Written By Kevin McSweeney
Welcome to Metal Lair’s Seven Deadly Songs weekly feature where we curate music from the past and the present for your listening pleasure.
January is a bleak time for many of us; a seemingly interminable month of cold weather and little light, in the northern hemisphere at least. The joys of Christmas seem so far behind us, but its debts are ever-present and inescapable, and with no prospect of a break for ages, It’s easy to let it get you down. We could certainly do with a bit of cheering up here at Metal Lair, so this week, we’re looking at seven of the most uplifting songs in metal, to make us feel better about ourselves at this time when cheer is in short supply.
Type O Negative – Green Man
Because the Drab Four are the obvious choice when you need cheering up, right? The jovial giant that was Peter Steele was renowned for his sunny disposition and optimistic outlook, was he not? Their presence on this list might seem incongruous to say the least, but this track from October Rust is a joyful little tune, full of major chords and celebratory lyrics, from a band that didn’t exactly produce such material in abundance. It’s a celebration of the cyclical character of nature, which reminds us that warmer weather and longer days will eventually arrive, even if the first line of the song is quite literally: “Spring won’t come.” Well, there had to be a little bit of doom and gloom, didn’t there?
Devin Townsend – Gratitude
The most recent offering on this list is from the October 2024 album PowerNerd by Canadian musical maverick, Devin Townsend. With its dulcet melodies and four-chord progression in the chorus, it might have been a huge pop hit in someone else’s hands, but Devin is too good for any of that nonsense, and too concerned with loftier pursuits to be concerned with anything quite so banal. He insists that the song was not intended ironically, despite suggestions to the contrary, stating that: “So much of life is the juxtaposition between the ups and downs of it,” reminding us to see the value in negative experiences as well as positive ones. As the man himself put it: “Amidst all the drama, and the ups and downs, and the sadness, or the loss, or the pain, or the… whatever… the joy, there’s this real sense in my heart that it’s all comprising the lessons that make up the experience of being human, and I’m profoundly grateful for it.” We are grateful for him and his gloriously uplifting music.
Killswitch Engage – Fixation on the Darkness
There’s no shortage of darkness on which to fixate in January in Europe and North America, so this song has a particular resonance in these early days of the year. Frontman Jesse Leach’s experiences with depression are well documented, and these struggles no doubt inspire the ferocity of his guttural vocals, and raw emotion of his singing on this track from 2002’s Alive or Just Breathing. It would have been easy therefore for the song to be as bleak as the midwinter, but the heartwarming melodic chorus is as comforting as a coal fire on a cold day. And the rousing call for change and refusal to be held down that brings the song to a close is a stirring call to action born of a steadfast refusal to accept a dire situation. Inspirational stuff indeed!
Pantera – A New Level
New life in place of old life
Unscarred by trials
A new level
Of confidence
And power
Pantera have used this belter from Vulgar Display of Power as their set opener for so many years for a reason. It’s an impassioned call for fans to lift up their heads, stick out their chests and get down to business in the pit. Some might dismiss it as chest-beating machismo from a youthful Phil Anselmo, but anything that inspires young people to believe in themselves should not be dismissed so readily. It might have been undermined somewhat by the repeated refrain of “life kills” at the end of the track, and it bears a tinge of sadness, given the tragic subsequent events of the band’s career, particularly Anselmo’s heroin addiction and the untimely deaths of the Abbott brothers. It’s certainly in stark contrast to Suicide Notes 1 and 2 on The Great Southern Trendkill, but none of this detracts from the quality of the track or the importance of its message.
Lamb of God – Walk with Me in Hell
We seek only reprieve
And welcome the darkness
The myth of a meaning so lost and forgotten
Take hold of my hand
For you are no longer alone
Walk with me in Hell
We go now from one group of groove metal grandees to another. The opening track of the 2006 album Sacramentdoesn’t have the kind of title that suggests an uplifting listening experience, and guitarist Mark Morton’s inspiration for writing the song was as tragic as it gets, but it serves as a reminder that even the most dire situations may be endured if you have the support of dependable people. It also reminds us that the good times in life would not be the good times if they were not in contrast to the bad times, and we must “welcome the darkness” in order to appreciate the light.
Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
There’s been many a pearl of wisdom bestowed upon fans by Iron Maiden over the course of the last five decades, as well as many a history lesson and overview of classic novels. But we found the iconic British band in fine philosophical form on this standout track from the 1986 album Somewhere in Time. Inspired by the travails of endless touring, and a poignant yearning for home, it also serves as a reminder not to dwell on regrets about the past to the point where we forget to make the most of the here-and-now. It’s sage advice from the most seasoned of troopers (sorry!) and who could fail to have their spirits roused by such a spine-tingling vocal performance from Bruce Dickinson?
Fear Factory – Resurrection
Reach for the sky
Touch the sky
Revive a hope
For mankind
This is pulse-quickening stuff from the industrial metal titans. Obsolete is a dark album overall. It’s a terrifying vision of an unspecified time in the future when mankind is rendered redundant and ultimately replaced by machines, after all, so the fact that this track forms the album’s thrilling denouement with its rousing message and epic chorus is perhaps surprising. It’s the last track on the album to feature the full band, and might have been a triumphant final statement, were it not followed only by the pared-down, vocal-and-piano despondency of Timelessness, on which Burton C Bell laments his “dark night of the soul”: very much a case of giving with one hand that bleeds and taking with the other from the LA legends, but the song itself is as anthemic and uplifting as anything else on this list.