2006

In 2006 the Lebanon War broke out in July and ran into August, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan grew fiercer, and the Democrats' win in the US elections left George W. Bush with little room to manoeuvre. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest topped the box office, and Guitar Hero II quietly gave air guitarists a legitimate hobby.

Metal had a busy, confident year. Tool's 10,000 Days arrived on 28 April and was the vault's biggest name of the year, with Deftones' Saturday Night Wrist following in October. Pearl Jam released a self-titled album on 2 May, their first since leaving Sony. Iron Maiden went long and ambitious with A Matter of Life and Death, Motörhead delivered Kiss of Death, and Slayer's Christ Illusion entered the Billboard 200 at number 5, their best US position to date; its single "Eyes of the Insane" later took the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Queensrÿche returned to their story with Operation: Mindcrime II. Meanwhile Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" became the first hard rock and heavy metal song to win Eurovision, which nobody had on their bingo card.

The drama was plentiful. Alice in Chains reunited with the Jar of Flies line-up, with William DuVall stepping in for the late Layne Staley. System of a Down and Slipknot both went on hiatus, Fear Factory and Dissection called it a day, and Limp Bizkit paused until 2009. Iggor Cavalera left Sepultura, who still released Dante XXI. Jesse Pintado, once of Napalm Death, died.