I’m new here, or about as new
as things get in New England. This is the place where history and
learning come from, which makes any attempt to explain or summarize
things problematic. There is so much back story and baggage that no two
people are likely to agree on the meaning of any one thing.
So let me ignore all that and tell you how things are.
The history of heavy metal in New England is roughly as old as the story of heavy metal in America. If we assume proto-metal has strong roots in New York City, then it didn’t take long for proper metal to spring up in Connecticut. By the early ‘80s, this trouble had spread to Massachusetts, a state of particular interest to me. Groups like Steel Assassin, Gang Green, Upsidedown Cross, and Sam Black Church all did important things to move the American underground forward. Unfortunately, they still played second fiddle to the accomplishments of groups from Connecticut, which dragged a step behind places like New York City, Los Angeles, Tampa, and The Bay Area.
And then the Great Metal Purge happened.
In 1991, a series of events nearly wiped out metal in America. For roughly a decade, there was something like a moratorium on the music. You could play metal, but you had to mix it heavily with punk, and couldn’t ever actually *call* yourself metal.
So there was a lot of hemming and hawing, and brand repositioning, and ultimately growth was stunted for a lot of bands. Most of this was done to win respect and legitimacy from the “cool kids,” many of whom were also hiding old Iron Maiden and Slayer t-shirts in the backs of their closets.
Hypocritical horsecrap aside, some important things happened. Bands like Converge, Cave In, Isis, Overcast, Grief, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed helped give new meaning to what metal could be. They found fun in the ruins of the old underground, and explored new possibilities within the old sounds. These groups expelled musical pollen that turned weeds into colonies, and (for good or ill) became an invasive species throughout metal.
And in the last decade, American metal achieved a resurgence thanks in no small part to these innovations. That is the environment I arrived in, circa 2010. Massachusetts still has metalcore and sludge bands (many of them now a putrid reheating of what was great 10-15 years ago), but there is also marvelous cacophony being done so many other exciting ways. You hear a whirlwind of filth, sucking up pig vomit and repressed emotions. I live in a metro area where virtually every dozen or so days, there is a venue hosting something exciting and abrasive.
These are hard times for America, and rather ugly for Massachusetts as well. If heavy music seeks to express the trauma of working class economic crisis and cultural schism, then Boston is a pretty good place to write that thesis.
So let me ignore all that and tell you how things are.
The history of heavy metal in New England is roughly as old as the story of heavy metal in America. If we assume proto-metal has strong roots in New York City, then it didn’t take long for proper metal to spring up in Connecticut. By the early ‘80s, this trouble had spread to Massachusetts, a state of particular interest to me. Groups like Steel Assassin, Gang Green, Upsidedown Cross, and Sam Black Church all did important things to move the American underground forward. Unfortunately, they still played second fiddle to the accomplishments of groups from Connecticut, which dragged a step behind places like New York City, Los Angeles, Tampa, and The Bay Area.
And then the Great Metal Purge happened.
In 1991, a series of events nearly wiped out metal in America. For roughly a decade, there was something like a moratorium on the music. You could play metal, but you had to mix it heavily with punk, and couldn’t ever actually *call* yourself metal.
So there was a lot of hemming and hawing, and brand repositioning, and ultimately growth was stunted for a lot of bands. Most of this was done to win respect and legitimacy from the “cool kids,” many of whom were also hiding old Iron Maiden and Slayer t-shirts in the backs of their closets.
Hypocritical horsecrap aside, some important things happened. Bands like Converge, Cave In, Isis, Overcast, Grief, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed helped give new meaning to what metal could be. They found fun in the ruins of the old underground, and explored new possibilities within the old sounds. These groups expelled musical pollen that turned weeds into colonies, and (for good or ill) became an invasive species throughout metal.
And in the last decade, American metal achieved a resurgence thanks in no small part to these innovations. That is the environment I arrived in, circa 2010. Massachusetts still has metalcore and sludge bands (many of them now a putrid reheating of what was great 10-15 years ago), but there is also marvelous cacophony being done so many other exciting ways. You hear a whirlwind of filth, sucking up pig vomit and repressed emotions. I live in a metro area where virtually every dozen or so days, there is a venue hosting something exciting and abrasive.
These are hard times for America, and rather ugly for Massachusetts as well. If heavy music seeks to express the trauma of working class economic crisis and cultural schism, then Boston is a pretty good place to write that thesis.
