The ’90s and early 2000s were an interesting time for metal, to say the least; you had the nu-metal boom taking place – with new bands like Linkin Park hitting the mainstream in 2000 – and many of the classic heavy metal and thrash bands were still putting out records at that time.
At the top of the metal empire though was that of Pantera, who had a dominant hold on the scene throughout the ’90s and very early 2000s. However, come 2003, the band would end up calling it quits (reforming some 20 years later).
Some folks consider Pantera to have been the band that kept metal “alive” – such sentiments sometimes come from metalheads who weren’t too fond of the nu-metal genre.
Per ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, during a recent conversation with Metal Command, he believes that there is one band that filled in Pantera’s shoes and kept metal alive after they retired. In fact, he feels that when Pantera retired, this band came in and “took the throne.”
So which band is this? Well, per Ellefson (as transcribed by Loudwire):
“Lamb of God, for sure, was one of the big leaders. And look, part of it was because we no more had a Pantera, and Lamb of God kind of came in and took the throne.”
Without a doubt, Lamb of God is easily one of the most iconic acts to come from early 2000s metal. Thanks to their studio album New American Gospel (released in 2000) and 2003’s As the Palaces Burn, Lamb of God became one of the biggest bands in mainstream metal and would go on to become one of the genre’s most popular headliners.
What do you make of David Ellefson’s belief that Lamb of God is the band that helped to keep metal alive? Do you agree, or do you think there are other bands that deserve that credit? What other bands from that era of metal do you think also deserve a shout-out?
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