Never forget the favourites

I've had a bit of a reawakening recently. I went to Poland for a few days with my girlfriend, and while I was there I went in search of Polish metal, as I've got a bit of a thing for finding the most obscure releases from the strangest countries you see. My collection is full of Ukrainian pagan metal, Israeli black metal, Taiwanese symphonic black metal and even Kazakhstani power metal (rock on Holy Dragons!). But for some reason I decided to make a conscious decision to listen to nothin but work by the classic bands of metal while I was there. My foundations must've been feeling a bit weak or something. Anyway, that was me, the plane journeys out and back, train and bus journeys were full of Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Sabbath, Pantera, Venom and Morbid Angel. I discovered that I can't now stop listening to that, even since I've got back. I've had Powerslave, in my opinion Iron Maiden's best album, on repeat for a few days. Its so damn good, its got all of what makes Iron Maiden the greatest metal band in existence (Sabbath technically don't exist properly anymore). The galloping riffs, a massive prog workout (Rime of the Ancient Mariner), my all time fav Maiden track (2 Minutes to Midnight), and of course, the combination of Bruce Dickinson's classic voice and Steve Harris' excellent song-writing. Something of an irony I found when I got home and sat and read the inner cover book of the album is that the World Slavery Tour kicked off IN Poland, the first time a band had ever taken an arena-sized tour to the Eastern bloc. Must've been a sign. Anyway, my point this post is that go out, search for the obscure stuff, keep metal bands going all around the world if you can, and explore as much as you can because you never know when you can dig up a gem hidden in the underground. But also, never forget the classic bands and recordings. Powerslave, Reign in Blood, Black Sabbath, Altars of Madness, Black Metal, Rust In Peace, Master of Puppets; they all influenced everyone you'll ever listen to. They also all deserve to be kept in the loop, listened to and appreciated frequently to make sure that they're never forgotten, and so you always can know how we got to where we are.