Ever since the halcyon days of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer and Steppenwolf, extreme music has been a force to be reckoned with, driven by aggression, machismo and, above all else, unadulterated volume!
Nowadays, the acts at the very top of the mountain are nostalgia groups: predominately, they’re bands that peaked in the ’80s or ’90s, and are continuing to headline massive festivals, as well as regularly tour all over the world to this very day. This includes the likes of Metallica, System of a Down, Slayer, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sepultura, Tool and Megadeth.
And this, in turn, begs a question:
What happens when, inevitably, these older acts at the very pinnacle of metal’s popularity call it quits?
Some have been going for thirty-plus years and, as horrid as it is to fathom, their performing days are definitely numbered.
In fear of this eventuality, I’m going to put forth some possible replacements: new bands that channel old-school heavy genres from the ’80s and ’90s (like thrash, black, death and progressive metal), and will carry them brilliantly into the future.
To clarify, a band is classified as „new“ if it has: a) existed for less than five years, and b) released a maximum of one full-length studio album. That way, hopefully this article introduces you all to as many new, up-and-coming acts as possible.