Most Technical Heavy Metal Bands
List and vote on what you think are the most technical heavy metal bands. I'm only going to give A few of examples (I'm not even going to choose the most difficult songs by them and I'm not going to choose the most technical bands I know either... I want YOU to blow me away. ) Any form of Metal.There will more than likely be A massive gap between musicians on this top 10 list (and it will probably be out of order, this IS NOT by accident)... why you may ask... well again I'm hoping the VIEWERS will fill in the blanks. If I wanted to show the most technical bands/artists I knew... there'd be nothing but technical death metal, neo-classical metal and blues shred bands/artists on this list (I still plan to have A few. ) all of them would sound almost exactly the same as brain drill, ygwnie malmsteen and Joe satriani and trust me there's more than you'd think (especially tech death bands... there's hundreds of thousands that have poped up in the last couple of years.).
I'm happy for YOU to put these bands on this list as they do make up the majority of the most technical heavy metal artists but I'm leaving that for you. This list is not about "feeling" or "how good it sounds" it's about pure technicality.
There are rules though, you can't choose A band based on ONE SONG, the band/artist has to be A technical band/artist in general. So no one off sped up youtube videos.
Please re frame from putting bands like Metallica, Pantera, slipknot, slayer, megadeth or the spice girls on here, They're all good and all haha but this is A list of the MOST TECHNICAL BANDS, not your favourite bands.

The members of the band’s original lineup consisted of John Petrucci (Guitar), John Myung (Bass) and Mike Portnoy (Drums). The band had multiple keyboardists and singers, but as of and since 1991, the band's lead vocalist has been James LaBrie.
The band released their debut album "When Day and Dream Unite" in 1989, but only gained success and notoriety after the release of their second album, "Images and Words" in 1992. ...read more.
Definitely not the most technical metal band - I guess they are at #1 because they are popular.
Not the best band out there, but they are technical grand masters.
Each instrumentist in the band is the best on what he does on the entire planet. That's enough to describe them.
Incredible technique and incredibles musicians!

These guys definitely by the end of it won't be anywhere near the most technical band on the list but they are quite different to brain drill and again I'm hoping you will fill the gaps.

Ah Brain drill often criticized for their lack of songwriting ability. Keep in mind just how difficult it would be to come up with an entire album let alone multiple albums playing this many notes in A song (their title track of their second album goes for 16 minutes) without repeating riffs or dumbing down your music. It's more difficult than one might think (even for talented players)

Cacophony and Becker was tech as hell!


Tech death supergroup blotted science. With members from bands like watchtower and spastic ink, hate eternal and obscura. Very complex band in general most of their music is quite technical, extremely fast at parts but always complex.
You might be wondering why some of the bands on this list are slower... as I've already stated I'm putting A bunch of bands As A base purposely skipping the majority of ultra speed tech groups (not because I think they have "no feeling" or "aren't music" but because then you're just voting and not truly engaging with this. I want you to fill in the blanks.
Anyway another reason is All of the slower bands I'm choosing are quite technical, they're not like Metallica or megadeth who usually play mid-fast paced simple riffs in A repetitive fashion. These bands generally play quite complex songs that have little repetition and that's the point. The most "Technical" and Technicality is A mixture of SPEED and COMPLEXITY.

Definitely nowhere near as technical as the above artists BUT these guys deserve A mention. Easily one of the most technical thrash metal bands (especially in the 80s) other than the likes of "watchtower" who are probably one of if not the only 80s thrash band who competed with these guys.
I would put Vektor too, dunno, Sacred Reich, Nuclear Assault probably pops in mind because of being fan of them, but Vektor definitely.


I was SO tempted to put morbid angel's 1986 DEMO on here (hahah it's basically A long guitar solo with vocals on it... and some drums. ) for A joke. Not because it isn't technical... because it is still quite complex but compared to A lot of the Neo-classical shred musicians obviously doesn't compare.

Yes, I agree with you on the definition of 'technical' (speed + complexity). I took into account namely this combination while comparing Annihilator and Coroner, and gave preference to Annihilator.
One of the most underrated thrash metal bands.


A quite technical band, not as fast as many of these others but extremely complex.
Their older songs were a lot faster and more "technical" than their newer material, but lacked melody and had almost no leads.
As the lead guitarist is influenced by chuck their riffs and solos are the best I love this band

I know I said I wasn't going to add many technical death metal bands but the reason I chose this one is because they are NOT an "ultra-technicaldeathwankery" band.
A very good band.
I've always appreciated the faster the better attitude when it comes to technical death metal. Cryptopsy is definitely top tier!
While somewhat obscure, their album "From This Day Forward" is the epitome of technical metal.

They deserve to be on here. Very skillful and technical, and fast and brutal. They are like a licensed surgeon gone serial killer.

Almost perfect... nearly every album worthy of a "deep" introspective listen. Especially for aspiring musicians!
They aren't the most technical but they are very technical. Maiden rule so that's why I vote for them.

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.
Amazing! Technically proficient and emotive as well. A rare combo. One of the best ever... in any genre.



These guys by the end of this will probably be somewhere near the bottom but they do truly have some ridiculously technical stuff. Probably one of the more technical modern BLACK METAL bands
Their self titled first album was recorded with A group of guest vocalists (all instruments are done by - Christopher A. Erikson) Just look through the entire album, there's some technical master pieces within it.

These guys should be number one. Simple as that.


