Interesting. I’ve never thought of Alice in Chains as metal, but honestly the lines between subgenres of rock are so razor thin you could use them to split hairs.

My favorite hands down is Gojira. Every album has wonderful songs with unique rhythms. Plus nothing channels my anger quite like environmentalism and anti-capitalism.

I don’t listen to much other “metal” in the strictest sense of the term, but Alter Bridge has been my favorite band for a long time, like ever since I first heard a song by them. They’re probably closer to hard rock, but they’ve got some really heavy songs in their discography like The Other Side, Bleed it Dry, Sin After Sin, and Waters Rising.

Same goes for Mark Tremonti’s side project, “Tremonti.” Brains, Make it Hurt, and Bleak are such killer songs.

Between the Buried and Me for a representation from the more prog-side of metal. Highly recommend.

The Contortionist, Reflections, Invent Animate, BTBAM, Silent Planet, Humanity’s Last Breath, Enter Shikari, Northlane

• Wolves In The Throne Room
• Panopticon
• Zulu
• Celtic Frost/Triptykon
• The Infernal Sea
• Nile
• Konvent
• Crypta
• Wayfarer
• Paradise Lost
• Green Lung
• Gaerea

• Animals as Leaders
• Archspire
• Atheist
• Beyond Creation
• Black Sabbath
• Cryptopsy
• Death
• Dio
• Dream Theater
• Gojira
• Intervals
• Iron Maiden
• Judas Priest
• KoЯn
• Meshuggah
• Metallica
• Mudvayne
• Necrophagist
• Obscura
• Opeth
• Periphery
• Pestilence
• Revocation
• Slayer
• System of a Down
• Testament
• Tool
• Trivium
• Viraemia
• How the fuck long am I gonna make this list?

Currently in no particular order it’s

Beast in Black

The Dark Side of the Moon

Angus McSix

Dianne

Ad Infinitum

Feuerschwanz

Unleash the Archers

Sabaton

Nightwish

1. Exodus
2. Municipal Waste
3. Overkill
4. Venom
5. Slayer

Past that there I don’t know the order… Although Warbringer, Havok, Onslaught and Death Angel would definitely be up there.

EDIT: That’s just Thrash Metal anyway.

• Metallica
• Slayer
• Cannibal Corpse
• Slipknot
• Fleshgod Apocalypse
• Pantera
• Skeleton Witch
• Gojira
• Behemoth
• Rammstein
• Ensferium
• Agalloch
• Judas Priest
• War Bringer
• Decrepit Birth
• The Faceless
• Static X
• Bloodbath
• Cradle of Filth
• Insomnium
• November’s Doom
• Arch Enemy
• Winter sun
• Lamb of God
• Trivium
• Nile
• Necrophagist

This is always hard for me lol. G Metallica takes top spot, that’s just the way it is.

But there’s an ever shifting bunch after that. Iron maiden pretty much qualifies for spot #2, though I’ll have spurts where I listen to someone else more.

An example of that is vitriol. I just discovered them recently, so I’m obsessed.

Amon Amarth, Kataklysm, Megadeath, GWAR, Dio (I guess any band RJD was in might as well be added to that), Ozzy and Sabbath separately or together, ac/dc if you count them as metal, anthrax, dimmu borgir, halestorm, spirit box, and that’s the bands that have major presence in any metal playlist I set up.

There’s some, like guns n roses, or Skyclad, (just as examples, there’s tons more) where I like specific albums, or specific eras of the band, rather than the band as a whole.

But that first group, I can pop in any album they have and listen to it with maybe a few skips here and there, though I might not really listen as much as with other albums. Megadeath is like that a lot, where I kinda treat it like background music on some albums because the lyrics are kinda meh, or the songs don’t really click for me, but I still like the overall sound.

Hell, cannibal corpse and dying fetus are pretty much entirely like that lol. Can’t understand a word without lyrics in front of me, but who cares, right? The vocals aren’t meant to be understood, they’re part of the composition. But I can have them going in the background and just pay attention on my favorite songs.

My top 5:

Sleep Black Sabbath Motorhead Witchcraft Amon Amarth

• . Misery Index.
• Pig Destroyer.
• Napalm Death.
• Sepultura
• Soilent green
• Baroness’ early work
• Kylesa
• Worm rot
• Space Slug
• Primitive Man
• Uncle Acid
• Kayser
• Pitch Shifter (up to infotainment)
• Godflesh
• Fudge Tunnel
• Nailbomb
• Living Sacrifice
• Converge
• Pryapus
• Callous Dao boys
• Botch
• Asthma Castle
• Black Sky Giant
• Bossk
• Storm of light
• Corrosion of conformity
• Orange 9mm
• Beastwars
• The Saw Tooth Grin
• Convulsions
• Stoned Jesus
• BRAINXTOILET
• Clan of the Cave Bear
• Kill Division
• Joy Division
• Irist
• Dying Fetus
• Abortion Survivor
• Death toll 80k

I can go on

If Soundgarden counts as metal, then that’s my favorite one. And Audioslave. I thought they were grunge, though…

When I hear “metal bands” I’m thinking like… Deth Klok and Party Cannon or Gojira. Or old school like Led Zeppelin.

Death, Kreator, Alestorm, and Motörhead, in no particular order

*Meshuggah *Otep *Ozzy Osbourne *Black Label Society *Lamb of God *Korn *Firewind *DethKlok *36 Crazyfists *Deftones *Probably a crap load more…

These are just random order…it’s too hard to place them… I’m pretty sure all my above picks would be considered some form of metal.

Based on how much I listen to them on an on going basis, my top ones would be:

• Metallica
• Slipknot
• Machine Head
• Avenged Sevenfold
• In this Moment
• Alter Bridge
• Any combination of Ozzy, Sabbath, or Zakk Wylde

Punk/Hardcore that could be considered metal

• Blood for Blood (although I think Buddha is a piece of shit)
• Ramallah (former members Blood for Blood without Buddha)
• Sick of it All
• H2O