I am of the belief that metal as a genre is totally tied to the genre's history. I dont know of any other genre other than classical where this rings so true. One can throw on any new band and in a few seconds hear a riff or direct inspiration from Slayer, Celtic Frost... etc, etc. Every band is directly bulding on the foundation of an earlier band, its fascinating. I think this interesting somwhat linear historical evolution of metal is the reason why metal fans can go into a store and find entire back catalogues of bands- and buy them. So, am I full of shit: expand, disagree, issue a fatwa on me, whatever.