Steven Wilson Answers if He ‘Respects’ Slayer, Shares Opinion on Metallica’s Attempts to ‘Reinvent Themselves’

“Who said you have to progress?”

Steven Wilson said that Slayer deserves his “eternal respect” even though the thrash icons’ approach to creativity are diametrically opposed to his own, and commented on Metallica’s failed attempts to grow out of their classic sound.

Whether its his solo works or Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson’s managed to develop one of those sonic imprints that seem impossible to pigeonhole within a specific style or genre, and yet still decidedly sound like Steven Wilson — and speaking to Rob Moore in a recent interview, the prog icon says this has exactly been one of his career goals, as well as the desired effect for his upcoming album “The Harmony Codex”.

“Most music is made within a set of generic tropes. Sometimes I wonder what the appeal is, to form another death metal band. Even today, kids are forming bands that sound like Slayer or Metallica, and I’m thinking, ‘What’s the appeal?'”, Wilson muses, adding how he prefers to think how forming such a band is only the first step on the journey of discovering one’s musical identity.

“Who says you have to progress?”

As someone who clearly puts much stock into constant evolution, Wilson was asked whether it’s hard for him to respect bands like Slayer, of which Moore says “churn out the same album every year.” He answered (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“It’s not a matter of whether I respect them, because I do. Any band who’s made ‘Reign in Blood’ deserves my eternal respect… To be fair, that is what most musical acts do. They find a formula and they do tens [of records]. And there’s nothing wrong with that… It’s the opposite of progressive, but who said you have to progress?

“Well, I did, but I’m coming from a very, very personal perspective, which is based on the kind of artists that I grew up feeling were the most magical. There’s no reason why you should [progress]. AC/DC have never made a record that sounded like anything other than the original AC/DC blueprint.

“It’s an amazing sound, they’ve been doing it for 50 years, and their audience is still as passionate and dedicated as ever, and they will always have my respect for that. And Slayer is a little bit like that.”

Not every progression is successful

On the flip side, Wilson argues, progressing beyond a successful sonic formula doesn’t always pay off. Naming Metallica as an example, he went on:

“And then you have the other side of the coin, where a band like Metallica have tried to reinvent themselves, and the metal community can be one of the most conservative and reactionary you can possibly imagine. So, when Metallica made their album with Lou Reed, the kickback on that was brutal. There’s a lot of that, ‘Well, just keep making ‘Master of Puppets’ over and over again. They still have that to this day. And that’s a shame.”