Heavy metal music is being celebrated in the West Midlands with a host of exhibitions, writes Lorne Jackson.

In the beginning was the word. And the word was: NeeeeaAAAAAARGH!!!

Actually, NeeeeaAAAAAARGH isn’t really much of a word, is it?

More of a harpy’s hiccup. A ghoul gargling.

Or, perhaps, the devil’s nails, scratching their way across every blackboard in existence.

In other words, it’s the roar of a deranged guitar. The trademark clang of heavy metal.

Which also means it’s the sound of the West Midlands.

Because it was here, in this loud and proud location, that rock music’s most ear-numbing noise was forged, before being fired upon an unsuspecting world.

Every scholar of popular music knows that heavy metal began in Brum and the Black Country.

First there were bands like Led Zeppelin, with local heroes such as Robert Plant and John Bonham.

It’s debatable weather the Zep were truly metal, though their energy, musical virtuosity, loud instruments and raspy vocals helped set the template.

At roughly the same time Black Sabbath formed. For most fans they are the ultimate metal marauders, often sited by specialist magazines as the greatest band of a gritty genre.

Fast, loud and uncompromising, such was their trademark tirade.

Though this was counter-balanced by the self-effacing, gently-crooning vocals of the chap who held the Black Sabbath microphone.

Ozzy (Bat-chomper) Osbourne was his name. And, no, he wasn’t really the reincarnation of Noel Coward.

Just a long haired bloke from Aston, who liked to yell a lot.

With the release of the Sabbath’s first album, Paranoid, something new and gnarly was born. And the world would never be the same.

Later came even more mighty Midland metal merchants, including Judas Priest.

The Priest’s contribution to the art form was the twin-guitar sound. Savage strumming times two, in other words.

JP were also faster and louder than most other bands of the era, while their hair was amongst the longest and straggliest in the canon.

Heavy metal has made plenty of money for record labels over the years. But its economic benefits have never been shared by the hairdressing fraternity. Long, limp locks mean short profits for Toni & Guy, unfortunately. The fate of cows under heavy metal has been even more lamentable. Boy, do those metal heads love their leather...

Brum’s big beasts of rock were massively successful in the 1970s, playing to vast stadiums in the UK, the US and beyond.

The Midlands continued to supply heavy metal with added impetus in the 80s.

In the early years of that decade, Napalm Death, from Meriden, added punk’s rawness, plus its political posturing, to the Metal method.

The result was a sub-genre called Grindcore. Many things had changed, though much remained the same.

Vitriolic vocals. Gritty guitars. Gory, glory days.

The export of a distinctive musical style that evolved in the Midlands has regrettably gone unsung for most of its history. Now that is to be rectified.

Heavy metal is coming home.

A series of events across the region are celebrating this most raucous rock and roll.

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is holding an exhibition called Home Of Metal: 40 Years Of Heavy Metal And Its Unique Birthplace.

It brings together previously unseen memorabilia borrowed from hardcore fans. They will be placed alongside iconic items such as Black Sabbath’s infamous Mob Rules stage cross, Judas Priest costumes and handwritten Napalm Death lyrics.

The show also explores the ingredients that made heavy metal in the first place. That means looking at our region’s industrial heritage, along with its passion for early blues-rock.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery is also getting in on the act with You Should Be Living – The Visual Language Of Heavy Metal.

The exhibition will display the works of a range of artists inspired by heavy metal.

Meanwhile, the New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall Leather Museum, Dudley Museum & Art Gallery, and other local institutes of learning will be holding special events to celebrate the sound that woke up the world.

The series of events was instigated by Birmingham-based Capsule, an award-winning organisation that curates and presents live music.

Lisa Meyer, one of the co-directors of Capsule, explained how the idea came to fruition.