This is a strange one. Slaves to Fashion is a Norwegian band that has release a couple of albums (including one under the name Pedestrians of Blue). For whatever reason the boys decided to record 10 songs that pay homage to the last 50 years of metal. So we get songs like "Thrash of the Titans" and "The Priest of Maidenhead". I'm not joking, and neither is the band.

Slaves to Fashion The History of Heavy Metal (self-released)

Full props for marrying the sounds of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, perhaps the most disparate of musical contemporaries. STF cycles through a lot of the sounds of the metal era, including a nod to the likes of Korn ("The NU Wine") and industrial goth. There's even a massive 13-minute epic that serves as something of an overture, even though it's planted in the middle of the album. While there are a couple of nods to death metal, black metal is not really referenced in its own song. Which is why this is a history of heavy metal, and all the pomposity that implies.

Let me be clear: This is an homage, not a parody. And since the band is devoted to including all sorts of branches, many of these songs aren't really intended to be stand-alone pieces. The sounds referenced come along in a vague chronological order, but this history is more about showing connections between sounds than memorizing dates. I'm fine with that approach.

I go back to what I said up top. This is weird. For folks who have been enmeshed in loud music for a few decades, there are quite a few "oh yeah, I forgot about that" moments. The guys are exceptional players (their other albums are more proggy, near as I can tell), which helps the verisimilitude with the more technical sounds. The nods to thrash and death metal are a little clinical to my ear. Whatever. The ambition is impressive, and the results are intriguing. This curiosity is worth a listen or two.

Jon Worley