What's more perfect than Powerslave's cover? Back when I was 8 I was fascinated by its cover, mostly because I loved drawing and ancient history. Honestly, that's how I got this album in the first place. But then "Flash Of The Blade" and "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" blew my little 8-year-old mind and I was "into metal" at such an early age. The only explanation I have it's because it was meant to be, it was in my blood. Later I was in love with the whole album and went back and bought all the available releases. From that moment until today, I'd impatiently wait for every Maiden's new studio album. In 1986, after buying everything from the S/T to "Somewhere in Time", I started searching for bands that would sound like Maiden...Without a shadow of doubt, it is my favorite band of all times.
Before the internet and when living down in Brazil it was difficult to keep track with what was going on in the US and Europe metal scene. Still, I was frequently checking music magazines and in 87 started to hear about this new band. I was very interested but couldn't buy it in Brazil yet. I remember asking around in a shopping mall and the vendors had never heard of it. Eventually, it arrived and I was addicted to it instantly. It is a great album that brought GNR to the mainstream during the glory days of hard/glam rock. I pretty much lost interest after this record. But more importantly, it opened the door for me to dive into the hard rock genre. I was then buying Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Great White, Faster Pussycat, Poison, Cinderella, you name it...most of those I don't listen to anymore, but Appetite for Destruction is different, it's actually the only Guns album that I really like it.
During my first visits to the record shops, AJfA was just being released and highly recommended by the vendors (remember internet didn't exist). So luckily I trusted them and bought it. No surprise that it was love at "first listen". I couldn't stop listening to "Harvester of Sorrow" and soon the whole album. I then moved down the discography and got them previous 3 records. But still today, AJfA is one of my favorite Matallica albums, maybe second to "Master of Puppets". It also opened the door to the thrash genre and got into Testament, Megadeth and Sepultura.
Live in the U.K. by Helloween
During my quest for Maiden-like bands, I bought Helloween's "Live in the UK". I remembered being blown away by Kiske's vocals. The Keepers are still and will always be the best Helloween and among the top power metal albums of all times. That's when my love for Power Metal was born and would reach its pick in the late 90s.
The Wall by Pink Floyd
Bruce left Iron, Helloween went downhill, so did (in my view) Guns and Metallica. Metal was in crisis, so I started to get interested in the roots of Metal. Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin and so on. But it was progressive rock, starting with Pink Floyd's The Wall that got me hooked. I think everything has been said about this masterpiece. From The Wall I went into their whole discography and Pink Floyd became one of my top 3 all-time favorite bands. It also open the doors to progressive music in general, specially Rush.
During my quest for Maiden-like bands, I bought Helloween's "Live in the UK". I remembered being blown away by Kiske's vocals. The Keepers are still and will always be the best Helloween and among the top power metal albums of all times. That's when my love for Power Metal was born and would reach its pick in the late 90s.
Bruce left Iron, Helloween went downhill, so did (in my view) Guns and Metallica. Metal was in crisis, so I started to get interested in the roots of Metal. Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin and so on. But it was progressive rock, starting with Pink Floyd's The Wall that got me hooked. I think everything has been said about this masterpiece. From The Wall I went into their whole discography and Pink Floyd became one of my top 3 all-time favorite bands. It also open the doors to progressive music in general, specially Rush.
I decided to go and explore the roots of rock and started browsing my parents' vinyls and "A Hard Day´s Night" was chosen. They did have other Beatles albums (but no Rolling Stones). To this day, I still love this album. It's not my Beatles favorite, but it was the first, the others followed. The title song and "Tell Me Why", "When I Get Home" have already a fast pace and "heaviness" for its time. The same goes for the hit "Can't Buy Me Love" - I used to "cover" it and sing along as a heavy metal song. Back in the day, I was huge fan of the ballads "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her". In sum, a sing along 31-min masterpiece that was the springboard to music, The Beatles, rock and later metal...
Also in the early 90's as I started playing and studying guitar, my taste shifted into not only classic rock but also jazz and instrumental bands. Among those, guitar heroes like Satriani, Steve Vai and Steve Morse were my favorites and "Surfing with the Alien" is the one album that got me started. With the guitar book in hands, I listened to this album over and over again and tried to play along. It is a fantastic album, Satriani at his best.
At some point back in 96 I was busy revisiting and enjoying classic rock. But a ride I took with the brother of a friend of a friend, changed my life again. This crazy MF was singing along a powerful song at full volume and I asked - what's this? Sounds great! and He said it's the new Helloween. I couldn't believe it! The band I once loved so much in the 80's was back with a powerful and modern sound. Metal was back, specifically Power Metal. I bought this album a couple of days later and soon after Master of the Rings.
After Helloween's The Time of the Oath got me back into metal, I realized that the sound I was in love with (specially the singing style) was pretty much influenced by the pioneer Judas Priest. I taped and listened to Painkiller. It later became one of my favorite albums of all times and Priest one of my favorite bands. Painkiller initiated the process and led me to discover their whole discography.
Some time after I got into Priest and back into Metal, a double tribute album was released. This tribute triggered me to discover new bands that became my favorites for the years to come: Fates Warning, Gamma Ray, Mercyful Fate, Rage, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, and Stratovarius. Those bands started the Power Metal years. It was basically the only sub-genre of metal that mattered to me.
I'm not sure exactly when, but with the turn of the century, I started to get a bit bored with Power Metal and its repetitive musical and singing style. As far as I can remember, it was Therion that opened the road to extreme metal and broke the power metal dominance. Of course it was a gradual transition as Therion is not that heavy. But ultimately it was this masterpiece that open the doors to death, black, gothic, symphonic and all the other sub-genres of metal. The album itself is brilliant.
In the year 2000 when Clayman came out I was living in Canada. I was there not for long and was eager to experience concerts abroad. I heard about an In Flames show and even though I didn't know them, I bought their new album and a ticket. Children of Bodom was opening. This album and show completed the transition that Theli started. I then opened my horizon to any metal band that I would enjoy regardless of sub-genre and with no prejudice.
