25 Most Important METAL bands

[MasterOLightning]

Let's come up with a list. These should be metal bands. No need for proto-metal, prog, hardcore, or other bands that were influential but not metal (so no Zep, Floyd, Rush, Discharge, etc.). These bands should be innovators and extremely influential. If they were neither of these, then their work should be among the best the genre has ever seen. Popularity per se does not equal importance, but it goes without saying that popular bands are inherently more influential. I propose the following bands which should be unquestionable locks for this list:

Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Metallica
Slayer
Bathory
Carcass
Mayhem
Darkthrone
Burzum
Motorhead

These bands should all belong, but I could imagine some disagreement:

Death
Possessed
Morbid Angel
Suffocation
Emperor
Mercyful Fate
Candlemass
Venom
Opeth
Dream Theater

Maybe:

My Dying Bride
Celtic Frost
Megadeth
Atheist

diSEMBOWELMENT
Evoken
Saint Vitus
Pentagram

Sodom
Massacra (Death/Thrash)
Artillery
Sabbat (UK) and (Jap)
Heathen

Tormentor
Master's Hammer
Root

In Flames
At the Gates
Cynic
Enslaved
Godflesh
Summoning

Napalm Death
Repulsion
Overcast
Dismember
Entombed

 

[skeptik]

Motorhead is also a lock.

 

[MasterOLightning]

And Motorhead is definitely metal and not proto-metal? That's the only reason I didn't include it originally.

 

[skeptik]

Definitely Metal.

 

[MasterOLightning]

Done. Still need more suggestions at this point. I think it's a bit thin on doom, thrash, and avant-garde/progressive type bands.

This would cause massive, and possibly thread derailing debate, but I think Opeth should be considered.

 

[hibernal_dream]

Megadeth? Celtic Frost? Immortal?

 

[Death Animal]

ACCEPT

Death and Venom should be there.

 

[skeptik]

I agree with Opeth. They're definitely important, regardless of one's opinion.

Doom Metal:

Saint Vitus
Pentagram
Candlemass (as you said)
diSEMBOWELMENT
Evoken

Thrash Metal:

Sodom
Massacra (Death/Thrash)
Artillery
Sabbat (UK) and (Jap)
Heathen

Black Metal:

Tormentor
Master's Hammer
Root

 

[~Neurotica]

Machine Head?

 

[Dän]

How bout some of the NOWBH bands like Motorhead Diamond head etc

 

[MasterOLightning]

I'm going to say no to Immortal. How many Immortal clones are there today as opposed to Darkthrone, Burzum, or Emperor clones? I can't think of too many obvious Mayhem imitators, but Immortal had nowhere near the impact Mayhem did.

Megadeth and Celtic Frost are maybes.

And what about Atheist?

 

[Mort Divine]

Overcast (for being one of the first more metal based metalcore bands, for those who don't recognize the name)
Repulsion

Possessed are a major yes, as they started death metal. I think Atheist deserve a spot.

 

[cookiecutter]

Suffocation for starting brutal death

 

[MasterOLightning]

There's always a Possessed vs. Death debate. You certainly can't put one without the other, imo. I'd say they're both very close to being locks.

Probably should be some metalcore representative, but it would take some convincing for me to put someone no one has ever heard of on there.

 

[Scourge of Malice]

In Flames (or atleast one of the main gothenburg bands)
Cynic
Enslaved
Godflesh
Summoning

Death should be there without question.

 

[cookiecutter]

In Flames (or atleast one of the main gothenburg bands)

I don't like them but I agree, they really burst that scene into popularity and success.

 

[WNxScythe]

CoB? They have a huge number of fans/clones.

 

[hibernal_dream]

I don't think Carcass should be there if Napalm Death aren't. And Immortal are important because they were the first to introduce a frenetic pace for what was at the time a mid-paced, plodding genre. Speed is a critical element of what we think of as black metal today. As for avant-garde/experimental, what about Voivod?

 

[Mort Divine]

There's always a Possessed vs. Death debate. You certainly can't put one without the other, imo. I'd say they're both very close to being locks.

Probably should be some metalcore representative, but it would take some convincing for me to put someone no one has ever heard of on there.

Yeah, I do understand that concern. If I could think of another band that did proper metalcore before them or even soon after them, and were well known, I'd tell you but I don't really know many.

Repulsion however, should honestly be a lock for sure. They pioneered the sound of what alot of modern death metal bands sound like, way back in 1989.

 

[MasterOLightning]

I don't think Carcass should be there if Napalm Death aren't. And Immortal are important because they were the first to introduce a frenetic pace for what was at the time a mid-paced, plodding genre. Speed is a critical element of what we think of as black metal today. As for avant-garde/experimental, what about Voivod?

Carcass did much in pioneering the modern melodic death metal sound that is so common today, as well as their grindcore stuff, which is more important than Napalm Death's. I'd have a hard time putting two grind bands, when grindcore is arguably not metal. It's a close call.

Darkthrone had some really fast parts on ABitNS, and that was in '91. UaFM was fast all the way through almost and that was '93, the same year as Pure Holocaust, iirc. Immortal did little that Darkthrone didn't do, and didn't do better.

Don't know much Voivod. Would need more people to support that.