10 forgotten bands that co-​founded metal

May Blitz, also from the UK, lasted even shorter than Writing On The Wall. Their career spanned from 1969 to 1971, but produced two albums that paved the way for many upcoming metal bands. Their 1970 debut was incredibly heavy for its time and already had surprisingly progressive undertones.

Much clearer harbingers of progressive metal were the extremely unknown Room, also from Teatime Island. The intriguingly orchestrated album Pre-​Flight from 1970 is generally traded at four-​figure prices on Discogs. Fortunately, less audiophiles can also enjoy it conveniently on Spotify.

Warhorse had all the ingredients to become really big. Deep Purple co-​founder Nick Simper started the band in 1970 after being kicked out of Purple and also brought Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman on board. Their sound was not dissimilar to that of Deep Purple, but probably also ensured that they did not manage to step out of their shadow.

It wasn’t just in the UK that proto-​metal spread; the first bands with a heavy, doomy sound also emerged in the USA. The aptly named Bolder Damn from Florida recorded a proto-​doom/​stoner album in just four hours in 1970, which could have inspired even Black Sabbath in terms of heaviness. Unfortunately, the band’s enlistment in the Vietnam War got in the way, after which they sadly disbanded. At least they left us some great songs like the almost 16-​minute-​long “Dead Meat”.

Highway Robbery, also from the USA, were not so keen on a slow-​burning sound and long songs, but instead focused more on fast, thunderous hard rock. Unfortunately, the band came to an end just as quickly, as they recorded their only album “For Love Or Money” after forming in 1972 and split up again in the same year.

Poobah also formed in the USA in 1972, but the band still exists today. Their debut album “Let Me In”, which was only released in an edition of 500 copies at the time, sold out after just one day, but unfortunately the band were unable to achieve any real success for a long time. It wasn’t until 2010, when they re-​released a newly mixed version of the album, that they rightly received a little more attention.

Founded in Luxembourg in 1968, Cool Feet are now quite well known in their home country for blues/​pop rock sung in Luxembourgish. In the 70s, they really let their hair down on their only album in English, “Burning Desire” from 1976, and brought early heavy metal to mainland Europe.

Sorcery are my absolute highlight of this list alongside Bolder Damn. Founded in 1975, the band caused a stir in California with their theatrical shows, which included two magicians. In 1978, already in the middle of the first metal boom, the band was hired for the soundtrack and roles in the Australian mockumentary “Stunt Rock”, which sadly only helped them achieve cult status among a small circle of fans. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I did learn to love the band’s debut album that came out of it.

Closing the show are The Hand of Doom, who formed in Bad Hersfeld in 1973 but didn’t release their only album “Poisonoise” until 1979. The band thrived on the bizarre personality of their singer Andeas “Iggi” Rossner, which made their sound stand out from the crowd. The band must have been an experience live, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any recordings from back then.