Rock and roll veteran Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck Bogert & Appice) is once again stirring the pot with a strong opinion on the history of heavy metal.
In a new interview with Poland’s MetalSide magazine, the iconic drummer doubled down on his long-held belief that Metallica were the band that truly birthed the heavy metal genre as we know it today.
“I consider heavy metal starting with Metallica,” Appice stated. “Before all that, it was hard rock. The crunchy guitars started with them. That’s when it became heavy metal for me.”
Appice, a giant in the drumming world since the late 1960s, argued that while bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin laid crucial groundwork, it was Metallica’s explosive thrash sound in the early 1980s — particularly their groundbreaking debut Kill ’Em All — that defined what heavy metal truly means.
He highlighted the raw power, speed, and aggression that Metallica brought, separating them from the hard rock that came before.
This take is sure to spark fiery debates in the metal community. While many credit Black Sabbath as the godfathers of heavy metal, Appice’s perspective celebrates Metallica’s role in pushing the genre into a faster, heavier, and more extreme direction that influenced generations. Whether you agree or not, it’s a reminder of how differently legends from different eras view the evolution of the music we love.
