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Awesome Music / Heavy Metal

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Being a longtime genre with loads of aggressiveness, Rock up to eleven, and a helluvalot of subgenres, it's no surprise that Heavy Metal as a whole has its own page.

Individual bands with their own examples:

Genres with their own page:

  • MARINES! Sure, it's probably an anti-war anthem, but this is Sodom, after all.
  • The German folk/melodic death metal band Equilibrium has a few of those but their epic battle hymn "Der Sturm" stands out in being even more awesome than the rest.
  • Ronnie James Dio.
    • Say what you will about the pseudo-fantasy videos and Mind Screw lyrics, listen to "Holy Diver" and get a rush from the sheer power.
    • Ronnie's musical duel with Geoff Tate on Queensrÿche's "The Chase". Ronnie James Dio also got some more CMoAs for "The Stargazer" and "A Light in the Black" during his days with Rainbow, "Atom and Evil" and "Eating the Cannibals" from Heaven & Hell, some other songs with Dio like "Stand Up And Shout", "Don't Talk To Strangers", "Evil Eyes", basically the whole of Holy Diver... hell, let's just say Ronnie James Dio is very, very good at these.
    • "King of Rock 'n' Roll". And by the end of the song, guess who is the titular king? You are.
    • If he doesn't have his own page, it'd be much, much easier to list his songs that AREN'T mind-shatteringly powerful. He didn't really do understated music...
  • Ozzy Osbourne. ALL ABOARD! "Crazy Train" is what everyone hears in their heads when they hear the name Ozzy Osbourne.
  • German band Accept has many of these, certainly. They were one of the precursors of the German Power Metal!
  • "Feel So Numb", "Dragula", and "Superbeast" by Rob Zombie are all worth mentioning.
  • Moonsorrow's epic album V: Hävitetty is a pair of 25+ minute folk/black metal pieces, whose interweaving, repetitive-but-ever-changing guitars, folkish interludes, and occasional hundred-man choirs (to offset the screaming) create a subtle but unmistakable awesome. It has a bit of the regular awesome, too.
  • Being one of the first bands in Finnish metal, Oz demonstrates how CMoA is done.
  • Doro Pesch, in both her "Warlock" career and her still-continuing solo career, is one of the undisputed queens of metal, as demonstrated by "All We Are", "Burning the Witches", "Für Immer", "I Rule the Ruins", "Thunderspell", and a host of others.
  • Candlemass, the band that named Epic Doom Metal in 1986. Especially the ultra-rare album Abstrakt Algebra II, containing, e.a. "Thirst", a jazz/doom-metal song. And the opening song can very accurately be described as exactly what would have happened if Pink Floyd had been a Doom Metal band, and the version of "Dustflow" on that one takes that idea even further. They're a legend for a lot of reasons.
  • On the subject of Epic Doom Metal, the band DoomSword from Italy definitely deserves a glowing recommendation here. Led by the sonorous baritone of singer and main songwriter Deathmaster, DoomSword as a band just screams the word 'epic' in both its music and lyrical themes. Take a pick from any one of their songs, be it the dark, barbaric gallops of "Gergovia", the somber majesty of "Heathen Assault", the triumphant "Onward into Battle", which will have you pumping your fist in the air and shouting the words "March, March!" to the heavens in tandem with Deathmaster by the end, or the ridiculously epic "For Those Who Died with Sword In Hand", possibly the greatest song ever written about the glory of dying in battle under Odin's gaze, and you will instantly see why.
    "Our fate is written, sword and shield: Born to die on the battlefield."
  • "Tourniquet" by Marilyn Manson is so brilliant. From the bass intro to how his vocals it all just works.
  • Korpiklaani.
    • Imagine a tent full of metalheads dancing and singing to this and having a lot of fun doing it. Only Korpiklaani can do that.
    • "Beer Beer" is one of the best drinking songs ever. In fact, many of their songs are some of the best drinking songs ever.
    • "Cottages and Saunas". Playing this while doing almost ANYTHING will almost certainly make you feel badass.
  • Eluveitie. "Uis Elveti". Awesome. Eluveitie just equals win.
  • Turisas. Practically every Turisas song has an insanely epic sing-along chorus that you can't help but get stuck in your head. See "To Holmgard and Beyond" and "One More" if you want to be humming something for a week straight.
  • Saxon: "Street Fighting Gang". Perfect for when you need to dispense an old-school asskicking.
  • The Transformers theme as done by a group called Lion.
  • The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Take the mind-crushing awesomeness of rock and roll and combine it with the time-defying glory that is classical music, and this is what you get.
  • "No one will ever take them down! The power lies on their si~i~i~i~i~ide!"
  • Savatage, the band that birthed TSO, also has its fair share of epic awesome tracks. "This Isn't What We Meant", "Chance", and "Symmetry" are just a few of them.
  • WASP has several iconic 80s Metal tracks like "Wild Child" and "I Wanna Be Somebody", but one that skipped under the radar during Hair Metal's twilight days in 1989, the finale to their New Sound Album The Headless Children, was a monster of a track that could best be described as "Kickstart My Heart" on roids: Rebel In the FDG.
  • Pretty much anything by Finnish monster rockers Lordi, but most especially "Devil Is A Loser", "Deadite Girls Gone Wild", "Hard Rock Hallelujah", "Children of the Night", "Bite It Like A Bulldog", "Girls Go Chopping", "Blood Red Sandman", "Good To Be Bad", and "Would You Love A Monsterman".
    • Not only is "Hard Rock Hallelujah" awesome, it got Finland its first win in the Eurovision Song Contest, AND it had the highest score ever received by a song to that point.
    • "Bringing Back the Balls to Rock", which got Lordi through the qualifying rounds. Bonus points for being a love letter to all things heavy. Even more bonus points for the use of cowbell in the middle of the guitar solo, a move that is both awesome and kinda hilarious.
    • "Beast Loose in Paradise", which played over the credits of their movie Dark Floors.
    • They also did a cover of Alice Cooper's "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)".
  • Symphony X. "The Odyssey", a 24 minute and 14 second adaptation of the Greek legend. While it is only a skimming of the vast majority of the tale, it is a complete retelling.
  • "Live for the Kill" by Amon Amarth. Normally Melodic Death Metal songs don't have very moving parts to them, but add in the cellos of Apocalyptica, and it's a very powerful and very haunting effect. Also Twilight of the Thunder God. What you just heard was the soundtrack to Ragnarök.
  • "Call me by my astral name Breeding fear through wordless tongue" barks Mikael Stanne / Anders Friden aided by that sweeping cyclone of guitar riffs and subsequent pounding of the guitar in the track that become In Flames' first classic track and a icon of the Gothenburg metal scene.
  • "The One you Love to Hate". Rob Halford. Bruce Dickinson. Singing together in an awesome song.
  • Metsatöll. Take some traditional Estonian folk music, mix it with heavy drums and electric guitars and you get this, this and this.
  • "Burn In Hell" by Twisted Sister. Their performance of this song at Wacken Open Air Festival 2003 was epic beyond words.
  • Slipknot's "Dead Memories" and "Vermilion". Forget the loud, obnoxious nu metal band they were. They're gradually making a switch away from brutal noise to proper metal. "Wait and Bleed", "Spit It Out" and "Left Behind" can be considered Crazy Awesome.
  • Three words: Lamb of God. Almost every song they make is fucking incredible but the best ones are probably "Omerta", "Redneck", "Pariah", and "Choke Sermon". It's no wonder they're the most well-respected Groove Metal band since Pantera. "Grace", "For Your Malice", "One Gun", and "Walk With Me In Hell" are songs that are simply too raw for humanity.
  • Everything made by Devin Townsend manages to be surprisingly distinctive and deeply interesting, whether you like it or not. Be it hard rock, metal, heavy destructive face-stomping, mind-crushing metal or soft rock, he will nail it like nobody ever wished to.
    • Special mention goes to the album Ziltoid the Omniscient, the entirety of which is pretty awesome. Notably epic tracks include "By Your Command", "Ziltoidia Attaxx!!!" and "Planet Smasher".
    • Every song from the album Addicted. Start here. If you listen to it from start to finish by the end you'll feel as if you've been taken to the stars and back. Props go to "Trainfire", "Lady Helen" and "Ki" from his other album Ki as well.
    • GIVE IT UP! YOUR WORLD! GIVE IT UP! YOUR WORLD WORLD WORLD WORLD! A song with the name "The Mighty Masturbator" should never go unnoticed.
    • Alllllllllllll of Epicloud. It has explosive powerful songs like 'True North', 'Save Our Now', 'Hold On' and 'Angel'. Features church choirs, that spacey feel Devin is known for and powerhouse vocals from Anneke van Giersburgen, returning from Addicted! She and Devin sound absolutely gorgeous together. It's just... epic.
    • Anything he has done with his band Strapping Young Lad qualifies. Industrial thrash/death metal never sounded so good since its inception. Take a listen.
  • Korn certainly deserves a few mentions. "Twisted Transistor" and "Ever Be" are both great songs, but "Coming Undone" is fucking incredible.
  • "Battle Song" by Ensiferum. Best described as being Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-Hot-Blooded.
    • Lai Lai Hei illustrates what they are capable of. 7 minutes of folk metal greatness.
    • Victory Song, likewise, is a bit over 10 minutes of violins and ham.
    • In My Sword I Trust perfectly demonstrates Ensiferum's ability to put out incredible material even at the critical low point of their career.
  • X Japan. All of their songs are pretty epic, but "Art of Life" is probably the best example. The song is about thirty minutes long and still manages to be awesome the whole time.
  • Protest the Hero.
    • The last minute of "She Who Mars the Skin of Gods", all of "Sequoia Throne".
    • All of "Scurrilous". Props to Arif for putting a slap bass solo in the middle of a metal song.
  • Rammstein:
    • "Ohne Dich" is a beautiful song...
    • "Feuer Frei" sounds like a goddamn call to arms.
    • Hellboy 2's use of "Mein Hertz Brennt" is probably one of the best uses of a song in a trailer in a long, long time. A perfect fit for the character, too.
    • "Ich Tu Dir Weh" knows just when and how to punch you right where you need it.
    • Off the same album, "Frühling in Paris" definitely qualifies as Awesome Music, an unexpectedly haunting tune.
    • "Pussy" is also a Funny Moment wrapped in a catchy, heavy-as-hell song.
    • "Du Hast" is what put them on the map in America. If you listen to it, you'll know why.
    • For a mainstream (quote-unquote) metal band, "Mein Teil" is a gross, Squick of a song, especially when you know the inspiration. And you know what? Its dramatic stylings fucking rock.
    • "Asche zu Asche" nods towards jungle and drum-n-bass with elements of Thrash Metal.
    • "Mutter" and "Rein Raus" are both highlights off their album Mutter for similar reasons: melting the listener's brains out.
    • The scathing, sarcastic, catchy as all hell "Amerika".
    • "Reise, Reise." It sounds like the song Davy Jones would play upon rising from his watery grave.
  • Leaves' Eyes. Most of their songs are about love, nature and other such stuff. Wouldn't expect much epicness out of that, would you? It's symphonic/gothic metal covered in the most epic epicsauce known to man. "Senses Capture", "Farewell Proud Men", "Solemn Sea" and "Misseri". Aw heck, the entirety of Vinland Saga is one great, big, whopping CMOA.
  • Liv Kristine, the lead singer of Leaves' Eyes, did guest vocals on the song "Nymphetamine" by Cradle of Filth. Kristine was the lead singer of Theatre of Tragedy until about 2005 or so. Theatre were major trailblazers in the gothic/doom metal genre, and pioneered the "beauty and the beast" vocal style characterized by a coupling of clean female vocals and male death growls. Of course this is not to say her work on "Nymphetamine" wasn't impressive - it certainly was - but she's done a lot more too.
  • The melodic death metal band Deadlock would be already awesome enough to get an entry in this page, but their album Wolves brought us "Praeludium II", a short epic classical piece that manages to be as interesting as the metal content on the rest of the album, if not even more interesting.
  • Disturbed:
    • But especially: "Stupify", "Awaken", "Just Stop", "Stricken", "Pain Redefined", "Inside The Fire", "Deceiver", "Perfect Insanity", "Divide". Any time you ask a large group of Disturbed fans their favorites, over half of them will list unknown or obscure songs from the back of the albums. This is a five album discography, people. The band is that worshiped by their fanbase.
    • "Another Way To Die" features some of the vocal dynamics hinted at in "Deify" and "Land of Confusion", then turns them up to eleven. It starts with a grim vocal crooning opening, then the guitars start booming while Draiman shouts the things people've done to the Earth, building to an epic crescendo while the rest of the band sings back-up, after which Donegan gives us one of his most technical guitar solos is years. This is the kind of song that gets people into Disturbed.
    • From the same album, "Asylum". Now that's badass, if you don't agree listen to it. It carries so many aspects of Disturbed's distilled style that it may compete with DWTS for Signature Song. Its intro, "Remnants," is hauntingly awesome and builds up to "Asylum" amazingly well. Listen to them one after another, it's spellbinding.
    • OOH WAH AH AH AH!!
      • The drum opening. Way to define tribal percussion, Mike.
      • And then there's the part where a kid fights back at his abusive mom. You know, "NO MOMMY! DON'T DO IT AGAIN! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A BITCH YOU ABUSIVE FUCKING WHORE!"
    • "The Night" is pretty widely-agreed to be solid gold. It has one of those riffs that's hard not to fall in love with and what could arguably be called Dan Donegan's best solo of his career. Mix that with David's dramatic bellowing vocals and the tight-as-always rhythm section for a great overall package.
    • The fills in "Ten Thousand Fists" have just the right level of speed, melody and complexity to become downright orgasmic. Not to mention those catchy strings and David's epic shouting.
    • "Living After Midnight" covered by Disturbed. Not only is it an excellent cover all-round, Mike Wengren pays tribute to Painkiller's drum opening for fun in the intro, Dan Donegan creates an original solo for the outro and David Draiman hits a massively high note near the end as well.
    • The Lost Children, the collection of b-sides and rare tracks... EVERY SONG ON THAT ALBUM IS PURE GOLD. But especially "This Moment", "Parasite", and "3". It was said they called it The Lost Children because they couldn't pick a favorite unreleased song to put on it.
    • It's easier to say which song of theirs ISN'T awesome, but the best ones are "Indestructible", "Down With The Sickness", "Hell", "The Night", "Inside The Fire", "Criminal", "The Animal", and "Ten Thousand Fists".
    • In 2015, Disturbed triumphantly returned with a new single, "The Vengeful One". It's best described as a cross between "The Night" and "Another Way to Die", and it is wonderful.
  • Megadeth. Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!, Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, Rust in Peace, Youthanasia, and Endgame.
    • MEGADETH!!! MEGADETH!!! AGUANTE MEGADETH!!!
    • Speaking of Rust in Peace, "Take no Prisoners" will kick your ass all over the place.
    • "Holy Wars", the song's so manly and Hot-Blooded that it could rival Ai Wo Torimodose.
    • Th1rt3en combines their earlier thrash sound with the more melodic elements of their later work to rather impressive results.
    • Endgame may be their thrashiest album since Rust In Peace, with such hits as the opening guitar solo "Dialectic Chaos" leading straight into "This Day We Fight!", "1320," and of course the surge of sheer aggression that is "Head Crusher".
    • Dystopia continues with this trend; with powerful riffs and intense lyrics combined into a very epic album, which still kicks ass just as much as Mustaine's earlier works. The title track even won the 2016 Grammys for Best Heavy Metal Performance!
  • Just about everything by the melodic death metal band Dark Tranquility, but in particular "Day To End" and "Insanity's Crescendo".
  • The Vital Remains album Dechristianize in general, the song "Devoured Elysium" in particular, especially since it has one of the most memorable lines of any song: "GOD YOU FUCKING WHORE".
  • Brocas Helm's album Defenders of the Crown. The whole damn thing, particularly if it comes with "Drink The Blood Of The Priest". The entire album is on this guy's channel, fifteen songs in all. "Cry of the Banshee", "Juggernaut", "Persian Gulf"... hell, the whole damn thing.
  • Arch-Enemy: Death Metal with epic guitar solos! Micheal Ammot is the king of the guitar solo. Listen to any song and try not to feel the awesomeness emanating from his guitar.
    • The rest of the band top-notch, too, in the vocals. There's a Broken Base over who's better— Johan Liiva on the '90s albums or Angela Gossow (yes, a woman who can growl) from 2000 on— but both sides are at least worth checking out. Start with the Stigmata album for material with Johan on vocals, or Wages Of Sin or Doomsday Machine for songs with Angela behind the mic.
    • The base is even more broken now that Alissa White-Gluz has taken over for Angela after she stepped down, but as their new song "War Eternal" shows, she's perfectly capable of carrying the torch.
  • August Burns Red has a few towards the end of some of their albums.
    • Listen to "Redemption" or "Meddler". "We'll feed our flame before wasting time on anyone else's/the gallows were not supposed to look like this"
    • Almost all of the songs from their album Leveler certainly qualify for this, but the lyrics of "Empire" are about humanity, and how our time now is a Moment of Awesome.
  • Almost anything Sigh have released, ever. To give you an idea of what these guys are like, their 2001 album Imaginary Sonicscape starts off with fuzzy synths and heavy guitar, works its way through dub breakdowns, disco sections, a classical interlude, an eleven minute song featuring a tuned percussion solo, and ends with a haunting whistling melody... That abruptly cuts into a chorus of laughing babies. Their 2008 album? Wagnerian in its bombast, even having a song or two that START with guitar solos. And the next album...? They replaced the trumpets with SAXOPHONE. Long story short, they are the black metal embodiment of Crazy Awesome.
  • Kalmah, a Finnish extreme power metal/melodic death metal band.
    • Any song, really ANY song from their debut album, Swamplord, one of the best melodic death metal albums ever. The ones that really deserve to be mentioned (including from Swamplord) are "Hades", "To The Gallows", "Heroes To Us", "Heritance of Berija", "My Nation", and "Evil In You", the last one being one of the most... evil songs to ever exist. The sensation of pure darkness and evil in your ears is incredible.
    • "Black Marten's Trace", "Windlake Tale", "Pikemaster", well, all of the album is pure gold beneath the swamp.
  • System Of A Down's "Streamline" and their cover of Black Sabbath's "Snowblind". Serj's vocals and the band's musical style give the song a new meaning.
  • "The Finisher" by Oh, Sleeper is written as a Badass Boast from God's perspective to Satan. From its start to its finish, it gives the impression that Lucifer is probably sitting there saying "Oh, Crap!." Excerpts:
    "Do you mean to challenge me? Because your speech is threatening to the writer of your history [...] your whisper may sway the weak, but when I speak it roars the seas! Your challenge has been met, because with a breath I could snap your neck. This won't be like the first time you tried, because my patience and mercy for you has run dry [...] I will burn off your limbs, you will never shade again. You will bow at my feet, or I will rip out your knees and make of your face all the carnage you crave."
    • Likewise, the opening eponymous track on the same album, "Son of the Morning", is the reverse: a challenge against God by Satan, wherein God's response is contained in the chorus. It is manic and violent, giving the picture of a very disturbed, almost insane Satan. And it is AWESOME.
  • Machinae Supremacy's very first song, "Cryosleep", is the perfect fusion of heavy metal and electronic music.
  • Scar Symmetry's "Ghost Prototype II - Deus Ex Machina" is amazing. The combination of clean vocals and death growls, the semi-upbeat lyrics, and that fucking SOLO.
    • The title track to the band's Holographic Universe album. If ever there was a song to thoroughly define the band that plays it, this is it. That entire fucking album is probably one of the best metal albums put out since 2000. From the way the songs are written to the way one song flows into the next, it's essentially flawless, and without a doubt their best work to date.
    • "Hybrid Cult" probably shows off Christian's most diverse vocal performance with the band. He uses his death growl, his higher register scream, some weird almost speaking voice, and then his amazing singing voice we all love. All in the same song.
    • The Illusionist from Pitch Black Progress. That. Damn. Intro. Riff.
  • "Feeding Frenzy" by Walls of Jericho. The intro alone demands fist pumping.
  • Kyuss' entire career was made out of hugely distorted guitar riffs that sound completely awesome (true story: Josh Homme plugged a guitar head into an Ampeg bass cabinet to bring out the low end). "Whitewater" and "Demon Cleaner" stand out, but the entire Sky Valley album is completely kickass, as is the rest of their material.
  • The Agonist. Most of their songs contain about three epic riffs each. For those who prefer guttural growls, or for those who prefer clean singing, singer Alissa White-Gluz can provide both!
  • "Misanthropy Pure" by Shai Hulud. The lyrics are sick, never mind the guitar work.
  • P.O.D.:
    • "Youth of the Nation". A ominous, powerful dedication to victims of school shootings and other isolated victims of the dark side high school life.
    • The band's collaboration with Carlos Santana, America, is nothing short of epic.
  • Thousand Foot Krutch's Welcome to the Masquerade is alternative metal at its very best.
  • Summoning's "Land of the Dead" has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever.
  • Sentenced had an epic and emotional farewell gig after they decided to disband permanently and the whole gig could be said to be a moment of awesome. The most emotional moments are when the former vocalist makes a surprise guest appearance to bid his own farewell to the fans and the vocalist holding back tears when introducing and singing their swan song "End of the Road" and the lengthy guitar solo that ends the song.
  • Trivium has a butt load of these on Shogun. With earth-shattering cuts such as "Kirisute Gomen" and "Down From The Sky", how could anyone even hope keep their head still?
  • Mayhem definitely has it going for its career, but their primary awesome song is "Freezing Moon". It doesn't matter if it's with Attila Csihar, Maniac, or Dead because it's still awesome to listen to.
  • And then there's Burzum, whose "Det Som En Gang Var" and "Dunkelheit" are considered masterpieces of atmospheric black metal.
  • Bal-Sagoth has many songs that fit this, most notably "Chronicles of Shadow". That song deserves a CMoA all on its own with the line "And liberated virgins from the burden of their maidenhood."
  • Agalloch has many songs that fall under this category, the best examples are the three parts of "She Painted Fire Across the Skyline". Many of their songs combine the right amount of melancholic atmosphere with awesome riffs.
  • Slayer:
    • The entire Reign in Blood album. 30 minutes of pure metal carnage."Angel Of Death" is a highlight for being the most brutal song on the album. Then there's the onslaught known as Raining Blood.
    • Also Hell Awaits, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss. Those three all have slower songs or passages in the mix, but plenty of their slower riffs are just as memorable, if not more.
  • The Lord Weird Slough Feg (now Slough Feg) is proof that metal is alive and well. With songs like "Warrior's Dawn", "Vargr Theme - Confrontation", and "Ape Uprising".
    • Additionally, the whole of Traveller. Rock opera concept about a half-man, half-wolf consisting of twelve awesome songs.
  • Pretty much all the musical output of Dir en grey, whether it's the old Visual Kei stuff or the newer, harsher releases. They are able to go from pop, to rock, to metal, to so hardcore the paint on the wall bleeds.
  • Post-metal, a 'genre' that has been created almost entirely in the service of the Musical Moment of Awesome. The slow crescendo and eventual climax is the whole point, leading to damn near every song being some measure of epic. Examples include the ending crescendo of "So Did We" by Isis, the sudden, beautiful lightning storm at the end of "Burn" by Neurosis, "O'le Nessie" by Mastodon, and "Finland" by Cult of Luna.
  • Sleep was an incredibly influential stoner doom metal band from the 90s. They easily claim the title as heaviest band to ever exist. Take Black Sabbath and get them EVEN MORE high on as much weed as you can possibly have. Their moment of awesome is easily their song "Dopesmoker". A single song that lasts OVER AN HOUR! If you have not been crushed into tiny pieces and had your spirit ascend to nirvana by the end of "Dopesmoker", the bonus live track on the album, "Sonic Titan", will finish the job
  • "And now I'm standing staring at the world..." Hell, the entire Crack the Skye album qualifies as Awesome Music, so anyone who's not familiar with the band should think about starting there.
  • "Breadfan".
  • And now for something completely different, yet awesome: Apocalyptica. Some good pieces: "Inquisition Symphony", "Hyperventilation", "Hall of the Mountain King" and the best of all: their rendition of "Nothing Else Matters" takes the cake, hands down. "Ruska", meanwhile, is a Tear Jerker.
  • Czech band Root is undeservedly obscure.
  • Russian band Arkona's folk metal. Just listen to their "Rus".
  • The Hungarian folk metal band Dalriada. Pretty much all of their songs have unbelievably catchy choruses. For example "Hajdútánc".
  • Behemoth have many songs that could qualify for a CMOA but the best of the best is probably this.
  • Just for the page intro: you want aggressiveness? Then Heaven Shall Burn will more than sate your needs. After detonating your eardrums a thousand times over, of course. Their duet with Deadlock's lead singer Sabine Scherer, 'Given in Death', is something that nobody thought would work, but it turned out to be a masterpiece. There's a reason it got so much attention.
  • Anaal Nathrakh, with their downright brutalizing take on Black Metal, mixing it with Industrial Metal, Death Metal and Grindcore. And yes, it worked. Listen.
  • The entirety of Tristania's album Widow's Weeds is awesome. You've got the epically catchy "My Lost Lenore", the brutal and dark "Wasteland's Caress", and the heartbreaking Tear Jerker that is "December Elegy" (if you don't have tears in your eyes at that violin solo, you sold your soul). All topped off with one of the greatest uses of Soprano and Gravel in gothic metal.
  • Within Temptation "Our Solemn Hour", with guest appearance by Winston Churchill.
  • Manowar. Everything. What, that's not enough? Oh fine:
  • "You Are A Pirate" from LazyTown is very catchy right, well check out the Alestorm version...
  • Gamma Ray, especially the Somewhere Out In Space album.
  • In This Moment are simply epic, especially "Forever"
  • Soilwork's first four albums are a bit noisy and sound a little immature. Their next four albums, however, are some of the most epic metal albums around. Once you start with the first song on their 2003 album Figure Number Five.
  • Motörhead: something something something THE ACE OF SPADES! THE ACE OF SPADES! Then there's "Overkill", a stop-start section done 4 times that gets better everytime. Especially when the Big Four play it and their drummers continually one-up each other.
  • Diamond Head:
  • Ill Nino. You thought Nu Metal sucked? Listen to every single album these guys have put out.
  • Pick nearly any song by Chimaira. Any. "Power Trip", "Resurrection", "Trigger Finger", "Let Go", "Army of Me", "The Venom Inside", "Sp Lit", "Comatose", "Year of the Snake", "Eyes of a Criminal" and "All That's Left is Blood" are barely even a small handful of awesome tracks these guys have put out. We can't wonder why this is one of metalcore's biggest Ensemble Darkhorses.
  • Demon Hunter's The Triptych was a nearly flawless album. Front to back. True Defiance ties with it for being the band's best albums.
  • Sevendust are quite possibly one of the few good bands under Nu Metal, along with Ill Nino. Songs like "Disease", "Unraveling", and "Ugly" are good places to start.
  • Atmospheric black metal band Drudkh has several. "Glare of Autumn" seems to be the fan favorite.
  • Machine Head definitely deserves a mention. Listen to their entire Burn My Eyes album. The Blackening and Unto the Locust deserve mention as well. A grand example: "I Am Hell".
  • Anything at all by Fear Factory. "Slave Labor" is probably the best of the best. The electronics in the main riff are just amazing.
    • Anything off of their album Mechanize. "Powershifter" and "Fear Campaign" are truly awesome. And that's just the beginning.
    • The Industrialist. From the opening title track all the way to their cover of Pitch Shifter's "Landfill", you will headbang so much that by the end of the album you'll have a broken neck.
  • Heidevolk - "Vulgaris Magistralis"
  • Ladies and gentlemen, Nonpoint. Alternative metal doesn't get much better than these guys.
    • Try to listen to the first three songs on their fourth album To the Pain, particularly "There's Going to Be a War!" without headbanging.
    • "I Said It" off their Self-Titled Album, which is essentially a really angry (not to mention badass) "The Reason You Suck" Speech to somebody that the narrator really hates. It's aggressive, fast, mean, and actually succeeds in making the listener feel Elias' anger. And who can forget the part when he screams, "YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BALLS IN YOUR POPS!"?
    • "Reborn" features the band attempting thrash metal. It's awesome.
    • "Frontlines", an emotional hard rock song that gives a shout out to our troops. May also count as a Tear Jerker for someone with a friend or relative fighting in the war.
    • The Return is one of the best nu metal albums to come out since the genre went out of style. The riff in "Razors", for example, is insane.
  • Anthrax is usually thought of as the least musically important band of the "Big Four" and are therefore overlooked. But that's simply an injustice for the band that made classics like "A.I.R.", "Skeleton in the Closet", "Belly of the Beast", "Got the Time", "Indians", "Madhouse", and "Caught in a Mosh".
    • Their albums Worship Music and For All Kings have a ton of strong material too. Check out "Suzerain" from the latter. NOTHING IS OVEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!
    • The sheer awesomeness that is their very first song on their very first album, "Deathrider"!
  • Pretty much anything by Black Label Society. If you're looking for some classic metal with a modern edge and a southern twist, you should not pass them up. "Fire It Up" is only one of the MANY awesome songs they've done.
  • The entire Guitars That Ate Your Brains album qualifies. Pure metal, pure virtuosity and pure eargasm.
  • Silent Genocide by ZP Theart's new band (I AM I) is a pretty cool jam.
  • Overkill. EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. SONG. From the very first song on their debut Feel the Fire to the closing track on their 16th album The Electric Age, the band never slows down, never changes their sound for the worse (only for the better), and never lacks passion. There's a reason why Thrash Metal critics call them 'tragically underrated'. If you like pure old-school thrash and haven't yet checked these guys out yet, DO IT NOW.
  • Ice-T proves that he can heavy metal just as well as gangsta rap with Body Count's Cop Killer.
  • Hammers of Misfortune create an amazing blend of traditional metal with progressive metal and have even included elements of folk, power, thrash, doom and black metal in their music. On top of that, they incorporate heavy co-operation with both male and female vocalists. The Trial and the Grave shows how female vocals in heavy metal are done right.
  • Manilla Road offers diamonds of awesome metal.
  • There's a reason why Deftones are the most respected band in Nu Metal, as well as one of the very, very few in the genre that are still making music. Their songs go from earth-shattering and brutal ('Hexagram', 'Elite'), radio-friendly and catchy ('Hole in the Earth', 'Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)'), a cross between both ('Diamond Eyes', 'Rocket Skates'), soft and experimental ('Digital Bath', 'Beauty School'), and they have even produced some good songs outside of metal completely ('Teenager', 'Pink Cellphone'). In other words, Deftones are simply one of the best metal bands to break through during the 1990s.
    • "Combat". It opens with an ambient intro for about a minute, fooling the listener, and the the drums kick in and Chino's rampaging screams come in. Combine an awesome riff with the atmospheric hooks, and you get the best song on Saturday Night Wrist.
    • If "Hexagram" doesn't make you feel Chino's anger, you just don't like metal. It's unbelievable how he keeps his vocals under control after screaming like that.
    • Anything off of Diamond Eyes, especially the title track. It contains the perfect balance of melody, atmosphere, and distortion to the point is may be a contender for the Signature Song of their post-Cheng era.
    • Koi No Yokan. All of it. Special mention goes to "Gauze", "Goon Squad", "Tempest", and "Swerve City". Anybody who likes melodic, atmospheric metal needs to hear that album, even if they've never checked out Deftones before.
  • Skindred plays what they call 'reggae metal'. Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds. This is just an example.
  • Besides every single track on Exodus's Bonded By Blood and Exhibit B: The Human Condition, there's also The Toxic Waltz, Children of a Worthless God, Blacklist, War is my Shepherd, Bedlam 1-2-3, and last but certainly not least, Bonded By Banjo, made in response to the "Rob Dukes is a redneck and therefore he sucks" fan attitude.
  • Anything by Sepultura, even after Max's departure. From "Roots Bloody Roots" from Roots to "Dead Embryonic Cells", no wonder it's Brazil's best-selling metal band of all time.
  • Classic/power metallers Iced Earth create some of the most awesome pure metal around. The albums Burnt Offerings and The Dark Saga are excellent starting points. The latter is even a Concept Album about Spawn! Yes, that Spawn. When a metal band sings about him, you know they're good.
    • "Dante's Inferno". 16+ minutes of metal greatness.
    • If you doubted Tim 'Ripper' Owens' vocal skills while he was with Judas Priest, The Glorious Burden and Framing Armageddon albums may change your mind about him.
  • Five Finger Death Punch have plenty of this to go around. Much of their album War is the Answer qualifies - "Hard to See", "Burn It Down", and "Dying Breed" in particular. "Lift Me Up" features Rob fucking Halford and is manly enough to put even "Ai Wo Torimodose" and "Holy Wars: The Punishment Due" to shame.
  • Battlesoul, oh, Battlesoul. Almost ANYTHING by them, which is a mixture of Celtic Folk Metal, Power Metal keyboards and thrash metal drumming, plus Melodic Death Metal, Genre Mashup indeed, that doesen't makes them any less awesome, Wolf and Oathbreaker from Lay Down Thy Burdens, and from Tir Na Nog Songs of Our Heroes, are the most incredible.
  • One word: PANTERA. "Walk", "Drag The Waters", "Slaughtered", "Fucking Hostile"... The first attempt at Groove Metal is already the best.
  • On the instrumental side of metal, Joe Stump's "Speed Metal Messiah" pretty much proves he is just that.
  • The Retraux style and Worldbuilding lyrics of The Sword's Warp Riders album, "Lawless Lands" being a good example.
  • In 2013, American stoner rock band Monster Magnet covered Donovan's "Three Kingfishers", originally a gentle and lilting song. This is what they did with it.
  • Majesty:
  • Cormorant is a band that loves to mix a whole lot of genres together while being unique, earning a lot of praise for showing their work, and giving us awesome songs like The Emigrant's Wake and Junta.
  • Type O Negative gives a lot of Gothic cheesy Halloween vibes to their music, in a fantastic way. Give a listen to Black No. 1 and Christian Woman and try to say otherwise. They were once hired to create a theme song for Kane, but was passed over in favor of "Slow Chemical". The unused theme was later given a full version as a bonus track called Out of the Fire. HOW COULD ANYONE TURN THIS DOWN?
  • Viking Metal band Windir gives us "Sóknardalr". It's a gorgeous, truly divine instrumental that makes one feel as though they've made it to Valhalla in style.
  • Absu, one of the flagship bands in the Black/Thrash genre, features Proscriptor McGovern, possibly one of the best drummers in this blue Earth. All of their discography counts as awesome, but the Tara LP and the In The Eyes Of Ioldánach EP are their crowning achievements. Have a taste here and here.
  • You thought Deathcore sucked? Think again!
  • Mongolian folk metallers The Hu bring in some kickass pieces, complete with throat singing, folk instruments like the morin khuur and jaw harp, and awesome mustaches.
  • Youtuber 331Erock has TONS of amazing metal remixes of non-metal songs.
  • You think non-metal guitarists would suck at writing Heavy Metal? Think again! Even non-metal guitarists can write and play genuinely awesome metal riffs and serve more evidence of metal's influence.
  • The biggest shred collab song series is full of awesome, amazingly written guitar solos with a heavy dose of Genre Roulette. There is even an all-female version. Lead Bassist is in full effect in this video. Who says Nobody Loves the Bassist when they can solo and do it wonderfully?
  • Anvil's album, Metal on Metal is full of monster riffs spanning various styles of heavy metal. The album has been cited by many as influencing several other metal bands. The album and the band are cited as being the blueprint for a variety of metal bands, including the "Big Four" of thrash: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth.

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