Heavy Metal: A Year in Brief – 2005
There are many big and important years in the history of heavy metal and 2005 was definitely up there in terms of quality and quantity of album releases. A few new bands and a few reformations were also announced in 2005 and all in all it was a very consistent year in heavy metal with abundant new material to keep the fan base content.
There were a few new bands officially announced as formed in 2005. The biggest name among these is probably Five Finger Death Punch who have grown in popularity as the years have passed. Also forming in 2005 were Beyond Fear which were a side project started by Tim Owens, once of Judas Priest. American metal band In This Moment also formed in 2005 as did progressive band, Stream of Passion although none of these had quite the lasting impact that Five Finger Death Punch did.
2005 was also the year we saw quite a few bands, and some huge ones, announce they were back together and, for some, back together again.
Terrorizer and Devourment both reformed but were overshadowed by the reformation of Alice in Chains and Anthrax but even these were overshadowed by the reformation of black metal icons, Emperor.
2005 was also, thankfully quite quiet in terms of bands calling it a day with only 3 members of the family being lost. Exhumed went on what turned out to be a 5 year hiatus and both Sentenced and Symphony in Peril called time on their careers.
In terms of album releases in 2005 though there were absolutely loads of them. I won’t run through all of them but some of the biggest ones included Avenged Sevenfold’s City of Evil, Dark Tranquility’s Character and Mudvayne’s Lost and Found. It was also the year that saw System of a Down’s double release of Mesmerize and Hypnotize and was the year Korn released See You on the Other side. Trivium released Ascendancy and became household names off the back of it and Limp Bizkit released The Unquestionable Truth Part 1. Rammstein released Rosenrot, Static X released Start a War, Kreator released Enemy of God and Scar Symmetry released Symmetric in Design.
As well as all of the above, 2005 also saw the release of Road Runner United’s All Star Sessions in celebration of its 25th anniversary and Soulfly released Dark Aged. Nine Inch Nails released With Teeth, Judas Priest released Angel of Retribution, Chimaira released their self-titled debut and Fear Factory released Transgression.
Plenty of quality so far and there is even more to come. Devildriver released The Fury of our Maker’s Hand, Gojira released From Mars to Sirius, Dimmu Borgir released Stormblast MMV and Children of Bodom released Are You Dead Yet? Not bad right?
So with such a decent album release schedule, the tracks the metal community got to hear for the first time were also subsequently epic. It was the first time we ever got to hear songs like Seize the Day by Avenged Sevenfold, Living Dead Beat by Children of Bodom, Pale Horse Apocalypse by Devildriver and Stormblown by Dimmu Borgir. It was also the first time we heard System play Violent Pornography and Soldier’s Side, the first time we heard the excellently named Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr by Trivium and the first time we heard Revolution by Judas Priest.
Outside of music releases and band formations there were a few sad deaths with David Wayne of Metal Church, Denis D’Amour of Voivoid and at just 27 years old, Bryan Ottoson of American Head Charge all passing away.
2005 was also the year Brian Welch left Korn, Peter Wichers left Soilwork and Tripp Eisen was fired from Static X. It was also the year that the brilliant Tarja Turunen was fired by her band Nightwish at the end of a live show/DVD recording
So that is 2005 in short reflection. A strong year in terms of album releases and some big names reappearing on the scene which just goes to show once again, the amazing consistent quality of music we metal heads are blessed with year after year.
