The Heavy Metal Box
Label: Rhino
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: BoxSet
WorkNameSort: Heavy Metal Box, The
The question with Rhino’s genre-specific box sets has never been “Is it worth doing?” or “How well did they do it?” It generally goes without saying that, whether it’s The Goth Box or Nuggets, the label’s curators are able to make the style’s case. Plus, Rhino is almost never the first label to attempt to summarize a musical movement in 280 minutes or less. But with their army of licensing pitbulls and genre-expert compilers, they’re usually the best. Thus, the question is often “What nits can I pick with this thing?” After all, a gargantuan and long-awaited set like The Heavy Metal Box (allegedly one of the hardest to license in Rhino’s history … thanks, Metallica) isn’t the sort of four-CD investment a music fan makes casually. If you know enough about metal to shell out 65 bucks for it, you’re exactly the kind of person that will immediately complain about the inclusion or exclusion of The Best/Worst Metal Song. Ever.
There’s plenty for purists to chew on here, and the inconsistency of decision-making behind The Heavy Metal Box is its most vexing trait. It’s easy to grunt that too many overplayed, unsurprising “standards” are present. Two genre titans – Judas Priest and Metallica – have their most worn-out numbers (“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” and “One”) in the set. But, the inclusion of those tracks is balanced by lesser-known fan favorites by the same bands (“The Ripper” and “Whiplash,” respectively). And while no amount of retro hand-wringing can validate the bridge this set constructs between hard rock and heavy metal via Poison and other late ‘80s lightweights, it’s highly commendable that instead of lamely using Def Leppard to represent the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the compilers jammed in a half-dozen tracks from the likes of Blitzkrieg, Saxon, Angel Witch and Diamond Head.
Still, it’s a bizarre disconnect having prime metal awesomeness like UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Raven and Metal Church given their due alongside such compilation-constants as “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Kiss Me Deadly.” Not that Scorpions or Lita Ford shouldn’t be part of The Heavy Metal Box, but when Slayer gets represented by “South of Heaven,” it’s clear the compilers weren’t just going for the hits. They ended up with too many anyway. Nonetheless, Rhino has – despite the corporate shakeups that have seen much of the crew that earned it its reputation heading for the door over the past few years – taken the most difficult genre to summarize and given it the sort of concise-but-expansive sonic definition of its prime years that one could hope for.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2007.