be honest, there are different vibes with Blind Guardian’s music. It can depend ...

(TheBRHM.com) In the 1980s, heavy metal really made use of emerging music videos to add visuals to their tunes. I also like that music videos remove some of the mystery and vagueness of some songs by showing the story or referencing imagery from the song. Sure, many artists leave their ...

(TheBRHM.com) Formed in 1968, Black Sabbath is a band that holds the distinction of being the first heavy metal band. It will be argued that other bands did a heavier rock sound before Sabbath—and that’s true—but none of those bands really hit the sound that would be foundation of heavy ...