The Class of 1997 — Metal Albums That Defined a Surreal Year
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"How many people do you think go into a bar and say: 'I'd like an Everclear on the rocks, please…'?"
"Metallica's the ONLY band that changed in the 90's… whatever…"
"Under a different name, they're good rock and roll records."
"Nothing's gonna impress me anymore after Psycroptic…"
"That sounds like… Slayer."
"Should we call it Class of '97?"
About This Episode
Looking back, 1997 seems utterly surreal. South Park debuted on Comedy Central. Radiohead released OK Computer. The final season of Seinfeld began. And Metallica delivered their conclusion to The Loads with Reload.
Perhaps the most surreal — and tragically unfair — part of 1997: a bunch of children in a band called Hanson went viral with MMMBop, while a criminally underrated and FAR SUPERIOR band with an extremely similar sounding name — Handsome, consisting of former members of Helmet and Quicksand — released their one and only album that same year. Sometimes life is just too weird and utterly unfair.
But 1997 also gave us Sevendust's breakthrough debut, Pantera's Official Live: 101 Proof, Megadeth's Cryptic Writings, and a whole universe of 90s metal worth digging into. Metal Nerdery goes back in time almost 30 years with THE CLASS OF 1997. 🤘
The year in context: 1997 was the year the Sevendust self-titled debut dropped — and some of us were big followers of that local Atlanta heavy metal band way back when. #RussellsSevendustReflections. Also: Hanson had a better year than Handsome. The universe is unjust.
The Class of 1997 — What We Played
The hometown heroes — some of us were big followers of this local Atlanta heavy metal band way back when. "Black" became the opening song for nearly every Sevendust concert until 2004. #RussellsSevendustReflections
"That's a good opener… like a show opener…"#CanadianMetal. "Get ready…" "It's like a super charged Filter." "If I was still working out, that would be in the playlist for sure."
The first Priest album with Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals — and the first Priest album since 1990's Painkiller. #IcedEarth connection. "How many people do you think go into a bar and say 'I'd like an Everclear on the rocks, please…'" NOTE: Everclear is the active ingredient in Hunch Punch. "Chuggin' the D…"
"That does not sound like Judas Priest…" / "That's a very different vibe… that's a different band!""In 1997, were you looking for Overkill albums?" The Hodges stayed metal the whole time. "I wasn't going to metal shows… unless it was Metallica." There were a lot of used CD stores back then in the mid to late 90s. #WFO #TheKillingKind #NostalgicReflections
"I love panning…""Alright, Matt… look at the inventory of cokelines…" "Is it more of the Forbidden Evil?" "Imagine Forbidden doing groove stuff but it still sounds like Forbidden." "Over the Middle" was in the Can't Be Loud Enough playlist.
"This sounds nothing like Forbidden Evil…" / "That sounds like… Slayer.""Did y'all ever hear that one?" "That's where the power comes from, dude." "This is where Chuck Billy changed his voice… that's death metal." "Looks like I need a bigger rug."
"That's definitely different Testament…"#markthetime. "Like Slayer, you always know what you're gonna get with Kreator." #industrialsound "That's different than normal Kreator." "It's almost like industrial punk… it's almost like a Kreator side project…"
"We've got to pay tribute to The Loads…" "I think that's probably the best song on the album… but it takes forever to get there" (Fixxxer). "It might be worse than Sandman…" (Fuel). "That's a meaty bass sound." "It's like a weird, Metallica, stoner metal…" Go check out our Building the Perfect Load episode. "Watch him pull up Queensryche… big fan from way back… more than KISS…"
"Under a different name, they're good rock and roll records…""It's like Peter Steele with a higher voice." "He sounds like Peter Steele PLUS the singer from Life of Agony." #Caputo "They came back, dude…" "It's like Optimus Prime can be a robot, and then he can be a truck, and then he can be a robot again…"
"This sounds like a lovely title… I guarantee you it sounds like WASP." #powerballads "Let us know if we should do a whole episode of power ballads…" "We might need some extra special relaxers for that episode… no microdosing… we gotta go full tilt… bring sleeping bags." #TheChronicles. "Oh listen, it's industrial… when LA Metal goes industrial, that's kind of a weird sign…"
"That was not at all what I was expecting…""Look at that album cover… that just screams 1976… he looks like the homeless hatchet guy… there's a documentary about this dude." "Turn up the fuzzmeter." "Kinda sounds like 'I Disappear' a little bit…"
"It's good rock and roll with a lot of fuzz on it…"#instrumental "I'm going in with an open mind… and a pink shirt." "Where are we on the whole 'how do snakes fuck?'…" "It IS whittled…" #debutalbum
"This sounds like some good pre-show music… very good background music…"#recordscratch #mouthsounds "That sounded almost like a record scratch… I can't do it again… make it a button." "All the cokelines…" "That's gated… there's your '97 vibe." "He's gonna yell in a minute… he yelled… I heard him…" "Sexecution… that's got to be good…"
"We've got to cleanse…" "I'm hoping, for the sake of all that is evil… that Venom will sound like Venom…" "Metallica's the ONLY band that changed in the 90's… whatever…"
"That's what heavy metal sounds like.""You know, THAT guy from THAT band…" "Who sings on this, him?" NOTE: This was NOT Burton C. Bell on vocals — it was Clark Brown on vocals.
"Strangely industrial? Or weirdly industrial?""How about a little Grip Inc.? That was Dave Lombardo's band after Slayer…"
"That has the Slayer sound to it… if you're playing with Dave, I'm sure it's going to sound like Slayer at some point…""Let's cup so they get the full effect…" "I think that's what they call melodeath metal…" "It suits this kind of day… the gray and cloudy…" "Nothing's gonna impress me anymore after Psycroptic…" "It's the first thing we've heard in forever that's really a mindblower… you keep getting away from the novelty effect… and then you hear that (Psycroptic)…"
"Billiam never picks trash…" "We should do the most underrated bands and talk about nothing but Poison and Nickelback the whole time…" "You don't shit on Nickelback and you don't shit on Creed…" NOTE: This was NOT Bruce Dickinson's first solo album — it was his fourth.
"My only thing about that… remember when Dave remixed the entire Megadeth catalog in 2004 with the drums?" "I think he got mostly cleaned up in the early 90's…" "Would you call that rock or metal?" "If you could take 5% of that bass mix and drop it in AJFA…" NOTE: 2002 was (allegedly) when Mr. Mustaine fully gained sobriety.
"I think Billiam finally found what he was looking for…" "It's weird that harmonics could be so heavy…"
"It's like harmonics with a cape…""Awwwwwww mannnnnnn…" "Wait for it…" "They recorded the 2 new studio tracks in 12 days…" The perfect closer for the Class of 1997.
"Should we call it Class of '97?"Episode Timestamps
- Episode: Metal Nerdery #362 — The Class of 1997
- Bands sampled: 21 — Sevendust, Strapping Young Lad, Judas Priest, Overkill, Forbidden, Testament, Kreator, Metallica, Misfits, W.A.S.P., Fu Manchu, Karma to Burn, Annihilator, Venom, GZR, Grip Inc., In Flames, Bruce Dickinson, Megadeth, Machine Head, Pantera
- 1997 context: South Park debuts · OK Computer released · Seinfeld final season begins · Hanson's MMMBop goes viral · Handsome goes criminally unnoticed
- Most surreal fact: Judas Priest's Jugulator — first Priest album since Painkiller (1990), first with Tim "Ripper" Owens
- The Loads verdict: "Under a different name, they're good rock and roll records."
- GZR vocalist note: NOT Burton C. Bell — it was Clark Brown on vocals
- Bruce Dickinson note: Accident of Birth was his FOURTH solo album, not his first
- Closer: Pantera — "Where You Come From" (Official Live: 101 Proof) / "Awwwwwww mannnnnnn…"
- The Psycroptic effect: "Nothing's gonna impress me anymore after Psycroptic…"
- Power ballads episode: Coming soon — bring sleeping bags, no microdosing