Best American Metal

Brooklyn, New York, US (1990 – 2010)

Gothic/doom metal. They're well known for their dry, morbid and ironic sense of humor and their often slow and brooding music. “The Drab Four” (the nickname Type O Negative gave themselves) always succeeded in keeping their own unique style, mixing hardcore rock ‘n’ roll with slow, doom-like vibes, and guitar-laden soundscapes. Lead singer Peter Steele described their music as “bad songs written on a Tuesday night.”

Three best albums in my opinion:

San Francisco, United States (1981 – 1998, 2009 – present)

Alternative metal/experimental rock group that formed in San Francisco, California in 1981. Their music usually combines elements of different genres, namely heavy metal, funk, hardcore punk, progressive, soul, film scores, R&B , hip hop, and jazz, among many others.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Virginia, United States (2000 – present)

American groove metal, originally formed under the name Burn the Priest. The roots of Lamb of God were planted in the year 1990, when Mark Morton, Chris Adler and John Campbell were friends at Virginia Commonwealth University. The trio began playing at Adler’s house in Richmond weathering chilly conditions. “There was no heat in the house,” recalls Campbell. “We would hang around the kerosene heaters, get really drunk and write metal songs. Fumes and Black Label beer were definitely what fueled our early days.”

Three best albums in my opinion:

Los Angeles, California, United States (1990 – present)

Formed by drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, and original bassist Paul D’Amour, Tool is a band that is most noted for combining alternative metal with a wide variety of progressive structures, irregular time signatures and lyrics that range from angry diatribes to meditations on philosophical and social matters.

Three best albums in my opinion:

(1981 – 2003)

Extremely popular metal. Specifically, some fans consider them power metal, groove metal, or an amalgamation of both (so called “power groove”, a term the band devised themselves). Emerging alongside influential classic thrash metal acts such as Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, Pantera was a key formulator of the post-thrash subgenre of heavy metal music.

Three best albums in my opinion:

United States (1981 – present)

Thrash metal. Was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. The band was credited as one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth. Slayer’s musical traits involve fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band’s lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, suicide, genocide, necrophilia, insanity, Nazism, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public.

Three best albums in my opinion:



(this was tough to list)

Orlando, Florida, United States (1984 - 2002)

Influential death metal. Founded by guitarist and singer Chuck Schuldiner. They released several demos as Mantas before changing their name in 1984. Death is widely considered one of the most influential bands in the genre. The band’s debut, “Scream Bloody Gore”, has been described as “death metal’s first archetypal document,” and Schuldiner himself as the “father of death metal”. However, Schuldiner dismissed such attributions in an interview with Metal-Rules.com, stating, “I don’t think I should take the credit for this death metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band.”

Three best albums in my opinion:



(this was tough to list, I can tell ya)

Tampa, Florida, United States (1993 – present)

Death metal band with heavy rock influences on some of their albums. The band was originally a side project by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes with guitarist Allen West of Obituary. They were joined by bassist Terry Butler (formerly of Massacre and Death) and drummer Greg Gall, Butler's brother-in-law.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Oakland, San Francisco CA, United States (1992 – present)

American metal band, Founded by former Vio-Lence guitarist Robert Flynn and Adam Duce, and has only had 3 personnel changes since its inception. The current lineup of the band comprises of Robb Flynn (vocals, guitar), Adam Duce (bass), Phil Demmel (guitar), and Dave McClain (drums). Machine Head is one of the pioneering bands in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut (1994 – present)

Metalcore. Was founded in November 1994 by Jamey Jasta, Dave Russo, Larry Dwyer, and Chris Beattie. Hatebreed’s sound can be classified as metallic hardcore, they are influenced by death and groove metal and their sound has heavily influenced many modern metalcore, hardcore and crossover bands.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Los Angeles, California, United States (1981 – present)

American metal band formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, United States when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in The Recycler. Metallica’s line-up originally consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. Mustaine was later fired due to problems with alcoholism and drug addiction - he went on to form the band Megadeth. Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett took his place. Metallica has been through several bassists, including Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton (who died in a bus crash while the band was on tour), and Jason Newsted.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Los Angeles, United States (1991 – 2000, 2007 – present)

American rock band. The band’s line-up comprises vocalist Zack De La Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. Critics have noted Rage Against the Machine for its “fiercely polemical music, which brewed sloganeering leftist rants against corporate America, cultural imperialism, and government oppression into a Molotov cocktail of punk, rap, hard rock, and funk.” Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Afrika Bambaataa, Public Enemy and Beastie Boys.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Massachusetts, United States (1999 – present)

Metalcore. Formed after the disbandment of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage’s current lineup consists of bassist Mike D’Antonio, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, and drummer Justin Foley. The band’s membership has changed in the decade since its founding as illness, changes in life-situation, and new interests have drawn the men in different directions. The band has released five studio albums and one DVD.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Los Angeles, United States (1994 – 2006, 2011 – present)

American alternative metal band. All four members are of Armenian descent, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs confronting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 by the Ottoman Empire and the ongoing War on Terror by the US government. The band consists of Serj Tankian (vocals), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass, vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums).

Three best albums in my opinion:



(don't wanna name the third, 'cause the rest of the releases are full of sh*t, but these two are diamonds)

(2000 - present)

American metalcore. Founded by Tim Lambesis and having completed their first Line-up in 2001, the band consists of vocalist Tim Lambesis, drummer Jordan Mancino, lead guitarist Nick Hipa, rhythm guitarist Phil Sgrosso, and bassist Josh Gilbert, all of whom are Christians. Signed to Metal Blade Records, As I Lay Dying has released four studio albums, one split album, and one compilation album.

Three best albums in my opinion:

(1982 – 1991, 2001 – present)

Among the youngest bands ever to storm the metal genre, Death Angel has come to be known as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the thriving bay area thrash metal Scene in the early 1980s, an era when one could catch Cliff Burton at the front of the stage at Ruthie’s Inn banging his head to Death Angel’s inventive style, and speedy, complex arrangements.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Tampa, Florida, United States (1985 – 1997, 2003 – present)

One of the pioneering bands of the death metal genre. Was founded as Executioner in 1985, and then changed their name to Xecutioner to avoid confusion with the other one. In 1988, shortly before the release of their first album “Slowly We Rot”, they changed their name to Obituary. Obituary still remain an influential band in the Florida death metal movement that arose in the late 1980s. The 1990 release “Cause of Death” featured James Murphy on guitar (Cancer and Disincarnate) replacing Allen West for unknown reasons.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Cleveland, United States (1998 – present)

The band is a notable member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Their band name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek mythology. They play a style of mainly groove metal, with some metalcore, industrial metal, and death metal influences.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Oakland, San Francisco CA, United States (1985 – present)

Experimental metal. Their unique sound draws from influences ranging from hardcore punk and doom metal to dark ambient, progressive rock and industrial music as well as incorporating elements of post-punk and folk music. The band is highly regarded as the primary pioneer of its genre, sometimes referred to as either atmospheric sludge or post-metal. Critic Brian Russ has described them as “atmospheric hardcore”.

Three best albums in my opinion:

Bakersfield CA, United States (1993 – present)

American nu metal. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D. They have collaborated with musicians such as Chino Moreno from Deftones, Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Tre Hardson from The Pharcyde,Skrillex and Nas.

Three best albums in my opinion:



(the newer releases are shit)