Uriah Heep (band) recording of the album, drummer Alex Napier was replaced by Nigel Olsson, recommended to Byron by Elton John. The debut was not popular with rock critics (especially in the USA where "Rolling Stone" reviewer Melissa Mills infamously promised to commit suicide "if this band makes it") but in retrospect the attitude towards it changed. "Those unfamiliar with Uriah Heep may want to try out "Demons and Wizards" or a compilation first, but anyone with a serious interest in Uriah Heep or the roots of heavy metal will find plenty to like on ..."Very 'eavy ...Very 'umble"," advised critic Donald A.
Heavy metal music Crowbar were leaders in a major Louisiana sludge scene. Early in the next decade, California's Kyuss and Sleep, inspired by the earlier doom metal bands, spearheaded the rise of stoner metal, while Seattle's Earth helped develop the drone metal subgenre. The late 1990s saw new bands form such as the Los Angeles–based Goatsnake, with a classic stoner/doom sound, and Sunn O))), which crosses lines between doom, drone, and dark ambient metal—the "New York Times" has compared their sound to an "Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake". The era of heavy metal's mainstream dominance in North America came to