Geezer Butler’s Favorite Younger Metal Bands of the ’90s

Geezer Butler, a founding member and primary lyricist of Black Sabbath, revealed his admiration for Slipknot and other emerging metal bands in the ’90s.

As someone instrumental in the creation of heavy metal, Butler’s praise carries significant weight. In 1999, Black Sabbath headlined Ozzfest, a festival that showcased a blend of new and established heavy music acts, allowing Butler to witness the evolution and diversity within the genre.

“I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well,” Butler shared during an interview with Knotfest.

“It was amazing to see what new bands were coming out then. And each one had a different version of metal, if you want to call it metal. Different versions, instead of just going on and screaming into the microphone and everything sounding the same. Really good, different bands coming out. Slipknot being one of them, obviously. It was great.”

Before the Ozzfest ’99 appearance, Butler had released his solo debut album, Plastic Planet, which featured Burton C. Bell, the former frontman of Fear Factory, on vocals. The sound and intensity of the album were significantly influenced by Fear Factory’s style.

“I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or Ozzy,” he recalled. “Pedro [Howse], my nephew, had this band called Crazy Angel, who were like an ultra-thrash band. So when me and him got writing together it came out ultra-heavy, and I wasn’t restricted to what lyrics I was going to write about.”

Butler described the album’s lyrical themes as mostly science fiction, drawing a parallel to the modern-day prominence of artificial intelligence.