bassist has revealed his love for the era in a new interview. Talking to , the 74-year-old, who co-founded Sabbath in 1968, says that he admired the breadth of metal’s vision during the late 1990s, singling out for particular praise. “I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well,” remembers Butler.
“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.
” Butler also expresses his admiration for industrial metal leaders and explains how they influenced his 1995 solo album . Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! Then-Fear Factory singer Burton C. Bell performed vocals on the record.
“I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or . “Pedro [Howse, guitarist], 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.
“A lot of it is about science fiction – a bit like what’s going on now with the AI stuff and everything.” Black Sabbath retired .