i haven't heard the first one, but alaska was pretty crappy, it sort of made the same impression i got from listening to the second the bled album, pass the flask is so fucking cool, then the newer one is so generic, they sound like fall out boy.

stereotyp gets repped!!! more bm fun is you still haven't checked this out: http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/top10/10blackmetal.html

Motorhead is the greatest along with (early) Black Sabbath. Before Dio.

I really like black sabbath. I actually learned the entire song "Faeries Wear Boots" on guitar. Great song!

dio is awesome!!!!!!

i can't really say if dio solo is metal, sabbath with dio is certainly metal. rainbow is like heavy rock n' roll or something.

What abt Judas Priest then? Painkiller has got like one of the best openings ever, and that twin guitar attack; man.... :)

judas priest are awesome, i wasn't really into them because i always thought they weren't that heavy or that good, but man they are awesome, i mean, sad wings of destiny, wow!!! but their output is very irregular, some of their albums are holy fuck good and some are super crappy, (turbo, or at least the song turbo lover is one of the funniest songs ever recorded, though) i saw them on their reunion tour and they looked like 100 years old but sounded amazing anyway.

since this is the metal thread, i have to ask

maiden or priest?

Priest mos def for me....not really a Maiden fan.

Can't really choose really... It's like asking Sonic Youth or Radiohead...

I don't regularly listen to either, but it's probably the metal question.

Judas Priest has more memorable anthems than Iron Maiden does. They were the first "proper" metal band & due to Rob Halford's penchant for S&M regalia, they invented the look of metal as well. And they came from Birmingham, just like Sabbath did.

As musicians, Iron Maiden do trump them, however, & it was really them that first really popularized heavy metal as a genre.

The 4-part vh-1 documentary series "Heavy: The Story of Metal" makes mention of these tidbits (& many more) & also names Black Sabbath as the godfathers. My own two cents is that Black Sabbath were the first really known band to have both a heavy sound & a dark image, but The Who & Led Zeppelin were catalysts as well. Zeppelin are (naturally) named as an influence or counter-influence by many of the metal bands in the documentary, but The Who gets snubbed completely. There was not even one mention of them in any of the episodes.

The show asserts that Judas Priest were the first band to play "all metal, all the time" because the influence of blues rock can still be felt in Sabbath.

no contest whatsoever...Sonic Youth, of course.

Yeah, well, Iron Maiden, then...

Unfortunately, I am a fan of both...

I'm been getting more into hardcore / metal lately. I've been listening to a lot of Sigh, Boris, SunnO))), hot cross Sleeping Pilot, and Khanate lately. I'm really anxious to listen to ROBE, which board member does this project?

Black Sabbath is also amazing, I've been meaning to pick up an album by them but I don't know which one to get. Let me know which one I should invest in

A forum search should turn up the answer to that question.

priest. but maiden had better album covers.

and for the record, i like metallica's black album. i don't understand all the snobbery and fuss. i never bought any post-black album stuff, but i thought the album was good.

id pick maiden...

like some metal but not a lot.

listening to mastodon first time now and they're not bad at all

dragonforce pwns

vocals suck though

ASTONIC PARK! I PM'ed him asking him if he dresses as grim reapers during shows. Those shits are cool.

sorry guys, best bassist in metal is just Steve Di Giorgio. Can't deny the cold hard fact.

I'm actually really into Converge. Their latest album "no heroes" sounds more like noise than guitar and screaming.