"Heavy metal is always going to be there," Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford once claimed. "At its core, it’s all about a primitive connection we all need to keep in our lives." Thanks to everything from supernatural Netflix hits and surprise reunions to massive tours and multiple accolades, this primitive connection now appears to be the strongest it’s been since the genre’s ‘80s heyday.

During a 2014 interview with GRAMMY.com, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford acknowledged the "special bond" that "all metal bands have with the fans [who] support them." Thanks to everything from supernatural Netflix hits and surprise reunions to massive tours and multiple accolades, this special bond now appears to be the strongest it’s been since the genre’s ‘80s heyday.

Of course, its pioneers have always maintained a loyal level of support — once a metalhead, always a metalhead after all. And there have been several instances of the sound returning to the mainstream (see Black Sabbath scoring their first ever Billboard No. 1 album nearly a half-century into their career in 2013, for example, or Metallica headlining Glastonbury a year later). Yet such feats are typically few and far between.

In 2022, however, the scene has continually found itself in the spotlight, inspiring headbangers both old and new to repeatedly pick up their air guitars and show off their best devil horns. So why exactly has this resurgence occurred?

One theory is that heavy metal in its purest form offers an unmatched sense of catharsis. With the world forever teetering on the brink of disaster, what better to unleash your frustrations than by immersing yourself in walls of aggressive noise? It could also be argued that some veterans have made a conscious effort to appeal to a wider audience with their more recent material. And those creatives who grew up listening to the likes of the Big Four (Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer) are now able to pay tribute by incorporating their music into their latest projects.

Whatever the reasons, here are eight ways in which the heavy metal acts of yesteryear made a significant impact in 2022.

Judas Priest Get Inducted  

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been relatively ungenerous when it comes to honoring heavy metal. It took them until 2006 to celebrate arguably the daddies of the genre, Black Sabbath, and since Metallica’s induction three years later, they’ve swerved all headbangers entirely. Until, that is, in November when Judas Priest deservedly picked up the Musical Excellence Award.

The British veterans also showed off their famous dual guitar sound while performing three of their biggest hits at the ceremony, with guest presenter Alice Cooper describing them as the "definitive metal band ... like an L.A. earthquake."

Iron Maiden Completed A Mammoth Tour 

Few acts have done more to spread the metal word than Iron Maiden. Forty-seven years on from their formation and they’re performing their distinctive brand of British metal to millions — and carting around their giant mascot Eddie across the world.

More than 3 million people attended their multi-national Legacy of the Beast World Tour, which concluded in Florida in October. The longest run of shows to feature original vocalist Bruce Dickinson since the late 1980s, the hits-focused show began in Estonia in 2018 but, thanks to COVID-19, took four years to complete. Despite a collective age approaching 400, the band have already announced they’ll be back on the road next year.

Icons Got The Documentary Treatment 

From Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster to The Story of Anvil, the heavy metal scene has spawned several compelling documentaries. And 2022 added two more to the canon. First up, there was DIO: Dreamers Never Die, which enjoyed a brief stint in cinemas in September. Produced by wife Wendy, the biopic of ex-Rainbow and Black Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio is an affectionate portrait which refreshingly avoids the usual rise and drug-addled fall narrative.  

Then at the opposite end of the spectrum, This Is GWAR explored the bodily fluid-spewing, monster-costumed history of the titular shock rockers in a hugely entertaining watch which, rather aptly, premiered on horror streaming service Shudder.    

Classic Metal Acts Received GRAMMY Nominations 

The Best Metal Performance category is no stranger to classic acts, with Dream Theater, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath all emerging triumphant during the last decade. But you have to go back to 2015 for the last time two were nominated in the same year (Anthrax and Motorhead). Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi will be hoping to add to their trophy cabinet at the 2023 ceremony. But they face stiff competition from fellow survivors Megadeth and Ghost, the Swedish satanists whose bombastic riffs have drawn parallels with another veteran, Judas Priest. Metal purists will undoubtedly be hoping prog rockers Muse and hardcore punks Turnstile don’t spoil the party.   

Pantera Reunite, And Bring Friends

Pantera’s story looked to have ended in 2004 when guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered by a crazed fan on stage. Even more so when another founding member, Vinnie Paul, passed away from coronary artery disease in 2018. But 22 years on from their last album, Reinventing the Steel, remaining members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown announced they were heading out on a North American tour which would also include dates with Judas Priest and Metallica. Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante will temporarily join the group who, thanks to the likes of 1994’s chart-topping Far Beyond Driven, very nearly muscled their way into the Big Four.   

"Stranger Things" Gives Metallica Classic A Second Wind 

Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill" wasn’t the only ‘80s classic to enjoy a new lease of life after featuring in the mammoth fourth season of Netflix phenomenon "Stranger Things." Metallica’s "Master of Puppets" also returned to the Hot 100 thanks to the guitar heroics of Joseph Quinn’s Eddie Munson. His impressive rendition not only gave the metal giants their highest chart peak since 2008 but also introduced a whole new generation to the sound of James Hetfield and co. Admirably, the band themselves were far from precious about the whole thing, revealing they were blown away by the concept and later inviting Quinn for a Lollapalooza jam session.   

Megadeth Enjoy A Triumphant Return 

To say that the recording of Megadeth’s first new album in six years was troubled is putting it mildly. Firstly, lead singer Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer shortly after hitting the studio with co-producer Chris Rakestraw. And then founding bassist David Ellefson found himself caught up in a revenge porn scandal which ultimately resulted in his dismissal. Nevertheless, the thrash metal legends eventually managed to put all the drama behind them with The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! equaling the No.3 peak of its 2016 predecessor Dystopia, inspiring some critics to hail it as their finest record since the early ‘90s.

Metal Continues To Infiltrate Pop Culture 

Elsewhere, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Rob Halford were just a few of the iconic cameos in Netflix’s Metal Lords, a teen comedy about a bunch of high school outcasts who form a metal band. Black Sabbath stole the show at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony with an unannounced performance of their signature hit, "Paranoid." And Ozzfest became the first in-real-life festival to enter the metaverse, where those who’d invested in co-founder Ozzy Osbourne’s CryptoBatz NFTs could also enjoy a better vantage point by morphing into a bat. Because why not?

5 Essential Nu-Metal Albums: How Slipknot, Korn, Deftones & Others Showcased Adolescent Rage With A Dramatic Flair

Bruce Dickinson performs heavy metal and flies it through the sky. 

As the charismatic and energetic singer of Iron Maiden, Dickinson has fronted the band for most of the last 42 years. The philosophical performer has been nicknamed the Air Raid Siren — which is amusing given that he has also been a commercial airline pilot and has flown Maiden’s private plane Ed Force One on tour. 

And Maiden has certainly taken flight with few landings. The British heavy metal legends have maintained a steadfast following for decades, from their classic ‘80s albums like Number of the Beast and Powerslave (which turns 40 this year) to the recent Book of Souls and Senjutsu. Their last four albums have gone Top 10 in America. But Dickinson has also recorded substantial solo material, and will be hitting the road for a two-month European tour starting in Paris on May 26.

His seventh and latest album, The Mandrake Project, is his first in 18 years and has been a decade in the making. The album combines varied metal elements free from the distinctive Iron Maiden gallop. "Resurrection Men" has a Spaghetti Western vibe, while "Fingers In The Wind" offers a Middle Eastern flavor. The gothic closing song "Sonata (Immortal Beloved)," which started gestating 25 years ago, is a slowly churning, 10-minute epic. 

Such musical exploration is common for Dickinson. Starting with his 1990 solo debut, Tattooed Millionaire, he's employed melodic hard rock, grunge, and heavy metal elements with lyrics that he might not explore within Maiden, where historical and fantastical themes tend to reign. Dickinson’s 1998 album The Chemical Wedding — which featured Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, when both had been estranged from the band — is a superlative  heavy metal album from the ‘90s. 

The Mandrake Project has spawned a comic book series from Z2 Comics with the same name; the first issue is out now and 11 more quarterly issues are forthcoming. The story stars Dr. Necropolis who seeks to restore his brother’s soul from Hell. The first issue includes hallucinogens, sex magic, the defiant ghost of William Blake, and a manipulative scientist named Professor Lazarus. Dickinson spun off the story concept from the album, and he also co-wrote the story for "Revelations" in the Iron Maiden comic anthology inspired by their seminal album Piece Of Mind. 

Dickinson spoke to GRAMMY.com about his new album and comic, his creative solo career, and how he wants to challenge himself and his audience. 

Why did you decide to re-record "If Eternity Should Fail"—  a contribution you made to Iron Maiden’s Book Of Souls almost a decade ago — as "Eternity Has Failed"?

First of all, it was written as a solo track. In fact, the [new] album was going to be called If Eternity Should Fail back in 2014, and [bassist] Steve [Harris] borrowed it [for Maiden]. It was always my intention to repossess the track. 

All I've done really is a version of it that's more reflective of my tastes than the Maiden thing. I always wanted to do the Ennio Morricone [flute] bit at the beginning. 

At the same time, by developing the comic book, I'd also moved on a story that I could import back into the words, into the lyrics. According to the story of the comic book, Eternity has failed. Death is over and done with. I quite like that. I thought we can rejig it with a slightly different emphasis on it. Put a few bits of chanty stuff at the end. Generally it's a different groove to the Maiden groove. It's more of an even type groove. 

The Mandrake Project is not a concept album but spawned from the comic, and the first video connects with the story in the first issue. 

I wanted it all to hang together. I thought, it's a waste of money doing a video that doesn't cross over from one to the other. Now the irony of that video [for "Afterglow of Ragnarok"] is that ... I went, It has nothing whatsoever to do with anything on the comic. How am I going to do this? It was a dream by Necropolis in which he's taken his acid trip using Mandrake potion, and he dreams he's at the end of the world and sees the shaman foretelling his future. There's the weird mirror that he sees himself talking to himself and sees things. The mirror can also be a portal into the other world of his dreams, and back out of it at the end. 

So I wrote that up as a treatment for a video and then [realized] there is no way we can afford to shoot that video. So I turned it into an eight-page comic as a kind of a prequel to the comic [series]. And we'll give it away just to get people in the mood for what might be coming next. I did that with [writer] Tony Lee and with [artist] Staz Johnson, so it was kind of a dummy run for what was going to be each 34-page comic. 

Then, at the 11th hour, I find this director, Ryan Mackfall, and we get on great. We love all the same types of weird folk horror movies from Britain from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and early Universal horror. He said, "I'll be able to shoot this and I'll be able to get it in on budget." I went, "That's great, mate, but what are you going to actually shoot?" He said, "Well, you've already done it. I'm going to shoot the comic." 

You were a child in the ‘60s, and that decade really informs a lot of your work: There’s the Hammer Horror vibe of your current videos. The organ work on this album reminds me of Deep Purple. Monty Python’s humor heavily influenced your two racy, aristocracy-lampooning Lord Iffy Boatrace novels. You love singer Arthur Brown, one of the original shock rockers. What is it about the ‘60s that keeps informing your work? 

I actually don't think about that. But if I had to think about it, I would say the ‘60s, up till the mid-‘70s, was a golden time because there were all these barriers being broken down in music. Nothing was impossible. Everything was possible. Everything was plausible. You had Mahavishnu Orchestra, and then on the other hand you had Led Zeppelin. Nobody excluded anything. Nobody said, "I can't listen to John McLaughlin because I listen to Motorhead." They're not mutually exclusive. It's all music. And in the ‘80s that got completely lost. Everybody was segmented up to their little silos, and it pissed me off. 

When I started doing this…the people I admired were not just rock stars. And because I effectively don't look like a rock star — tall, skinny and blonde…. I was much more about being a storyteller and an artist. Increasingly, whether it's a comic book or an autobiography, everything I do for public consumption is telling stories. And if you tell an interesting story in a way that makes people go, I didn't expect that twist, then I put that back into music. A lot of this album has got a lot of unexpected little twists that I hope bring a little smile to people's internal monologue. 

You were working on your second solo album Balls To Picasso when you heard Roy Z's Latin rock band Tribe of Gypsies recording in the adjacent studio and brought them in for your project. He's been your co-songwriter, producer, and guitar player on every album of yours since except one. Why do you two have such a great mind meld? 

Roy can be somewhat mercurial from time to time. To be fair, so can I. I’m trying not to sound pompous about this, but when we tap into something together, we tap into something that's bigger than the both of us. So as soon as that realization hits, we go, "Oh my God, put the mic on, capture that moment." But that initial moment of inspiration, when you’re both channeling something from somewhere — I don’t know whether it’s alien intelligence or whatever the hell it is — I don't question it. But you have to be there in person for it to happen and to notice it. But when it does happen with us, it happens quickly. Or not at all. 

Would it be fair to say that there's more of the arcane, the occult and the religious covered here than in Maiden? That seems to be where a lot of your personality and a lot of your interests lie. 

Definitely. I drop some things in with Maiden, but there are always some musical limits that are outside of the Maiden universe slightly. Morricone, surf guitar and stuff like that. If I said, "Steve, we need bongos, man, let's do some bongos" — he'd think I'd lost my mind. I have, but in a good way. So those are things that are expressions of my musical personality that are unalloyed by being in Maiden. 

I'm always on the lookout for some of Z’s musical textures, basically, in terms of sounds and things like that. It's a different way of working. It's more like two kids in a sandbox with me and Roy, and nothing is excluded. Ever. And anything's on the table if we want to have a go at something. 

Over 20 years ago, there were rumblings about The Three Tremors, a proposed vocal trio between you, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, and Ronnie James Dio. How did that evolve, and why did it ultimately not happen? 

We had promoters salivating and people could see dollar signs. It was a great idea, but I didn't want to do it unless it was not just a commercial great idea, but an artistic great idea. I love Rob, I love Ronnie. And why they would want me, I don't know. Then Ronnie unfortunately got sick and passed away. So it was mooted that maybe [original Queensrÿche singer] Geoff Tate might fill in. We had a few meetings with Geoff, and I think the minds didn't quite meet in the way that I thought they should, so it was obvious that probably wasn’t going to work. 

By this point, however, Roy and I had already written two tracks for a potential album which used the voices of three singers in different ways during the songs. The intention was to write a whole album of material like that. I think that would have been quite cool, but the problem was it was a lot harder than it sounds.

"Tyranny of Souls" [which became the title track to Dickinson’s last solo album] was one of those tracks, and "Shadow of the Gods" [on the new one] was another. We didn't get any further than that. I did demo versions of those songs in which I actually did little imitation voices of Rob and Geoff to give an idea of where their lines would be in the song. So when the project didn't happen, I said, "Let's just record both those songs anyway." 

Maiden have made a massive impact on the metal world. One can argue that you are as influential as Metallica. Have you thought about why people keep coming back to the music and are so loyal after nearly 45 years? 

Stylistically, Maiden are, I think it's fair to say, unique. Nobody sounds like us. Even people who copy us, they still don't sound like us. And that's because we're not perfect. When people copy things, they try to make them perfect. But if the thing you're copying is imperfect to begin with, you can't copy it. You'll never be as imperfect as the thing you're trying to copy. It’s the same with The Rolling Stones who are far from perfect, but they're so perfectly imperfect, that they are the identity. 

I don't know how this happens, but [with] the six of us now together it sounds like Maiden and nobody else sounds like us. It's instant. You can hear it. Also, because we are authentic. That's quite rare in the modern world because everybody's so desperate. It's sad in a way that streaming and everything is just ripping the guts out of creativity. So if people want to be successful, they have to try too hard. Whereas you should be able to just relax and have fun and be successful. They have to go and do this and do that, and jump through hoops and manufacture their authenticity now. 

That's the biggest curse of being a creative now. If you come up with something that's unique people go, "Oh, yeah, but your problem is it doesn't sound like everybody else." 

Living Legends: Chicago's Robert Lamm On Songwriting and Longevity

Since its release in 2003, there's been a consistent (pingy) drumbeat of chatter about Metallica's St. Anger.

The quixotic snare sound — which bassist and producer Bob Rock claimed he spent about 15 minutes crafting — is central to the St. Anger discourse; a Google search for "metallica st. anger snare" yields about 661,000 results. As for why the eight-time GRAMMY winners uncharacteristically nixed guitar solos? That question yields millions of hits.

Then there's the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster, one of the most uncomfortably revealing portraits of a rock band engulfed in a mid-life crisis. Memorable moments abound, but for one scene alone — drummer Lars Ulrich's Middle Earth-looking dad hearing a take, and telling his son to "delete that" — the film is a must-watch.

Given the controversial status St. Anger has accrued, it may seem like the metal community may want to, well, delete it. While your mileage may vary, this hotly debated album shouldn't be consigned to any internet-snark dustbin.

Listening with the benefit of temporal distance, tracks like "Frantic," "Some Kind of Monster" and "The Unnamed Feeling" sound raw and alive — perhaps of their time, given its adjacency to then-ascendant nü metal. Ultimately, they conjure the sensation of a reset, rather than a capitulation to trends. 

Today, St. Anger seems to hew less to the reputation it's engineered, and more to Rock's characterization of the thing: "To me, this album sounds like four guys in a garage getting together and writing rock songs. There was really no time to get amazing performances out of James. We liked the raw performances… we just did it, boom, and that was it."

To mark the 20th anniversary of St. Anger, here are five facts about the album.

Metallica Started The Album In An Old Army Barracks

By 2001, Metallica hadn't released an album of original material in almost five years, since 1997's Reload (a follow-up to the previous year's Load). 

While these sessions ground to a halt due to personal upheaval and frontman James Hetfield heading to rehab — and the band later continued work at a new studio in San Rafael, California — this no-nonsense setting befitted the unvarnished quality of the music.

Bassist Jason Newsted Left The Band Early On

Newsted was the second bassist for Metallica, after the tragic 1986 death of Cliff Burton. Newsted's departure came the month they began St. Anger, which destabilized progress on the album.

"Due to private and personal reasons, and the physical damage that I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love, I must step away from the band," Newsted said in a statement. "This is the most difficult decision of my life, made in the best interest of my family, myself, and the continued growth of Metallica."

St. Anger Represented Intense Catharsis For James Hetfield

As Hetfield put it, St. Anger was a valve for which to release intense psychological pressure.

"There's a lot of passion in this. There's two years of condensed emotion in this," he told Metal Edge magazine at the time. "We've gone through a lot of personal changes, struggles, epiphanies, it's deep. It's so deep lyrically and musically… It's so hard to talk about, you really need to hear it."

Accordingly, St. Anger is nothing if not visceral — and two decades haven't sanded off those sharp edges.

As St. Anger's Recording Wound Down, Robert Trujillo Joined On Bass

While producer Bob Rock recorded the bass parts on St. Anger, his instrumental involvement 

would prove to be transitional; Robert Trujillo joined Metallica on bass in February 2001. 

Having played on all ensuing Metallica albums, 2008's Death Magnetic, 2016's Hardwired… to Self Destruct and 2023's 72 Seasons — all of which were warmly received by critics — Trujillo is now the longest-serving bassist in Metallica.

Critics Were Polarized, Then As With Now

While some contemporaneous critics knocked St. Anger as everything from "an ungodly mess" to having "underwent more processing than cat food," not everyone characterized it that way. 

Allmusic called it a "punishing, unflinching document of internal struggle"; Rolling Stone said "there's an authenticity to St. Anger's fury that none of the band's rap-metal followers can touch."

As for the band themselves, they've seemingly come to accept St. Anger, warts and all. 

"There are things I would like to change on some of the records, but it gives them so much character that you can't change them," Hetfield said in 2017. "St. Anger could use a little less tin snare drum, but those things are what make those records part of our history."

Unflinching, daring and unpolished, St. Anger is one of the ultimate "line in the sand" albums in heavy music history. Whatever your perception of this ugly-duckling entry is, take its 20-year anniversary as an opportunity to revisit its fury with fresh ears.

How Many GRAMMYs Have Metallica Won? Ahead Of New Album '72 Seasons': 6 Questions Answered

On their new album, 72 Seasons, Metallica circle the wagons and consolidate all the elements that make them… well, Metallica. Which, granted, many bands tend to do when they cross the four-decade mark. But for these eight-time GRAMMY winners, it's entirely a new look.

"There was this strange thing for many years in our band," drummer and co-founder Lars Ulrich told The New York Times in 2016. "We were in such a hurry to move forward, and in such a hurry to move away from certain perceptions about us, that we kept chasing something that we didn't really need to chase."

Much like its predecessors, 2008's Death Magnetic and 2016's Hardwired… To Self Destruct, 72 Seasons eschews any detours they've taken in the past. The songs sprawl; guitar solos are firmly back; there are no NWOBHM covers or symphonic collaborations. The title is backward-looking in a different way — a reference to the years between birth and age 18. And the ouroboros nature of 72 Seasons applies to the lyrics, too.

"Full speed or nothin'," founding vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield barks in lead single "Lux Æterna," a direct quote of "Motorbreath" from their 1983 debut album, Kill 'Em All. In "Room or Mirrors," he quotes "broken, beat and scarred" from Death Magnetic. Those 42 years together — approximately 168 seasons? — are clearly on these four men's minds.

With 72 Seasons tantalizingly close to release, take a look back, just as Metallica do on record — and find answers to six key facts about the world-dominating thrash titans.

Who Used To Be In Metallica?

While Metallica has maintained its current lineup since 2003 — Hetfield, Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — the band has some famous former members.

The spirit of their early bassist, Cliff Burton, hangs heavy in the rearview; he died in a touring van accident in 1986, right as they hit a zenith with 1986's Master of Puppets.

In a spat that honestly deserves its own article, Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine was the original lead guitarist of Metallica; he's credited as a songwriter on a handful of songs on Kill 'Em All and their celebrated second album, 1984's Ride the Lightning.

Other past members include their original bassist, Ron McGovney, and mid-period bassist, Jason Newsted, who left the band in 2001 to focus on his band Echobrain.

How Many Albums Has Metallica Sold?

Metallica have sold more than 125 million albums worldwide — 67 million of those stateside.

At press time, their best-selling album is 1991's Metallica, or The Black Album — the one with indelible hits from "Enter Sandman" to "Nothing Else Matters" — with a whopping 17 million sales.

How Many GRAMMYs Has Metallica Won?

As of 2023, Metallica have won eight GRAMMYs and been nominated for 18.

In order, those eight wins were for… 

• Best Rock Performance ("One")

• Best Metal Performance ("Stone Cold Crazy")

• Best Rock Performance (Metallica)

• Best Metal Performance ("Better Than You")

• Best Hard Rock Performance ("Whiskey in the Jar")

• Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Call Of Ktulu")

• Best Metal Performance ("St. Anger"),

• Best Metal Performance ("My Apocalypse")

Check out Metallica's complete GRAMMY stats here!

What Is Metallica's Biggest Song?

By the standard of the Billboard Hot 100, Metallica's most successful song was "Until It Sleeps" from their 1996 album Load — their sole top 10 hit, which peaked at No. 10 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks.

(As per the Billboard 200, their most successful album is The Black Album, which peaked at No. 1, hung there for four weeks, and spent an incredible 706 weeks on the chart.)

Song-wise, though, a look at more granular Billboard categories provides a clearer picture. 

"Master of Puppets" is their biggest track in the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart; it peaked at No. 5. It's also their most successful song in the Rock Digital Song Sales chart, at No. 2; Hot Rock Songs chart, also at No. 2; Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart, Hard Rock Streaming Songs, and Hot Hard Rock Songs, all at No. 1; and Rock Streaming Songs chart, at No. 3.

As per the Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, "Lux Æterna" leads the pack, with a peak position of No. 2. And while one can go much deeper into the Billboard archives for further information — and factor in non-stateside success — it's clear "Master of Puppets" comes out on top.

Does Metallica Have A New Album?

They certainly do. As stated, 72 Seasons will be released April 14 via Blackened Recordings. It was teased via four singles: "Lux Æterna," "Screaming Suicide," "If Darkness Had a Son," and the title track.

Early reviews are strong: Rolling Stone called it "some of the deepest, hardest-hitting music of their career." Opined Consequence: "It's the sound of a band having fun, laying into a ton of riffs and embracing its own legacy as metal masters."

When Is Metallica Going On Tour?

Metallica will embark on the M72 world tour starting in late April. The trek, which stretches in 2024, will bring the foursome across Europe and North America. 

Check here for their complete tour dates, and be sure to take a dive into 72 Seasons — the perfect impetus to consider the metal heroes' past, present and exceedingly bright future.

How 1986 Became The Epicenter Of A New Metal Sound: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, And The Albums That Defined Thrash Metal

Chat Pile know they're odd ducks in their hometown of Oklahoma City. "It's either you're hardcore or you're shoegaze," the ascendant sludge-metal or noise-rock or whatever-you-call-it band's bassist, Stin, rues to GRAMMY.com. "Those seem to be kind of the two main options around here."

But it goes several steps beyond that. From singer Raygun Busch's idiosyncratic bark to their themes of mundane horrors to the sheer volume of memes swirling around their 2022 debut, God's Country, there's hardly an analog for this band anywhere.

On the other hand, Nerver are right at home in Kansas City, five hours northeast. The bludgeoning punk band, who released their whiplash second album, CASH, in 2022, are part of a rising tide of dark, heavy weirdos in KC. They're flourishing in many pockets up and down the I-35, which stretches from Duluth, Minnesota to the border between Texas and Mexico.

Birds of a feather: when Nerver played their first-ever Oklahoma City gig, Chat Pile were on the bill, and they became fast friends. Now, this nexus between two potent bands, regions and scenes — in what some dismiss as "flyover country" — is marked with a musical document.

Chat Pile and Nerver are out with a new split EP, Brothers in Christ, out Apr. 14 — a split-label release between Austin label Reptilian Records and Kansas City–based The Ghost is Clear Records. While Chat Pile's two offerings, "King" and "Cut," home in on their odder, mellower side, you'll rarely hear Nerver as heavy as they are on "Kicks in the Sky" and "The Nerve."

Ahead of the EP's release, Stin and Nerver’s bassist/vocalist and drummer — Evan Little and Mathew Shanahan — sat down with GRAMMY.com about how Brothers in Christ came to be, the emerging heavy scene in the central United States and their mutual love of Metallica deconstructions on YouTube.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How did your two bands arrive in each other's lives?

Stin: It's kind of a funny story. I think the third show that Chat Pile ever played was this warehouse show in Oklahoma City. We were supposed to play; there were a couple of local punk bands. But then Nerver were on the bill, and so was Bummer. But Bummer bailed and Nerver ended up showing up, and we just met at the show and hit it off immediately, and we've been good friends ever since.

Evan Little: I think the I-35, as it usually is, was down to one lane, full of construction. We showed up to Oklahoma City super late and loaded in, and Chat Pile had just started playing. We watched them, and I don't think I had ever played Oklahoma City before. I don't want to speak for everybody, but…

Mathew Shanahan: It had been years for me.

Evan: We watched Chat Pile and were like, "Hey guys, that was a great set. Can we stay at any of your houses?" [Laughs.]

Stin: We've just kind of stayed in touch ever since then. We went on a mini-tour with Chat Pile, Nerver, and a band called Meth from Chicago, and we played five or six dates through the Midwest.

Evan: It was in May of '22, because we had originally planned on doing it in 2020, and then COVID shut everything down. Also, Minneapolis was in an uproar when we were originally supposed to play…

Stin: Oh, that's right.

Evan: George Floyd got killed. It was like COVID shut everything down, George Floyd got killed and my dad died all on the same weekend. So, s— just hit the fan, and everything went away. So we were like, "OK, maybe we'll try again in two years." And then it ended up eventually working out.

Stin: That was a really fun tour, too. That was a good time. And the funny thing, too, is I think from the get-go, we had talked about doing a split together. It just took a really long time for us to get our s— together to make it happen.

Evan: We were eager to do a split, and we met those guys around the same time. We lived close enough to each other to where collaborating would be pretty easy.

Stin: That's a good point, too. The proximity is kind of a big thing, because Chat Pile's based in Oklahoma City and Nerver is based in Kansas City, which is about five hours away. You guys have definitely traveled down a couple of times to come hang out with us. 

And music aside, we've come up there and hung out a few times with you guys at different points, too. So, I think that helps. The collaborative part of it has been really cool and fun.

Evan: Even in the middle of the country, five hours is close.

Tell me a little bit about the OKC and Kansas City heavy-music scenes and where your bands fit into those puzzles.

Stin: In Oklahoma City, the heavy scene has changed so much over the years. It used to be relegated to more DIY, Maximum Rocknroll-style hardcore bands.

But after COVID shut everything down, this new hardcore scene has emerged across the globe that has more of what I would call a beatdown quality — that type of hardcore, and it's all people who are extremely young. But it's cool, because the scene is sort of exploding right now with that type of activity. You're seeing an explosion of bands coming around.

As far as more experimental, noisy stuff goes, there's not really a ton of that. I know people will call Chat Pile "noise rock" or whatever, and we're kind of the only band like that in Oklahoma City. It's either you're hardcore or you're shoegaze. Those seem to be kind of the two main options around here.

Kansas City, on the other hand, seems like it's got a lot going on. In fact, I would say it's one of the more exciting music cities in the country right now, at least with the type of stuff that Chat Pile and Nerver are doing.

Evan: There are a lot of really cool bands happening in Kansas City. A lot more noise-rock stuff. Like Austin was saying, we met Chat Pile when we were on tour with Bummer, and there seems to be a scene for loud, sort of darker bands happening right now. So, that's been great for us and allowed us to tour easier and play shows with similar bands easier.

Stin: Matthew, you turned me on to Nightosphere, and they only have a couple of songs out, but man — I can't get enough of those. They just put out a three-way split with Flooding and Abandoncy. One of those bands is from Lawrence [Kansas], right?

Evan: Flooding is from Lawrence.

Stin: Yeah, but still, it's that region. You guys have an embarrassment of riches in terms of all that stuff. Then, I would also say the Denton area of Texas has that kind of stuff going on as well, so it's sort of weird. I guess Kansas City's not really I-35, but…

Evan: Oh, it is.

Stin: OK, it is: cool. So, that switch of I-35 from North Texas to Kansas City: there's a little scene going on of cool, noisy bands right now.

Evan: Yeah, from Austin and Minneapolis. There's a bunch of good bands existing around one interstate. It's good. It's convenient.

*Chat Pile. Photo: Juliette Boulay*

Tell me about the tunes themselves — how they came to be, how you curated them to swim in the same bowl.

Stin: On the Chat Pile side of things, we wrote and recorded these songs after God's Country came out. So, the flavor of it is a little bit different than what is on the album. We're leaning more into the indie-rock side of our taste a little bit. We thought this EP would be a good place to put that type of stuff.

The other thing that was kind of crazy about it: like I was saying, it took us a long time to get our act together to put this out. Instrumentally, our songs were written for months and months.

It took forever to do vocals because our singer's partner has some health issues, so he wasn't even living in the state with us at the time. So, we had to wait a long time for him to contribute his part of the music.

Evan: For at least one of the songs on the split, we tried to include it on our 2022 album. We were completely fried from recording and decided, "Let's not push this; let's save the song for another day." And then, Chat Pile was like, "Go ahead, we're ready. We have songs written; we're good to go."

The other song, we wrote specifically knowing that it would end up on a split with them. I know we usually write as we write, and it's never that we write a song for a specific release that we're going to know all the context of beforehand.

We went and recorded both songs at the bass player of Shiner, Paul Malinowski's studio in the suburbs here. Zack Alvey engineered and mixed it. It was a very easy and pleasant recording experience, and the songs turned out good. I think both sides of the split ended up complementing each other really well. It all flows well together, I think.

Stin: I feel the same way. And what's funny, too, is I feel like it's you guys at your heaviest, and us at our most mellow.

Evan: There's a slow song and a fast song, and then two of you guys' weirdest songs.

Stin: We deliberately wanted to do the record with Reptilian and The Ghost is Clear. Reptilian is based out of Austin, and The Ghost is Clear is based out of Kansas City. We wanted to do the record through them to tie everything back to the locale — the regionality of the whole project.

Stin, how has it felt being memed into oblivion?

Stin: It's really flattering, honestly. Because when we started the band, we never in a million years imagined that people would care about the music we're making. That's been the story of our lives up until this point.

So, my thought is: if anybody's thinking about us, whether they hate our band or think we're funny enough to meme or anything, all that's cool with me, because I would rather have people pay attention to us. They say the opposite of love isn't hate.

It's complimentary, too. Some of the memes are really, really funny. Those are the ones that we tend to share. We've obviously struck a chord in some way with people, and it's resonating, and that feels good.

Jonathan Tuite [The Flenser founder/owner, who released God’s Country] seems to have this weird knack for grabbing people's imaginations.

Stin: His tastes are incredibly eclectic, and he has a way of finding bands that live in this Venn diagram. They all circulate into or converge into this depressive, sad sort of world.

But it's tongue-in-cheek at the same time.

Stin: Well, I think you can be depressed and sad and angry and still have a sense of humor. Some bands on the label are funnier than others, but I do think that despite the kind of depressive nature of everything, he does have a tendency to pick bands that have some self-awareness and can joke around about that kind of stuff.

As underground musicians, what role do the GRAMMYs play in your lives?

Stin: I would say none at all, other than I am very much aware that people were mad that Metallica lost to Jethro Tull for The Black Album.

I'm a Jethro Tull fanatic.

Stin: OK, this is going to derail the question a little bit. But I absolutely love The Black Album, and sometimes I forget how much that album is imprinted on my psyche.

I've been reminded of it lately, because I've been going down this YouTube rabbit hole. There are people whose entire thing is they cover Metallica songs, but they do it in the style [of another album]. So, they'll take a song from Ride the Lightning and play it as if it were on …And Justice for All. They copy the style, the production elements… all of it.

There's this guy — I can't remember his name — but he's genius-level at doing this. The best ones are all the songs that get transcribed and played as if they're on The Black Album. I'm like, "Damn, maybe The Black Album is actually my favorite Metallica album," weirdly enough.

Evan: I've been in a YouTube rabbit hole of people replacing every snare in every Metallica song with the St. Anger snare. I think that's my favorite one. They should win a GRAMMY for that — the people who put that s— together.

Mathew: It was cool that Body Count won one not that long ago. That seemed cool. It was the same year that Power Trip was up for it right after [vocalist] Riley [Gale] died, and a lot of people were up in arms that Power Trip didn't win, which they should have. But Body Count still f—s.

Evan: I have no idea what's going on at the GRAMMYs — who wins or who's nominated. I can say confidently that I've never thought about it at all.

You're thinking about it now, buddy.

Evan: Exactly. When Stin told us this interview was happening, he said, "Get your tuxedos ready, boys."

Stin: It's funny, too, because whenever any type of awards show happens, my Twitter feed becomes insufferable for a day or two. It's like, look: awards can be fun. I'm sure it's fun to go, also, and put on your outfit. Look, my dad knowing that I'm doing an interview right now with the GRAMMYs — he can die happy now. So, there are many advantages to it.

Evan: I'm glad that Brendan Fraser won something. I don't know if they're all related, or what.

Where are your bands at in your trajectories? What are you primed to do next?

Stin: Chat Pile is working on a second album right now. It's slowly coming together. But in the meantime, we're gearing up to be way more of a road band than we've ever been before.

In fact, a week from today, we leave to go play Roadburn in the Netherlands, then we're going to play Roskilde in Denmark. Then, we have a weeklong tour in the UK. And then, we're going to embark on two coastal tours, which have not been announced whatsoever.

We're basically gearing up to do lots and lots of touring, and then hopefully, we'll have a second record out. We'll say the goal is by next year, but time will tell what happens with that.

Mathew: We're going on tour next month for 25 days.

Evan: If you live on the West Coast, come see Nerver.

Real quick, before we go: is there anyone you're excited about in your scene or an adjacent one that you'd like to shout out?

Stin: Hell and Primitive Man, to me, are making some of the most exciting music out there right now. I love Jesus Piece. I think they're amazing. I could actually see them being GRAMMY winners in a couple of years.

Evan: OK, I've got a really good answer. This band Missouri Executive Order 44 that just started here. Their whole thing is they play the heaviest music you've ever heard while dressed like bicycle missionaries. All the songs are about being Mormon, and it's a lot of fun to watch. Max makes everybody pray. It's a lot of fun. You guys should definitely give that band a GRAMMY.

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