I've never actually heard the term 'proto-metal' before. But, I like some Blue Oyster Cult, and grew up listening, and loving, Deep Purple(father would listen to them ad nausea. One of the few bands I - did not- grow tired of). Edit: somehow "not grow tired of" turned into it's antithesis "grew out of".

The thing I liked most about Deep Purple where the really extended jams, and absolute 100% dedication to sheer egotistical tech-wank within them. If I were to explore this genre, what bands would you say best tipify those aspects?

Good to see this threads alive and well. I had forgotten about it haha. Anyway, there's some really awesome stuff I didn't mention in my original post I did know about that some of you have covered and some stuff I didn't know about. I might try and add more to this thread a little later. Good to see that people appreciate this type of stuff though.

Sorry for the double post, but I felt like giving another band or two here that I thought was a must.

What?

Black Sabbath was the most proto-metal band of the early '70's.

Toad
Night Sun
May Blitz
Thundermug
Warhorse
Captain Beyond
Armageddon
Sudden Death
Writing On The Wall
Horse
Josefus
T.2.
Dragonfly
Dark
Help
Euclid
Poobah
Yesterdays Children
Haystacks Balboa
Stray
Ancient Grease

There are alot of proto-metal bands out there. I could go on.

I've just started getting into old 70s proto-metal/metal and I'm really digging it right now. Been listening to Sabbath and Deep Purple almost constantly. Also Rainbow, Blue Cheer, Sir Lor Baltimore, Blue Oyster Cult, and I'm listening to Lucifer's Friend right now. ****in' awesome! Long live the riff.

I've been listening to this album so much. Pretty damn heavy with Iron Maiden style speed metal riffs as well as heavy doom crushers. On the whole not as heavy as Master of Reality, but just listen to "Primitive Man". So damn badass. Also they jam hella gnar.



if Filosofem were recorded in the late 60s/early 70s, it'd be this. Plus long form guitar suites so fuzzy they often slip into bouts of Sonic Youthy indiscernible noise. Simplistic drum patterns and basslines pound away while these supremely distorted guitars buzzsaw all kinds of sickness.



Surprisingly dark and twisted stuff here that can dirge on into heavy macabre



Another slab of fuzzcore like The Wicked Lady, but this is better. Wouldn't hesitate to call it one of the best of it's kind. It's got the heavy noise rock riffs and all the psychedelic meandering you need. Very much ahead of it's time.



Shredding display of prog/psych guitar madness. I can't find a link for this though and I'd really like one.



Almost a funky edition of the fuzz rock, also quite experimental and Throbbing Gristly

I'm glad you dug this thread up, Mondo. Lots of great stuff here, especially Armageddon and Jerusalem. I haven't heard Dark or Germany Oak, so I'll be definitely checking those out next. I'll throw down some of the stuff I've checked out of late:

Gun st/ (1968)
It's a bit of a mess since there are these somewhat out of place splashes of horns. They do go a bit soft more often than you should hear on one of these proto-metal albums, but the riffs are on point and they can get into an almost Iron Maiden-like gallop when they get going. Also, the cover is metal as **** too.


Iron Claw (1970-1975)
They are mentioned by OP, but it's still worth posting a link. These guys are maybe the first band that crawled out of the primordial soup of Black Sabbath worship. This is a compilation of everything they did and it does get a bit proggy later in their careers, but they made some excellent proto-doom for 1970 on tracks like Winter and Skullcrusher.


Bedemon (1973-1986)
Bedemon was an offshoot of Pentagram. They recorded a few songs here and there, but nothing was released until the mid 2000's, much like Iron Claw. The audio quality is rough, even by early 70's proto-metal standards. The first few tracks are from 1973 and 1975, so very much in the proto-metal timeframe. It's just the later tracks on this compilation that are from the very late 70's and mid 80's.

These guys were part of the Detroit proto-punk scene in the late 60's/early 70's with the Stooges and MC5.

The Up

Bumping this thread as part of this game: http://www.musicbanter.com/games-lis...litz-game.html

In fact I see that there are already a lot of lists of proto-metal bands, but perhaps there is room to add in a few more, or mention any of our own particular favourites. :)

The Stooges, MC5...


How about Thin White Rope? Do they count?