My only issue is that I'm a fan of two of these bands and their history means one can't be nailed down well on this. Beast in Black split off of Battle Beast an

My only issue is that I'm a fan of two of these bands and their history means one can't be nailed down well on this. Beast in Black split off of Battle Beast and the original group got significantly less nerdy (their earlier songs were mostly either about Berserk or some sort of cyberpunk, a song about Neuromancer is distinctly more nerdy than the less referential work later) because the lead songwriter is who left. I'm sure other groups have had similar rapid changes in nerdiness/kickassery too.