What is the BEST METAL INTRO TRACK of all time?

[Formerly known as Chris F5]

Initiation from Keeper of the 7 Keys part 1

 

[Mardoch]

Hot damn! 5 years to the day, lol.

Fun thread though.

Nociceptor - Intro (Among Insects)

R1: Periphery - New Groove (Icarus EP)
R2: Pain of Salvation - Of Two Beginnings (Remedy Lane)

cheaty choice 4: Pain of Salvation - Spirit of the Land (One Hour by the Concrete Lake)

I opted for things that others hadn't already covered (some of them because they weren't out yet five freakin years ago, lol). Lots of brilliant picks already chosen. I can't believe no one chose those two PoS tracks though, damn. I've always thought those were near perfect. Almost Angra quality openers.

I still don't think anyone does an album opening 1-2 punch like Angra.

 

[Arabianhazard]

Animae Partus By Pain Of Salvation

Runner ups
War Of Wrath by Blind Guardian
Be Careful It's My Head Too By Beyond Twilight

 

[Ghost Wind]

Vicious Rumors - Premonition
Fates Warning - No Exit (yeah has vocals but is only :41)
Helstar - Rhapsody in Black
Savage Grace - Call to Arms (think it would count)

 

[orcslayr23]

I'm not really a fan of this band, but I think the intro before The Vampire from Nazareth by Septic Flesh is terrifying.

 

[zinescene]

One of the best that comes to minds is

Helloween - Walls of Jericho which is the intro to Ride the Sky.

 

[ApostateOfHarvestopia]

Example with Kamelot:

The first track on The Black Halo is “March of Mephisto” which starts out with the sound of an army marching and the commander barking orders. As f**king cool as this is, it doesn’t count for the purposes of this post because it’s a part of the actual song and not it’s own track. However, “New Allegiance” off of their “The Fourth Legacy” album would count because it’s track #1 and it runs 54 seconds long.

Bad example because you're wrong. This is the intro track to The Black Halo:

 

[orcslayr23]

My favorite intro that is its own contained track has to be Elvenking - To Oakwoods Bestowed

 

[Random Axe]

Given my love of Russian classical composers, I can only think of Overture from Savatage's Dead Winter Dead.

 

[drmetal8]

Funny that you list several Kamelot intro tracks, but not my favorite: "New Allegiance" from The Fourth Legacy. It is perfect in length.
Note: If anyone mentioned it, sorry I missed your comment.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

The Hellion from JUDAS PRIEST and The Crusader Prelude from SAXON.

 

[SF Metal Man]

Rush - Overture - 2112 (a bit long at about 4 1/2 minutes but still an intro....)

It doesn't meet the stated criteria since it is part of a bigger song. However, in my opinion that is the best 4:33 of music ever made.

 

[nomisofsiman]

2. The Hellion -- Judas Priest

This. End/thread

 

[Met-Al]

Sorry, Simon!

I have to throw in my two cents before you put the kibosh on this thread. Let's see if anyone recalls these awesome intros:

1) "Equinox" by Elegy (from the album "State Of Mind")--The build up from the keyboards into the choir with the same melody is just haunting, and then Henk Van De Laars (one of the most underrated guitarists in prog metal) comes in with the perfect lead to go over all of it. The icing on the cake is that it goes into "Visual Vortex!"

2) "3rd Challenge" by Angel Dust (from the album "To Dust You Will Decay")--There's something about power metal intro tracks from the 80s that really tickles my fancy. Kamelot-styled intros sound great, but you can tell that it was all done on computers. With this Angel Dust intro, I think you can truly imagine all of the musicians required to pull this off being on stage before the band comes in to kick your ass with "Mr. Inferno."

3. "Horizons" by Ion Vein (from the album "Beyond Tomorrow")--Remember when Ion Vein was a prog metal band? Boy, do I miss that. There's a really subtle piano part playing along the chugging guitars that are also kind of subtle amongst the overlying keyboard theme. It's also an intro that actually has drums! Just as it is with "The Hellion," it's nice to hear an intro that can actually be played by the band who released the album!


Forget the honorable mentions! If they were that honorable, they would have made the list!


Stay metal. Never rust.
Albert

 

[Fizrider]

Rush - Overture - 2112 (a bit long at about 4 1/2 minutes but still an intro....)

I scrolled through 3 pages to make sure someone else posted this one, as this is the one that popped to my mind.

The segue from this to "Temples of Syrinx" is perfectly executed.

And to say this doesn't count because it is all one long song - stupid semantics. It is the first movement within a 20 minute symphony.

 

[srosenblatt]

A couple of my favorites:

"Arise" by Pyramaze, from the album Immortal
"Otherworld" by Eluveitie, from the album Everything Remains (As It Never Was)
"Inertia" by Insomnium, from the album One For Sorrow. This is prob my favorite of all time. It's 3+ minutes, but there are no lyrics, and it perfectly bleeds into the second track. When I first heard it, I listened to it over and over. So, I hope it still counts.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Welcome, by Savatage
[/COLOR]

For the win!

~Brian~

 

[sccaldwell]

Vanden Plas- Fire Blossom

That was the first one that came to mind for me, too. The fact that it leads into such an awesome song is a bonus, too.

As my runner-ups, I'll go with:

Haken - Premonition
Queensryche - Anarchy X

I was going to list "The World is Born of Flame" by "3" as my 2nd track (and Haken 3rd), but listened to it and it does have some (minor) lyrics. Great track, though...love Joey's guitar work!

Have to agree with the folks who list "Overture" from Rush's 2112, too. I didn't list it because on the CD it IS part of the same track as the other 15 minutes of 2112....but as someone else said, that's purely semantics and shouldn't matter. Might bump "Fire Blossom" out of #1...

Craig

 

[Creeps]

The Hellion - Priest

Into The Lungs of Hell - Megadeth

 

[jaimek]

Anarchy X and Fire Blossom, hands down.