Traditional heavy metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 What you asked about
Traditional heavy metal 1976
The classic form: high vocals, twin lead guitars, choruses to raise a fist to. Leather and studs.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny. Before the leather, and already perfect.
Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) - 3 Where to go next
NWOTHM 2005
New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal: a new generation deliberately playing like it's 1982, down to the tape production.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Assembled from the tree: every genre Traditional heavy metal descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Traditional heavy metal's 2 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.