If you take a look at almost all of the bands in the metal scene today you will find that they share many of the same influences. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Exodus, Testament, Bathory, Venom, Running Wild, Celtic Frost, etc. While there’s probably not a band out there now that incorporates ALL of these older bands it’s a pretty much unanimous knowledge that bands from every genre out there has had the stamp of the above mentioned groups on them. Power Metal, obviously stems from the Helloween / Maiden and Running Wild leaning, Black Metal from Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory and so on. Even more recent bands such as Blind Guardian and At the Gates have had a large role in influencing the groups that we listen to today. At the Gates however has already influenced tons of bands nowadays and their reign has pretty much run its course leaving nothing but a million clone bands. But what about tomorrow? What about groups in say, ten to twenty years from now? Who will be their guiding forces and source of metal enlightenment? I’m gonna take my best shot and say who I feel will have a big impact on these bands of tomorrow. I’ll also concentrate on groups circa 1995 – current although some groups / artists will sneak in under the 1995 radar because they are that damn good.

First off, as I’m sure many of you know, I love Edguy. A lot. And I really honestly think that Tobias Sammet and Edguy will be huge in the years to come. Tobias writes some of the most inspiring and uplifting songs that I have ever heard, hell, his Avantasia project is a testament to the scope and genius of this man alone. The riffs, the melodies, the structure of the songs have taken the elements that made Helloween great and Tobi just went and took them to the next level. Since he is the sole composer, (with the exception of maybe three songs) it is a marvel that his ear and mind works the way it does. I don’t ever think that I will be let down by this man, and this band and in fifteen years people will be saying, “The reason that I started playing was because of Edguy. Their ____ album moved something inside me and I knew what I was going to do the rest of my life.”

This next man’s music has been going on for quite some time now but yet it hasn’t been until his later works that he has been celebrated as a musical genius. In fact his earlier albums just kind of sit there and are mainly for hardcore collectors and completists only. I of course, am talking about Chuck Schuldiner and Death. Since Death WAS Chuck and they had an ever changing lineup I’ll just concentrate on Chuck. It’s hard to believe that the group would evolve into the Technical Death / Thrash Metal monster from the humble beginnings of Zombie Ritual. There are even a few bands out there today that list Chuck and his works as a major influence in their career and that’s amazing considering the fact that Death hasn’t been around all that long. I can only see that list of artists and musicians calling Chuck their “Metal God” growing in the future.

For the Progressive genre, hmmm. This one’s pretty hard because it seems that the vast majority of Progressive Metal bands that have recently been out seem to be mainly in the business of making Images and Words Part II. Evergrey has potential, but it’s too soon for me to gauge them on their level of influentiality. Spiral Architect can be a major player too even though they only released one album, it still had enough technical wankery to please any hardcore fan. Too much wankery in my opinion.

I can’t really call to mine many black and death metal bands right now that might have a huge influence on the bands of tomorrow. Groups like Marduk and Emperor I can see giving people the blueprints to pure crushing brutality, and the symphonic parts of Dimmu Borgir and the intricacies of the current crop of folk and Viking metal bands giving up and comers a flair for the epic. Maybe Alex, Crims, or Valefor can give me a hand with this one here.

Some honorable mentions go to Vintersorg, Sonata Arctica, and Dark Tranquillity. While all great bands and they have the potential to be influential in their own right, all of them have taken another groups major elements and improved on them. I’m really looking forward to see my favorite bands grow and evolve and I’m also curious to find out if my predictions were true or not. Who do you think will be tomorrows leaders? I’m sure everyone has different opinions on to what they will be, only time will tell.