#Mainstage 3 playback full#

These days Devin Townsend is officially The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz, releasing an average of 3072 albums per year. And so it proved вЂ“ they bowed out with an explosive show in Seattle and the posthumous Anthology Of Dead Ends EP, leaving a slim but perfect legacy. 1999вЂ™s We Are The Romans album was a stone-cold masterpiece вЂ“ so good, in fact, that some of the band felt theyвЂ™d never be able to follow it up. When Tacoma, Washington hardcore heavyweights Botch called it a day in 2002, most people wouldnвЂ™t have been able to identify them in a police line-up.

#Mainstage 3 playback full#

The full story has never been revealed, and no one has truly replaced them вЂ“ not even ButlerвЂ™s subsequent band, Fever333. And then, unexpectedly, a post appeared on their website in 2017 announcing that they were splitting. The LA band released four albums that smashed together punk with hip hop, soul and funk in an utterly unique fashion, while their spellbinding live shows were wilder than anyone elseвЂ™s, thanks in large to live wire frontman Jason Aalon Butler. Letlive were a blast of fresh air amid the early 2010s post-hardcore scene. Lo and behold, the record was released in September 1987, a month after Big Black played their last show. Except Albini was having none of it вЂ“ his innate allergy to success combined with escalating internal tensions prompted him to split the band, announcing that the record they were about to start recording, the bluntly-titled Songs About Fucking, would be their last. Formed by future Pixies/Nirvana producer Steve Albini, a man with a zero-tolerance approach to bullshit, their 1986 debut album Atomizer was a slab of abrasive industrial-rock that saw them crowned darlings of the US underground. Most bands donвЂ™t announce theyвЂ™re splitting before they make a new album, but then most bands arenвЂ™t influential Chicago noise terrorists Big Black. Bonus points: MacKaye subsequently went on to form Fugazi. And so he did what any principled punk rock figurehead would do and split the band up shortly after their one and only album, 1983вЂ™s Out Of Step, never to reunite. Being held up as the mouthpiece for a generation didnвЂ™t sit comfortably with frontman Ian McKaye, nor did the punk sceneвЂ™s increasing violence. Best of all? They didnвЂ™t stick around to ruin it. Not only did they lay the groundwork for modern hardcore they were also responsible for the Straight Edge movement. His death in 2001 means that a proper Death reunion will never happen.Д®arly 80s Washington DC hardcore legends Minor ThreatвЂ™s lifespan (three years) is in inverse proportion to their influence (immeasurable). 1995вЂ™s Symbolic and 1998вЂ™s The Sound Of Perseverance were technical death metal landmarks, though the latter proved to their swan song, with Chuck splitting the band to focus on his more melodic other outfit, Control Denied. Their debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, was a cornerstone of the entire death metal genre, but their singer and guitarist rapidly became bored of the sceneвЂ™s limitations, and his music became gradually more intricate (helped by an ever-shifting line-up). Their farewell tour was both an emotional farewell and an incredible celebration of one of metalвЂ™s greatest bands.Д¬huck Schuldiner changed the course of metal more than once with his band Death.

After weathering the death of original guitarist Jeff Hanneman in 2013, they carried on with replacement Gary Holt until 2019, even serving up a late-career classic with 2015вЂ™s Repentless. OK, you could argue that SlayerвЂ™s true highpoint was in the late 80s, but bowing out then would have deprived us of another three decades of brilliance. The occasional rumour that theyвЂ™ll reunite springs up from time to time, but thankfully theyвЂ™ve resisted it.

Sure, the three remaining original members may have had a cumulative age of more than 200, but they could still kick out those immortal songs as perfectly as they ever did. Sabbath finally said goodbye for absolutely the last time on February 4, 2017, with a hometown show in Birmingham, leaving a massive void. A forty-year-plus career and weвЂ™re saying that Black Sabbath went away too soon? Given that they are the originators of heavy metal and still the source of everything that we hold dear, weвЂ™re saying it anyway.