Starting Today: MetalSucks Counts Down The 25 Best Metal Bands of All Time!!!
As regular readers are already aware, here at MetalSucks, we absolutely LOVE lists. Not because we flatter ourselves that our lists are definitive (by any stretch of the imagination) — but because they’re great conversation starters. And great conversation is what MS is all about!
So: having already counted down the best metal albums of the century (thus far), the best modern metal guitarists, the best modern metal drummers, the best modern metal frontmen and women, and even the most metal beards, we got together and asked ourselves, “What is left to list?!?!”
And then the answer hit us: we needed to count down THE 25 BEST METAL BANDS OF ALL TIME!
But we didn’t wanna leave such a massive undertaking to ourselves, so we enlisted some help… specifically, we polled over a hundred of metal’s most revered musicians, critics, journalists, artists, publicists, and industry insiders and ASKED them what they thought. These people are creators, movers, and shakers; if you love metal, chances are more than a few of ’em have played a big, big part of your passion for the genre over the years, be it through their music, the bands they’ve discovered and signed, the bands they’ve worked tirelessly to promote, or even the news items, group profiles, and album reviews they’ve written. In other words: they’re all experts in the field, and they know what’s up.
The rules of the poll were simple: each voter listed his or her (or, in some cases, their) picks for the 25 best metal bands of all time, in order, with 1 being the best and 25 being the least-best (“worst” doesn’t really apply here). Their number 1 picks were allotted 25 points each, their number 2 picks allotted 24 points each, and so on and so forth. Every voter was assured that although their identities would be made public, their ballots would remain private, so that they could vote honestly, without fear of alienating any of their peers or business associates. Then we tallied up all the votes, and voila!, we have a list of the 25 bands that, in the not-so-humble opinions of this illustrious group of voters, represent the absolute crème de la crème of metal — not just modern metal, but ALL metal, from its inception right up until today.
We’ll begin counting down the winners today at 5 pm EST with number 25, continuing with one band a day until we reach number one. We don’t know if the list will change your own personal opinion as to which bands really have been the “best” in the genre’s history… but we do know it’s gonna spark some stimulating debates!
Here are the men and women who made up the panel of voters. Don’t forget to come back at 5 pm EST to find out who came in at number 25!!!
Chris Alfano – East of the Wall, Gear Gods
Paul Allender – White Empress, ex-Cradle of Filth
Rob Arnold – The Elite, ex-Chimaira, ex-Six Feet Under
Alan Averill (aka A.A. Nemtheanga) – Primordial
Chuck B.B. – Artist
Matt Bachand – Shadows Fall
Micke Berg – Below
Chuck Billy – Testament
Randy Blythe – Lamb of God
Paul Booth – Last Rites Tattoo and Art Gallery
Jake Bowen – Periphery
Terry Butler – Obituary
Liz Ciavarella-Brenner – Publicist, Earsplit PR
Blake Charlton – Ramming Speed
Richard Christy – Charred Walls of the Damned, ex-Death, ex-Iced Earth, ex-Control Denied, The Howard Stern Show
Monte Conner – President, Nuclear Blast Entertainment
Bruce Corbitt – Rigor Mortis, Warbeast
Doc Coyle – ex-God Forbid
Sergeant D. – MetalSucks, Stuff You Will Hate
Topon Das – Fuck the Facts, Merdarahta
Anso DF – MetalSucks
Peter Dolving – Rosvo, ex-The Haunted
Ryan J. Downey – Superhero Artist Management
Sacha Dunable – Intronaut, Bereft, Dunable Guitars
Vince Edwards – Head of Publicity, Metal Blade Records
Excretakano – MetalSucks
Exmortus
Extreme Management Group
D.X. Ferris – Slayer Scholar
Ryan Fleming – Black Table
Jon Freeman – Publicist, Freeman Promotions
Matthew Friesen – Culted
Ville Friman – Insomnium
Mike Gitter – Senior Director of A&R, Razor & Tie
Frank Godla – Metal Injection, Meek is Murder
Mike Greene – Director of Digital Marketing, Razor & Tie
Shane Handel – Set and Setting
Jeff Hodak – Head of Sales, Razor & Tie
Terence Hannum – Locrian
John Hoffman – Weekend Nachos
Mark Hunter – ex-Chimaira
Don Jamieson – That Metal Show
Daniel Jansson – Culted
John Jarvis – Pig Destroyer, Fulgora
Gaz Jennings – Death Penalty, ex-Cathedral
Patrik Jensen – The Haunted
Rick Jimenez – Extinction A.D.
Kassa – Below
Mirai Kawashima – Sigh
“Grim” Kim Kelly – MetalSucks
Zeena Koda
Erik Kluiber – Gypsyhawk
Eyal Levi – Unstoppable Killing Machine, Dååth
Jason Lekberg – IKILLYA
Adam Lindmark – Morbus Chron
Ryan Lipynsky – Serpentine Path, Unearthly Trance, The Howling Wind
Jonah Livingston – Ramming Speed
Bob Lugowe – Director of Promotions/Marketing, Relapse Records, Brutal Panda Records
James Malone – Arsis, Necromancing the Stone
Jose Mangin – Director of Music Programming, Sirius XM Liquid Metal
Bobby Mansfield – 16
Misha Mansoor – Periphery
Morgan McGrath – Live Nation
Mike “Gunface” McKenzie – The Red Chord, Stomach Earth, Nightkin
Vince Neilstein – MetalSucks
Eventansvarig Biostaden Nyköping – Below
Chris Ojeda – Byzantine
Casey Orr – Rigor Mortis, Warbeast
Rob Pasbani – Metal Injection
Anders Persson – Portrait
Chris Pervelis – Internal Bleeding
Karim Peter – Artist Relations, IndieMerchandising
Raphael Pinsker – Booking Agent, 3Thirteen Entertainment Group
Polar
Markus “Rabapagan” – Metsatöll
Josh Rand – Stone Sour
Emperor Rhombus – MetalSucks
Gus Rios – Gruesome
Tobias Rosén – Noctum
Axl Rosenberg – MetalSucks
Travis Ryan – Cattle Decapitation, Murder Construct, Nader Sadek
Saturn
Marc Schapiro, Branch Marketing Collective
Zach Shaw – The Syndicate
Patrick Sheridan – Fit For An Autopsy
Alex Skolnick – Testament
Brian Slagel – Chairman/CEO, Metal Blade Records
Mark Solotroff – Anatomy of Habit, Bloodlust!, BLOODYMINDED
Steve “Zetro” Souza – Exodus, Hatriot
Kevin Stewart-Panko – Decibel, MetalSucks
Black String – Vampire
Jason Suecof – Audiohammer Studios
Bram Teitelman – Metal Insider
Nick Tieder – No Jacket Required Marketing, Indegoot
Tone Deaf Touring
Aaron Turner – Old Man Gloom, ex-ISIS, Hydra Head Records
Brody Uttley – Rivers of Nihil
George Vallee – Head of Publicity, Street Smart Marketing
Dirk Verbeuren – Soilwork, Bent Sea, Scarve
Jens Vestergren – Below
Jake Wade – Columns
Kelly Walsh – Publicist, Prosthetic Records
Mike Wohlberg – The Fat Kid Illustration
Wookubus – The PRP
Zodiac
