the past is the present past

Happy Wacky Wednesday my friend! I hope the week has been treating you well! I'm your consistent host Joshua and this week I want to hit the rewind button a bit and check out two absolute legends in the METAL world. However, we're going to take our view askew a tad bit. image  Set course for the obscure works of Judas Priest and Black Sabbath!

Many would've considered legendary acts like Priest and Sabbath far past their prime by the mid-90s, and most would be correct, at least in terms of the style of music they were made famous by in the 60s and 70s. There's no denying the influence they made in the world of metal as arguably two of the greatest acts of their times!  But how did they evolve over time? How did Sabbath move on from Ozzy or Judas after Halford went on to work on other projects?

Enter the 1990s when alternative rock and simpler "Nu-Metal" started to creep it's way into the soundwaves stirring up the world of heavy rock/metal. Where legends once walked now stood a new era of White Zombie, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and even ((shudders)) Nickleback...

So how does one stay relevant in an ever changing universe? They change with the times of course!  Taking queue from the fans of newer music Black Sabbath released the incredible (yet almost impossible to find) Cross Purposes, and Judas Priest returned to the music scene with the incredibly powerful (also rare to hear) Juggulator!  Sabbath's and Priest's mid 90s offerings were completely from left field in comparison to their older work from decades past!

Check out both of these tracks!  Virtual Death has portions that seem to borrow sound from then newer Dream Theater as well as vocal stylings like Alice in Chains. While Cathedral Spires (one of my favorite Judas tracks) really jumps into the epic chorus style that wouldn't become mainstay until the 2000s prog metal scenes!  Yet, somehow these tracks, and heck their entire albums are all-but forgotten!  You can't find them on any streaming services and aren't even listed on their perspective bands' websites!  No more vinyl re-releases or anything!  C'mon, why keep these a secret?

Now, what separates these offerings from bands that "sell out" for album sales? I mean, it's a pretty fine line. Bands like the Rolling Stones, Metallica, and even Aerosmith evolved over time to stay in the lime light. Sometimes overstaying their welcome, but with a few great examples they managed to show the world they "still got it" and to remind the current crop of talent how it's done. 

I hope you check out these songs, and even the albums they emanated from!  I listened to both of these albums a ton growing up, and actually am more familiar with them than the legendary albums from their "heydays"!

This week's wacky Metal Wednesday has been a fun one to write up and a nice step down a relatively secret history of two of the biggest bands of all times!!  With the holiday next week, we're gonna take a step back and spend time with family, but we hope this offering freshly serves up a pile of pounding rock that will keep your face melted for at least 14 days!! ⁠Heart  Be good, have an amazing Turkey week and keep it METAL!!

I mentioned Nickleback this week didn't I...?