I was driving around the other day and was despairing because I hadn’t had anything new to listen to in awhile now so I just grabbed a random cd I had brought with me and slammed it home. Within about a minute and a half I had the stereo cranked and was singing along like a madman, my “new cd” woes forgotten completely. That album was Screaming for Vengeance. So what does make an album timeless? Sure there are many albums out there that can be argued till the end of time that anyone and everyone should love but to each and every person there is a different cd that is classic to them and not to someone else.

To even have a timeless classic that you love one must first be a real fan of music in general. You already know my opinion of “1 cd, 8 million mp3’s” people but also there is a big sect out there who just buy crap for the hell of it. This one guy I know claims to love Helloween, one of his favorite bands ever, and then when I was playing their best of Treasure Chest he didn’t even know what Eagle Fly Free was. It wasn’t just that he didn’t get it in a few seconds he honestly did not know what the song was or who played it, so yea that’s pretty damn bad. People who just buy cds to have them yet don’t bother learning songs or even being able to discern bands apart from each other don’t really love the music.

Just like most things in life, perhaps the biggest factor of whether or not an album becomes permanently etched into your mind as godlike is being at the right place at the right time, or in this case hearing the right cd at the right time. If you think about it the overwhelming majority of timeless cds (in your opinion) are the very first ones you were exposed to and the ones that got you through your youth. I’m sure out there right now there is a young kid you has never heard of The Number of the Beast, Too Fast For Love, British Steel, Images and Words, or Keeper of the Seven Keys parts I & II and he is listening to let’s say, Celesty and he is thinking that this is the greatest band in the world. Other than a band being your first you also have to take into account what’s going on in your life as you listen to your music. This is why the high school years are especially influential on what a person will love the rest of his or her life. Think about all the crap that that age brought with it and all the little nothings that you made a big deal out of and you’ll realize that the bands that were with you at that time are ones that are still with you now. Even though I know Adrenalize is just an ok album I still love it because of the time period when I blasted it. Everyone has these cds too, ones that they love simply because of what was happening in their life when they first got it.

While it is harder to come to love new albums as much as you love your worn to hell copy of Unleashed in the East it’s still possible. Two bands that move in this manner are Edguy and Sonata Arctica. Whenever I pop on Ecliptica or Vain Glory Opera I get that sensation in me that makes me so damn glad that I love metal. I will admit though that lately within the past couple of years I haven’t had this feeling hit me as hard as it used to or as often. I often wonder what will happen as I get older too, I don’t see too many forty year olds that know about the current happenings in the metal scene, hell there’s some people I meet that ask me if Iron Maiden is still around. When I meet such people, the situation happens exactly like this, “Iron Maiden still together? Man I haven’t heard their shit since Powerslave. I fucking love that album, Aces Hiiigh!” So even though he doesn’t know that Maiden has released oh eight new studio releases since Powerslave he still has his timeless album and I’m betting that he used to have a mullet as he air guitared in his friends beat up Chevy on the way to the arena to see Maiden live when he was fifteen.

It all comes down to the individual, there are thousands of metal fans out there and there’s probably just as many opinions on what albums are considered classics or not. What might be your album of the century could be another persons beer coaster and vice versa. They’ll always be there so if you, like me, find yourself in dire need of new music and you’re about to explode just reach out on your tower and grab one of your first metal albums and blast the hell out of it.