If the 90s was a decade of great change in metal, then the 2000s was the decade of the comeback. From Iron Maiden roaring back to power with Bruce Dickinson on Brave New World, to the likes of Slayer and Megadeth finding a triumphant second wind, heavy metal was rediscovering its roots after the wilderness years of grunge and nu metal, where even the standard-setting bands of the genre hit a rough patch.
“It was a weird time to be a metal band,” affirms Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill. “In the 80s, especially in America, you had all the Teslas and Skid Rows. All great bands, but it’d become fashionable and inevitably eventually it has to go out of fashion.”
