The new single “Stormwatcher” from Tony Iommi is a highlight of the week in metal, punk, and hard rock tracks. An interesting historical and critical question is when precisely did heavy metal begin? The minute you know to look for it, traces of it appear all over the place, from blues to early psychedelic rock to proto-prog to the more theatrical and dark rock and roll acts of the ’50s. It’s interesting, in part, because the credited founders Black Sabbath and especially the riff lord himself Tony Iommi have almost transcended time in a sense.
It feels like thinking of him less like contemplating a mortal man but instead a god walking amongst us, so great his only real peers become people like Miles Davis or Prince for how much came out of him. “Stormwatcher” is both an affirmation of that legacy, proof that he can pull out true heavy metal magic with seemingly anyone, as well as an affirmation of his ear as a band leader. Iommi, despite his lordly presence, chooses not to overshadow the rest of the band. They swing in unity, calling to mind the underrated releases of ’80s Sabbath like Born Again or the Tony Martin era.
Jorn Lande in particular sounds incredible; it’s hard not to fantasize about an era that could rival Dio’s magical body of work with Iommi. The loss of Ozzy makes it ever more important we honor these gods of heavy metal while they are still around. Long live heavy metal.
Honorable Mentions
Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – “Flying Blind”
Everything about this project seems to exist to prove me gloriously wrong. Slash shows enormous range when paired with Myles Kennedy, who is easily the most consistently great force in contemporary mainstream rock. This track fits in the art rock darkness of Alice in Chains against some wonderful adventurous guitarwork from Slash including a killer diminished run. Add on Kennedy’s voice, which is so good so often I believe he could sing me the phone book and make it an album of the year contender, and you have a cut that more than justifies the esteem these two have built for themselves over the past decades.
That they continue to release work that stands comfortably amongst their acclaimed catalogs is nothing to sniff at either. It’s that perpetual conviction that makes them so good so often and “Flying Blind” shows we shouldn’t anticipate them losing that anytime soon.
Steven Wilson – “On Chapel Slope”
“On Chapel Slope” begins to give a better sense of the shape of Steven Wilson’s upcoming solo album Requiem for a Village. It contains musical elements such as the post-Japan David Sylvianisms of his solo debut Insurgentes alongside the more decrepit songwriting that feels almost like it’s crumbling around you from Grace for Drowning. Add in to this the particularly British eerie not-quite-horror atmospheres from his album The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories and you get a great picture not only of this track but the overall project.
It’s the musical equivalent of walking through a ghost town where you can sense eyes watching you from the windows but never seem to see a soul, at once pastoral and beautiful with that undercurrent of looming dread. This kind of ghost-haunted beauty is what he excels at and it’s wonderful to see him ensconced in it again.
Wolves in the Throne Room – “Estuary”
Wolves in the Throne Room has always felt magical, like a portal to another world. Heavy metal can be music of the spirit, rife with occult portent and pagan offering, as much as it can be about thrashing it out to loud guitars. “Estuary,” the title track of their upcoming soft concept album about the world after the fall of man, retains that same magic. Describing the song musically does little to convey its power: How could learning about the mid-tempo grooves, the blastbeats, and the killer melodicism communicate the other, more important aspect of this song?
This is music, like Pink Floyd and The Cure before them, to put on before you lay back with eyes closed and allow yourself to enter it as if you are astral projecting. Sheeting water, obdurate stone, the sentinel eye of the moon peering at you through treetops. It is a passage to another world, as truly great black metal should be.
In conclusion, the week in metal, punk, and hard rock has seen some exciting releases, with Tony Iommi’s “Stormwatcher” being a highlight. Other notable mentions include Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – “Flying Blind”, Steven Wilson – “On Chapel Slope”, and Wolves in the Throne Room – “Estuary”. These tracks showcase the diversity and talent in the heavy metal genre, and fans of the genre are sure to find something that suits their taste. With the legacy of Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi continuing to inspire new generations of musicians, the future of heavy metal looks bright.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte, widely regarded as the “Shakespeare of Sh*tposts,” is a video game expert with a unique knack for turning pixels into punchlines.
Born in the small town of Respawn, Pennsylvania, Pixel grew up mashing buttons on an ancient NES controller, firmly believing that “blowing into the cartridge” was a sacred ritual passed down through generations.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte: proving that life, much like a buggy open-world game, is better with a little lag-induced chaos.
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