Top Ten Metal Artists Best at Their Sub Genres

The Top Ten
1 Metallica - Thrash Metal

Metallicas best album master of puppets has only 4 thrash songs, while megadeth and slayer are way better with thrashing

Kill 'Em All. Enough said.

2 Iron Maiden - British New Wave Metal
3 Pantera - Groove Metal Pantera was an American heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul. The band started out as a glam metal act in the 1980s with little success. After discarding their original lead vocalist and enlisting Phil Anselmo, the band signed a major record deal with Warner Music Group via Atco Records. Around this time, Pantera underwent a major change in their musical... read more

Runner up: lamb of god

Oh definitively

4 Megadeth - Thrash Metal Megadeth is an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Megadeth was formed in 1983 by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson, shortly after Mustaine was fired from Metallica. They have released 15 studio albums to date, and have gone through many lineup changes, with Dave Mustaine being the sole constant member.

They released their debut album “Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!” in 1985, but became successful after the release of “Peace Sells...But Who’s Buying?” in 1986. ...read more.
5 Death - Death Metal Death was an American death metal band formed in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner. Death is considered to be one of the most influential bands in heavy metal and a pioneering force in death metal. Its debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as the first death metal record, while the band's driving force, Chuck Schuldiner, is acknowledged as the "Godfather of Death Metal." Death released 7 studio albums, and are the band that started the Florida Death Metal scene. They were known for their death metal classics Lack of Comprehension and Crystal Mountain. Death ended in 2001 when Schuldiner died of Brain Cancer.

Death AND cannibal corpse are great bands but you can actually understand the vocals of death's singer

6 Black Sabbath - Traditional Metal

Runner up: deep purple

7 Blind Guardian - Power Metal Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing. They also incorporate large amounts of orchestral arrangements. Hansi Kürsch creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping harmonies. Thanks to overdubs and numerous backing vocals Blind Guardian stand out with a very dense sound.

I honestly feel Blind Guardian should be here for not just power metal but speed metal as well.

Eh, Helloween. I have to go with the original.

8 Slayer - Thrash Metal Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. They rose to fame with their 1986 album Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the big four of thrash metal bands, the others being Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. ...read more.

Heaviest thrash of all

I love slayer so much

9 Judas Priest - Traditional Heavy Metal Judas Priest are a British heavy metal band that formed in Birmingham, England, in 1969. They are often referred to as one of the greatest metal bands of all time, and are even commonly called “The Metal Gods”, after one of the songs on their 1980 album “British Steel”.

They are known for several of their hit songs, which include “Painkiller”, “Breaking The Law”, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, and “Turbo Lover”.
Their original lineup consisted of Al Atkins (vocals), K.K. Downing (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Hill (bass), and John Ellis (drums). Atkins never recorded on any Judas Priest releases, but contributed to several songs. ...read more.

Judas Priest are not in the top 10? Such a shame.

10 Tool - Progressive Metal Tool is an American alternative metal/progressive metal band, that was formed in 1990. The band is set together between Maynard James Keenan (Vocals), Danny Carey (Drums), Adam Jones (Guitar) and since 1995 Justin Chancellor (Bass). The band is known for their influences from electronic sounds and their overly complex and strangely structured songs. They released their debut album "Undertow" in 1993 and later put out other famous albums, like "Lateralus" and "10,000 Days". The band has established a legacy as one of the most well-known and beloved progressive metal and alternative metal bands of all time.

Tool is more alternative metal than progressive in my opinion.

The Contenders
11 Slipknot - Nu Metal

What the heck. They are the ones who yuk nu metal to a different level. They are hell

12 Annihilator - Technical Thrash Metal Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in 1984 by vocalist, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, engineer, producer, mixer and mastering engineer Jeff Waters and former vocalist John Bates.
13 Dream Theater - Progressive Metal Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band was formed in 1985 under the name of "Majesty", only to change its name to Dream Theater later. ...read more.
14 Cannibal Corpse - Death Metal Cannibal Corpse is a American death metal band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1988. The band is known for their graphic album covers, explicitly violent lyrics and song titles like "I C** Blood" The group got into mainstream after performing the song "Hammer Smashed Face" in the 1994 film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. In 1995, vocalist Chris Barnes left the band to focus on his new death metal project Six Feet Under. He was replaced by George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher of the band Monstrosity, who has remained as the frontman since. ...read more.

Runner up: children of bodom

They define death metal.

I would say Opeth.

15 Yngwie Malmsteen - Neo-classical Metal Yngwie Johan Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and bandleader who was born on June 30th, 1963, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was known for his neoclassical metal playing style back in the 1980s.

Rirchie Blackmore created neo-classical metal. But he defined it.

16 Motörhead - Speed Metal Motörhead were an English heavy metal band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister, who was the sole constant member; guitarist and songwriter Larry Wallis; and drummer Lucas Fox. The band's harsh vocals and fast paced tempos helped inspire speed metal and thrash metal.

I see people don't know what speed metal is - speed metal is a version of power metal and not every fast Rock N Roll or punk song. Classic speed metal was played by bands like Blind Guardian, Helloween, Primal Fear, Gamma Ray, and long ago - Deep Purple.

One the best metal bands ever! You can still feel their influence in genre today, many of other great bands are saying that Motorhead helped em to form their music. Motorhead for life!

17 Meshuggah - Extreme Metal Meshuggah is a Swedish progressive metal band from Umeå, formed in 1987. They are often considered the fathers or founders of the djent metal sub genre due to their use of downtuned guitars. They are also known for their song “Bleed”, which is known for its extremely complicated instrumentation, ...read more.
18 Nightwish - Symphonic Metal Nightwish is a symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and lead singer Tarja Turunen. It's currently formed by Tuomas, Emppu, lead vocalist Floor Jansen, bassist and vocalist Marco Hietala, ...read more.
19 Blind Guardian - Speed Metal Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing. They also incorporate large amounts of orchestral arrangements. Hansi Kürsch creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping harmonies. Thanks to overdubs and numerous backing vocals Blind Guardian stand out with a very dense sound.

"Majesty" is probably the best speed metal song of all time but their "Banish From Sanctuary" is also excellent.

20 Amon Amarth - Melodic Death Metal Amon Amarth is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Tumba, formed in 1992. The band takes its name from the Sindarin name of Mount Doom.

What exactly is this godly band doing in anything less than the Top 5?

21 Gamma Ray - Power Metal Gamma Ray is a power metal band from Hamburg, northern Germany, founded and fronted by Kai Hansen after his departure from the German power metal band Helloween.

In my opinion, they are best at this.

22 Blind Guardian - Symphonic Metal Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing. They also incorporate large amounts of orchestral arrangements. Hansi Kürsch creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping harmonies. Thanks to overdubs and numerous backing vocals Blind Guardian stand out with a very dense sound.

Their 2015 album is awesome and proves they are leaders in this subgenre, too.

23 Mastodon - Sludge Metal Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in early 2000 and composed of bassist Troy Sanders, guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor.

And prog metal, and Mastodon metal, and lots of other genres. Should be top 5 at least.

24 Korn - Nu Metal

Well, they created the genre.

25 Equilibrium - Folk Metal Equilibrium is a German folk metal band. The band's music combines elements of folk music, power metal, black metal and symphonic metal with various other influences.
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