Can you believe 2005 was 20 years ago? Seems like a lifetime ago. 

I was 1 year out of High School, myspace ruled the internet, YouTube wasn’t a thing yet, metalcore was on the rise, some amazing and iconic albums came out that year, and some of the bands many follow and love today first formed.

BANDS FORMED IN 2005

• A Plea for Purging

• Atilla

• Battle Beast

• The Browning

• The Devil Wears Prada

• Five Finger Death Punch

• In This Moment

• Motionless in White

• Periphery

• Wednesday 13

So many great bands. Many of these bands are still active today. Currently, Atilla is out tearing up the road with their new tour, Battle Beast puts out some of the best power metal to currently come out of Europe. Five Finger Death Punch, Motionless in White has garnered quite a bit of success in recent years with the meteoric rise of WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley using their song ‘Demon of Your Dreams’ as her entrance music. Finally, Wednesday 13 is also out there grinding away on the road, releasing cool tunes, and keeping the memory of Joey Jordison alive with Murderdolls songs always appearing in the setlist. 

That is by no means an exhaustive list of bands that formed in 2005. 

That year also saw the resurrection of the classic Anthrax lineup (Ian, Benante, Spitz, Belladonna, and Bello), and Alice n Chains which brought new singer William DuVall into the fold to mixed reactions. 

NOTABLE EVENTS IN MUSIC

Some of the more notable events in 2005 included the departure of Brian ‘Head’ Welch who left Korn after he found his way into religion, and dedicated his musical pursuits in that direction. There were some jabs back and forth between Welch and Korn about the book Welch had written, but the issues were ultimately resolved once all the parties cleared the air about the contents of the book that Welch had written. In time he eventually returned and was welcomed back into Korn by the band and fans.

This was also the same year that Tarja Turunen was fired from Nightwish after 9 years with the band. She was summarily dismissed from the band via an open letter written by the other band members which included scathing allegations like:

“To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with those emotions have become much more important.”

“You have said yourself that you are merely a "guest musician" in Nightwish. Now that visit ends and we will continue Nightwish with a new female vocalist.”

“It's obvious that you blame your stress and misery on us four. And you think we don't respect or listen to you. Believe us; We have always had the uppermost respect towards you as a wonderful vocalist and as a friend. And very often during the past couple of years the plans were made according to your decisions only. You were always the only one who wanted more money from the shows.”

The open letter was well written, and emotional outlining a troubled history of internal conflict between the band members and Tarja. Tarja later responded with her own open letter which included statements such as:

“I sense great anger in that letter and I continue to have very confused feelings about it, but I don’t want to reply to this anger with an even greater anger. Private matters should never be taken to the public.”

“They mentioned mean things about me, but the fact that they involved Marcelo, my husband, crossed the line. He is the man I love, my friend and has been my biggest support over the last years.”

The split between Nightwish and Tarja also divided the fans somewhat. Many longtime fans were upset she was let go in such a fashion and stopped following the band. Eventually the band hire a new vocalist in Annette Olzon and would begin the next chapter of Nightwish.

Of course every year is not without the death of musicians. This year saw David Wayne (Former vocalist of Metal Church), Mike “Yaz” Jastremski (former bassist of Heathen), Krzysztof “Docent” Raczkowski (Former drummer of Vader), Denis “Piggy” D’Amour (Founder and guitarist of Voivod) and Mika Ervaskari (Original Stratovarius keyboardist). Causes of death ranged from health complications from a car accident, heart attack/failure, colon cancer, and suicide.

ALBUMS RELEASED

2005 saw the release of many albums that received critical acclaim and have since elevated into some genre and artist defining albums. Here is an abbreviated list of some of the albums that came out this year from the more well-known artists of the time:

• Black Label Society - Mafia

• Trivium - Ascendancy

• Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze

• Theory of a Deadman - Gasoline

• Mudvayne - Lost & Found

• Limp Bizkit - The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1)

• Candlemass - Candlemass

• Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth

• System of a Down - Mezmerize and Hypnotize

• Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil

• As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security

• Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine

• Opeth - Ghost Reveries

• Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists

• Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison (UK Release)

• Demon Hunter - The Triptych

• Rammstein - Rosenrot

• Korn - See You on the Other Side

Also included were releases from Kreator, Dark Tranquility, Immolation, Scar Symmetry, Soilwork, Judas Priest, Kamelot, Strapping Young Lad, Epica, Napalm Death, Story of the Year, Meshuggah, Static-X, Parkway Drive, Children of Bodom, Gojira, Sevendust, and many many more. 

Standout albums from this era, for me personally, come from Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold, As I Lay Dying and Rammstein. 

The System of a Down double release of Mezmerize and Hypnotize, taking place 6 months apart from each other. The double release received praise from critics and fans alike, with the albums featuring tracks like “B.Y.O.B.” and “Lonely Day”. These would be the last full releases from the group before they went on indefinite hiatus. The members of SOAD would continue on in their own projects though with Serj exploring solo music, Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan would go on to form Scars on Broadway, Shavo pursued a project called AcHoZeN with RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and performed with in funk legend George Clinton’s backing band. In 2024 Serj Tankian appeared on the Broken Record Podcast and suggested he would be open to the band continuing with a new lead singer. 

Overall 2005 was a pretty great year for the future of metal and rock music. Though over the next 20 years there would be scandals, band member departures, and all kinds of other drama, the impact that 2005 had on the world is immeasurable.