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Crank up the volume and prepare to headbang! Join us as we count down our picks for the most influential, important and downright outstanding recorded examples of heavy metal history! Our countdown includes albums from Black Sabbath, Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Motörhead and more! Which album do YOU think deserves the top spot? Let us know in the comments!
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00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be counting down our picks for the most influential,
00:14important, and downright outstanding recorded examples of heavy frickin' metal.
00:20The only thing you see, you know it's gonna be, the ace of spades, the ace of spades.
00:2620. Under the Sign of the Black Mark It's one of those albums that basically serves
00:42as ground zero for the black metal genre and how evil-sounding heavy metal would develop
00:47from the late 80s into the 90s.
00:50Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark wasn't the first album from mastermind and
00:55multi-instrumentalist Quarthon, but it did draft a blueprint.
01:05A sonic roadmap for primitive but addictive riffing, harsh screaming vocals, and a lyrical concept
01:12that felt legitimately possessed by occult forces.
01:22Bathory would explore even more unique musical territory in future years, trailblazing Viking
01:28metal with LPs like Hammer Heart.
01:30But it's here on Under the Sign of the Black Mark, where black metal felt codified and
01:35ready to conquer the underground.
01:45Number 19.
01:47Danzig.
01:48Danzig.
01:48Mother.
01:51Tell your children not to walk my way.
01:54Die-hard fans of Glenn Danzig know full well how influential his discography has been to
02:00legions of different genres.
02:03Danzig, the man, has influenced everything from punk rock with the Misfits…
02:13To goth with Samhain and heavy metal with a group that bears his name.
02:18That first self-titled album in particular remains one huge benchmark for the kind of
02:24direct, meat and potatoes, metal that Danzig was attempting here with his new band.
02:36Bluzy, bar-hopping riff-crawls meld with dark, satanic-minded crooning with a heavy Elvis
02:43fetish to create something truly unique.
02:46It's rare for heavy metal to sound this erotically charged and groovy.
02:57But those are just two of the reasons why this album is so great.
03:08Number 18.
03:09Beneath the Remains.
03:11Sepultura.
03:20The viciously satanic origins of this Brazilian metal institution were tempered here on their
03:26landmark third album from 1989.
03:29Beneath the Remains showcased remarkable growth for Sepultura, building upon the structure of
03:351987's more mature-sounding LP, Schizophrenia, into something that made metal fans across the
03:42world stand up and take notice.
03:52This was death metal with a compositional edge.
03:56Still aggressive and thrash-based, while also honing in on complex song arrangements.
04:02Beneath the Remains didn't sacrifice heaviness for structure, yet ultimately attained both via
04:07the compositional chops of frontman Max Cavallera and guitarist Andreas Kisser.
04:18It doesn't even feel like hyperbole to label this album as one of death metal's finest hours.
04:32Number 17.
04:34Heartwork.
04:35Carcass.
04:43The history of Carcass is one of those rare instances where a band managed to influence
04:49multiple genres throughout the course of a varied discography.
04:53This English band's early work consisted of ridiculously brutal and medically-minded treatises
04:59on gore.
05:00But Carcass's decision to ink a deal with Columbia Records signified a change.
05:12The increased attention to melody that crept up on 1991's Necrotism, descanting the insalubrious,
05:20was amped up even further only two years later on Heartwork.
05:23Converse the pain to degenerate the emotions.
05:28Degeneration.
05:29Converse the pain.
05:30Degenerate.
05:31Granted, Bill Steers' gurgling vocals may be missed on this release, but Jeff Walker's
05:37sandpaper shrieks feel distinct and notably more decipherable.
05:42Elsewhere, the guitar interplay between Steer and Michael Amotz would go on to contribute to the rise of melodic death
05:48metal during the late 90s.
05:5616.
05:58Among the Living.
05:59Anthrax.
06:06Metal fans love a list.
06:08They also love debating the who's who from various genres.
06:12This naturally includes the public perception of thrash metal's Big Four, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax.
06:27This latter group achieved their biggest commercial success with one rager of an LP from 1987 titled Among the Living.
06:36An album that basically took the Anthrax formula of moshable riffs, epic vocals, and a hardcore punk spirit and perfected
06:43it with some of the group's best songs.
06:50Caught in a Mosh, Indians, I Am The Law, and the title track are all certified Anthrax classics, with most
07:02remaining setlist staples to this day.
07:1315.
07:15Slipknot.
07:16Slipknot.
07:16Commercial heavy metal received a new face back in 1999.
07:27Actually, make that eight faces, since the masked members of Slipknot all brought their unique personalities and talents to a
07:34group that, in lesser hands, would have died on the vine as a gimmick.
07:38Fans responded in droves to the Slipknot sound, however, one that melded downtuned riffing with added percussive elements, confessional lyrics,
07:55and even a smattering of turntable sampling.
08:04It was a sound that might not have worked on paper, but Slipknot possessed enough imagination and lore to make
08:11the sound of this self-titled album resound to the tune of over three million in U.S. sales.
08:24Number 14.
08:26Holy Diver.
08:27Dio.
08:34Ronnie James Dio was basically finished with the collaborative process by the time this first album, from his eponymously titled
08:41group, hit store shelves.
08:43Dio's resume was seriously impressive at this point.
08:47A certified metal legend, who had fronted both Rainbow and Black Sabbath prior to releasing Holy Diver.
08:54Yet, this was a band where Dio didn't have to answer to anybody except himself, and this showed in songs
09:00like Caught in the Middle, Don't Talk to Strangers, or Stand Up and Shout.
09:12These were 80s metal anthems that all served Dio's generational voice, boasting simple arrangements and direct rhythms in order to
09:20emphasize those melody lines.
09:22It worked, too, kicking off a career that thrived until Dio's unfortunate passing in 2010.
09:28Show!
09:30Show!
09:32Show!
09:33Yeah!
09:35Number 13.
09:37Cowboys From Hell.
09:39Pantera.
09:48One of the reasons why this fifth album from Power Groove Titans Pantera works so well is due to those
09:55slight remnants of their glam metal past.
09:57Those slick riffs present on tunes like The Art of Shredding, the power ballad structure of Cemetery Gates, or frontman
10:11Phil Anselmo's Rob Halford-influenced wail.
10:14Pantera was a group that still believed in heavy metal's past.
10:18Well, I guess you took my youth and gave it all away!
10:22While simultaneously forging its future, Cowboys From Hell is an incredibly heavy record, particularly for one recorded in E-Standard
10:32tuning, but also a dynamic one with peaks and valleys of mood.
10:36This has helped make it something of an evergreen record for metal fans, one that they will continue revisiting year
10:44after year.
10:53Number 12.
10:55High and Dry.
10:56Def Leppard.
10:57Consider this album from 1981 as the rougher, more raucous cousin to 1983's multi-platinum smash Pyromania.
11:12The Def Leppard fans' favorite Def Leppard album, if you will.
11:16Sure, Pyromania may have all of the hits and great deep cuts too, but High and Dry combines the band's
11:23ever-present sense of melody with more street-level influences that marked their new wave of British heavy metal period.
11:30...
11:39Pete Willis' swan song as Lep's guitarist resulted in some truly epic bangers here, from LetItGo and Another Hit N'
11:46Run to the instrumental ś있625 and hit single, bring it on the heartbreak.
11:56Then there's Lady Strange, which just might be the best Def Leppard song you've
12:01never heard. Until now, that is. You're welcome.
12:11Number 11. Slaughter of the Soul, At the Gates
12:15Sweden's At the Gates were initially a much more technically-minded act during their early
12:20days, but 1995's Slaughter of the Soul signified a seismic shift in the underground.
12:35Melodic death metal, specifically the Gothenburg sound, was spearheaded by At the Gates, as well
12:41as their peers in Dark Tranquility and In Flames, and it felt fresh and invigorating. These were
12:48songs, without any fat, directly composed with the intent to become anthems.
13:02At the Gates achieved this in spades on Slaughter of the Soul 2, as main songwriter Anders Buehler
13:08ripped out tunes that felt memorable, yet still unequivocally death metal.
13:18Elsewhere, frontman Tomas Lindbergh utilized interesting lyrical metaphors to cover everything
13:24from mortality to substance use disorder, in a unique and poetic manner.
13:30Number 10. Shout at the Devil, Motley Crue
13:41Shout at the Devil just has to be one of Glam Metal's ultimate no-skip albums, a record that so
13:48perfectly distills the inherent danger present within early Motley Crue. Ask anybody who was
13:54there, or has at least read the dirt. The crew was the real deal. They walked their partying ways like
14:07they'd talk them, yet Shout at the Devil also achieved success on a musical level. These are
14:12great songs that are full of hooks and sleazy menace. Danger, Red Hot, Bastard, and looks that kill rage,
14:28while that title track is an 80s metal anthem to end all anthems. Sure, the Beatles cover of Helter
14:35Skelter seems a bit superfluous, but other than that, Shout at the Devil is pretty much perfect.
14:49Number 9. Operation Mindcrime, Queensryche
15:00Composing and releasing a concept album has always been
15:03in delicate territory, a creative space that runs the risk of alienating or confusing fans.
15:10Thankfully, Queensryche hit a bullseye with 1988's Operation Mindcrime,
15:15the Washington Band's third and best album.
15:26Queensryche was also a razor-sharp musical proposition, one that performed riffs with surgical
15:32skill and which possessed one of metal's all-time best singers in the form of Jeff Tate.
15:46Operation Mindcrime contains something extra, however, emotion. Fans could legitimately hang
15:52on to Tate's every word within this album's story of love, desperation, and government-sponsored
15:58assassinations. Does that sound intriguing to you? If so, then we highly recommend spending the next
16:04hour of your life devoted to Operation Mindcrime.
16:15Number 8. Blizzard of Oz
16:18Ozzy Osbourne
16:26Many heavy metal eyes were on Ozzy Osbourne in the wake of his departure from Black Sabbath in 1979.
16:32Osbourne's new band would notably include guitar prodigy Randy Rhoades within its ranks,
16:37alongside bassist Bob Daisley, keyboardist Don Airy, and Uriah Heap drummer Lee Kerslake.
16:52Blizzard of Oz was notably less gloomy and doomy than Ozzy's work with Sabbath, demonstrating a new
16:58commercial streak that encouraged more and more fans to Ozzy's fold. It served as the start of a
17:04solo career that would endure for decades. A debut album that felt carved out of solid rock from Heavy
17:11Metal's proverbial Mount Rushmore.
17:21Number 7. Rain in Blood
17:25Thrash metal simply didn't get heavier, faster, or more intense than this back in 86.
17:39Slayer basically dared every other pretender to their throne to get on their level with
17:44Rain in Blood, a short and succinct masterpiece of scorched earth proportions.
17:57Slayer punished their audience with the heaviest riffs, the fastest paces,
18:01and some of metal's most provocative lyrics up until that point.
18:13The band also cemented their legacy in this fashion, allowing for Rain in Blood to serve as the new
18:20benchmark for furiously untouchable thrash metal, with a dark atmosphere all its own.
18:45It's extremely likely that many Motorhead fans could each single out a different LP from the band's
18:51lengthy discography as their favorite. Yet there's also no denying how important Motorhead's fourth
18:57album, Ace of Spades, was to their creative legacy.
19:07Let's ignore for the moment how that title track basically became synonymous with the band's
19:12No-Nonsense Rock and Roll Attack. The actual album is remarkably consistent, containing heavy bangers
19:18like The Hammer, sleazy rockers like Jailbait, or the anthemic autobiographical We Are The Road Crew.
19:32Ace of Spades has it all, and is an excellent choice for those new to Motorhead to experience
19:38their iconic style first-hand. 5. Rust in Peace
19:50Megadeth
20:00It's always interesting to contextualize the parallel career paths of Metallica and Megadeth.
20:07The former released their most technically advanced achievement in 1987 with
20:12And Justice For All, while Megadeth, not to be outdone, was about to drop an absolute classic.
20:186. Rust in Peace
20:26Rust in Peace was released in 1990 and couldn't have sounded different from Megadeth's prior LP.
20:321988's So Far, So Good, So What? A fresh lineup again included drummer Nick Menza and guitarist Marty
20:40Freedman, the latter of which would contribute heavily to Rust in Peace's dizzying, frantic approach to
20:53thrash. Megadeth was firing on all creative cylinders here, focusing on intelligent lyrics,
20:58razor-sharp riffs, and song structures that made even the most mainstream music press sit up and take notice.
21:114. Iron Maiden
21:14Iron Maiden
21:23Yeah, we realize that it's probably Iron Maiden's
21:27The Number of the Beast that normally takes top honors on lists such as this one.
21:326. 6. 6. 6. The Number of the Beast
21:36Or perhaps the group's progressive-minded concept album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
21:42For our money, though, we're actually going with Maiden's debut LP from 1980,
21:47their only one with former guitarist Dennis Stratton.
21:58The latter's focus on melody is juxtaposed nicely against the album's primal and aggressive sound,
22:05while singer Paul D'Anno's charismatic vocals lend a snarling, dangerous-sounding punk edge.
22:11I'm running wild, I'm running free, yeah, I'm running free, yeah, I'm running free.
22:19Meanwhile, the album's mesmerizing cover art presents Maiden's mascot, Eddie,
22:24in one of his creepiest and most malevolent forms. It was a moment where a legend became forged.
22:31Walkin' through the city, walkin' through the city, walkin' through the city, walkin' through the city,
22:36I've just got to find my way.
22:393. Painkiller, Judas Priest
22:52Big ups to the underground thrash metal scene for kicking things into overdrive and inspiring Judas Priest
22:58to unleash what certainly was their fastest and most aggressive full-length album, The Mighty
23:04Painkiller. This is an unrelenting album that's practically on fire, from first note to last.
23:11Frontman Rob Halford is peeling paint off the walls with his vocals here.
23:22While Scott Travis' drumming wastes no time getting the show on the road via his unaccompanied
23:28intro drum solo. Elsewhere, the riffs of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton deliver everything Priest fans
23:42want and more, raging in a fashion that no Priest album has duplicated, back then or now.
23:552. Master of Puppets – Metallica
24:07What can you do when tasked to single out the greatest Metallica album of all time? Do you go
24:12with the youthful exuberance of Kill Em All or the Black Album's commercial appeal? Sometimes the correct
24:18answer is the most obvious, so in this case it's gotta be Master of Puppets.
24:29The album's legacy is admittedly bittersweet, since it was to be Metallica's last with bassist
24:35Cliff Burton. But what an album, right? Master of Puppets is warm-blooded and passionate,
24:41the kind of thrash metal that's involved without being clinical.
24:51There's still a looseness at play here that allows for the songs to breathe while remaining intense.
24:58Metallica sound confident here, and why wouldn't they be? They had just released… an all-time
25:03masterpiece.
25:121. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
25:16Black Sabbath released two albums that would help forge an entirely new style of music. The sound of
25:22heavy metal's doom and heavy gloom could be heard on Sabbath's self-titled debut from February of 1970.
25:36The band would then double down in September of that same year with Paranoid, an LP that proved
25:42Sabbath not only were here to stay, they were here to change everything. That album, which was initially
25:49supposed to be called War Pigs, does indeed contain that song. But it also includes apocalyptic anthems
26:04like Electric Funeral, and the groovy Fairies Wear Boots, and the monolithic Hand of Doom.
26:19Ozzy himself said it best.
26:27What's the purest form of heavy metal? The old school? The underground? Sound off in the comments.
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