Reed's Favorite 100 Metal Songs of All Time - Finished

[Brickman | 3,983]

I listened to this album all the time growing up but haven’t in a while.

I loved what Max did on this album, but like you said they were never the same after he left.

I think he made the right choice by forming Soulfly and being able to do more of what he wanted to do.

[Link | 2,709]

Somehow the Spotify links make this thread far less mobile-friendly than snesrankings .com ever was.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

29 minutes ago, Link said:

Somehow the Spotify links make this thread far less mobile-friendly than snesrankings .com ever was.

That site is the worst

[Foochie776 | 1,051]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:16 AM, DefaultGen said:

this list is already bullshit

Agreed. 

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

You know, I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten around to listening to Sepultura before.  Pretty solid.  I liked the Brazilian elements.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

#96: Ayreon - Day Eight: School

If you're not familiar with Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Ayreon, think rock (metal) operas with large casts of celebrity guest musicians.  Big, grandiose, ambitious works.

The Human Equation is the first such album that I owned.  When I moved to my current town, I immediately made a connection with the guy who own(ed) the local cult movie/music/game store by talking to him about heavy metal.  In fact, this was the album I walked out of there with on that first visit, based on his glowing praise.  He's the biggest metal elitist/hipster I've ever met, so that was no small thing.

I picked this track because it's my favorite on the album, but as with many concept albums you're much better off listening to it as a part of a whole.  It fits in better that way, and it's what I would recommend.  Luckily it still works well enough as a standalone track.  But if you have the time, I suggest jumping into the entire thing.

Also, I won't name the (many) superstar guests on this track, I'll let you guys try and figure out who they are.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

I'll ping @SNESNESCUBE64 this time as well, since this is more his ballpark.

 

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

No mistaking that voice on the chorus as well as the voice that leads up to it. I've always loved the over the top prog metal Aryeon. My personal favorite is the Universal Migrator pt 2.

[PII | 1,884]

Don't forget to make some fuck with this little gem!

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by PII

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

That’s one heck of a lineup. The only Ayreon I know is Actual Fantasy album and even then it’s like 2 songs.

[Brickman | 3,983]

Reed: ok this next song will get people’s attention.

Brickman: Reed’s doing pretty good so far with these songs. Some solid bands but nothing I’d go buy the album for.

Reed: Oh really? Posts a song with Devin as guest vocals.

Brickman:

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

1 hour ago, Brickman said:

Brickman: Reed’s doing pretty good so far with these songs. Some solid bands but nothing I’d go buy the album for

Oh, but you should go buy that Mercenary album.  It's nothing but bangers 

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

#95: Spiritbox - Circle With Me

Ask and ye shall receive @MrWunderful

This list is going to cover a broad range of subgenres, which should spark some interesting reactions.  Which will match the reactions I'd get in person.  See, I have different groups of friends that are into different types of metal.  Some of them have some range with what they'll listen to.  Some don't.

My buddy Aaron goes to Nightwish and Moonsorrow concerts with me, but won't touch most anything outside of power metal or old school thrash.

My buddy Kyle will do Mastodon, The Sword, and The Devil Wears Prada, but won't touch power metal with a ten foot pole.

My buddy Levi has sworn by Children of Bodom for 15 years now, but can't be bothered with almost anything outside of MDM.

My team at work is going to Falling in Reverse together, but those guys would be scared off by anything harder.

And so forth.  I on the other hand love all of the above.  That seems to be highly unusual, as people tend to gate themselves off into whatever area they've settled in when they were younger, and the older they get the more entrenched they become.  That's human nature.  Same goes for movies and games.  I don't know why we as a species do that, but I'm sure there's a psychological explanation.  Maybe I'm just a try hard contrarian who has to stay eternally hip and young 

So, knowing this demographic, this isn't gonna be a huge winner outside of maybe guys like Wunderful and @CasualCart .  But it's absolutely in my top 100 metal bands.  And there's gonna be more where that came from.

[T-Pac | 7,534]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

... people tend to gate themselves off into whatever area they've settled in when they were younger, and the older they get the more entrenched they become.  That's human nature.  Same goes for movies and games.  I don't know why we as a species do that, but I'm sure there's a psychological explanation.

So, knowing this demographic, this isn't gonna be a huge winner outside of maybe guys like Wunderful and @CasualCart .  But it's absolutely in my top 100 metal bands.  And there's gonna be more where that came from.

Give me metalcore or give me death ... core.

I used to be really into iwrestledabearonce (which more or less evolved into Spiritbox), but I've soured on both bands a bit because of all the sacrilegious references. My ears love their stuff, but my conscience doesn't haha. This is why I'm usually better-off not reading the lyrics to songs I like...

This is probably the best Spiritbox track I've heard, though. Solid pick.

-CasualCart 

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

#95: Spiritbox - Circle With Me

Ask and ye shall receive @MrWunderful

This list is going to cover a broad range of subgenres, which should spark some interesting reactions.  Which will match the reactions I'd get in person.  See, I have different groups of friends that are into different types of metal.  Some of them have some range with what they'll listen to.  Some don't.

My buddy Aaron goes to Nightwish and Moonsorrow concerts with me, but won't touch most anything outside of power metal or old school thrash.

My buddy Kyle will do Mastodon, The Sword, and The Devil Wears Prada, but won't touch power metal with a ten foot pole.

My buddy Levi has sworn by Children of Bodom for 15 years now, but can't be bothered with almost anything outside of MDM.

My team at work is going to Falling in Reverse together, but those guys would be scared off by anything harder.

And so forth.  I on the other hand love all of the above.  That seems to be highly unusual, as people tend to gate themselves off into whatever area they've settled in when they were younger, and the older they get the more entrenched they become.  That's human nature.  Same goes for movies and games.  I don't know why we as a species do that, but I'm sure there's a psychological explanation.  Maybe I'm just a try hard contrarian who has to stay eternally hip and young 

So, knowing this demographic, this isn't gonna be a huge winner outside of maybe guys like Wunderful and @CasualCart .  But it's absolutely in my top 100 metal bands.  And there's gonna be more where that came from.

I’ve listened to a bit of these guys.  I like it mostly.  Gives me Lacuna Coil vibes.

[Brickman | 3,983]

I’ve heard these guys on the radio a few times, thought they were Australian because the station plays a lot of local music but turns out they’re from Canada.

They’re pretty good, like Hammer said a bit of a Lacuna Coil vibe or if Evanesence went really heavy haha.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

2 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

I’ve listened to a bit of these guys.  I like it mostly.  Gives me Lacuna Coil vibes.

Me too. Been slamming some spiritbox lately as well, great timing @Reed Rothchild

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

On 2/19/2023 at 11:41 AM, Reed Rothchild said:

#95: Spiritbox - Circle With Me

Ask and ye shall receive @MrWunderful

This list is going to cover a broad range of subgenres, which should spark some interesting reactions.  Which will match the reactions I'd get in person.  See, I have different groups of friends that are into different types of metal.  Some of them have some range with what they'll listen to.  Some don't.

My buddy Aaron goes to Nightwish and Moonsorrow concerts with me, but won't touch most anything outside of power metal or old school thrash.

My buddy Kyle will do Mastodon, The Sword, and The Devil Wears Prada, but won't touch power metal with a ten foot pole.

My buddy Levi has sworn by Children of Bodom for 15 years now, but can't be bothered with almost anything outside of MDM.

My team at work is going to Falling in Reverse together, but those guys would be scared off by anything harder.

And so forth.  I on the other hand love all of the above.  That seems to be highly unusual, as people tend to gate themselves off into whatever area they've settled in when they were younger, and the older they get the more entrenched they become.  That's human nature.  Same goes for movies and games.  I don't know why we as a species do that, but I'm sure there's a psychological explanation.  Maybe I'm just a try hard contrarian who has to stay eternally hip and young 

So, knowing this demographic, this isn't gonna be a huge winner outside of maybe guys like Wunderful and @CasualCart .  But it's absolutely in my top 100 metal bands.  And there's gonna be more where that came from.

Metal is an amazing genre of music that is almost as broad as Jazz while certainly way more broad than the rock it derived from. While I've never listened to spiritbox before, this was a great example of a metal version of that traditional rock sound.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

#94: Skeletonwitch - Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery

Oh, Skeletonwitch.  I had such high hopes for you.

When these guys burst into the scene back in the mid aughts, I by chance had something of an inside scoop, as some guys I hung out with in an online metal community were friends with them and gave us all something of a real-time play-by-play of them signing to the label and being picked up for supporting roles on various tours.

And that major label debut was an absolute banger.  Old school blistering thrash with a "blackened" vocal edge.  They even got selected for the Brutal Legend soundtrack.  The sky was the limit.

But they never caught on, and they never quite recaptured the energy of that first album.  Each album seemed more kid than the last.  When I saw them on their headlining tour, I'm not joking when I say there was less than 10 people at the show.  It was depressing.

Still, we'll always have Beyond the Permafrost.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

#93: Arch Enemy - Silverwing

Travelling back to the 90s again, I present Silverwing off of Burning Bridges.  Over two decades later it's still the best work the Swedish supergroup has ever done.

Which is interesting to me, because the vocals on this album could be called lackluster.  One thing AE has been successful in doing over the years is incrementally improving at the lead singer position.  Johan does a workmanlike job here, but he was clearly eclipsed by Angela Gossow later on.  And then she's been soundly beaten by Alissa White-Cruz.

Still, even with that handicap, I think the songwriting was tighter early on.  This album sounds like the missing link between Carcass' Heartwork and Swansong albums, which would make sense because Michael Amott has been the principal songwriter.  And I love both of those albums.

Honorable mentions: Pilgrim, Nemesis, The Eagle Flies Alone

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

#93: Arch Enemy - Silverwing

Travelling back to the 90s again, I present Silverwing off of Burning Bridges.  Over two decades later it's still the best work the Swedish supergroup has ever done.

Which is interesting to me, because the vocals on this album could be called lackluster.  One thing AE has been successful in doing over the years is incrementally improving at the lead singer position.  Johan does a workmanlike job here, but he was clearly eclipsed by Angela Gossow later on.  And then she's been soundly beaten by Alissa White-Cruz.

Still, even with that handicap, I think the songwriting was tighter early on.  This album sounds like the missing link between Carcass' Heartwork and Swansong albums, which would make sense because Michael Amott has been the principal songwriter.  And I love both of those albums.

Honorable mentions: Pilgrim, Nemesis, The Eagle Flies Alone

Always liked this album.  Angela was a definite improvement.  Saw them live and it confirmed that she is the most terrifying woman I’ve ever encountered.  
Pilgrim is my favorite track even if they did just rip that chorus off of Astronomy.  Actually I probably like it so much because of it.  

[Brickman | 3,983]

I feel like Arch Enemy get better the more they age haha. Alissa is definitely my favourite singer they’ve had. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

#92: The Devil Wears Prada - Constance

When this Ohio crew busted onto the scene I was pretty underwhelmed.  Teenage Christian scenester core?  Jesus Christ!  But I still grabbed the albums when I found them all for dirt cheap.  Yeah, they were a mixed bag, with uneven song quality, and the world's stupidest song titles, but there was enjoyment to be found here and there.  

Well, with the Zombie EP they got their shit together, and released one of the best albums of the year.  The songs got heavier, crunchier, and the rough edges were smoothed out.  And then when Dead Throne followed that, we got another one of the best albums of the year.  I could have picked any number of tracks off the album, but I went with Constance due to the great riffs, great groove, great guest spot from convicted felon Tim Lambesis, and an overall atmosphere that strikes me as very... middle Eastern? I don't know, something like that anyway.

Another one that won't be for everyone, maybe anyone outside of @CasualCart and @MrWunderful, but I love this album.  I even saw them on tour supporting it, and they killed.  Subsequent albums haven't quite reached the same high, and they've changed their sound recently, but this will always remain a metalcore classic.

Honorable mentions: Mammoth, Outnumbered, Sailor's Prayer 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Dead throne was killer! Love Untidled. 

[Brickman | 3,983]

Wow that was awful, how did that make it in the top 100?!  oh well there’s always tomorrow