The blackened and blasphemous blood that pulses through my Grumpy Metal Veins.

Metal of all kinds has powered me since I was a Grumpy Metal Teenager in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and all we had was dial-up BBSes, trips to the local record store were one of the primary means of finding new music, alongside a bunch of monthly music mags.

This particular Grumpy Metal Guy was first intrigued by a compilation called Masters of Metal, which was advertised on TV. Seeing the cover of Iron Maiden’s Somewhere In Time in the local newspaper was the next enticement down the road to damnation, and was soon followed by heavier fare - Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Ministry, Candlemass.

A sampler CD from the Dynamo Open Air led me into the realms of black metal, initially focusing on Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth.

A move across the world then opened up the world of live music, and I attended many many gigs over the years in such hallowed halls as the London Astoria, the Camden Underworld, the Mean Fiddler, and the Brixton Academy. As if that wasn’t enough to seal my fate, trips to Wacken, Hellfest, and Brutal Assault changed my life forever.

Grumpy, not Angry

The last big link between metal and Grumpy Metal Guy comes from Angry Metal Guy. I don’t recall exactly how I stumbled across it, but of all the metal review websites on the web, this one resonates with me the most as a reader. The reviews are well written and thoughtful, and chime in pretty much exactly with my tastes. They have a number of articles tacking issues in the metal community more broadly, and these are worth everyone’s time to read. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and suggest that anyone with a passing interest in metal should spend some time trying to discover some new music there - I certainly have!