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Judas Priest
Blessed with as many lives as a cat, not only have the protean "Priest" undergone nearly seasonal lineup changes, but on numerous occasions they have completely reinvented their sound to keep up with shifts in public taste. Originally deeply immersed in Progressive Metal elements (composing epic fantasy narratives in song), they soon switched roles from Conan-rockers to leather-clad, would-be Hell's Angels. Focusing their power into smoking, twin guitar testosterone fests, Judas Priest's Stained Class and Hell Bent for Leather catalyzed the so-called New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Once the arrival of Metallica and other Speed Metal acts made the Priest's mid-tempo, work-the-body assault sound outmoded and irrelevant, the band again huddled together and came up with a new game plan. They came out swinging, hoping for a swift KO. Painkiller (1990) was a blue ribbon entry in the Thrash category, much faster and heavier than anything else in the band's career; but when the album's tepid reception helped precipitate lead singer Rob Halford's defection from Judas Priest, the band's final transformation was already afoot. The remaining members hired themselves a new vocalist and, with a magician's finesse, turned a nine-lived cat into a chicken with its head hacked off.
- Chad Driscoll
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Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden's heavy metal assault has soldiered on since the band's inception in 1980. As frontiersmen of the massively significant New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Maiden has influenced metal's many branches, from power and prog to speed and thrash. Rhythmic velocity, epic lyrics, operatic vocals and tremendous, wailing TRIPLE guitars with ripping solos to match are what made them kings early on, from 1981's Killers to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. After weathering several lineup changes and directional departures during the '90s, Maiden's legendary status was restored when famed singer Bruce Dickinson returned in 1999. They charged into the new millennium by touring and releasing new albums. 2008 found Maiden flying around the world on the Somewhere Back in Time Tour, performing an all-vintage set -- complete with the original 1985 Powerslave stage set. Maiden continue to conquer and inspire. Up the irons!
- Jen Guyre
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Scorpions
Thirty years strong and still rocking out, this German quintet virtually defined the Pop Metal genre. Their "Wind of Change" provided a fitting soundtrack to the end of the Cold War, and "Rock You Like a Hurricane" remains a fixture at air shows across the country. Between the dueling guitars of Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, Jurgen Rosenthal's booming drums and Klaus Meine's high-pitched vocals, Scorpions have carved out a Hard Rock niche as distinct as it is bombastic. Anyone who has seen them live will tell you that their concerts always live up to their Monsters of Rock status, and that live is the only way to experience the band. To quote the title of their eleventh epic album, when you hear Scorpions, it's Love at First Sting.
- Doug Russell
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Def Leppard
Def Leppard juiced up the lumbering blooze riffs of Led Zeppelin, put a spit-shine sheen on 'em, and slapped five thousand vocal tracks on the chorus. The result: humongous metal anthems with tongue-flickering axemanship and arenas full of topless teenage girls. Steadfastly working through a number of personal tragedies, the band has managed to keep releasing records right up till 1999 and, maintaining a huge cult fan-base, shows no sign of quitting.
- Mike McGuirk
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Dragonforce
Britain's power metal powerhouse DragonForce formed in 1999 from the remnants of various extreme metal bands in and around London. Named after their favorite video game, Dragon Quest, these fantasy-obsessed gamer enthusiasts also incorporate video game sounds into their music. Known for long, fast-paced anthems full of guitar hero antics like dual solos, quick licks and catchy riffs, DragonForce's appeal lies in their technical ability as well as their positive messages. On their first stateside release, 2006's Inhuman Rampage, DragonForce -- ZP Theart (vocals), Herman Li (guitar), Sam Totman (guitar), Frederic Leclercq (bass), Vadim Pruzhanov (keyboards, and yes, keytar) and Dave Mackintosh (drums) -- shocked and awed the metal masses as well as pop-culture fanatics with the hit single "Through the Fire and the Flames."
- Jen Guyre
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Motorhead
Continuing to this day with unimpeachable respect as forefathers of Metal, Motorhead's harder/louder/faster biker rock anthems remain some of the hardest, loudest and fastest music ever recorded. Since 1975, Lemmy Kilmister and his shifting line-up have played raw, stripped-down rock at painful volumes. Leading their uber-rock anthems is Lemmy's unmistakable voice. Hoarse and world-weary, he screams with as much aggression and anger as his bass. Punk and Metal are indebted to Motorhead's aggressive, anti-social grind, which pre-dates them by years and creates desperate immediacy and simplicity in every one of their brief seek-and-destroy songs.
- Marc Kate
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Hammerfall
Perhaps the point band of the European power metal movement, Sweden's Hammerfall are alternately loved and loathed for their back-to-the-1980s approach. Their galloping anthems touch on familiar themes -- swords, dragons, heavy metal itself -- and feature the type of speedily melodic guitars and soaring, high-pitched vocals one would expect from a band who pride themselves on carrying the torch of bands like Judas Priest, Helloween and Manowar.
- Will York
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Spinal Tap
The English behemoth Metal band who gave us the timeless, infinitely quoted phrases "This one goes to eleven!" and "Hello Cleveland!" Spinal Tap's long, multifaceted career began during the herky-jerky days of Merseybeat as the Thamesmen with their release of the Kinks-esque beauty "Gimme Some Money." After a host of name and personnel changes, a stint as dippy psyche-poppers, and finally an inner acceptance of their truly sexy image, the members of Spinal Tap ultimately found their voice as the hairy gods of thunder they've been since the release of Silent But Deadly in 1969. They charged into the 1970s and broke stateside in the '80s, leaving behind a trail of dead drummers and a laundry list of ball-rockin' classics. Favorites "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," "Sex Farm" and the progressive Metal masterpiece "Stonehenge" are collected on the "none more black" This is Spinal Tap -- sadly, the sole record still in print that chronicles their somewhat convoluted career. A 1992 comeback record featured the requisite guest appearances of heavy metal slob and Guns N' Roses guitar-killer Slash, as well as has-beens Joe Satriani and Cher, but thankfully included the new anthems "Break Like the Wind" and "Bitch School."
- Mike McGuirk
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Iced Earth
Classic metal riffing as tight as a cinched c-clamp. British metal from Florida with flowing guitar melodies and vocal harmonies.
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Accept
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Venom
All hail Venom! The godfathers of Black Metal, this NWOBHM band formed in 1979, releasing three classic albums before they'd given a single live performance. By the time the veiled-in-mystery band toured, the buzz about them was enormous. Cronos' dread-inspiring vocals seemed delivered not from the voice box, but from an inner Pandora's box. Drummer Abaddon and guitarist Mantas kicked up maelstroms of their own. No power trio before them had created such a fray of propulsive beats and godly riffage. Venom distilled all of Metal's clichés -- the obsessions with war, sex, fantasy, the occult -- and took them to extremes bordering on parody. Chanting along to the wicked camp of "In League with Satan" and "Live Like an Angel (Die Like a Devil)" are guilty pleasures. Amoral? Perhaps, but no less so than indulging in the rank sexism of "Red Light Fever" and "Teacher's Pet." Some followers (e.g., the Scandinavian Black Metal scene) took their satanic posturing literally, but for Venom the "metal" in heavy metal was always pure irony.
- Chad Driscoll
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Saxon
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Nocturnal Rites
After turning their back on Death Metal, this Swedish band returned to early British metal's penchant for clear vocals and pristine guitar melodies.
- Marc Kate
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Rob Halford
Former Judas Priest singer Rob Halford's solo appearance on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack caused some to speculate that he was preparing to have another go at things, this time on his own. With Priest carrying on without him, and Halford's post-Priest projects -- Fight and Two -- sucking fumes, Halford was a man in need of redemption. Resurrection (2000) is nothing less than it claims to be, a thrilling return to form. For the first time perhaps since Screaming for Vengeance, that voice is given free range; it soars unfettered to incredible heights. Halford has managed once again to tap into that inner reservoir of power that makes him the greatest vocalist in Metal, and the band he's assembled sounds just as tight as 1980s Priest. They ratchet up the intensity of Priest's trademark dual guitar leads for some amazing shreds. Halford, as the new band is called, will be opening up for Iron Maiden to support the debut. That should get the word out that the kingdom of heavy metal has been restored and Rob Halford is again regnant.
- Chad Driscoll
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Grim Reaper
Although Grim Reaper were forever tagged as a joke after one of their videos was lambasted by Beavis and Butthead on MTV, their reputation has been somewhat salvaged by the more discriminating Metal fans of today. On closer inspection, the three records they put out between 1984 and 1987 prove the band to be a competent and solid power/fantasy metal act, covering similar Iron Maiden-seeded ground as Helloween during a time when the hair metal band was king and the genre was unfashionable to say the least. Even better, if you listen back to that Warrant/Cinderella/Bon Jovi dreck today, you get a dated crapload of MTV product, whereas Grim Reaper's at times admittedly goofy gore/devil metal is a genre that is still thriving on the scene. And they were good at it.
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