One of my biggest inspirations in music is the genre of heavy metal. The epic guitar riffs and blasting drum beats are some of the reasons why I started playing instruments in the first place. When I think of heavy metal I always think of my top 10 favorite bands and these are as follows.

10. Bullet For My Valentine

These guys make the list as a result of their unique style for heavy metal. Some songs such as “Tears don’t fall” and “Waking The Demon” are some of the songs that I enjoy listening to and playing on the guitar. This is one of those bands that I hope one day to see live in concert.

9. Five Finger Death Punch

Five Finger Death Punch is number 9 on the list because unlike the others they have a more death metal approach to metal. One of the bands that I listen to when I feel like not caring what people say or think about me. Their main ways of making music in my opinion is one of the most epic bands today.

8. Pantera

Some of my favorite songs in the metal genre come from Pantera. These songs include, “Cowboys from Hell”, “Walk” and “Mouth For War”. Everything about these guys are amazing for a metal band their style, their guitar riffs, their presence on stage Pantera is definitely one of a kind.

7. Avenged Sevenfold

Arguably one of the greatest metal bands that the world has ever seen. Avenged Sevenfold’s skills with songwriting and lyrics are unlike any other they know very well how to take an ordinary idea and make it come to life. Such as the song, “Nightmare” they made that song pretty much come to life. Based on the way they play and perform I can see them in the Hall of Fame some day.

6. Disturbed

Just talking about Disturbed I have to listen to one of their songs. Their newest album, Immortalized is the #1 album in the country right now. Their songs have that edge to them that not many bands these days really have. Even if you don’t listen to Disturbed chances you have heard the song, “Down with the Sickness” the song that was their claim to fame in their first album. Thinking of Disturbed I see them in the business for a while still.

5. Anthrax

I can’t have a list about the greatest metal bands and not mention the big four of the metal genre, so lets start with Anthrax. When metalheads talk about the big four, Anthrax is always at the end, probably because of the lack of Charisma and Edge that the other three have. Anthrax is still epic with their awesome song such as, “Medusa” and “Lone Justice” these guys definitely are legendary one of the bands that were formed in the 80s.

4. Slayer

Slayer is probably the heaviest band of the big four, with some of their songs such as, “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” demonstrating their true legendary skills with everything that is metal related. The thing that sets Slayer apart from everyone else is like I said before their heavy distortion sounds in their songs. These songs are what make them Icons.

3. Megadeth

The top 3 of this list were no brainers for me when people talk about metal these three bands always come up in conversation. Number 3 on my list is Megadeth, this is due to the fact of their epic presence on stage and the amount of energy they put into their guitar riffs. One would have a hard time rapping their minds around how these guys can create guitar riffs that are that amazing and epic. One song that people call the national anthem of megadeth is the song “Holy Wars”. This song is quite possibly their biggest hit in history and it was one of a kind.

2. Metallica

The greatest band in the big four would definitely have to be the one and only Metallica. These guys hold records in the history of Metal. For instance, their concert in Moscow of 1991 was the biggest metal show ever recorded with the low estimates of 100s of thousands with the high being 1.5 million people. Without Metallica there would not be Megadeth based on the fact that the guitar player for Metallica when their first album came out is now the singer for Megadeth. Apart of breaking records their songs are among the most epic songs in history. One song in particular being the world famous, “Enter Sandman”. This song has been covered by many bands over the years. Seeing how epic they are its no surprise they are Hall of Famers.

And my number one is……..

1. Black Sabbath

Number 1 on my list are the gods and creators of the heavy metal genre none other than Black Sabbath. Without Black Sabbath there would not be a metal genre and it would’ve never grown as a popular genre. When Ozzy Osbourne created Black Sabbath they started as a rocky blues type band. However, when the guitar player had an accident at work and played the guitar a heavy distorted sound came from the guitar and thus heavy metal was born. My biggest influence for starting to play guitar was Black Sabbath with iconic songs such as, “Iron Man” and “Paranoid”. Black Sabbath only got better when the rock n’ roll Icon Ronnie James Dio joined when Ozzy left. From there Black Sabbath created the song “Neon Knights” which is is still to this day one of my favorite songs. Black Sabbath was a once ever type of band within the metal genre.