In a newly published interview with Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe and Mastodon drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, the pair were asked about their thoughts on the future of metal. With the first generation of the genre’s pioneers residing in their 70s, and the likes of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and more now serving as elder statesmen, there’s been concern that the genre may flounder a bit in the years ahead due to the lack of bonafide arena-filling artists ready to ascend the throne.
While metal has largely only flirted with commercial viability throughout the decades, the exposure that breakout bands from the 80s and 90s brought to heavier music helped lay the foundation not only for larger audiences, but also retaining the interest of promoters who can afford to bankroll larger scale tours. Lamb Of God and Mastodon‘s recent co-headlining run for the respective 20th anniversaries of “Ashes Of The Wake” and “Leviathan” was one such trek to benefit from that level of interest, having been presented by Live Nation.
Late last year, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson lamented the current lack of up and coming arena headliners in the metal scene. Given the relative collapse of the music industry model that sent many of today’s full-fledged headliners into the stratosphere, it seems unlikely that metal will ever sustain its past heights in the realm of pop culture.
While some artists have broken through, the late 90s and early 00s mainstream success of nü-metal may have have been the last hurrah for metal as a global dominant force atop the charts.
Regardless or not if the metal scene is forced to contract in the next decade or so, Blythe and Dailor feel the scene remains healthy. When asked by Rolling Stone what gives them hope for the future of metal, the pair responded as follows.
Blythe: “It’s Fine. Kublai Khan TX just came back from a sold-out tour of Australia. I mean, it’s fine.”
Dailor: “I’m not worried about metal one bit. It’s probably one of the healthiest genres of music that exists with some of the most talented human beings on the planet that are playing it.
Like, it can be anything. The fact that you got bands like Knocked Loose that are selling out huge places with that style of music is pretty awesome. And the fact that you have bands like us that now are elder statesmen, I guess, playing places like Red Rocks just gives you all the proof you need that heavy metal is alive and well. And there’s a lot of fans to support it and the younger generation that’s mixing up all the genres and having it evolve even further. It’s alive and well and doing just fine.”
Both Blythe and Dailor can be heard on the newly released collaborative track between Lamb Of God and Mastodon, “Floods Of Triton“. That song officially debuted online last night and the pair have spoken at length about how it came to be in this new chat with Rolling Stone.
