I've been following Erik Mona's blog for quite awhile now at Lemuria Press, and he's been waxing nostalgic about metal music, Metallica and Megadeth for the last few days. And I think it's great! I've been a metalhead since I discovered Kiss at 11 and to find out the Publisher of my favorite gaming stuff loves the same stuff I do is like mana from heaven!

For the record, I hate the new Metallica. My face CD by them is: And Justice For All.

My fave Megadeth would have to be: Peace Sells..But Who's Buying.

Fave new metal: Killswitch, Trivium and DevilDriver.

PS Mona likes Dr. Who too! Awesome.

I've never liked Metallica (some of the people I associate with go so far as to refer to them as S$!@allica).

I have also always been a big fan of "Peace Sells (but Who's Buying)" by Megadeth. At the TV station I work at, we even used it as late-night background music for the town announcement board once.

In my opinion, some of the better metal bands out lately are:

- Dethklok (a.k.a. Brendon Smalls and Gene Hoglan)
- Mastodon
- DevilDriver
- Machine Head
- Otep
- Rammstein
- The Agony Scene
- The Dillinger Escape Plan
- Throwdown
- Hatebreed

As Paizo's other resident metalhead, I felt like I should drop in on this thread. :)

While Erik has some great metal in his collection, and I agree that folks like old Metallica did some amazing work and laid excellent foundations for the things to come (who doesn't love some Master of Puppets, particularly live?), I think it's a mistake to cut things off at the '80s. I know there was a dark, dark period there during the nu-metal days, but I feel like a lot of the metal coming out right now, with its strong hardcore influence in terms of screams and blastbeats, plus the resurgence of prog sensibilities as a new generation of musicians takes the philosophy of folks like Dream Theater and adds a new level of speed and aggression, really captures the essence of what the genre's all about and places the emphasis back on musicianship. My current favorite metal bands include people like Protest the Hero, Oh Sleeper, Misery Signals, Norma Jean, Between the Buried and Me, Killswitch Engage, My Bitter End, and more.

And of course, obligatory plug - if you're a fan of hardcore prog metal, you might like my band, Shadow at Morning... we just released a new EP last week and have the whole thing up for free on www.myspace.com/shadowatmorning. :)

Count me in on the metal love. I like a lot of the bands already mentioned. My fav is Archenemy. There's a cool interview with Angela Gossow --> here.

I'm also a big fan of Dethklok, In Flames, and Soulfly, to name a few in my huge metal collection.

Opeth rules the roost, though Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, older In Flames and Soilwork are great too.

Aw, man, I forgot about Soilwork and In Flames. SOiL and Dream Theater, too.

A few bands that not all would consider metal, but I still like:

- Nightwish
- Seether
- John 5
- KMFDM
- Marilyn Manson
- Verjnuarmu
- Godsmack

I've been inspired by Erik to unearth my own metal past. I pulled out the two boxes of cassettes the other night, and sorted them into genres.

Heavy Metal (e.g., Metallica, Megadeth, Testament, Overkill, Exodus, etc.)
Thrash/Mosh Metal (e.g., Anthrax, SOD/MOD, etc.)
Crotch Rock (e.g., Poison, VanHalen, Motley Crue, etc.)
Bad, Cheesy Metal (e.g., Zodiac Mindwarp, Bang Tango, Smashed Gladys, Love/Hate, Shok Paris, Slave Raider, etc.)

It appears that I had a LOT of Bad Cheesy, Metal....

Last night, I played Metallica "Kill Em All", followed by a band called Scatterbrain, with a funny melody "Down With Ship". I also played some W.A.S.P. tonight, "The Headless Children". Ah, the memories.....

Thanks, Erik!

There's a few bands missing from these lists.

What about...

-Iron Maiden (just saw them back in May)?
-DragonForce (not just Inhuman Rampage, but Valley of the Damned)?
-Dio (that's right, I said it!)?
-Racer X (not well known, but Paul Gilbert is a beast!)?
-Judas Priest?

To be honest, there's very few metal bands that I don't like. Just thought I'd name off a few of my favorites.

Ahhh, Racer X....Scarified still stands up today...(Sadly, the same can't be said for Mr. Big...LOL.)

I remember endlessly listening to my prog-rock like Tony McAlpine and Vinnie Moore alongside Yngwie Malmsteen, Maiden, Slayer and all the rest.....Ahhh 80s, I am your ugly stepchild...

Oh yeah, and I'll throw in a plug for Godsmack...saw them live once and they really brought down the house....

Add me to the Judas Priest fan list. I tend not to enjoy anything much harder than that (no use for Thrash).

I have to give some props to Five Finger Death Punch. After previewing the album on itunes, I immediately purchased the entire album. Good anger but still musical - somewhat reminiscient of Pantera.

And of course, obligatory plug - if you're a fan of hardcore prog metal, you might like my band, Shadow at Morning... we just released a new EP last week and have the whole thing up for free on www.myspace.com/shadowatmorning. :)

Shameless pluggery. ;-)

I'm listening to Sabbath - Master of Reality as I saw this thread.

Best Metallica : Master of Puppets
Best Megadeth : So Far So Good So What

I'm really p-o'ed that I missed Maiden on this last tour, but I'm going to see Judas Priest in a month.

Of new stuff, my favorite would have to be System of a Down.

<==== Long time metalhead and hardcore punk lover.

this forest
is growing faster than I can tell

Yes..Classic Metal Fan Here...

Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin etc

One of my favorite bands is Fates Warning

Also like Slayer

Got to see JP, Slayer at Ozz Fest (2?) years ago.

\m/ @ \m/

Gawd yes! Loves the metal! (no, really?!!?)

Sturmvogel, I truly envy you. The boys are only playing like 8 US cities this year. Ive seen Maiden twice (and Bruce solo once). Would tear someone's arm off to see them again!!!

Timitius, "Don't call me dude!" "Family of four...family no more. Drunken Milkman...driving drunk"

Shiny, did you pick up the MDFMK cd? "G~* d!*n the Torpedoes" was a pretty cool track. And what about Lamb of God?

OMG don't forget about The Sword! They are awesome!

Also, young Sutter, I don't cut off good metal at the 80s.

I cut it off some time between 1991 (Metallica's Black Album) and 1992 (Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction).

The latter is even worse than the former, but they (mixed with lame albums from Anthrax and Danzig) effectively killed my interest in metal until I heard The Sword a couple years ago.

And Sutter, when in god's name did you see Metallica perform Master of Puppets live?

IN THE WOMB?!?!

When I'm on the computer at home, I listen to Sirius channel 6027. Two songs they play that remind me of D&D/PF are Protest the Hero's Bloodmeat & Mastodon's Circle of Cysquatch. I can listen to both those songs over and over.

There's a few bands missing from these lists.

Doesn't everyone like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Accept, Saxon, WASP and Judas Priest? Everybody loves Diamond Head, Angel Witch and the first Onslaught album, right? That just goes without saying.

Best Megadeth album: Rust in peace, even though for some reason all the songs off it sound awful live. I like Youthanasia and Cryptic writings a lot as well.
Best Metallica album: Ride the lightning.

I also played some W.A.S.P. tonight, "The Headless Children". Ah, the memories.....

That, sir, is an awesome album, dare I say their best by far? And it's not just a good album by W.A.S.P. standards. It's "awesome," period. Blackie Lawless has one of the best and most distinct/emotional voices in rock. Totally underrated.

But he also has got to have the worst presence/acting in music videos... bad cheese all the way.

Best Thread EVER!!!!!!

Best Megadeth Album: "So Far, So Good... So What!"
Best Metallica (yeah, I've since lost faith in them too): "Master of Puppets"

Best new(er) metal bands: Opeth, Tristania, Amon Amarth, Apocalyptica (minus the latest album). Therion's "Secret of the Runes" is a masterpiece.

Saw Megadeth live for the fifth time last May... must admit that that was one time too many.

Seeing Iron Maiden a few weeks back was quite an experience, though... one of the best live performances I've ever seen, up there with U2's Popmart and Tool.

Glad to see that Erik has some metal in his soul!

My wife is the metal head in the family. She's been slowly training me over the years. Recently, she's found the new Apocalytica album. I have to say three cellos and a drumset can kick ass. My only question is how do they keep their hair off the strings when they're head banging.

How odd that this thread would pop up, I was just looking in the spare bedroom closet for "Five Magics" this morning.

In the car, my wife listens to Christian Contemporary; I listen to Metal and Punk--one of my favorite pranks is to change her channel presets! The vehicle radio is synched with the car key... I'm sure you can imagine the ensuing aural conflagration!

For new I like "Monotheist" by the now defunct (again) Celtic Frost, and some of the lyrics in my attempt to kill the lyrics thread, were from them (tho from different albums), I saw Megadeth at the Keghouse (a bar) in New Haven on "Killing is My Business" tour. (Tho "Peace" is probably the best album by them)

for D&D type stuff Warlord: Deliver Us, Jag Panzer: Ample Destruction, Armored Saint: March of the Saint are some ancient and obscure goodness.

I played my first gig in 1987 warming up for local/national act Obsession, in a band called Multiple Stab Wounds (MSW) and have been in and around metal and hardcore for years. Jamie Jasta's 1st band "Jasta 14" used to warm up for "the Unexplained" a hardcore band I was in years ago. I can't count how many metal and Hardcore musicians I've met and hung out with, known and unknown (not trying to be pompous-just sayin) I didn't figure there were this many metalheads on here...specially leftovers like myself! (/codger)

Metallica's a great band especially the 1st 3 albums but there are bright spots on the later stuff...I don't know about what's coming out now. St Anger sounds like it was recorded in a metal box with the snare turned up to loud, and in my opinion the titanic sound that turned so many people's heads was got by Flemming Rassmussen; Bob Rock = evil commercial b##$~~$*

EDIT:Oh Yeah, Forgot PROBOT!!! PROBOT RULES!!

And Sutter, when in god's name did you see Metallica perform Master of Puppets live?

IN THE WOMB?!?!

Maybe he caught the 2006 tour (20th Anniversary of MOP)?

Haven't seen Maiden live, but wish I had; in the 80s I was too young, in the 00s, I've no spare time or money. The only time I had the cash and time to see them was in the Blayze Bailey years. Guuhh!

Yes..Classic Metal Fan Here...

One of my favorite bands is Fates Warning

Oh, yes, Mac, I agree...Fates Warning, and Saxon as well, are in my collection as well.

Let's also not forget Death Angel, Type O Negative, Armored Saint, among others.

And, for me, the Cult is the ultimate rock band. Not really metal, but I saw them for the first time with Metallica on the "Justice for All..." tour. The Cult = AWESOME. Period.

I'd have to say that I bailed from the metal scene when when rap was mixed with metal to create rapcore...ugh. Rap was bad enough! Also the NW grunge scene was a definite factor, and I easily transitioned into Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, Smashing Pumpkins, etc, etc, etc. when I moved to the Pacific Northwest for grad school.

Since then...I've gone industrial/EBM and goth metal. Thank you Trent Reznor for bringing industrial to the forefront. NIN, Ministry, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, Front 242, Machines of Loving Grace, Gravity Kills, and Voivoid. I've since slid to stuff like VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, Assemblage 23, Icon of Coil, The Birthday Massacre, and Razed in Black.

And those are just a few....of my faaaaavorite things....

And Shiny....I am a HUGE KMFDM fan. The MDFMK album was such a great one..."Stare at the Sun"..."Rabblerouser." Excellent. Still, Nihil is their best. "Juke Joint Jezebel" is my favorite.

For a few of my favorites:
- Judas Priest
- Blind Guardian (some great fantasy stuff)
- Gamma Ray
- Edguy
- Iron Maiden
- Pantera
- Iced Earth
- Demons & Wizards
- Moonspell
- Subway to Sally
- In Extremo
...o.k. I probably could go on for a while but I will stop here - I rather look up some of the other posters favorites...
- Therion (somehow forgot this one - they did some real masterpieces...)

Also, young Sutter, I don't cut off good metal at the 80s.

I cut it off some time between 1991 (Metallica's Black Album) and 1992 (Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction).

Yet, there were some nice transitional metal bands in the 90's.

Three off the top of my head:
Helmet
Tool
Therapy?

I should never have forgotten about Rage (German Band with some Killer albums in the middle and later part of their career) and Rhapsody (also they do sound cute rather then imposing sometimes)

And let's not forget Raging Slab either!

And Sutter, when in god's name did you see Metallica perform Master of Puppets live?

IN THE WOMB?!?!

Live as in "DVDs of live concerts." You're correct that by the time I was old enough to appreciate them, they were already well into their decline. :)

When I'm on the computer at home, I listen to Sirius channel 6027. Two songs they play that remind me of D&D/PF are Protest the Hero's Bloodmeat & Mastodon's Circle of Cysquatch. I can listen to both those songs over and over.

Both of Protest the Hero's albums are amazing. Any time I need inspiration for the bass, I can go listen to them and come away realizing just how much I have left to learn....

Sutter, I just watched your MySpace videos.

HOLY CRAP! Way to JAM, man!

BTW, did the camera person have something against you on the "Janus" video?

Who knew that carrot juice was so rich in heavy metals? ;-)

For a few of my favorites:

- Judas Priest
- Blind Guardian (some great fantasy stuff)
- Gamma Ray
- Edguy
- Iron Maiden
- Pantera
- Iced Earth
- Demons & Wizards
- Moonspell
- Subway to Sally
- In Extremo
...o.k. I probably could go on for a while but I will stop here - I rather look up some of the other posters favorites...
- Therion (somehow forgot this one - they did some real masterpieces...)

HA! Edguy! I remember them... back when I was running a loud rock show on my college radio station, we played them and Primal Fear a bunch (I'm still not entirely sure I can tell them apart). I have trouble listening to much of the high-pitched tight-pants metal these days (once you get used to the screaming, it's hard to go back) but I still get Primal Fear's Metal is forever... for-ev-er... for-ev-er.... stuck in my head on a regular basis. :)

Sutter, I just watched your MySpace videos.

HOLY CRAP! Way to JAM, man!

BTW, did the camera person have something against you on the "Janus" video?

Who knew that carrot juice was so rich in heavy metals? ;-)

Thanks, Tim! And there's plenty of me in the other songs from that set, but my laptop self-destructed before I could upload the rest of the videos. (I need to get The Gunslinger up there... that's by far my favorite song we've written.)

But yeah... that was a fun show. It's the first time we've headlined a venue that size, and by the end I could barely stand up. :)

For a few of my favorites:

- Judas Priest
- Blind Guardian (some great fantasy stuff)
- Gamma Ray
- Edguy
- Iron Maiden
- Pantera
- Iced Earth
- Demons & Wizards
- Moonspell
- Subway to Sally
- In Extremo
...o.k. I probably could go on for a while but I will stop here - I rather look up some of the other posters favorites...
- Therion (somehow forgot this one - they did some real masterpieces...)

Those are some good bands to list for the fantasy stuff. Especially Blind Guardian - they rock!

Hammerfall is another good fantasty themed metal band.

Metallica was "life" back in my High School days (graduated in 90); Up till the Black Album they were the "IT" for metal. I also loved megadeth back then _ "So Far" album was my fav. "In My Darkest Hour" is probably my fav song by Megadeth. Someone mentioned Metallica's St.Anger sounded like it was recorded in a metal box - that's pretty much what I've been saying - in a metal garage beating on pots and pans!!! I loved Alice In Chains for a while to replace the heyday of Metallica - but that didn't last too long....

Iron Maiden would be the only band I would say I enjoyed as much as the "then" Metallica. I just saw Maiden here in May. By far one of THE best live performances of a metal band I've ever seen. Phenomenal. Played all 14 mins of Rime of the Ancient Mariner! Unbelievable!

I do love Dream Theatre (best album: Images and Words) and Queensryche (best album: Operation Mindcrime) (saw them together on tour a few years ago) and other Maiden-ish sounding metal as well, so I'll have to check out some of these other bands I've been seeing listed here.....I love those operatic sounding vocals such as in those three bands.

Newer metal - I love Godsmack (they are my current favorite) - seen them 8 times live - great in concert! Rob Zombie (seen him twice), and Disturbed (seen them twice). I also like Tool quite a bit - different kind of Metal for sure - but very talented!

Robert

I sense the need for a Mona's Metal Hour at PaizoCon II....

(Pencils that in to the ideas for scheduled events)

HA! Edguy! I remember them... back when I was running a loud rock show on my college radio station, we played them and Primal Fear a bunch (I'm still not entirely sure I can tell them apart). I have trouble listening to much of the high-pitched tight-pants metal these days (once you get used to the screaming, it's hard to go back) but I still get Primal Fear's Metal is forever... for-ev-er... for-ev-er.... stuck in my head on a regular basis. :)

Try Edguy again some time (Rocket Ride) or Avantasia (Kind of an all star project by Toby Sammet). The improved BIG TIME. Esecially Toby (the singer) there is now way you can't tell them and Primal Fear apart now.

Lately I listen mostly to Swedish Death Metal, so fav bands among others: Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Children of Bodom;

Apart form those, ofcourse Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Grave Digger, Moonspell, Therion, Samael, Immortal, Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Haggard, Theatre of Tragedy, Iced Earth, Rammstein, Tool, Death, Sepultura, Soulfly, Bal Sagoth, etc. etc.

Its nice to see metalheads among the community! I don't know about the States, but in Greece most of the ppl who are into RPGs are probably metalheads! :)

I've found myself drawn towards Scandinavia as well. Amon Amarth - and the goodness that is Viking Metal - is among my most listened to at the moment. I'm also being drawn towards some great Finnish folk and pagan metal lately, including Moonsorrow (anyone else like 20+ minute songs?), Finntroll, and Korpiklaani. Still, I do love most metal, with the many times aforementioned recent Maiden tour, and probably one of the greatest shows I've seen where Mastodon and Killswitch opened for Slayer. I'm also looking forward to the upcoming At The Gates tour. Good stuff.

My music pendulum swings between punk and metal, with hc in between.

Finntroll are fantastic! Now if I could understand the lyrics too... :(

Cool, I was surprised to see how fast this thread grew!

As far as metal goes, I love: Anthrax, Armored Saint, As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Sabbath, DevilDriver, Dio, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Maiden, Priest, Killswitch Engage, Static-X, Lamb of God, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Fight, Candlemass, King Diamond, WASP, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slayer, Testament, Scatterbrain (as someone else mentioned, and I always loved "Mr. Johnson and the Juice Crew"), Godsmack, Bruce Dickenson, Iced Earth, Accept, Trivium, Ozzy, Exodus.

I love Prog too: Dream Theater, Rush, Saga, Yes, Spock's Beard, Queensryche, Floyd, Asia, LTE, Mullmuzzler

Then there's good ole hard rock/hair music: Warrant, April Wine, BOC, Purple, Riot, Quiet Riot, Kiss, Vixen, Alan Parsons, Tesla, Whitesnake, Europe, Dokken, Stryper (yes, Stryper).

I hope the prog and hard rock don't ruin my metal cred. If it helps, I've been in a few metal bands over the years, and I tend to favor thrash guitar style when I play my axe!

So cool that so many rivetheads are gamers!

So I got Mona sharing my Metal roots; and Jacobs is a horror flick junkie, also like me. Cool!

PS I need to check out Sutter's stuff. See if he can riff off the E string like a true shredder...

Been banging my head for 2 decades now, and I wanna add my favorites:

(in no particular order)

-Black Sabbath (saw 'em live back in 1990)
-Iron Maiden (also 1990)
-Bruce Dickinson solo (never saw him solo, unfortunately)
-Cradle of Filth (would I wanna see 'em live? prolly)
-Dream Theater (live 3 times so far)
-Queensryche
-Led Zeppelin (I wish!!!)
-Thin Lizzy (dito)
-Whitesnake (1990)
-Gary Moore (everything before the blues stuff...1987/88, I think)
-Living Loud
-Badlands

I will not mention Ozzy since I despise what he did to Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake!

Been banging my head for 2 decades now, and I wanna add my favorites:

(in no particular order)

-Black Sabbath (saw 'em live back in 1990)
-Iron Maiden (also 1990)
-Bruce Dickinson solo (never saw him solo, unfortunately)
-Cradle of Filth (would I wanna see 'em live? prolly)
-Dream Theater (live 3 times so far)
-Queensryche
-Led Zeppelin (I wish!!!)
-Thin Lizzy (dito)
-Whitesnake (1990)
-Gary Moore (everything before the blues stuff...1987/88, I think)
-Living Loud
-Badlands

I will not mention Ozzy since I despise what he did to Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake!

I'm still mad at Ozzy for the way Sharon, Zakk and the others treated Maiden at Ozzfest a couple of years back.

I definitely preferred Gary Moore sans Blues (remember "Led Clones"?).

I've actually met Dream Theater about 3 times; I've got a friend that knows Jordan Rudess personally. I'd have to say that currently, they are my favorite band. Petrucci can play any guitar style flawlessly.

As for Badlands, whatever happened to Jake E Lee? (Or Vito Bratta for that matter?)

older stuff----
Morbid Angel
Flotsom and Jetsom (Quatro)
METAL CHURCH!!!! (duh!)
Celtic Frost
Iron Maiden (7th son of a 7th son)
Anthrax (Persistance of Time)
Biohazard
SLAYER!!
Testament (Practice what you preach!)
Dio
Obituary
Queensryche
Dream Theatre

newer stuff----
Slipknot
Godsmack
Chevelle
Avenged Sevenfold
and a few others

Metallica is alright before the Black album, Fav album is Garage days or Ride the Lightning by them. Much rather hear some old high-pitched metal though.....like Metal Church.

I've actually met Dream Theater about 3 times; I've got a friend that knows Jordan Rudess personally. I'd have to say that currently, they are my favorite band. Petrucci can play any guitar style flawlessly.

I've seen them five times now and met Petrucci and Myung at the hotel I was staying at in Chicago in 06. As with you, they currently are my favorite band.

older stuff----

Morbid Angel
Flotsom and Jetsom (Quatro)
METAL CHURCH!!!! (duh!)
Celtic Frost
Iron Maiden (7th son of a 7th son)
Anthrax (Persistance of Time)
Biohazard
SLAYER!!
Testament (Practice what you preach!)
Dio
Obituary
Queensryche
Dream Theatre

newer stuff----
Slipknot
Godsmack
Chevelle
Avenged Sevenfold
and a few others

Metallica is alright before the Black album, Fav album is Garage days or Ride the Lightning by them. Much rather hear some old high-pitched metal though.....like Metal Church.

"Watch the Children Pray"???

How about Grim Reaper? That guy used to sing pretty high. As does King Diamond.