I got into metal first half on the 80's, yes I'm old, it felt more like metal quit on me at the end of the 80's, so through the 90's and well into the 00's I really didn't listen much to metal. I know now there was some good metal during the 90's and 00's, this was pre internet though, at least for me, so I didn't have the opportunities we have now to look up other metal. I've always listened to other types of music though, so it wasn't a huge deal at the moment
When I started to listen to metal again it was mostly early 80's metal, I didn't really get properly back into metal until I heard Megadeths Dystopia in 2016 though, and from then I discovered both some old bands I didn't know of, other than their name perhaps, and some newer bands, and in my opinion metal is better than ever. I mostly listen to metal from the last decade now
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