1981 Year In Metal

Written by: Blake Mossey

News Items from 1981

January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile rolled off the assembly line. Later made famous in the Back To The Future movies.
March 30 – Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.
May 13 – Pope John Paul II assassination attempt: Pope John Paul II is shot by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman.
June 5 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States report that 5 men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, the first recognized cases of AIDS.
July 9 – Donkey Kong is released, marking the first Donkey Kong and Mario smash hit arcade game developed by Nintendo in Japan.
July 29 – A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, UK.
August 1 – The first 24-hour video music channel MTV (Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.
August 24 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon in Manhattan eight months earlier.
Use of crack cocaine, a smokeable form of the drug, first reported in the United States and Caribbean.

New Wave of British Heavy Metal

1981 is going back to the time, when bands would have new albums almost every year. Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Saxon to name a few that had albums in 1980 and again in 1981. Nowadays were lucky to get a new album every 3-5 years from bands. So many classic Metal albums released in 1981 from our British Metal stalwarts. Here are a few more notable ones.

Iron Maiden – Killers
The 2nd studio album from Iron Maiden. The last to feature Paul Di’Anno on vocals. The 1st Maiden album to feature Adrian Smith on guitar and the first of many to be produced by the legendary producer Martin Birch. ‘Wrathchild’ is still played live at most shows. A great Maiden album but of course adding Bruce Dickinson for the next album The Number of the Beast really broke Iron Maiden to the world.
Best track: Killers

Ozzy Osbourne – Diary Of A Madman
The 2nd solo album from Ozzy and sadly the last to feature the late great guitarist Randy Rhoads who died in a plane crash in 1982. Despite his short career Randy inspired so many with his guitar work on these 2 Ozzy albums and that alone makes them classics. Some would even say the last great Ozzy album.
Best Track: Diary Of A Madman

Black Sabbath – Mob Rules
Following up the classic DIO debut with Sabbath Heaven And Hell with Mob Rules. Most would say not as good as the predesessor but still a great album with great tracks like ‘Turn Up The Night’ and ‘The Sign Of The Southern Cross’. This album also produced by Martin Birch. Dio left Sabbath after this album but only to return again about 10 years later for Dehumanizer.
Best track: Turn Up The Night

Venom – Welcome To Hell
Debut solo album from extreme metal band Venom. A very influential album along with their next release Black Metal as they influenced so many bands and opened the doors to more darker evil lyrics and of course creating the genre name of Black Metal with their 2nd previously mentioned album.
Best Track: Welcome To Hell

Motorhead – No Sleep’til Hammersmith
I think if my memory serves me well I saw this at the record store and bought it before I even heard of Motorhead before. Its my first live album I ever purchased and ‘No Class’ remains my favorite Motorhead song ever. A great introduction to the live show that was Motorhead.
Best Track: No Class

Canadian Metal/Hard Rock

As a Canadian back in the year 1981 before we had the internet and being able to listen to anything we wanted we would hear a lot of Canadian bands on our local radio. Canada’s 2 biggest hard rock and bordering on Metal bands were RUSH and TRIUMPH. Both 3 piece bands. Both making big waves in the USA. And for a lot of Canadians you were either in the RUSH camp or the TRIUMPH camp. I choose Triumph. Also 1981 featured the debut album from ANVIL – Hard ‘N’ Heavy but for me their next 2 releases were their masterpieces.

RUSH – Moving Pictures
Their 8th studio album Moving Pictures. Filled with shorter and more radio friendly songs then previous efforts like their classic 2112. ‘Limelight’ and ‘Tom Sawyer’ leading the way. This album sold over 5 millions copies in the USA alone.
Best Track: Limelight

Triumph – Allied Forces
After hearing their epic track Rock and Roll Machine from their 2nd album I was hooked on Triumph with Rik Emmett’s amazing guitar work. And this their 5th album featuring their massive hit ‘Magic Power’ but I was into the more heavy rocking songs like ‘Fool For Your Love’ and the title track. A few albums after this the band started to fall apart and just kept getting more and more commercial.
Best Track: Allied Forces

The Other Stuff

Late in the year Paul Di’Anno fired from Iron Maiden and replaced by Bruce Dickinson
AC/DC released For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), really the only Brian Johnson album I enjoyed
Girlschool released their 2nd studio album Hit And Run. One of, if not the first real all female Metal bands.
Iron Maiden released a live EP titled Maiden Japan which of course was a play on words on the classic Deep Purple live album Made In Japan. It featured 5 songs with Paul Di’Anno on vocals.
Motley Crue‘s debut album Too Fast For Love was released. One of the earliest hair metal albums even though this was more raw then anything they would release after.
The Canadian animated science fiction movie titled HEAVY METAL was released featuring voices of some notable actors like John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy and Harold Ramis. And the title track of the movie done by Sammy Hagar.
Motorhead and Girlschool joined forces for a EP title St. Valentines Day Massacre featuring 3 songs, ‘Emergency’, ‘Please Don’t Touch’ and a cover of the Motorhead song ‘Bomber’. They went by the name Headgirl.

Notable Metal Bands formed in 1981—Look what is on the horizon for Metal in 1982

Anthrax
Manowar
Metallica
Mercyful Fate
Motley Crue
Overkill
Pantera
Ratt
Queensryche
Savatage
Slayer
Suicidal Tendencies
Twisted Sister
Vixen

1981 was such a great year for Metal. Make sure to check out some of our podcasts on some of the album talked about on this page. To finish it off here is my top 10 albums of 1981.

Iron Maiden – Killers
Venom – Welcome to Hell
Triumph – Allied Forces
Motley Crue – To Fast For Love
Judas Priest – Point of Entry
Ozzy – Diary of a Madman
Black Sabbath – The Mob Rules
Saxon – Denim And Leather
Motorhead – No Sleep’Til Hammersmith
Def Leppard – High ‘N’ Dry

Check out our other years in Metal features HISTORY IN METAL

ALBUM REVIEW – SAXON

Saxon – Hell, Fire And Damnation

Reviewed by: Tom Elke

Review Score: 8.5

Saxon has been putting out albums for a lot of years now. And after such a while, you’d think that a band would run out of ideas and material. Well that is definitely NOT the case with the mighty Saxon.

Their 24th Studio Album – Hell, Fire And Damnation has a release date of January 19th, 2024 on Silver Lining Music. It’s produced once again by Andy Sneap and lead singer Biff Byford, with Sneap handling the mixing & mastering duties as per usual. Hell, Fire And Damnation has a running time of approximately forty-two minutes, which features nine tracks along with just over a minute opening/narration to lead off the album.

There’s a new band member playing on the album. Brian Tatler of Diamond Head fame joins Doug Scarratt on guitar. They join the aforementioned Biff Byford on lead vocals along with Nigel Glockler on drums and Nibbs Carter on bass. This lineup is rock solid, and all play great on this record.

Hell, Fire And Damnation is filled with great guitar riffs on tracks such as ‘Pirates Of The Airwaves’, ‘1066’, ‘There’s Something In Roswell’ as well as the title track. Another standout throughout the album is the trading off of lead solos between Scarratt and Tatler. It’s like they’ve been playing together for a long time… it sounds great!

Biff’s vocals have not lost anything. He’s still as strong and impressive as ever, and it shows in his performance. Very well done. Saxon wouldn’t be “The Mighty Saxon” without one of the great rhythm sections in all of metal. Nibbs Carter and Nigel Glocker are in lock-step with each other, once again delivering the goods with power and precision.

All in all, Saxon gives us yet another excellent album in Hell, Fire and Damnation. There is no filler on this Record. It is quality metal music from start to finish.

Hell, Fire And Damnation releases on January 19th, 2024 via Silver Lining Music.

MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES, WHITECHAPEL

December 15th, 2023

Toronto, ON @ History

Photos & Words By: Miles Leblanc

If you asked me which show was going to sell out in 2023 – with all of the wonderful opportunities Toronto and the GTA in general have been graced with – this diverse lineup would not have been on my radar at all, much less being the first sold-out show of the nineteen North American tour dates (selling out within the first seventy-two hours). The tour of Meshuggah, In Flames, and Whitechapel made this happen at one of Toronto’s newest concert venues (History, in the Beaches neighbourhood of East Toronto).

WHITECHAPEL

Hailing from Tennessee, Whitechapel is a deathcore band, with huge roots in the genre often considered leaders at what they do. Having seen Whitechapel before, this performance unfortunately left me wanting more. Short and sweet was on the menu, with just six songs to give us a taste of Whitechapel’s offering. It wasn’t enough to satiate the crowd, however, Toronto did show up early and packed the floor. The band even got a crowd chant from the rabid attendees which was a sign of the night to come. Vocalist Phil Bozeman absolutely took advantage of all the real estate of the large stage of the venue, like an animal getting a large area to play in for the first time. Unfortunately, the sound was muted throughout the performance, which didn’t do the band any favours, but the energy was high, and it was an excellent opener to get the night warmed up. Closing with the song ‘The Saw Is The Law’ was the perfect choice to this short set, which managed to get the crowd warmed up for the rest of the evening.

Setlist
Let Me Burn
Forgiveness Is Weakness
Brimstone
We Are One
A Bloodsoaked Symphony
The Saw Is the Law

IN FLAMES

Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden In Flames have been pioneers of what they do best (melodic death metal), and Toronto got a very good taste of this offering on this night. New bassist, Liam Wilson (Dillinger Escape Plan), was absolutely dialed in from the first note to the last. In Flames got a nice chant from the audience in-between songs (which vocalist Anders Friden jokingly gave the crowd grief over, and told them to chant for Whitechapel instead). Unfortunately, fifty-ish minutes wasn’t enough time for In Flames, even as a support act. That being said, the fifty minutes was certainly a great escape. Minus some minor issues during one of the songs, the band really showed cohesiveness, delivering on the low-end with both the drums and the bass. Anders’ vocals were on point all night, and the banter in-between songs was hilarious (joking about multiple topics), and the tag team of Bjorn and Chris was absolutely bulletproof throughout. Much like my comments about Whitechapel, In Flames could have benefited from an extra song or two (an hour would have been awesome for them in this lineup). Can’t wait to see them again… sooner then later!

Setlist
The Beginning Of All Things That Will End
Foregone Pt. 1
Deliver Us
Darker Times
Everything’s Gone
All For Me
Behind Space
Cloud Connected
State Of Slow Decay
The Mirror’s Truth
I Am Above
Take This Life

MESHUGGAH

With seven years elapsed since Meshuggah last graced Toronto with a performance, the rabid, sold-out crowd was ready to go minutes before the intro and the opening song (the crowd chanting and stomping their feet). ‘Careless Whispers’ was the intro to the band’s performance, which brought a surge of energy out of the crowd, everyone singing, grooving, and even dancing with people around them. Meshuggah offered what I would consider to be a master class at what they do best. No one sounds like them in respect to the grinding, extreme/technical death metal fans have grown to love. For the entirety of the performance, the floor of History was non-stop movement, a literal wall-to-wall pit with bodies flying and people going in circles. There was almost next to no crowd interaction from vocalist Jens Kidman, except very minimal. It literally was a continual onslaught of technically excellent metal for close to a hour. Personally, I am very happy that ‘Bleed’ was brought back into the setlist (even if it was an encore song). ‘Demiurge’ closed out the night, an awesome closer to a bullet-proof setlist!

All in all, a wonderful Friday night of metal, from a very diverse lineup of bands, and Toronto thanked them by selling out the venue and packing it in tightly.

Setlist
Careless Whisper (intro)
Broken Cog
Rational Gaze
Perpetual Black Second
Born In Dissonance
Ligature Marks
The Abysmal Eye
Mind’s Mirrors
In Death – Is Life
In Death – Is Death
Humiliative
Future Breed Machine
Bleed (encore)
Demiurge (encore)

Interview with Vocalist Jemiina Heloise of SWANSONG

Interview with Jemiina Heloise, Lead Vocalist of Melodic Death Metal band SWANSONG. Hailing from Finland they recently released their debut full length album Awakening. They also have one EP released in 2022 titled Winter Maiden.

Interview by Blake Mossey

The Metal Pit: Your bands debut full length album just came out recently. How happy are you with early reviews and fans reactions?

Jemiina Heloise: It has been amazing and we are very honored and grateful. It has truly surprised us and we are very excited! I have been a bit emotional, it feels so amazing!

I myself (Blake Mossey) wrote a album review and was really impressed with what I heard. In my review I stated that your songs didn’t really follow the traditional structure of songs. Was this something the band set out to do or did it just come naturally?

JH: Thank you so much! Everything comes naturally. We don’t plan or calculate these things: Topi is a very emotional guitar player and composer. He composes freely and lets his emotions run. No one is telling him what to do or what not to do.

When I do the lyrics and arrangements, I also just let everything come out and I see the story of the song in front of me. I don’t usually change things afterwards. I do it freely without restrictions or rules. We trust in our intuition what it comes to making our music.

For anyone that hasn’t heard your band yet how would you describe your bands sound?

JH: It is a bit difficult to describe it, since it has so many elements. But 80’s and 90’s beautiful guitar harmonies iced with thick layer of brutal, versatile extreme vocals. The vocals are influenced by such bands as Dark Tranquillity, 90s melodeath, death and black metal, and for a more modern use of sound from Shadow Of Intent. In terms of composition, the biggest influences are Iron Maiden, Children Of Bodom and the 80´s neo classical metal, to name a couple. Brutal yet catchy!

Do you have any immediate plans for shows to play these songs live?

JH: Definitely yes, and we can’t wait for that! But we can’t announce anything yet. So please follow our social media to keep updated!

Do you personally have a favorite track or 2 on this album?

JH: It is hard to choose, because they are different. But I would have to say my favorite right now is ‘Shot In The Heart’ because the music is so versatile. It reminds me of Children Of Bodom a bit. There is a femme fatale story and low growls in some parts. This is a story about a woman your mother warned you about, we all know the type. Fascinating but deadly.

Another favorite is ‘Frost Of Winter’, An atmospheric, melancholic and melodic beautiful song that tells about separation, life lived or death depending on the listener. When life has been experienced, the world seen, a home built and lost, a heart broken and it’s time to leave: ‘Frost of Winter’ take me away deep into the land. Wash away all my sorrows, for my time has come. Bury me and walk away.

As a bonus I have to mention ‘Blood Widow’ since it has crazy extreme vocals and double vocals in verses: high and low growls on top of each other.

The musicianship on this album really impressed me. Introduce your band mates?

JH: Thank you! Yeah the guys are amazing and experienced players! I am very thankful to be in the same band with them.

Topi Pitkänen: our composer and guitarist, best known from metal band Verjnuarmu. Topi loves 80s and 90s heavy metal and Children Of Bodom. He is highly skilled and plays emotional solos. When a guitarist is both emotional and technical: BOOM! Amazing composer. He just sits down with his guitar and creates all this amazing music from nowhere.

Tuomas Leskinen/Finn Widdow: Our guitarist, best known from Carnal Demise, Bad Baron. He is something else! How cool is it to be in a band with TWO AWESOME technical solo guitarists?! Tuomas makes half of the solos by himself and he is incredible. He is the type of guitarist that when he hears Topi’s composing, he grabs his guitar, goes through it and then he can perform it almost instantly. Impressive! He is skillful and he has also been a tour hired gun for such bands as the mighty Bloodred Hourglass.

Lauri Huovinen our bass player, best known from Bad Baron and Late_Lokakuun. Lauri is a skillful bass player and also an incredible clean voice vocalist in his own bands. Topi sends the songs to him and he creates awesome bass beats in them with no guidance or anything. This guy does not need anyone’s guidance, because he has the talent to create and dive into music. Everything comes so naturally and effortlessly from him, natural talent! He also shares my love for deathcore, cool guy! Lucky to have him.

Jimi Myöhänen our drummer, best known from Sadistik Forest, Se Josta Ei Puhuta, and Kaera. Jimi is incredible. Every time I go to see gigs somewhere in Kuopio, people come up to me and praise Jimi! It is so cool! He is fast and accurate. He has a sense of style with his drum arrangements and also he has speed and danger in his playing! He also shares my love for many extreme metal bands. He is admired by many people: I know because they have come up to me and told me that. I think he does not even know how good he is. He recorded our debut album drums in one day.

How did the band come together?

JH: Well I had old lyrics and song arrangements in my own archive, that I had not shown to anyone. Topi is an amazing guitarist and I decided to show my lyrics to him. He liked them and he played me his old riffs and guitar melodies from his computer. I really loved them and we decided to join our forces and make music together.

At first this was just for fun: playing music on the weekends Tomas Ahlroos, Markus Tikkanen and Mika Tikkanen made our first EP with us, great talented guys!

But with the attention we got with our EP “Winter Maiden” our band grew. Not everyone have the time to be in a growing band and that is understandable. So that is why we had a change in our band members. No drama, just life and schedules against us. The guys are still our friends of course and follow and support us.

Topi asked Finn Widow to join, because he liked his skills with the guitar. And after we got the record deal with Noble Demon records, we asked Jimi Myöhänen and Lauri to join us. And gladly they did!

Where did the band name SWANSONG come from?

JH: I live in the countryside in a lake house. Every year the same swan couple returns to my beach cottage, so I love swans. That image is inspiring. Also death is a natural and interesting theme in songwriting and swansong stands for that in a beautiful way. And of course Carcass has a killer album called Swansong so many things led us to this name.

What is the song writing process within your band?

JH: Topi Pitkänen our guitarist composes everything, I make the lyrics. Arrangement is 50% by me and 50% by Topi. I create at my own peace and so does Topi We all trust each other.

What vocalists (for you) or bands influenced you and the band to play this style of metal?

JH: Topi’s influences are mostly Iron Maiden, Amorphis and Children Of Bodom to name a few.

For me there are so many influences starting from my youth: Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Cradle Of Filth, Children Of Bodom, Demented and Go (psychobilly band with horror themed lyrics), Kalmah, Amoprhis, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, and In Flames. Behemoth’s Nergal, Finntroll Mathias Vreth Lillmåns, Death vocalist Chuck Schuldiner. Moonsorrow is amazing. So many influences. I think it is a good thing to be in love with so many metal genres. I went to school wearing a Cannibal Corpse hoodie, our teacher was not happy!

And of course deathcore bands Lorna Shore and Shadow of Intent inspire me to evolve and train my vocals to be more versatile hopefully. Ben Duerr from Shadow Of Intent is amazing! Growling women also inspire me and they have shown the way: the legendary Arch Enemy. What they have done for all women: respect. So many awesome bands out there, I could talk for hours about this subject. And I have to mention Nightwish. I had their posters on my walls.

The band is from Finland What are the biggest positives of being a metal band from Finland?

JH: Snow everywhere, awesome landscape, lots of lakes and nature. Great place to write metal music. Forests everywhere so you can take your promo pics and get lost in the woods (just joking). People here are passionate about metal and we Finns are lucky that people around the world have supported Finnish music.

What if any are the negatives of being a metal band from Finland?

JH: Maybe long distance.

You sing very extreme metal vocals. Did you take lessons for this type of vocals?

JH: Thank you! When I started, I asked Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns (Finntroll, …And Oceans) to show me how to start doing it safely! I did not want to harm my vocal chords.

Markus Laakso (musician, artist, writer, author, journalist, so much more) helped me to get in contact with him. Mathias showed me how to get started in a skype meeting and then I started to train them by myself at home: I study extreme vocals on my own and I train them, I want to get better and evolve.

If you could open for any metal band out there which would it be?

JH: Difficult question because there are so many! In Flames, Soilwork, Carcass, Arch Enemy, Cradle Of Filth, Shadow Of Intent, Amorphis, Bloodred Hourglass (this happened earlier!), Finntroll, Amon Amarth, Iron Maiden, Kalmah, Swallow The Sun, and Behemoth.. The list goes on!

What is the biggest challenge of being a fairly new metal band in 2023?

JH: There is so much awesome new music coming that it is hard to get noticed. Also people love the old familiar metal songs and bands, me included. So it is challenging, but we are so happy and amazed that so many people have discovered our music!

Thank you for taking the time with me today. Anything you would like to add to this interview?

JH: Thank you so much for the awesome review and this interview was truly an honor! Great job lifting metal music and artists through your page.

Also thank you all so so much from all of us to everyone who has listened to our music! Without you there would be no Swansong, so PEDAL TO THE METAL!!

Thanks and I wish you all the best to you and your band.

JH: Thank you so much and to you also!

Jemiina Facebook
Swansong Facebook
Swansong Instagram
Jemiina Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW – THERION

Therion – Leviathan III

Reviewed by: Georgina Strilakos

Review Score: 8.5

Therion is one of the foremost bands in the symphonic metal scene, and it’s easy to see why. The group made a huge impact on the genre with its contribution, pushing the envelope and setting the bar higher with its massive wall of sound. The band emerged in the early 1990s when metal acts were experimenting with incorporating orchestral and symphonic elements into their music. However, Therion took the concept further by blending metal with classical and operatic elements. This is something that we kind of take for granted today, and it’s partly due to the impact of this band!

With such a significant background, a new release from Therion is always exciting. Their upcoming album, Leviathan III is yet another chapter in the band’s saga. Therion is renowned for creating concept albums and ambitious projects that go beyond the typical structure of metal albums, and this is no exception. This eclectic studio work features 11 tracks, marking the band’s progressive leanings and constant willingness to embrace new challenges while staying true to its aesthetics.

Available through Napalm Records, the album is the third installment in the “Leviathan” trilogy and perhaps the longest and most intense of the three releases. The sonic variety is truly impressive. Not only is there room for traditional metal influences and large symphonic sections, but The band also explores unique ideas, such as a the flamenco-tinged melodies of the song ‘Duende’, which are completely unexpected. The song ‘Twilight Of The Gods’ offers a brooding, doom-infused arrangement, serving as a truly ethereal and raw segment on the album.

Overall, Leviathan III denotes Therion’s willingness to evolve and experiment with its sound. With so many years under its belt, the band doesn’t need to prove anything, but it’s still eager to make steps forward and enhance the creativity of its vision.