Favorite heavy metal bands

[HollowaytoSeivers]

Iron Maiden
Metallica
Iced Earth
Dream Theater
Judas Priest
Black Sabbath

also, I'm a huge Led Zeppelin fan but they aren't heavy metal.

I would add Saxon and Accept to your list, but that's just my two pennies worth.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Good band to see live.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Not in order.
Pantera
Slayer
Black Sabbath
Cannibal Corpse
Opeth (old stuff, new albums meh)
Cattle decapitation
Integrity
Metallica
Burnt by the sun
Iron Maiden
Emperor
Scorpions
Cephalic Carnage
and Pig destroyer just to name a few.

 

[Electric Orange]

Acid Bath
Pantera
Primus
Black Sabbath
Tool
Guns N Roses
ACDC
GWAR
Isis
Jimmy Hendrix
Melvins
White Zombie
Electric Wizard
Alice In Chains
And of course... BUCKETHEAD

 

[Electric Orange]

And
Zeppelin
SLAYER
Metallica
Sleep
ZZ Top
Ozzy solo

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Love Dream Theater. Excellent group.

Their latest album "Distance Over Time" is a masterpiece! I easily have it in my top 5 DT albums of all time. Funny too because it followed "The Astonishing" which I consider one of their worst albums of all time.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

If I had to pick one, Between The Buried And Me.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

If I had to pick one, Between The Buried And Me.

Seen them a couple times live and their shows are brutal. Brutal meaning violent in the pit.

 

[bigdaddy]

Wow this is tough. I have favorite albums but favorite band......I guess Lamb of God

 

[kiddiedoc]

Some good lists in here. I'd add Sepultura, for sure... Heaviest show I ever attended, and they were incredible in their prime. Also, RATM would probably considered their own brand of heavy.

Newer stuff: FFDP, Bullet for my Valentine, Halestorm, In this Moment.

It's hard to pick a single favorite, as that largely would depend on my mood. Metallica would probably be my choice, although I think Pantera has a strong case with its three album run of Cowboys, Vulgar Display, and Far Beyond Driven.

 

[volinbham]

Montrose

 

[FLVOL_79]

Man this is a tough one. Just off the top of my head

Maiden
Priest
Pantera
Mercyful Fate
King Diamond
Blind Guardian
Megadeth
Metallica
Slayer

 

[marcusluvsvols]

TOOL.

TOOL.
Rage
Deftones.
Alice n chains
Pantera
Etc etc

 

[71VOL]

PRIEST

 

[GAVol]

Maybe not my #1, but I'm posting so that Motorhead appears in this thread somewhere.

 

[Tennesseefan2019]

Judas Priest
Ozzy Ozbourne
AC/DC
Black Sabbath
Accept
Rose Tattoo
Iron Maiden
Scorpions
Motley Crue
Suicidal Tendencies

 

[n_huffhines]

 

[OrangeTsar]

Yes, perhaps the most ridiculous moment in music history.

No, that would the the poll in which the British public voted Paul McCarthy the „greatest composer“ of all history (Bach and Mozart be dammed apparently)

 

[Carl Pickens]

I would add Saxon and Accept to your list, but that's just my two pennies worth.

Accept…. Lol… their bass player lives around the corner from me

 

[volinbham]

Masters of Reality

 

[volinbham]

The Mortals

 

[gainesvol82]

Our Last Night
Tool (Borderline Hard Rock/Metal)
Five Finger Death Punch
System Of A Down
Sabbath
Breaking Benjamin
Avenged Sevenfold
Beartooth
I Prevail
Korn
Slipknot
Disturbed
Nonpoint
Cold(2nd & 3rd albums)

Also like Mudvayne, Hellyeah, Sevendust and a bunch of others that have some good songs but only a few.

Zeppelin was metal for their time but blues/folk too. Most metal bands would say they were influenced most by them and Sabbath and Judas Priest.....AC/DC too. Sabbath was the first true metal band, though. Imagine hearing them in '69 and just being mindblown...that blues/metal riff on The Wizard. Wow.

 

[gainesvol82]

I'd go back a year or two and give a lot of credit to Jimi Hendrix. He pretty much took Buddy Holly's set up and used analog or transistor signal processing like the wah-wah, phase shifter, and distortion while throwing in a whammy bar, overdriving tube amps, and speed and created a heavier version of Rock and Roll. Listen to That'll be the Day by BH and then Machine Gun by Hendrix (especially about halfway in). Drums, bass, electric guitars plugged into tube amps. Listen to what Jimi did with Bob Dylan's folk songs (All Along the Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone).

Deep Purple along with Zep and Sabbath were pioneers in the sound as well. They have songs and/or portions of songs that are heavy metal although their music is far more diverse. Even the Beatles dabbled around with it (Revolution). John Lennon especially turned up the dirty distortion (listen to the 18 bars of (1, 4, 7) McCartney to (2, 5, 8) Harrison to (3, 6, 9) Lennon trading licks in The End on side 2 of Abbey Road).

Heavy Metal "bands" focus on that element of Rock. Kind of deemphasizing the blues roots, exclude acoustic compositions and ballads, and keep the tempo fast and the amplification dirty. But even heavy metal bands will throw in some ballads. Judas Priest's Beyond the Realms of Death for example. They're all just branches coming from the same tree. Rhythm and Blues. Rock and Roll. Rock. Hard Rock. Heavy Metal. Acid Rock. Punk Rock. Thrash Metal. Speed Metal.

One of the best concerts I've ever seen was The Roots. They did a version of Machine Gun that was amazing. Also did a real heavy cover of Roxanne that was awesome. Such a talented band that transcend genres.