1989 Year In Metal

A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER

1989 Year in Metal

THE WINDS OF CHANGE

1989 will always be remembered as a momentous turning point in political history, a year which saw an end to communism in the Eastern Bloc of Europe, and the year of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. This culminated in the tumbling of the Berlin Wall, which brought about a peaceful revolution that swept across Europe. Just a year later, West German metal superstars, Scorpions, released their classic power ballad ‘Wind Of Change’, which became the ultimate soundtrack to the revolutionary events of 1989.

THE YEAR OF INTERSECTING GENRES

Interestingly enough, 1989 was a year which saw the various genres of metal living together in relative peace and harmony. Of course, by this point, both thrash and glam had been infecting impressionable ears for several years. In fact, it wasn’t all that uncommon to have a metalhead friend who might sport a L.A. Guns shirt one day and an Exodus shirt the very next. Take it from one who lived it, there was definitely less tribal mentality happening in 1989. The one exception to this might have been the sanctimonious relationship between metalheads and hardcore/punks.

Thanks to the pioneering crossover efforts of bands like DRI, Excel, COC, Suicidal Tendencies, Cro-Mags, Sick Of It All – who all released some killer crossover albums in ’89 – the bad blood was all but eliminated by the time 1991 rolled around. A good example of this came in the form of DRI‘s 1989 album Thrash Zone, which combined elements of both hardcore and thrash…

EXTREME AGGRESSION HANDLED WITH CARE

It is a widely-accepted fact that 1986 was one of the greatest years in thrash. I mean, how can you beat the year that saw such genre-defining albums as Slayer‘s Reign In Blood and Metallica‘s Master Of Puppets? That being said, 1989 ain’t no dang slouch when it comes to thrash classics. In fact, some of the best albums from many of the sub-genres best bands dropped in ’89. This included top-notch releases from both sides of the pond…

  • Exodus – Fabulous Disaster
  • Kreator – Extreme Aggression
  • Metal Church – Blessing In Disguise
  • Nuclear Assault – Handle With Care
  • Overkill – The Years Of Decay
  • Sodom – Agent Orange
  • Sabbat – Dreamweaver
  • Onslaught – In Search Of Sanity
  • Coroner – No More Color
  • Testament – Practice What You Preach

The end of the decade also saw some incredible albums released by lesser-known thrash bands that were popping-up all over the globe. It could be argued that, by this time, it was too little too late for many of these bands, as the heyday of thrash would soon be over, giving way to both the rise of death metal and the hysteria that would become grunge. Nevertheless, here are some notable releases from the time…

  • Annihilator – Alice In Hell
  • Forced Entry – Uncertain Future
  • Viking – Man Of Straw
  • Paradox – Heresy
  • Watchtower – Control And Resistance
  • Pariah – Blaze Of Obscurity
  • Gammacide – Victims Of Science
  • Powermad – Absolute Power
  • Demolition Hammer – Necrology (demo)
  • Overthrow – Bodily Domination (demo)

Of all these second-tier releases, the highlight absolutely belongs to Canada’s Annihilator, and their now-classic album Alice In Hell. In fact, band mainman and riff-crusher extraordinaire, Jeff Waters, was once being considered as Megadeth’s second guitarist. This is no surprise, as Alice In Hell is chock-full of vicious, surgically-perfected riffs not seen since Mustaine’s instant-classic, Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying.

BIG HAIR, BIG BALLADS, BIG CHANGES ON THE HORIZON

Glam metal. Hair metal. Cock rock. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever you choose to call it, there is no denying that 1989 was a gigantic year for glam. By the time the end of the decade had arrived, we were almost ten years deep in makeup and teased hair, with many of the genre’s biggest bands releasing their best albums in ’89…

  • Mötley Crüe – Dr. Feelgood
  • Great White – Twice Shy
  • L.A. Guns – Locked & Loaded
  • Skid Row – Self-Titled
  • White Lion – Big Game
  • Tesla – The Great Radio Controversy
  • Warrant – Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich
  • Faster Pussycat – Wake Me When It’s Over
  • Mr. Big – Self-Titled
  • Bang Tango – Psycho Cafe

It could be argued that glam, and the demise thereof, inspired what would later become grunge. Think back to the early alt-rock stylings of Soundgarden‘s Louder Than Love (’89) and Mother Love Bone‘s Apple (’90) – both were rife with hair metal-like shenanigans, to a degree that it is quite discernible, both musically and aesthetically. Let’s not also forget Alice In Chains‘ Facelift (’90). This thing was certainly the album that bridged the divide between glam and grunge.

For fun, let us pretend that Nirvana‘s Nevermind had never seen the light of day. What happens then? I have a sneaking suspicion that ‘grunge’ (as we would later come to know it) would never have strayed too far from that glam-inspired, alt-rock formula set by Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, and Alice In Chains. I truly believe it was the appearance of Nevermind that prompted these bands to reexamine their approach.

A MORBID CURIOSITY

Yeah, we all know the term ‘death metal’ was coined by Possessed way back in ’84 with their demo entitled, you guessed it, Death Metal. We also know that Possessed, though far heavier than anything at that time, did not sound anything like what we would later associate with death metal proper.

Without doubt, 1989 was a banner year for death metal. It was the year that would define the sound that would permeate our ears for the next thirty-four years. Sure, we could banter back and forth about proto-death metal this, and proto-death metal that. But, at the end of the day, death metal is/was/and still is characterized by a specific-set of ground rules.

In fact, it took the pioneering and exploratory efforts of a select few bands to set the death metal record straight. Of course, the first band to get all the attention was Death, and deservedly so. For the sake of this article, though, Chuck Schuldiner and crew did not drop anything in ’89.

So, let us turn our attention to the following bands/albums which did drop in ’89…

  • Sepultura – Beneath The Remains
  • Pestilence – Consuming Impulse
  • Obituary – Slowly We Rot
  • Atheist – Piece Of Time
  • Morbid Angel – Altars Of Madness
  • Bolt Thrower – Realm Of Chaos
  • Carcass – Symphonies Of Sickness
  • Terrorizer – World Downfall
  • Blood – Impulse To Destroy
  • Autopsy – Severed Survival

UNCHARTED TERRITORIES

Now that we have covered the three main sub-genres of metal in 1989, let us now turn our attention to some truly noteworthy albums that didn’t quite fit into any of the three aforementioned categories.

You see, ’89 was also a year of experimentation in our beloved genre, with many bands eschewing the tried and true formulas we had become so fond of. One might question why the need to fix something that ain’t broke. Well, as we now know, both thrash and glam metal were about to be eclipsed, either good or bad, by a culture of experimentation. This would include romps into lesser-traveled territories such as groove metal, funk metal, industrial, drone, and rap metal.

1989 was also the year that bands started experimenting with combining elements of differing genres. A unique and addictive mix of traditional metal combined with thrash/speed metal gave rise to King Diamond‘s Conspiracy, and the combination of traditional metal and doom birthed Candlemass‘ Tales Of Creation. Additionally, the merging of power metal and thrash/speed resulted in Blind Guardian’s Follow The Blind.

Some of the more notable releases in the ‘other’ category of 1989 includes…

  • Faith No More – The Real Thing
  • Voivod – Nothingface
  • King’s X – Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
  • Wrathchild America – Climbin’ The Walls
  • Ministry – The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste
  • Godflesh – Streetcleaner
  • Primus – Suck On This
  • Repulsion – Horrified
  • Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
  • Prong – Force Fed

Article written by Jason Deaville