Whoa, okay so, we caught wind of this blog thanks to a friend and are we ever thankful! This blog links to 12 compilations of all female fronted metal bands. We all have a soft spot for metal don’t we? Even if you don’t want to admit it, it’s just that speed guitar, double bass drum, and frolicking bass lines that just get you every time. Here’s what the god send of metal had to say:
“Welcome to the Female Fronted Heavy Metal Compilation, an attempt at exhaustively documenting female fronted metal bands who recorded at least one heavy metal track before 1990, with exceptions being noted below. Inspired by a similar project undertaken in the mid 00’s with punk and hardcore, I decided to put together the metal equivalent earlier in the year. As this compilation attempts to document True Metal, bands whose recorded output solely leans too far towards pop/hair metal, AOR, new wave, punk, or hard rock have been excluded. In an attempt to define the boundaries of the compilations scope, a few of the bands that have been excluded for being non-metal are:
glam/hair: Vixen (the Los Angeles band), Amazon, Bang & Out, Femme Fatale
hard rock: Corbeau, Bertha, Diamond Lil, the Runaways (and related solo projects – Joan Jett, Lita Ford)
new wave/AOR: Missdemeanor, Pat Benetar
punk/hardcore: Nausea, The Comes, Vermillion
However, included are bands who otherwise played non-metal such as Heart, Dead End 5 and Babel, but recorded at least one metal track during their career. Bands are not excluded due to questionable ideology, artistic integrity or financial motives, and this simply serves as a list of bands who played music that compositionally stands within the heavy metal genre, and does not attempt to place a value judgment on the bands themselves. For approximate borderline benchmarks of heaviness in regards to what should and should not be included, I used Deep Purple for 70s hard rock, Motley Crue for the sleaze/hair material, and the first Sacrilege LP for punk/hardcore. Obviously this is subjective and there is still some grey area, but I think this is quite representative of the genre in its formative years. Once this list becomes more finalized and solidified (possibly mid 2011?), I intend to publish an annotated discography zine accompanied by hard copies of the CD-rs. The digital files are below, so enjoy the music!
This is a work in progress and will be continually updated when new information comes to light. If you know of any bands that should be on here that are not, or can help out with a rip or a record sale, please email me at brewer dot nathan at gmail dot com.
You are looking at version 0.905. Version history is at the bottom of the page. I’m experimenting with hosting services – I’ve finally gotten Mediafire to work. I have 3 computers (I’m a nerd) and for some reason uploading worked on one of my living room PCs. Let me know if any of these links do not work for whatever reason.”
GO! NOW! And download everything. Then follow the links in the sidebar to a few other gems, including A Reference of Female Fronted Punk Rock.