First off, welcome to a new bi-weekly editorial here at metalreviews. We will cover a variety of topics all within the metal umbrella and if you would like to see some editorials over topics of your choosing, post them in the forum. This week since it is the inaugural editorial, the topic is of course, The Glory of Metal.

I honestly feel proud and enlightened to be a metal-head. Nowhere else in music is there a fanbase that is actually a thriving community. No matter where you go you will always meet a fellow metal brother or sister, the fact that I am on this team as a reviewer is evidence that metal is a universal language. Even the artists themselves praise this art form more than any other genre of music just take a look at bands such as Wizard, Stormwarrior, Lost Horizon,and of course Manowar. Metal is a religion, metal is a chosen way of life, metal is the only way to live.

I admit, I was not always on the chosen path. When I was a kid I listened to the radio or even country. Before heavy metal, music was just background noise to my life, nothing more. All that changed one fateful day in the spring of my seventh grade year in junior high. When I heard true heavy metal for the first time I couldn’t believe my ears. That band that changed my life was none other than Iron Maiden with their Live After Death album. After the opening strains of Aces High gave way to the main riff I just stared in shock at my stereo. Never before had I heard music that touched me the way this had, not radio rock, not pop, not even Metallica, who I had dabbled in a few years earlier. I wish I could go back and relive that experience, that devirginization of my youth by the strength of metal. After experiencing Iron Maiden I went through many bands to try and recapture that feeling of euphoria I got from Maiden. I listened to bands like Overkill, Testament, Mercyful Fate, Death Angel, I liked them all but none of them invoked that same feeling of unbounding joy that Iron Maiden had. One day however at a music store I decided to pick out a couple of old used tapes. They were Never Neverland by Annihilator and Keeper of the Seven Keys part II by Helloween. I bet you can guess what had the most impact on me. When I first put in Keeper II a huge smile erupted on my face for I knew that within thirty seconds of Eagle Fly Free I had the same feeling of power and enlightenment that had accompanied the first listening of Iron Maiden. Never before had I heard the sheer speed and melody of Helloween, it was like they mixed the heaviness of Judas Priest, threw in the melody and technicality of Iron Maiden and kicked the speed up about ten notches. Absolutely beautiful. If I were to trace back the catalysts of my life that have made me who I am today those two moments, Iron Maiden and Helloween are the reasons why I am who I am today.

After that personal history lesson on my discovery of all things metal, I will try to explain why metal means so much to me. Heavy Metal, to me at least, is the perfect blend of everything that makes life worth living, freedom, strength, courage and honor, these are all worth fighting for. The attitude transcends mere music and becomes something more, it becomes a way of life. Clad in leather and steel with the uniform of long hair, you can spot someone with metal in their blood a mile away. When I discovered metal it was like a void in my life that I never knew existed had been filled and from then on no matter how down and low my life has become, I can always count on the strength of metal to lift me above all of my grief and pain. To be a part of such a powerful thing is inspiring, and I know that because of people like me and like you The Glory of Metal will be forever strong.