Where to start with heavy metal?

[IanEvadar14]

Hola Amigos! I just started to get interested in heavy metal after my friend made me listen to Marilyn Manson and System Of A Down. I have been a rock enthusiast for some years now and would go as far as saying I'm pretty well acquainted with it and can have a proper conversation about it with anyone but now I would like to foray into metal and would like the help of metalheads here to help me out.
P.S. I've listened to some major Metal albums like Paranoid and Master Of Puppets and am also well equipped with kowledge about Led Zeppelin and AC/DC which I know arent meal bands but are known to be closely related to them.

[Repo]

1. Black Sabbath - Masters Of Reality
2. Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
3. Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind
4. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath
5. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
6. Slayer - Reign In Blood
7. Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
8. Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark
9. Kyuss - Blues For The Red Sun
10. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
11. Mastodon - Leviathan

[LedZep]

This is a complex question actually haha. The usual answers are "start with Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or Sabbath". Some also argue Motorhead. Which is good enough, but it all depends on what kind of music you usually like. If you're into prog, Dream Theater and Tool are possible choices, if you're into atmospheric and post-rock stuff then Agalloch or Isis, if you're into powerful fantasy-based music you can try Blind Guardian, Sabaton or Hammerfall, if you like Manson, bands like Ministry and Rammstein should be good, if you like SOAD, Korn is another nu-metal band I like(d), and so on... I guess death, black, sludge and heavier thrash wouldn't be the best for a beginner, but there's much to choose from. So many different subgenres of metal that don't sound anything alike.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[gussteivi]

Just listen some more to SOAD and you're all good.

[RoundTheBend]

You should start with the heavy and then you will get the metal.

Kidding aside for someone knowing like 10% about metal, the suggestions provided are pretty fantastic.

When I want to know more about a subject I usually use these two sources, and then random google finds:

Wikipedia typically has a whole portal dedicated to whatever music you want to get into. This portal not only goes through the "generic" history of metal, but also has sub-portals to sub-genres, etc. It typically points you in the "right" generic direction of the most prominent metal players etc. Of course a "true" metalhead will probably disagree with some of what's in wikipedia, but often they are on the fringe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music

Then thanks to other BEA memebers, I've been shown this helpful tool from RYM. It shows the top ranked albums per genre... then if you find you like a sub-genre better, you can then filter just for that sub-genre.
(scroll to metal and click on the portal): https://rateyourmusic.com/rgenre/

(alternatively the charts page and filter for metal: https://rateyourmusic.com/customchart?p...amp;genre_ include=1&genres=Metal&include_child_genres=t&include=both&limit=none&countries=)

Nothing is perfect, but all great starts.

Alternative/Rap Metal suggestion I'll make is this fantastic album:

Powerful lyrics, fantastic bass, unique guitar... I'll add a bit of funk metal to the description if I may. Basically some metal feels a bit flat for me, and this comes alive.


Rage Against The Machine by Rage Against The Machine

[elo269megv]

For me it was Black Sabbath and Metallica, they really opened the door for me in terms of metal. For more “classic” heavy metal I’d say start with Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. If you liked MM, some other 90s metal-ish acts I love are Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, & Smashing Pumpkins. For “newer” metal I’d suggest Mastodon, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engaged, Bullet For My Valentine, and especially Slipknot (they were my intro into HEAVY metal with horror imagery - like Manson).

Like others have said before, there are a plethora of metal bands and sub genres out there. So much to choose from and all very much diverse. It’s funny though, 2-3 years ago I hated heavy music, and now it’s my favorite type. Would love to hear back from you and your thoughts. Private message me for more (specific) suggestions
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Jeff Lynne 5th Beatle

Post-Hardcore: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=52396

[glynspsa]

I'd go with Sabbath, Blue Cheer is good, Vanilla Fudge , Iron Butterfly are all also early heavy rock not quite metal though sometimes metal. If you are counting ACDC (I'd go with dirty deeds and back in black)you can count GN'R I think there first 4 records are all very good. I like Ozzy particularly Diary of A MAdman. Metal isn't my favorite but i like all those i listed.

[LedZep]

[rkm]

I’ll throw in this suggestion, purely because they’re the only metal band I ever really loved... King’s X.
They have a sound all their own, but I can’t imagine anyone who likes something like Soundgraden’s, Superunknown, not liking King’s X.

Ty Tabor wasn’t the first guitarist to use drop D tuning, but you could argue that his predominant use of it was pretty influential on a lot of heavier bands from the 90’s onward.

Heaviest album: Dogman (1994)
Essential album: Gretchen Goes To Nebraska (1989)

[Jasonconfused]

Metal was my first true love. Everything mentioned so far is great. For me it was Metallica and then those first two solo Ozzy albums, with Randy Rhoads on guitar. His guitar playing just completely changed my world. The albums are Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.
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