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...I am surprised Rye hasn't popped in with Dimmu Borgir yet.

Manowar are funny as hell, cheese to the nth degree, but funny, and listenable.

Asfor great metal..hmm...where to begin?

Slayer, certinaly, excellent band.

Rob Zombie IS better than metallica, his songs are consistently better than a few great metallica songs.

Now personally, I love Fear Factory, which range from industrial death metal to a more accomplished sound with vocals switching between harsh and melodic "proper singing"... but very polished and well orchestrated industrial/metal hybrid overall. My favourite band. Demanufacture and OBsolete are their best albums, followed by Archetype, soul of a new machine, concrete and digimortal. The remix albums are also quite good if you're into dance music.

Now, I'm going to post by genres going by the kind of bands that people tend to listen to if they like another band of my genre system:

Other bands in industrial related stuff would be later ...and Oceans, front line assembly, Strapping young lad (death with industrial overtones), Evereve, Rammstein, Static-X, American Headcharge, White/Rob Zombie, The Project Hate, Kill II This.

Testament and Exodus, as already said, other than slayer excellent thrash. Tempo of the Damned is my favourite exodus song, sewn shut eyes is probably my favourite song by testament.

For thrash-related bands, there are some excellent ones that started very thrashy then went into something called "Groove metal" the main one being Pantera. Now any pantera album will shit on any metallica album from a great height, so expect to become a fanwhore if you start to listen to them. "Becoming" is my persoal favourite pantera song, but this is one of the few bands whom I've liked every song they've ever done. Another groove band would be pissing razors, one of the finest bands out there. "You'll Never Know" is my favourite song by this band.Machine Head, Sepultura, Damageplan, Stampin' Ground.

Now sludge metal is one of my favourites, Down, the first Superjoint Ritual album, Crowbar, Bongzilla, Entombed (they're supposed to be death rock or something silly like that, but they sound like sludge to me), Raging Speedhorn, Eyehategod.

Death Metal - not for the feint hearted, it's an acquired taste. Good bands to listen out for: Morbid Angel, Deicide, Vital Remains, Cryptopsy, Bolt Thrower, Behemoth, Grave, Amon Amarth, ...and oceans, God Dethroned, Hate Eternal, Kataklysm, Marduk, Mortician, God Forbid, Nile, Iniquity, SYL, Therion, Amorphis, Opeth, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, In Flames, devildriver, six feet under.

Black Metal - as above, fairly intense and an acquired taste,splits off into several subgenres that i don't care about. Lots of black metal albums have shit production on them though, so be aware of that. Bands to listen for: Emperor, ...and oceans, bal sagoth, borknagar, cradle of filth (though metal elitists will frown on you like the pretentious bastards they are if you admit this), Dimmu Borgir (similar thing to cradle), Dark Funeral, Marduk, Samael, Satyricon, Skyfire, thyrfing.

"Nu" or commercially successful metal: a genre hated by lots of purists, but fuck them, I like the songs. Korn, kittie, deftones, sevendust, dope, coal chamber, marilyn manson, powerman 5000, rob zombie, slipknot, soil, soulfly, spine shank, static x, SOAD,shadows fall, rage against the machine, orgy.

Power/old metal: as a rule, i don't listen to much of this, since i prefer harsh vocals, and this tends to be the more high pitched cheesy vocals. Bands: Children of Bodom, dragonforce, iron maiden, van halen, yngwie j malmsteen, rhapsody, blind guardian

Prog metal: not a type of metal i get a lot of satisfaction from, due to the vocals and occasional wanking of just how clever they are. bands: dream theater, liquid tension experiment, symphony x, sonata arctica.

Hope that gave you some ideas.

EDIT: here's my playlist.

verilon wrote:...I am surprised Rye hasn't popped in with Dimmu Borgir yet.

Haha, i was writing that longass post.

Superman wrote:

Kirk is God.

Randy Rhoades would have taken Kirk any day...

fucking seconded. randy rhoades was the fucking man. as for some of my present listening, i'd like to chime in Nightwish, Shadows Fall and E Nomine. all three have some very kickass music.

Metallica are the gods of metal because they made metal popular. They vastly expanded the fanbase of metal with their "Black" album and not to mention Load and Reload. When metal is mentioned, the first band that comes to mind for most people is Metallica.

I dont necessarily think that Shadows Fall would calssify as "nu" metal. Most of their stuff borders on hardcore, heavier than bands like Killswitch Engage (great band, saw them in Tallahassee live a few months ago) but certainly not "nu". Devil Driver is a great death metal band, they are kinda simplistic, but Dez has the craziest voice. And if you want intense, Lies of a Serpent A River of Tears or Ghost Psalm or 5 Year Winter all by Zao. Christian metal band, but freiken psycho. Alice in Chains was a great band also, its too bad they got grouped with bands like Nirvana (which in not a fan of), because they were deffinately a metal band, and Layne Staley was 10 times the vocalist Cobain could ever dream of.

Yeah, I just grouped them with the "nu" lot since they're popular with people that usually like that genre, plus they were too recent to put in with thrash.

"New wave of american metal" I suppose would be a decent genrename. Whatever.

Rye wrote:
Prog metal: not a type of metal i get a lot of satisfaction from, due to the vocals and occasional wanking of just how clever they are. bands: dream theater, liquid tension experiment, symphony x, sonata arctica.
Hope that gave you some ideas.

EDIT: here's my playlist.

How do they stack up against Dream Theatre?

Liquid Tension Experiment - Dream Theater side project, like Dream Theater only more eclectic and no vocals. A bit weird with long songs.

Symphony X - sound just like DT to me. Though I haven't heard that much of them.

Sonata Arctica - Very musical, power metal elements, sound like somewhere between dragonforce and dream theater, more power metal sound than prog metal.

You know, asking a question like "What is the best heavy metal band?" is the most likely question to ignite a flamewar amongst metalheads.

Best way would be to simply break it down into categories. What category do you prefer?

For NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), you can't go wrong with Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Yngwie J. Malmsteen and others fall into a similar vein.

For good ol' American metal, there's always KISS and Manowar. Both are over-the-top and a little corny, but that's just the packaging. Slightly less extreme are Black Sabbath, Ozzy Ozbourne (when he split off from Sabbath) and Motorhead.

For hardcore, speed, black, and death metal, read most of the other posts in this thread. I like some death metal, but the growl just really doesn't appeal to me that much. Iced Earth is definitely a good pick.

For melodic/operatic metal, there's Therion (who used to play death metal up until their Deggial album), Stratovarius, Adagio, and a couple others.

Rye wrote: Sonata Arctica - Very musical, power metal elements, sound like somewhere between dragonforce and dream theater, more power metal sound than prog metal.

Sweet. Something like a cross between an In Flames/Dark Tranquility and Dream Theatre?

Never heard of Dragonforce. Sounds like a lyric from a Rhapsody song.

I've already seen a lot of bands mentioned, but I'm going to throw my own mix into it anyways

Metallica was pretty good, but the recent stuff is a bit disappointing to say the least.
Arch Enemy - Scandanavian band, churns out some pretty decent stuff, although their style has changed a little since their conception.
Children of Bodom - It's a power metal-ish band, I think their stuff is pretty decent, also Scandanavian
Dimmu Borgir - Yet another Scandanavian band... They're pretty popular, I don't think I really need to explain too much.
Fear Factory - I'd actually classify them as Industrial, but their stuff is consistently good, even with changes in style.
In Flames - Yes, another Scandanavian band. Their older stuff is better than the new.
Killswitch Engage - I've seen this classified as nu-metal, hardcore, etc. It's really hard to classify, but do get a sample of it, they're quite good.
Megaherz - I don't think I've seen them mentioned here yet. They're a bit like Rammstein (Another popular German band), but they have more of a classical feel.
Ministry - Industrial band, but I like it. It's kinda repetetive, but still catchy.
Nightwish - They're classified as fantasy metal, I believe, but yet another good band. Vocals are probably its most outstanding feature.
Opeth - Not terribly aggressive or fast, but the guitar work is good and there's kind of a nostalgic feeling that you (Or at least I) get from it.
Overkill - I've only caught them once or twice steaming on Winamp, but it was nice.
Pantera - Good riffs. There's a very grudgy feeling.
Sepultura - I'm not actually quite sure how to classify this band, but it's worth checking them out.
Slayer - From the few samples I've heard steaming on Winamp, they sound decent.
Static-X - It's considered a nu-metal band, but their older stuff is decent.
Tvangeste - A Russian Black Metal band. It grew on me as I listened to it.

My favorite albums of my fav metal bands are:

Metallica - Their first 4 albums
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss and Hell Awaits
Iron Maiden - Killers, Piece of Mind, Fear of the Dark
Testament - The Gathering, Practice What You Preach
Opeth - Blackwater Park, My Arms Your Hearse
Tool - Opiate, Aenima (They are sort of nu-metalish but still pretty kickass)
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka and In Their Darkened Shrines
Death - Leprosy, and Symbolic
Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the Dark Saga
Six Feet Under - True Carnage
Megadeth - Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction

Mrs. CmdrWilkens wrote:Metallica are the gods of metal because they made metal popular.

I think Judas Priest and Black Sabbath both managed to do that back in the 1970s...

Rye wrote:Black Metal - as above, fairly intense and an acquired taste,splits off into several subgenres that i don't care about. Lots of black metal albums have shit production on them though, so be aware of that. Bands to listen for: Emperor, ...and oceans, bal sagoth, borknagar, cradle of filth (though metal elitists will frown on you like the pretentious bastards they are if you admit this), Dimmu Borgir (similar thing to cradle), Dark Funeral, Marduk, Samael, Satyricon, Skyfire, thyrfing.

Black Metal is not as much of a musical genre as a state of mind defined by fanatical devotion to moral relativism and a hatred of the current socio-political order. It is a common misconception that Black Metal is opposed to monotheism alone - Black Metal is opposed to the very idea of absolute or universal morals/ethics, and many bands single out monotheistic religions because said religions have been used to justify moral absolutism. The reason that Black Metal bands sound so different from one another is that the genre is defined by ideology rather than anything else.

Cradle Of Filth, post-Stormblast Dimmu Borgir, later Emperor and to an extent Dark Funeral are not Black Metal because they only appear to embrace moral relativism but in reality their "superstar" status reveals that they have made themselves a part of the order they're supposed to demolish. As for Marduk, they went grindcore later on. Most bands of today which actually play Black Metal are happy to be quite obscure.

For thrash-related bands, there are some excellent ones that started very thrashy then went into something called "Groove metal" the main one being Pantera. Now any pantera album will shit on any metallica album from a great height, so expect to become a fanwhore if you start to listen to them. "Becoming" is my persoal favourite pantera song, but this is one of the few bands whom I've liked every song they've ever done.

You may like a band called Exhorder, whom later Pantera basically is a carbon copy of.

Grahf wrote:I dont necessarily think that Shadows Fall would calssify as "nu" metal. Most of their stuff borders on hardcore, heavier than bands like Killswitch Engage (great band, saw them in Tallahassee live a few months ago) but certainly not "nu".

That's because Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage aren't nu-metal, they're metalcore. As the name implies, metalcore fuses '90s-style hardcore punk with metal elements. (as opposed to thrash, which is a hybrid of '80s hardcore and speed metal)

http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0996Septembe ... stols.html

Spock Pistols

Nightwish - They're classified as fantasy metal, I believe, but yet another good band. Vocals are probably its most outstanding feature.

I think fantasy metal is a more appropriate. They're an awesome, totally unique sounding band but they're a lot lighter and a bit slower than the run of heavy metal. But once again, great band.

As for my list:

Early Metallica - They produced some great albums back in the day. There's no question about it and they were good. The problem is the Lars-ification of the band; they lost their "edge" and the music went with it. Now they're a pale shadow that are erratic at best.

Megadeath - The new ablum has some damn good shit. I've heard some of it on the radio now and it's good stuff. Certainly nothing to disappoint.

Rob Zombie - Holy shit, this guy kicks ass. Consistently good stuff but a bit repetitive at a times.

Ozzie/Black Sabbath - Need more be said? Gods.

Judas Preist - Again, legends.

Hammerfall - Again, awesome stuff. They've definitely got a fantasy motiff but they do great heavy metal and the song writing is quite good.

Blind Guardian - Again, fantasy setting with a real hard rock edge. Good stuff.

Marilyn Manson - Sure he's a freak but I like his stuff. A good old fashioned shock rocker that can actually do it.

You guys have forgotten these classic metal bands:

Armored Saint

Elf (Dio's first band)

Rainbow (not really metal, but they did have Ronnie James Dio before he left for Black Sabbath and before he left them for a solo career)

Motorhead (I didn't see this listed)

Saxon

Also,

Danzig
Dio
Queensryche (are they metal?)

Maiden is still the greatest, though...

Why I don't listen to much heavy metal these days prefering the joyous sounds of the Beatles and Tom Waits, there are still some staples that I cannot live without;

Rob Zombie is, for me, one of the best. Consistently overlooked in favour of more flavour of the month bands. Rob has consistently made damned good stompy happy rock music. With Rob Zombie you know what you are getting and it rarely disappoints.

Early Metallica
Pantera - Cowboys to Trendkill are all good albums.
Nine Inch Nails
Ministry
Tool
Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13/Wednesday 13 - much better than the murderdolls, though the only real difference is the lack of that guy from slipknot on the drums.
Early Deftones

Type O Negative

Haven´t seen Red Harvest mentioned, so I´ll be the one to do it.

Red Harvest

Apocalyptic, industrial metal (I´m sure I left some words out of their own description of themselves, meh, gotta give props to my fellow Norwegians! ), wonderful noise for the soul.

Then there´s Ajattara, they´re Finnish, I believe. Sure can´t tell what the hell they´re screaming (not that that doesn´t apply to most black metal bands anyway.)

Rob Zombie is White Trash Metal to me, but, damn if he isn´t catchy!
Rammstein for the German fix, "Mein Teil" still hasn´t worn out it´s welcome.
Metallica, for the sheer joy I´ve had discovering metal for the first time through them.

Nightwish. 'Nuff said

To those putting Ministry in their lists, have you ever heard any early Ministry?

Rye wrote:Dying Fetus

Holy shit, that must be the greatest band ever.

Almost forgot OverKill. Used to love that band.

SancheztheWhaler wrote:Also,

Danzig
Dio
Queensryche (are they metal?)

Pretty sure they are. They're more of a progressive metal band, so their style is far more mixed than most metal bands.

BNR Metal has this to say about them:

Queensryche is one of the three cornerstone bands that have provided the basis for modern progressive metal, their more melodic metal stance balanced by the technical wizardry of Dream Theater, with Fates Warning in between the two. A case of a band living up to the hype, their debut self-released EP found its way to Kerrang! magazine, who immediately proclaimed the Seattle band The Next Big Thing. A year later, in 1984, came the excellent debut, The Warning, but it would be 1988's Operation: Mindcrime that would forever be known as their crowning moment, one of the most well-known and popular concept albums of all time. For both better and worse, though, the succeeding years for Queensryche have been a mixed bag. Their refusal to rehash Mindcrime on subsequent releases is in one sense admirable, but in another sense has resulted in disappointment amongst some fans who haven't embraced the mellower and more experimental tendencies of their later albums. They may not have the same worldwide popularity that they held in the eighties, but they are still a force to be reckoned with, and their place in metal history is secure.

One of my favorite Queensryche songs is NM 156, from The Warning.

Maiden is still the greatest, though...

Up the f'in irons