Top 10 Heaviest Metal Bands

Cannibal Corpse is the most hardcore, aggressive, and kick-ass band I have ever heard. I enjoy many of the bands above, but they are nowhere near as hardcore as Cannibal Corpse. This is one of the rare bands that can sound like they do.

Bands like Bring Me the Horizon and Pierce the Veil do not even need to be close in the ranking, as they are not hardcore, and are not the best bands out there. This band knows how to scream and make riffs, unlike so many other bands.

Cannibal Corpse is the most hardcore, heaviest, and one of the best bands of all time. Look at their album covers. They're gross and kind of creepy but awesome. Even the lyrics are so gross, violent, and aggressive, making them a perfect death metal band and even the heaviest band.

Slayer released some of the heaviest albums of all time such as Reign in Blood and Seasons of the Abyss. Even their name just screams heavy band. I personally find them heavier than Cannibal Corpse because I find that E, Eb, and D/Drop D are the heaviest tunings, which are the most common thrash tunings, and that Slayer's vocals are just the right range to be heavy. Many people would disagree, but it's an honest opinion. I find some Cannibal Corpse songs heavier than others, but I think Slayer just beats them out.

If you disagree that they are heavy, just listen to Angel of Death or Raining Blood loud through good sound equipment, and feel the music crushing you.

With pristine audio quality for a black metal band, Behemoth out-brutalizes any other black metal band while mixing in elements of death metal too.

These guys are probably the best-produced black metal band out there, as the sound quality is amazing for metal. Second heaviest band ever.

Come on, guys, this list is not about voting for your favorite band. My favorite metal bands are Lamb of God and Pantera, and I'm not a very big fan of Behemoth. But, I have to agree their music is extremely heavy. Take Slaves Shall Serve for example. The song itself sounds like it wants to kill you.

Not only is Meshuggah's tone and overall vibe by far the heaviest on this list, but their lyrics also push the bar to a whole new level of dark poetry. There couldn't be a stronger juxtaposition between the whiny, insipid lyrics of many "core" bands, splattered with unnecessary F-words, and the rich imagery and hellishly uncanny lyricism found in Meshuggah.

This band is definitely the heaviest on the list. In most bands, you'll hear at least one or two songs in an album that aren't as heavy as the others, sometimes more. However, Meshuggah only makes heavy music and, to me, is the heaviest sounding band I've ever heard.

This is a popularity contest. Nile is way heavier than all these other nine bands. Cannibal Corpse deserves to be on the list, not the other eight.

Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Mortician, Malevolent Creation, Suffocation, Carcass, Beheaded, Morbid Angel. All those bands should be here. Not those other bands that are mentioned. People just don't know what heavy is, or they are completely uneducated when it comes to heavy music.

Metallica, Pantera, Slipknot, and Black Sabbath in the Top 10? Even Slayer is way too light compared to Death or Black Metal. Brutal Death Metal like Nile is pretty much one of the heaviest music types you can find out there.

Although the list is messed up, Pantera would definitely be the heaviest of the bands mentioned in the top 10. Listen to 5 Minutes Alone. God, that song is heavy! It features one of the heaviest riffs ever made in the history of metal. No song I have heard can match up to the heaviness of this song. And trust me, I listen to a lot of metal.

This list is lying. Pantera are obviously heavier than Metallica, Slayer, and pretty much every other band ever (except for maybe Cannibal Corpse)! Don't believe me? Here's my proof:

- Cowboys from Hell
- Vulgar Display of Power
- Far Beyond Driven
- The Great Southern Trendkill (especially this one, it's the best metal record of all time, right up there with Pantera's previous two efforts)
- Reinventing the Steel

Listen to all of these (in order), and I guarantee you will think that I am right. If not, then that's fine, it's probably just because Cannibal Corpse out-heavies them by just a little bit.

I listened to Unholy Gravebirth. The eerie string music, crying baby noises, and demonic squealing mixed throughout the beginning still didn't prepare me for the absolute pummeling I was about to endure. They took deathcore to new extremes. Still, they're not my favorite deathcore band. That would be Whitechapel.

The heaviest band I know. Just look at the lyrics and listen to the sheer brutality. I don't know what people have against deathcore. It's just as heavy or heavier than death metal.

Maybe it's the way the people in the bands look. Or maybe death metal fans are jealous of the success of bands like Suicide Silence. Check out the band Callenish Circle.

Music, in general, is very subjective. It's all about the person listening to the song, etc. But, briefly to the point: Metallica, during their time categorized as "heavy metal", produced the Black/Metallica album. It is, and still remains, very heavy in sound, feel, and performance.

Yes, it was produced very well. It contains many good songs, some so good that they could be thought to be made simply for the purpose of making money, or just to ensure that future kids have some tunes to play to their chicks.

"Sad But True" is a good example of a very heavy song musically. There are much faster, slower, deeper, and louder bands/songs out there. I would love to challenge Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, and Moonspell to make a cover song of Ozzy's "Mr. Crowley"... Oh wait... They are "heavier", so why shouldn't/couldn't they cover "Enter Sandman"? They could, but they don't want to?

In the end, we can look back in history to the great classical composers (Mozart, Beethoven, etc.). They were the "heavy metal" of their time. Following the adapters to the day where everyone has been influenced by someone, none of us metalheads can disagree that Metallica introduced us to a new style of sound. Define heavy for yourself, and then you can define your heavy metal band. Others are just merely overdoing something or are predecessors.

Musically, nothing really competes against Anaal Nathrakh in regards to heaviness. Black Metal with strong influences of Grindcore and Industrial Music, it's an effective combination to establish something uniquely heavy, which this band succeeds at. In fact, the music is so chaotic, even bands like Cannibal Corpse sound rather mellow in comparison.

Heaviest band ever. Castigation and Betrayal is the most unfairly heavy song ever. It features 30 seconds of extremely heavy doom metal, 3 minutes of insanely aggressive death metal, and then returns to those initial 30 seconds. That song alone makes them the heaviest band ever. Not to mention, Pandemonic Hyperblast is the second heaviest song ever, right behind that.

Just take a peek at their vocals. These guys should be at the very top.

Some people don't know the definition of heavy. We're talking chunky riffs, layered raw sounds, relentless tempo, growling vocals, and technicality here. Not popular bands and certainly not nu metal!

Death is the final form of metal music development. It is the absolute. Without any posing or being heavy for the sake of sounding heavy. It's raw, melodic, and as metal as it gets. It is metal in its pure form.

Death! In my opinion, one of the best and first bands in real death metal. Their old school sound is much heavier than nu metal!

Lamb of God is heavier than most bands, but there's no need to compare them with extreme Thrash Metal (such as Slayer) or BDM (such as Cannibal Corpse), even some Deathcore (if you consider deathcore as metal). There are two reasons: 1, Lamb of God's music is mostly slow or at mid-tempo. 2, They have pretty melodic riffs.

Rate the bands for their heaviness, if Cannibal Corpse and Slayer are at 10, the Beatles at 1, I think Lamb of God should be around 7.5.

I love Black Sabbath. With that said, no other band besides Meshuggah should be on this list with Lamb of God. The first Slipknot album was decent. Metallica isn't half bad, and I do enjoy Pantera. Cannibal Corpse is a total joke, so there's that. The rest, I can totally do without, especially on a "Heaviest Bands" list. Seriously, what.

Very technical, fast, and heavy death/groove metal band. If you think Cannibal Corpse is either too gruesome for you, or you're a Meshuggah and Slipknot fan, you'll easily get into these guys. System of a Down is hard rock and CoF is mall core. What's next, Bathory being the heaviest on this list? I hope not.

To all the people who say popular bands are not heavy:

Slayer, Metallica, Pantera, and Slipknot are not usually as heavy as some black, death, or grind bands, but when they are at their heaviest, they surpass a lot of those bands, especially Slipknot.

This band combines nu-metal with thrash and death metal. Disasterpiece, People = Sht*, and The Heretic Anthem truly define heavy. They have a pretty chunky guitar sound on the Iowa album.

Those are not their only heavy songs. There's All Hope Is Gone, where the verses are nothing but blast beats and screaming. There's also (Sic), Eyeless, Scissors, and Psychosocial. That is Slipknot at their heaviest.

Powerful drums, speed, low tuning, brutal vocals. Dying Fetus is the definition of heavy. This should be number one on the list without a doubt.

This band and Infant Annihilator are the heaviest bands I listen to.

They slam you in the face with their brutal sound.

This should be higher than Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and especially Black Sabbath.

This appears to be a popularity contest, rather than what is really "heaviest." I love Slayer, Slipknot, etc., but nothing can compare to SYL (except maybe Meshuggah) for heaviness.

Stop what you're doing. Go and listen to 'Oh My God' by Strapping Young Lad. Come back and vote then.

How Strapping Young Lad is not the first on the list is beyond my comprehension.

Black Sabbath has nothing to do with extreme metal. It started as a classic blues-rock band and then became a hard rock/heavy metal band. Metallica and Megadeth have some heavy songs, but there are much poppier metal bands. Slayer is among the heaviest, but Iron Maiden is more melodic with complex songs and a much better vocalist!

Ridiculous! Everybody knows that Iron Maiden is the heaviest band of all times! No one could compare. No one could even come close to Iron Maiden!

What? 8th place? You people don't understand the influence Number of the Beast had on metal.

This band is just as heavy as Metallica. Metallica is not that heavy compared to any death metal, black metal, or doom metal band, especially funeral doom metal bands.

Metallica's heavy? Heavier than Megadeth, Lamb of God, and Slayer? Ha ha. Really, there should be some sense among people. Come on.

Still rocking after all these years. Better than the rest. Enough said. From Killing is My Business to Super Collider, better quality.

How are these guys so low? Graves of the Fathers is the heaviest song in existence, and that's just one song. The whole None So Vile album is soul-crushing.

Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation, and Periphery need to be higher.

Their album "None So Vile" is probably the heaviest death metal album ever.

Their screams on Prowler in the Yard sound like a demented pig being tortured. When I listen to them, I picture a guy behind bars wearing a pig mask with blood pouring out of his mouth, going crazy trying to get out. They are by far the most brutal band out there.

Top ten heavy. Pig Destroyer will shred your soul into shrapnel with their depraved, murderous grind.

For all of you who have made it this far on the list: this is #1. It must've been misplaced.