#descendents were my gateway drug into punk

[punkbrains-blog]

If I would’ve been into descendents when I was in high school I think my life would be a lot different right now

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 604: Iron Maiden Killers

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m not really a fan of anything that falls under the umbrella of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I think a lot of it has to do with timing. I was a little kid in the heyday of Judas Priest, Dio, and Iron Maiden. By the time I was investigating music on my own, Metallica and Slayer were making all the NWOBHM bands look kinda wimpy in comparison. But the biggest metal bands of the time were artists like Mötley Crüe and Skid Row, and these bands seemed like the more direct descendants of that sound. All the hair metal stuff was at its apex when I started buying records, and even though its omnipresence resulted in a mild appreciation for some of the bigger hits in that world, I was more drawn to the stuff percolating outside mainstream attention that seemed to be a reaction against all that campy, peroxided Top 40 metal. 

I latched onto punk, and punk felt like a reaction against the culture of Heavy Metal Parking Lot. So not only were bands like Iron Maiden wimpier than Slayer, they were responsible for this culture of wasted teenage rednecks. Consequently, I was more of a Decline of Western Civilization Part One than a Part Two guy. I grew to love the pioneers of heavy metal---stuff like Zeppelin and Sabbath and Deep Purple. And I liked a lot of the thrash stuff that ruled the underground of the mid-to-late ‘80s. But the period in between was cemented into my teenage brain as ostentatious and corny. 

I’ve tried to go back and foster an appreciation for the heavy weights of NWOBHM but that stigma is hard to shake. I can usually handle the music, but the operatic / vibrato-heavy vocals are a dealbreaker. I just can’t stand it. And believe me, I’ve tried. I think I’ve listened to every Judas Priest album at this point because I WANT TO BELIEVE... but I just can’t. 

Anyways, my older brother got me this Iron Maiden LP last year and I was really committed to sitting down with it and getting it. And to be honest, Killers is actually pretty easy on my ears. As their second full-length, it’s still possesses a raw, no-frills quality in terms of production. It’s also the last album to feature singer Paul Di’Anno, whose vocal approach was much more reigned in and, consequently, way more palatable. Ultimately, Killers still seems like more of an exception to the rule than a gateway drug to NWOBHM, but I’m glad there’s at least one record in that realm that I can enjoy.