With metal being over 50 years old now, there are more examples of aged musicians releasing quality metal than ever before. I'm defining this as albums made when all the members were 55 or older (going off of the American definition of the term), though I suppose if there are at least more members over that age than younger members it could also possibly count. I say this because many veteran bands have younger members at this point.

Some of my favorites:

-Rush's Clockwork Angels: Perhaps the definitive example. Takes the heavier side of their 21st century sound and mixes with their classic songwriting approach with wonderful results. A truly great swansong, R.I.P. Neil Peart.
-Deep Purple's Now What: My personal favorite of their modern albums. Lots of variety and creativity throughout this album with the signature sense of humor and energy that DP have always had. Ian Gillan's voice sounds a lot weaker than it used to but he writes within his limitations quite well.
-Saxon's Sacrifice: Doesn't 100% count since Doug Scarratt was 54 and Nibbs Carter was 47 at the time, but the three veteran members outnumber them and it's a great example of how well this band has held up. Their signature mixture of old-guard hard rock spirit and epic metal explorations is operating on top ability here with age hardly slowing them a step. There's a lot of great tunes in the modern Saxon canon but of the 2010s releases I'd say this is the most consistently enjoyable release.

What are some of your favorites?

A lot of the members' ages aren't listed here on MA, but I think it's safe to say all of the members on Quartz's 2016 comeback album Fear No Evil were over 55 at the time of release. The whole liine-up minus the singer were original members featured on their 1977 debut, and the singer was with them from 1981-1982. Really good album.

Judas Priest's Firepower was about as good as you could ask it to be (IMO), the only member less than 55 is Richie Faulkner.

Yeah Firepower was very good imo as well, though Faulkner did the majority of the songwriting on it so that dilutes it a little. Still, probably the liveliest Scott Travis drum performance since Painkiller (at least in the Priest discog) and Halford is in good form too so it's a quality shout for this category overall.

Satan's members were all born in the 1950s or 60s and their reunion albums have all been fantastic.

Deep Purple's Infinite has to be up there - a wonderfully free-feeling and groovy album with some great moments of introspection.

Rush's Clockwork Angels has to be pretty unanimous; don't know if anybody genuinely hates that. Just masterful songwriting. Emotional and epic.

Maiden's Senjutsu is just great. Truly wonderful and epic stuff. I was going to say some of their other ones from recently too, but I guess most of them don't count for this.

I'd put the new Blue Oyster Cult and AC/DC up there too if we're just talking rock more broadly.

Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth.

Don't you even think about telling me this isn't metal:



This song is Roth, Eddie etc. looking Blood Mountain era Mastodon right in the eyes and saying "we're better than you."




Blitz was 54 when he made this:





Lemmy was about to hit 60 when he made this:

Motorhead's "Inferno" is THE right answer. That is one monster of an album - nearly flawless and with great production to boot.

I think Inferno is a Top 5 Motorhead album, hands down.

I would have to think A LOT about this but it is surely one of their best.

Inferno is definitely their best later one, though I'm also partial to Aftershock. I didn't know he was that old when he did Inferno. That's wild.

If we only consider later ones I think you are right. Inerno might be the best one. I personally also love me some Motorizer - great record. Simple, to the point, rockin' as hell. From the mid-era period I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bastards and Sacrifice.

It's been years since I heard Motorizer but yes, also very good. I think the only one post-Inferno I missed was actually Kiss of Death weirdly enough - that came out right when I got into metal so it's odd I never tried it.

Kiss of Death is not as consistent as Motorizer or Inferno but it DOES have one of the best EVER Motorhead songs - which is "God Was Never On Your Side". I really think it is worth listening to for that one alone.

Not their best from the later period, but Bad Magic is a damn good album and Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey were 69, 54 and 51 respectively.

Bad Magic was a good farewell album. Very solid songwriting. Maybe nothing spectacular but it does not need to be.

No idea how old they are, but Stone Magnum made some fucking brilliant traditional doom metal. They could be around 50, they could be younger. No idea, but they sound like the old timers in Saint Vitus and Trouble.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/UrV6MZYBHiU?t=686[/youtube]

Not metal but all the guys in Bad Religion (except the 'new' drummer I think) were around 55 when they released 'Age of unreason' in 2019, and that one is easily a top 5 record of theirs for me. Every single track on that (except 'Lose your head' which I hate) rules and maintains the same energy and vitality as when they started out 40 years ago.

I can't really think many great metal albums made by people over 55. Michel Langevina and Denis Bélanger from Voivod are 58 and 57 and judging by the singles this is the best music they've released since Nothingface.

I we're going with "not metal" too, Swans. Gira is 67 right now and he released his best stuff recently: The Seer (58), To Be Kind (60) and The Glowing Man (62). It's also his heaviest stuff since the 80s.

Can we count Pagan Altar? I guess Alan was in his forties when Mythical and Magical and Lords of Hypocrisy came out but Room of Shadows was amazing and he was 55 when it came out while Terry was in his sixties when he recorded it.

Room of Shadows is such a great album

Room of Shadows is indeed excellent and fits well into this thread.

My favourite where the band members (not counting a guest) were all over 55 is probably Black Sabbath - 13. Almost theres include Saint Vitus' 2019 s/t and Satan - Atom by Atom.

Danzig - Black Laden Crown is also worthy of a mention since Glenn plays half of the instruments.

Like many others, I came here to mention Inferno.

Lemmy was pushing 60 when this dropped. Amazing.

Exactly. I'm honestly surprised Lemmy was able to make another studio album (and tour) at his age and health. Guess he knew his time had come and he wanted to put out one last thing to send everybody off.

My thoughts exactly. I think this was conceived like a last shot at...well not maybe glory...but one last bullet in the Motorhead discography. As it should - ever the warrior, ever the fighter.

Ehh Lemmy never went for "glory" or any of that crap. But you're right, it was made as one final bullet to the band before passing on. Dude was a warrior from his birth to his deathbed.