Ripper (a local group in the 80's) Lead guitar & vocals: Rob Graves Guitar: Death Bass: Sadie Paine Drums: JD Shadows Main title song "Death Awaits You!"
My favorite three metal bands are - In Flames - Children of Bodom - Testament Also, don't know about greatest ever but a Japanese Metal band called Maximum the Hormone is very interesting listen. You will not find another band like this. Their formula is mixing deep vocals & Heavy raw guitars and transitioning this perfectly into a catchy pop/punk tune.
Whoa, didn't realize I brought this thread up from the dead. I was just googling metal bands forum to get suggestions for new music to listen to.
I used to be a big fan of In Flames and CoB. Now the only two In Flames albums I like are The Jester Race and Whoracle. CoB I gave up on in 2005. Are You Dead Yet was not for me. I will say this though: In Flames was great in concert when I saw them in 2008ish in Houston. They had a great stage presence and put on a really good show. As far as live performances go, they're up there with the best I've ever seen. For me the top 2 are Meshuggah and Gojira. Honorable mention to Between the Buried and Me - I've recently realized I like their stuff more than I previously thought. I just bought Alaska the other day. Lots of other bands I like, but those are probably my top 3.
Since most of the obvious choices have been stated already, here is a newer band that I like, Arch Enemy. One of the best metal bands in my view...
That's a tough one. But, early Metallica is hard to beat imo...so I have to give them the nod. It seemed like it was them and everyone else for a long time. Of course, there was Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden before Metallica. But, early Metallica was heavier and faster when they came on the scene. They set the bar for what I think of when I think of heavy metal...but obviously metal has many flavors. I think it was Black Sabbath that essentially started the genre...wasn't it? Some claim Led Zeppelin is heavy metal but I disagree. They were influences to the heavy metal bands that came or pretty much everyone that came after.
