Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Metal Bands of All-Time, 100-96

Hello everyone,

Today is the first part of Metal Mayhem's top 100 metal bands/artists of all-time. This begs the question, what makes a great heavy metal band? There are 4 key components.

1. Must have a dynamic lead vocalist.
2. Must have a kick-ass lead guitarist.
3. The band must have swagger, for example, the know they are awesome!
4. They have to rock

How was the list compiled? There are two main factors that contributed to the construction of this list. First, I considered the historical significance and popularity of each band. Historical significance is perhaps the main contributor of where each band ranks. Second, My personal preferences played a huge role in the creation of the list as well. For example, I rank bands that play a more melodic style with clean vocals over, let's say . . . death metal. It's my opinion that power metal bands are better than death metal. That's all.

Without further delay, here is the first installment of the Top 100 Metal Bands of All-Time: 100-96.

100. Slipknot

Slipknot is a nu-metal band from Des Moines, Iowa that formed in 1995. I'm going to start by saying that I'm not a huge fan of Slipknot, but they have a huge fan following and must be considered one of the best bands in the Nu-Metal sub-genre. The band is known for their over-the-top imagery and their intense live performances. While not an enormous fan, I appreciate Slipknot for their incredible imagery and controversial antics. These controversies usually centered on lyrical content where the band was blamed for violent crimes. There was also a rivalry between Slipknot and Mushroomhead where Slipknot was accused of stealing Mushroomhead's image and musical style. While never truly resolved, both bands have moved on . . . I do personally prefer Mushroomhead though.

I have attached Slipknot's song "Duality."

99. Five Finger Death Punch

I wasn't originally going to include Five Finger Death Punch in the top 100, but a friend of mine convinced me to give them another listen. To be honest, I was turned off by the band for it's horrible cover of the classic Bad Company song "Bad Company." I listened to American Capitalist, and I am sold. So, as of now, I will place FFDP at number 99.

Here is their song "Under and Over It."

98. The Deftones

The Deftones are an alternative-metal band out of Sacramento, California who have released three stellar albums (Adrenaline, White Pony, and Around the Fur), and three mediocre (Deftones, Saturday Night Wrist, and Diamond Eyes) albums. While not possessing the greatest voice in metal, Chino Moreno makes up for this with a nice blend of soft vocals with really cool screams. However, like most bands with alternative roots, they sometimes sound uninspired and boring. If they were more consistent with the quality of their albums, they could have been higher on the list, but ranking #98 for an alt-metal band is a pretty solid ranking.
Here is "Change (In the House of Flies)."

97. Sodom

Sodom is a German thrash metal trio who are part of the "big three of Teutonic thrash metal along with Kreator and Destruction. Their album Agent Orange is one of the best thrash metal albums that I have ever heard. In addition to being one of the best German thrash bands, they have been very influential in the black metal released in the early 90s.
Here is the title track from Agent Orange.

96. Beyond Fear

Beyond Fear is an American heavy metal band that was started by Tim "Ripper" Owens after he left Judas Priest when Rob Halford rejoined the group. Beyond Fear was initially intended to be a side-project for Owens while he was the lead singer of Iced Earth, but only lasted for two albums, so Beyond Fear became his main focus. He used this band as an outlet to write his own songs which was an opportunity that Priest and Iced Earth never afforded him. While they only released one album (Beyond Fear, 2006), that album was epic with such great songs as "Scream Machine," "And . . . You Will Die," and "The Human Race." Ripper's voice is one of the best in metal, and guitarist John Comprix is exceptional in his own right. If you are unaware of this band, I highly recommend them.
Here is "And . . . You Will Die."

Let me know what you think of the list so far!
Thanks for reading,
Marty Sabin