Strapping Young Lad. Devin's early music was not only sonically crushing & intense, it was emotionally harrowing too. Amazing stuff. Shitstorm, Home Nucleonics, All Hail The New Flesh, Bastard, OMFG... so many beautiful, ear shredding mindfucks.
I think another important aspect of Pantera was Phil’s willingness to deliver harsh vocals to really sell their performance. You can hear this on songs like Fucking Hostile, Slaughtered and Suicide note pt 2 where he shrieks and hits high notes that can hurt one’s voice but the way Phil delivered them made the songs even more intense. The downside to this though is that can damage your vocals in the long run which is why he said in interviews he can’t sing Cemetery Gates anymore, but Phil did give us some standout vocals that were blistering and a never ending assault on the listener.
The Alice In Chains album is called “Dirt” and the actual title track lyrics are even heavier than “godsmack” arguably. Amazing album and band though. So heavy live too. Thanks for shouting them out.
I love Alice, and I would agree Dirt is a heavy album that dives deep into a personal hell. Facelift is definitely bluesy. Their self-titled album has a weird sound to it but it works. Listen to Over Now and Jerry’s guitar is out of this world.
Absolutely. Theyre heavy in their own right. Especially to call them grunge since they get lumped together. Definitely the heaviest band in that scene at the time.
There used to be this pro shot live video on RUclips of them opening with “It Ain’t Like That” in a club and it might be the heaviest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t find it anymore.
I definitely agree that groovy, slower, crushing heaviness always ultimately hits harder than just raw noise. I think the ultimate example in my mind would be Black Tongue.
Yeah I saw black tongue in a small pub in Bolton and people were going hard as fuck because it was so heavy. The owners of the pub had to come out and practically fight the crowd to save the pub and PA from destruction haha
That is exactly what I was going to write! Acid Bath does it musically and lyrically. Even their acoustic songs like "Bones of Baby Dolls" and "New Death Sensation" have some of the heaviest lyrics I've heard! Good point, dude!
All their lyrics are constantly edgy and disturbing af (even worse when the kite string pops is based on irl events) and they all play amazingly and dax vocals are arguably the best in the genre
in the wake of Trevor Strnad's suicide some of his lyrics really catch your eye. While he was easily one of death metals best lyricists and storytellers he was also one of the best front men of all time, bringing such passion, joy, and love to the scene. Knowing what we know now and the pain he was in it really brings to light the songs Receipt and To Breathless Oblivion. Receipt has such lyrics as: "Have you ever tasted it? Metallic barrel placed in it? Do you possess the gall to pain all those in life you’ve touched? Failure, I renounce our tenure This venture has drained me I ask thee grant self murder’s bliss My conscience has begged me to end this horrendousness Wrap rope so tightly ‘round my neck and twist Suicide be my guide The only thing I will get right in this life My appeal shall not be denied My place - now secured My home - the other side I never belonged here I never did ask if I could join this world collapsed A hell hath awakened and now I choose sleep So let this razor get the better of me" which genuinely feel as though they are written from a person with those experiences and thoughts. To Breathless Oblivion has the chorus of: "beyond those cursed stars above lies the answer that I seek on the backs of bullets rides my name longing to kiss my cheek resentfully decline retire this hated life without guilt I break these veins carved with salvation's knife" Trevor is a tricky one to ask though because with his knack for lyrics and storytelling its hard to truly know if it was just his raw talent to tell a narrative or if this was where he was at the time. Either way its hard to overstate how heavy TBDM could be.
I was thinking of TBDM for most part of the video, they check a lot of the boxes… those 9 albums Trevor did are brutal, a perfect mix between cosmic horror, satanic witchery and the dark side of the human mind. R.I.P Trevor Strnad
I always get in arguments with friends over this. I think TBDM is heavier than a lot of their compatriots. The lyrics, the sonic depth of the music, the changes and way it all flows like a story. RIP to one of the best to ever do it.
Trevor was a lyrical genius, the best front man. he conducted thr crowd like a master conductor just working his orchestra. I fully believe it was a combi of a English major with an insane vocabulary and insane talent forestry tell mixed with a man who's been dealing with depression since he was a child. The one thing I know for do sure is this world fucking sucks without him. The Black Dahlia Murder fuckin saved me when I was in the Army and had all that shit hanging on me. Thr Black Dahlia Murder are the heaviest band because they have everything, insane vocals, melodic rhythm, super fast drums, amazing guitar work, and the best vocals of any band.
@@CL053DC45K37 totally second that motion! and believe me when I say that I’d tried tones of bands and styles of metal searching for the heavyest of heavys but always come back to The Boys. HEARTBURN FOREVER!
Godflesh is my personal pick. I get that they may not be the "heaviest" nowadays, but their influence is inarguable. Kirk Hammet even called them the heaviest band of all time. When I'm in the mood for a heavy album, nothing beats Streetcleaner. Older Gojira comes closer than most, though.
I saw them 3 times waaaay back in the day, one of those times was a religious experience. I saw their actual first show in the States and it was really bad. They had equipment and sound man issues and wound up walking off the stage after the second song. "Godflesh don't hear, Godflesh don't play" and walked off. So disappointing but understandable.
I think you hit it with the contrast argument. “This Love” by Pantera was the first song I personally heard were the singing and tempo changed so drastically and it sounded so insane to me at the time.
The minute that elitists shit on this album (which absolutely has one of the all time greatest opening tracks, ever)? Was the second I recognized just how fucked the metal scene could be. And I was literally 12, at that time. ruclips.net/video/LVREKUVRoEQ/видео.html
I think the band that really needed mentioned at the end was Knocked Loose. They're the perfect blend of emotionally driven, lyrically intense, disgustingly heavy music there is. A Tear in the Fabric of Life wraps up so much of the stuff you mentioned in this video into one borderline perfect EP.
Knocked Loose is insane. I thought Shade of Blue was the heaviest they can go. But their latest EP blew me away. Bryan is easily one of my top fav vocalists
Great band Knocked Loose. I would also say Gatecreeper. They are death metal and they are great. Has the best parts of Morbid Angel and Pantera somehow. It’s got groove and the vocals are not ridiculously guttural, but somewhere between a Randy Blythe and a John Tardy.
JD on Korn’s selftitled.. THAT’s fucking heavy. The anger, the crying, the screaming, the growling, the lyrics, the sobbing, the imagery, the drugs, the producer who triggered JD, and 20+ years later making amends with the past.. That’s brutal af.
Cattle Decapitation satisfies a lot of your main criteria. They have that contrast to which you were referring in the middle of the vid in which you mentioned Suffocation and "Thall", and not to mention they achieve this by tuning to E flat standard. Travis Ryan can easily compete with the deathcore vocalists you mentioned thereafter (and his "cleans" add to the aforementioned contrast) that are in that arms race of vocal extremity (if anything, I'd say he is the most obvious influence on Will Ramos just by listening). Lastly, they satisfy your criteria of lyrical heaviness because while they don't write about incredibly personal subjects we can all relate to, they write about humanity's ecological choices in a very compelling way, and there are certain select songs that can make you emotional (see Lifestalker, Your Disposal, Pacific Grim, and the title track of Death Atlas, for example).
Cattle decap is absolutely amazing and my favorite band. Monolith to Humanity checks off so many boxes in terms of heaviness. Maybe not the heaviest band of all time but they are up there for sure. Insanely fast and intense parts along with crushing slams and weird time change ups and an awesome vocal contrast make them stand out. Truly an amazing band and some of the best death metal ever made imo.
To me botch is one of the heaviest bands. Their grooves and breakdowns almost force movement. Loads of contrast and unpredictable switches from fast to slow and quiet to loud. Also it all has a very human feel which as a musician I find quite impressive and is more often than not lost in music that focuses that much on technicality.
oh man, the breakdown/solo part on C. Thomas Howell As The Soul Man is merciless. that double tapped solo is unlike anything I've ever heard, and then the vocals come roaring back in...
Hard to find but Deeds of Flesh - Human Sandbags was a truly unique blend of the aspects mentioned …Same with Suffocation- Effigy of the Forgotten…Can’t leave out early Pyrexia too
Korn gets a lot of shit but you can't tell me that their first 2 albums aren't insanely heavy. The guitar tone is brutal. The atmosphere and lyrics are really dark. Lyrics about real personal shit. My favorite Korn album is Follow the Leader but the first 2 are just insane.
Not to be "that guy" but Godsmack was on AIC's album "Dirt". It was the song that created Godsmack the band. Edit: what makes a band heavy to me is confronting real life problems with realistic approaches and the vocalist at least understanding that they are not a God.
Im gonna say this and probably get laughed at but Slipknot has the heaviest of all time title in my opinion. What they did on their first two albums are flawless and brought in a new breath of fresh air for extreme metal. Their contribution to extreme metal is even more so than metallica's for thrash. Slipknot is so far ahead of everyone else in the extreme metal category, metallica is relatively loved as much as megadeth, slayer, etc. The music they put on the self titled and iowa is unmatched. Theres nothing else out there that has the passion and darkness behind it like iowa.
I really like how you've explored heaviness beyond the typical tropes (blastbeats, growls, etc.), I think The Downward Spiral is a great example of an album that is heavy but not in the traditional way, first of all it's a concept album about a man giving up all hope and descending into insanity, you have songs like Mr Self Destruct and March of the Pigs that are fast and aggressive with the noisey industrial stuff (forgive my lack of music terminology) adding a whole other dimension to it, tracks like Piggy or Closer which are groovy but with very eery unsettling lyrics and Hurt which is probably the most depressing song ever written, and when you consider that Trent Reznor was a heroin addict when writing it and it was recorded in the same house that the Tate murders took place you end up with an album that is genuinely quite uncomfortable to listen to and provokes a very weird emotional reaction.
I also like the Song Somewhat Damaged for this reason as well. The way the song makes you feel like you’re descending into madness with the singer is always cathartic for me.
Eraser and Mr Self Destruct are so heavy that they should be industrial metal rather than rock. Also, I love TDS but I cannot listen to it anymore because the theme is too much.
Downward Spiral is more of a classic for sure, but I'd say Broken is the heavier album sound wise and still has a lot of the same unsettling nature as tds. It blew my mind back when I was on the quest for unconventional heaviness.
@@5ycey7.n.84 I just thought that TDS showed a bit more contrast between different displays of heaviness, only slightly though, Broken is the one I revisit more often tbh, it's an industrial metal masterpiece and quite an extreme EP in its own kinda way
@ghost mall Somehow I never noticed that's what the sample was haha, but yeah so many bands have tried to do what NIN do but none as well as Trent Reznor, the guy is a genius.
Heaviness is the combination of tone and intent. Outside of those things it becomes a little like sports; once the emotional impact is eschewed in favour of prowess and very “meta” heaviness techniques, it just stops being heavy and becomes about tropes.
As ridiculous as this might sound, for me Dethklok is up there for alot of the combined reasons you mentioned. Their contrast between melody and crushing riffs, groove, fluctuating tempos, the way Gene Hoglans drum patterns (cmon, its gene hoglan) mesh in sync with the riffs and the overall musicality to it just get me going much harder than any of the brutal bands out there. Despite them being a joke / parody, their music is unironically some of the best out there to my ears.
My favorite "heavy by way of overwhelming detail" style death metal band is Weeping Birth, a one-dude project from a dude better known for also being Mirrorthrone (similar sound but black metal instead of death). It doesn't attempt to sound in any way real--everything is obviously digital besides the guitar, but it's all pushed to a beyond-human intensity that uses the inhumanity to contribute to just how overwhelming and chaotic the sound is. It finds a way to actually sound somewhat unclean and insane even though you know every note had to have been specifically placed. On the sludge-heavy side, Gojira's To Sirius is my singular go-to track. The riffs are just so fucking good.
I definitely think bands sound heaviest and most interesting when they either go raw and real, like playing an album live off the floor with minimally edited overdubs, or when they go the opposite route and make something batty and insane on a computer that you could never conceive of just by jamming with guitars and drums. A lot of bands take the boring middle route of editing and computerizing everything to be super precise but still using arrangements and techniques that a skilled live band could pull off.
I always found slower, sludgier metal to be the heaviest stuff i could think of. I dont really like Morbid Angel but God of emptiness is like an auditory lead blanket. Having said that i recently discovered Lux tenebris by The Secret and its the heaviest Black Metal ive heard
No one I know seems to agree with me but "A New Level" is the heaviest song I''ve personally heard. That main chromatic riff hits me like a truck every time.
I am shocked you didn’t mention Korn “Daddy” as one of hardest songs, lyrically, just on the fact that it took him decades to even go back and play that song live. He was reliving all that trauma and pain, an they still put it on their CD. Your videos are amazing, an totally agree that what makes a bad hard is not always who can play the fastest.
@@Cr0wsMurd3r totally agree. Coming from someone who, did not suffer sexual trauma, but physical, it really speaks and allows you to vent your own anger. Sometimes it is hard to list to that some, depending on my mood.
There was this Spanish nu metal band called Skunk DF that came out with what was very obviously a "Daddy"-inspired song in 1999, but without the personal story instead of being super bleak and heavy it was kinda like just a protest song against child abuse, like someone needed to make a stand against that. I always found that darkly funny
The first album I thought of was Sunn O))) with Scott Walker. High contrast, and terrifying vocal arrangements, on an album seems to all about loneliness and alienation. I have a hard time listening to it, Personally.
I feel that Meshuggah will always be the heaviest band out there. It's just something with their sound that is untouchable, just take clockworks or born in dissonance for example, it hits like a truck in the face. And, the album(The violent sleep of reason) is recorded live so there is that too.
Meshuggah is not only as heavy as you can get short of crossing over into death metal. But, similar to Pantera, they also created their own unique groove. Not sure if there's a #1 but they are one of the best of all time.
I grew up listening to grunge, which I never thought of as "heavy" until recently. Like you said, it's not all about blast beats and toilet vocals. The lyrics and imperfections attributes to the rawness/heaviness of the music. When I heard Korn's first record, it blew my mind. THAT was heavy as hell. The lyrical content was extreme, the vocals were unlike anything I've ever heard, and the instruments were raw, yet groovy as hell. From there I guess I've had that "natural" heavy growth and started enjoying the metalcore and deathcore scenes. Today I give almost any type of music a shot. And bands like Lamb of God, Lorna Shore and Gorjira are some of my favorites, and they are all super heavy. But I still enjoy (or long for?) That old school Raw, heavy shit that was the groundwork for my tastes today. I still revisit Korn, Alice in Chains and Nirvana on the regular, because it just hits the heavy spot sometimes when my favorite modern bands don't.
Check out Admiral Angry for some raw just downright crushing heaviness. Most of them members are in Black Wall Sheep and their first 3 albums are also intense.
This guy thinks Pop music is heavier than Death Metal at 21:56 due to lyrics... Yeah, Pop singers are really pissed off at life in their multi-million dollar mansions and expensive cars.
Lamb of gods 11th hour. The lyrics are about an alcoholic on his deathbed. So dark and heavy and relatable. Also knowing Randy’s relationship with alcohol at that time it hits so hard knowing this came a from a deep place within him
You can't talk about heavy bands without including Slipknot, The Berzerker, and Absu... plus a ton of Nu Metal, NWOAHM, alternative, industrial, progressive, and math metal bands.
So glad you mentioned Crowbar. They're one of my favorite metal bands. I love how Kirk and the boys are all about playing low and slow in a way that works through the misery, rather than wallowing it, like so many of their sludgy peers.
@@axeltejeda175 just checked them out… maybe if they weren’t playing through a Marshall practice amp it would be a bit more bearable. Sounds like the worst parts of acid bath lol.
They have plenty of songs that speed up the tempo for a good mosh. Going to see them for the first time right down the road this month. Been listening since 98.
What you mentioned about emotion is why Slipknot’s first two albums are still to this day so heavy to me. It’s not a particular technique or style, just that they go in there and let it all out. So much hate, pain, and sorrow thrown in a blender and put on a tape. So even if you don’t know the stories they’re telling, you can FEEL them. Another thing I like is the fact that Corey’s vocals are a lot easier to understand than typical death metal. Rather than thinking it sounds like a demon, or bowel movements, it just sounds like a dude suffering. Because that’s what it is. And lastly, as you mentioned, dynamics play a part too. They allow some down time, and even throw in a melody here and there, which make it hit harder when the crunch comes back in. Aight, that’s enough for now.
Their self titled album was recorded as a band live. That's part of the reason its so heavy. I forgot who in the band said it, but Ross Robinson was screaming in their face, hitting them, and do other stuff when they were recording. So he was just amping them up. Having them all in the same room, all playing together, and with Ross fucking with them definitely made it a lot harder sounding. Just a great album as a whole.
Scissors, off of slipknot's self titled album, is probably the heaviest track I can honestly think of. So raw, deeply sad lyrics, and a vocal performance so aggressive that Corey couldn't take it and started puking. That's fucking heavy to me.
I agree so much and it kinda pisses me off when people say slipknot fans are just too weak for death metal, I love death metal and death core, but tracks like sic, eyeless, surfacing and heretic anthem are just more heavy In my opinion
I totally agreed with this whole video, I think musically the groove stuff and anything with breakdowns is extremely heavy because of the primal reaction we have to the space between notes. I think your example for Alice in chains is a bit odd (the album is dirt not Godsmack btw) I think the opening version of nutshell at MTV unplugged is crushingly depressing as Layne was litterally dying and singing about dying alone. I think bell witch combines both deep depressing reality with crushing musicianship and is the best example imo. While you can't exactly hear the vocals, the actual bass and drum combo envokes such despair that I felt my body go limp when I heard them for the first time, you can really hear the sound of someone who's lost a friend on their album mirror reaper and it's the heaviest shit musically and lyrically. Also numb little bug is an amazing song, it's so relateable yet catchy kinda like hey ya by Outkast
@@charliekirkpatrick695 oh man, Bell Witch are amazing, especially when you consider that it's just bass, drums and vocals. occasional keys on the quiet parts.
I've only listened to a few deathcore bands because they all sound very cheesy, and they all sound so similar. The Cleansing was actually really good though, and definitely my favorite deathcore album.
untouchable IMO. Focused on simple gross stank face riffs and no melodeath influences. Too much deathcore has the melodeath or the technicality which just makes it less heavy lol.
That album is the epitome of deathcore for me. The production sounds perfect and the fact that it's live makes it even more amazing. Raw, harsh and heavy af
For me deathcore and groove is what I would call heavy. Gojira for sure is top notch heavy(not sure why but they just are). Lyrics and emotion can make song just as heavy for example: "daddy" by Korn or "love hate love" by Alice in Chains. Hell i remember watching "murder song" by Aurora and holy shit that was heavy and its far from metal. Dissonance definitely helps too.
No mention of funeral doom is sad. Ahab, Bell Witch, and Esoteric are some of the heaviest music I've ever heard. When I saw Bell Witch live my whole body shook from the vibration of the riffs and pummeling of the drums
Always makes my day better when I see a Punk Rock MBA video. Keep up the great work Finn. You're awesome. I've recently gained an appreciation for suicide silence. I never cared for deathcore (liked a song here and there), but looking back on them, they definitely paved a way for a generation.
@@lightningmonky7674 I've honestly tried. It has a lot of elements in metal I like. The songs where the drums are louder than the guitars ruin it for me. If I here the cymbals overpowering the guitar, I just can't listen to it. Ive ran into a lot of deathcore like it. Don't get me wrong. I respect the genre though
@@lightningmonky7674 I'm open minded about it, but more often than not I find it to be just a worse version of Cryptopsy or Aborted with breakdowns that just kill the pace of the song through a chuggy riff or bog standard slammy brutal death metal riff. Though I do find myself digging some of the more symphonic or blackened deathcore bands that have been popping up lately.
@@Gerd0 that's pretty funny cause that's the kind of deathcore I stay away from 😭🤣 different strokes for different folks I guess. And yeah aborted's old stuff is pretty cool but I really haven't liked the second half of their career has sounded really boring to me
Acacia Strain has always been the heaviest band I’ve listened to. The lyrics and how Vincent delivers them, coupled with the guttural chug of the instruments. Lines like “Not even your children are safe” and “This is how the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper”. It may not work for everybody, but I dig it.
@@charliekirkpatrick695 I’ve noticed that too. I still enjoyed the most recent stuff, but it definitely is lacking in places compared to their earlier work.
Knocked Loose live is one of heaviest bands I’ve ever experienced. But, I think Gojira’s energy is top notch in my opinion. It’s a toss up between those two bands for me.
You can't headbang very well with constant blast beats, or at least it's not nearly as satisfying as doing it with the bands who have a heavy groove. And in my opinion, the headbang test is one of the most important qualifications for determining overall heaviness.
Great video, just surprised you didn't mentionned the math core/tech metal genre as Dillinger Escape Plan, Psyopus, Tony Danza Tapdance Extravangaza , The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Ion Dissonance, The Chariot, Carbomb, Frontierer, etc
I happened upon a song called Blasphemian, by Infant Annihilator recently and, once I'd recovered from the shock, I decided that it was hands down the heaviest thing I'd ever heard. It's 7 minutes of unrelenting brutality
As soon as this video popped up I was like hmmm it’s gotta be infant 😂 Aborted would be there, annotations of an autopsy as well (they’re a different heavy)
When it comes to "heavy", Crowbar always comes to mind. Listening to them just feels like raw impact. Another few bands to take that even a step further are Primitive Man and Thou.
I was listening to Electric Wizard's Dopethrone yesterday, first time in a few years. and part of what makes them so heavy is how saturated and huge the guitar and bass sound. like they're so dimed out it just washes all over you and seeps into your mind. I love doom for that as far as fast gnarly shit, Anaal Nathrakh's stuff, and specifically their album The Codex Necro, is just completely grotesque, ugly, hateful industrial black metal/grindcore. it chugs battery acid and spits lava. when it came out, it was like, the endurance-test for everyone who wanted to show their friends something that was like "can you handle this?" but beyond that, the lyrics (at least what you could hear or understand) were all about social problems and hatred rather than ice and caves and the usual black metal fare. it made things feel very real. around the same time there was a band called Axis Of Perdition who mixed more of that caustic black metal with technical weirdness, but also dark ambient passages. their stuff was super inspired by the Silent Hill games and to this day, their album Deleted Scenes In The Transition Hospital is one of the weirdest and most disorienting metal albums I've ever heard. as far as that more... real kind of heaviness you're ascribing to grunge and stuff, a great example of that is Type O Negative (I know, goth band, whatever) whose stuff was amazing for dynamics but also because Pete Steele was obviously on a very dark, bad trajectory. like musically their stuff is very lurching and punishing, but beyond that, the pain in a lot of that stuff is so damn real.
On the Suicide Silence note, i'd love to see a video on the Mitch Lucker tribute show. That might be an interesting deep dive as to who was featured, and why. That is actually how I found out about Myke Terry, his cover of Distruction of a Statue
Heaviness is very subjective. From a purely music perspective Ulcerate, Nails, Trap Them and other bands like that hit me very hard, while from a lyrical bands like Blacklisted and other hardcore bands do it for me. With a mix of emotional lyrics and heavy music there is a great variety of bands and genres like Whirr, Nothing, Deafheaven and especially Oathbreaker with their album Rheia, which hit everybody in the emotional guts that I talked to about it.
I think the experimentation from darko takes away from the heaviness many times kinda like methwitcj.To the grave gets heavier lirically,vocally and musically every time I hear them
In terms of lyrical content, I'm reminded of the quote from Ihsahn, where he said something to the effect of "The Weeknd is edgier than 90% of metal". This is one massive blind spot for a lot of metal. I have never been someone who listened to lyrics over the instrumental sections of songs, but even I can tell that a lot of people aren't going to respond to a lot of metal lyrics. Bands that have a strong message in their lyrics are going to resonate with a much bigger audience, Gojira being a good example.
I started listening to Korn and I thought they were heavy af when I was young, moved to Slayer, then Cannibal Corpse, but I have to say Lorna Shore is one of the heaviest bands out today definetly.
korn's first few albums (excluding most lead singles on follow the leader) stayed consistently heavy, and didn't need raw noise or horrifying topics to do it (mostly). one of the heaviest imo, but ofc i don't listen to everything
Dynamics are super important in music. One of my all time favorite metal albums is The Satanist by Behemoth, which is pretty sparse at times, but those moments of downtime make the heavy sections feel so much better.
Yep that's another heavy ass album. I saw Behemoth live with Danzig, Blackest of the Black, and they're one of the heaviest I've ever seen. Blew me away.
Chimaera is an excellent band. One of my favourites. Well balanced riffs, heavy, intelligent lyrics and just enough rock mixed in to make it very accessible.
Musically speaking I think Meshuggah came up with something that can be called structural heaviness. The overlapping of complex patterns (voice included as an instrument) in different rhythm structures, modes and/or keys, without losing the sense of groove and natural flow is unique to them. The guitar solos are angular and free, for a contrast too. That and JUTE GYTE. Micro-tones are the new heavy arrows.
Meshuggah is one of the heaviest bands imo. They're like a giant block of iron being dropped on your head. There's an elemental brutality about them that just can't be matched.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Especially how "super brutal" death metal stops being heavy. It just turns into a wall of noise and is practically relaxing at a certain point! I think if I had to pick one band as "the heaviest band" it would probably be The Acacia Strain, for the reasons you listed. They have incredible contrast including speed, grooves, brutality, soft parts, etc. And that contrast combined with the sound and tone of their vocals and instruments makes them very heavy for me. I think to an extent, Spiritbox is up there too, because their guitars are tuned down ridiculously low (which doesn't always mean heavy) and Courtney's vocals are so raw, combined with the fact that they have a lot of contrast and a lot of ambient/noise stuff in the background that makes the whole thing feel heavy in an ethereal way. Obviously there are many bands you could consider heavy and I'm sure I'll change my mind later, but that's where my head is at right now.
Really fascinating to bring Alice in Chains into this as just last week I wanted something crushing and heavy and angry and that's what hit the top of my list. Really listening to AiC is some dark shit, man.
Moor by Every Time I Die has alot of different kinds of heavy to it. While i wouldn't say they are the heaviest band by a long shot, this particular song has an immense weight to it and would recommend any music lover check it out!
Primitive Man is the heaviest band I have experienced - both on record and in live performance. Absolutely punishing sonic hellscapes that are reflected in their lyrics as well.
No Group will ever be as exciting and Heavy Musically as Cannibal Corpse!!! Never cared for the perverted lyrics of Chris, though the Music and Intensity was slightly better,,, but had fun with the "Neck's" fairy tale lyrics and journeys of absurdity!! Great Sci-Fi in my opinion... 🤘😜🤘
I've been loving the band Vitriol. I keep going back to their song "The parting of a neck." It's got agonizing vocals, crazy blast beats, evil sounding guitar, a rlly cool guitar solo.
Wow Finn, great video! So glad you mentioned Crowbar, Lamb of God, Suffocation and Nile. LoG is the most brutal pit I've ever been in when they toured with Slayer in like 2007. Crowbar so amazingly great and underrated to this day. A couple I think worthy of mention are of course Sabbath and Heaven and Hell (H&H are so heavy omg), Extermination Dismemberment, and Strapping Young Lad like omg so heavy af. Also wanted to mention that Ministry, NIN and Marilyn Manson, though not really known for sheer heaviness, have a handful of some of the heaviest songs I think I've ever heard... no mention of industrial metal in this vid.
In terms of lyrical heaviness, one album that's not even metal or hard rock but is so undeniably bleak and dark is the Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers. I know they're remembered as a sort of Britpop band but my god that album is one of the darkest records that's not in the metal, rock, or punk domain.
Mick Gordon's soundtrack for DOOM and Eternal! It's got the perfect mix of aggression, groove, heaviness and energy! And it's not appreciated enough! Maybe because it's not part of a scene or the music industry but I bet it drew more people to heavy music than most bands.
Definitely agree! I'd also like to add Mick's track for Fulgore from 2013's Killer Instinct is incredibly brutal and worth the listen. Perfectly conveys that "killing machine" feel for the character.
Korn hands down. Their early stuff especially the self titled album and Life is Peachy are so heavy lyrically wise, so much aggression in Jonathan Davis‘a voice and Munky and Head’s guitar tone and David’s raw drumming style. The tempos go from groovy and then turn around and pick up speed along with the breakdowns in those albums. Korn in the 90s was definitely heavy
I agree, that first Korn album had some very heavy lyrics. Still their best album. I stopped listening to Korn after Issues (aside from hearing a single here and there and not really being into it) until their latest album which is actually really good. I was surprised that Korn sounded awesome again. Not heavy like that first album but worth checking out if you are an old Korn fan who has forgotten about them for the past 20 years.
I mean even if we go lyrically Korn has nothing on the last 3 cattle decap albums You cannot genuinely tell me any song off self titled hits as hard as Death Atlas or Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts lyrically
I dont think speed makes music heavy. Its more about the feeling of impact and depends greatly on the drums and bass. I think the kick drum in EDM is perhaps the heaviest sound we use in music to day. Its litteraly designed to hit you in the chest
I have to give a shout out to Zao - "Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest". That album is just full of agony, betrayal and hopelessness + the heaviness of the music & delivery. Zao has always been a favorite of mine for the genuine emotion through their music. That band has a long past of painful stories.
EyeHateGod sounds and feels heavier than every band in this video. So does Melvins. Speed and growls isn't what makes heavy - clearly. If you can be heavier than every "death metal" band in existence, while playing what is basically downtuned punk and blues... that's how it's done. Anyway....that's the answer; EyeHateGod.
Nails is the heaviest band I know. It’s a combination of fast, aggression, brutal, attitude, and lyrics. Good points about Pantera. I heard Fucking Hostile in the 90s and it blew my mind. I had never heard anything that aggressive before and I was a hardcore music fan. Sold on it instantly.
Finn missed a pretty big part of what can be called "heavy": beat driven metal. That big, booming drum with someone growling or barking along with it hearkens back to the days of war drums and shouting warlords. Think "March of the Pigs," "Links 2 3 4" and "Megalomaniac"
I don't know why I watch this channel. I'm disappointed every time. Obviously Pumped Up Kicks is "lyrically heavy," but that doesn't make Foster the People a heavy band. Maybe I am looking for too much from an MBA of punk rock when he's speaking about metal.
Yeah he is wrong about a half step down. All Pantera tunings are tuned down an additional quarter step, but they go from E standard on the early stuff, D standard Vulgar/Driven, C# Trendkill/Steel, and then occasional other tunings like Sandblasted Skin is in G or something.
Rhythm and groove. Too many extreme metal bands relying on straight up blasting , it’s gets sooo overwhelmingly boring and corny… I’m telling you, throwing in some dynamic rythym, is infinitely heavier than just increasing your tempo to 5000 whateverthefuck bpm and growling over it… Drums, bass, guitar, vocals can all contribute to a heavy rhythm, which is literally the main component that even makes extreme music “musical”.
For me one of the heaviest bands is defiantly flowers taped to pens. I know skramz isnt everyones cup of tea but the loose lofi production, really emotional lyricism and bloodcurdling vocals is so crushing to me, more so than any death metal band.
Even with the decades of metalcore/deathcore/everything else that's come out since, the breakdown in Pantera's 'Domination' is IMO still the heaviest breakdown ever.
Preaching the truth! Amen! They also have a couple other "breakdowns" in some of their songs (which I of course can't remember right now) that always to me where WAY heavier than all of the contemporary breakdowns of today.
@@IncorrigibleBigotry Too many to count! Their entire discography is full of them, and I do mean the *entire* discography, pre-CFH albums included. The breakdown in 'Hollow' is another of my favorites - the way it goes from a softer song to Dime dive bombing a squeal into the breakdown part is awesome.
Nothing is heavier than a 90's slam riff from any of the bands from that era. Scattered Remnants, Afterbirth, Suffocation, Repudilation, Internal Bleeding, Disgorge, Immortal Suffering, etc. These bands ALONE kick the ass of any shitty new age deathcore with sterile and robotic production and rancid breakdowns and bass drops. Pantera or the like isn't that heavy either IMO, while they might've had a heavy riff here and there, the rest of the music wasn't "heavy" in terms of a slow, crushing and chugging riff that tramples your ears like many of the bands I named use. Metal needs also to be raw to be really heavy, as well as a certain tempo. I mentioned before of a slow, chugging riff and that's because tempo definitely dictates the heaviness of the riff. Take Crowbar, Acid Bath, or any sludge or doom metal band, they had crushing riffs because of the speed of which they play
I think the powerviolence hardcore subgenre is some of the heaviest stuff ever. I love how bands manage to mix slow, heavy churning parts with fast parts in 45 second songs. I also think the punk side of grunge was really heavy too, starting with Black Flag's "My War" that pretty much birthed the scene. Nirvana's album "In Utero" is heavy as fuck, especially "Scentless Apprentice" and "Milk It." Ditto for earlier Melvins and everything Karp put out. I also think the overlooked grunge-influenced Virginia hardcore band The Catalyst were super heavy, especially their album "Voyager."
I remember getting In Utero when it came out. I was in 8th grade and the first time I heard "Milk It" I was dumbfounded... it was the heaviest thing I'd ever heard in my life :D
may i humbly suggest Thou? the combo of pure, crushing tone, diaphragm-ripping vocals, acerbic lyrics, and how the band locks into rhythms to play with this unstoppable synergistic energy at both crawling and bracing tempos is just crazy. i think it goes way beyond “does this sound filthy/extreme”, though they are extremely filthy.
I really like how you framed the idea of "heavy". It reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad when I was a lot younger and we were talking about music. I was listening to a LOT of early deathcore at the time and I remember he said in his time Pink Floyd where his definishion of heavy. And he was right the lyrics were heavy, and for their genre they where fucking bleak and a punch to the gut. Definitely changed my idea of heavy after that conversation and helped me open my eyes to a lot more music that are heavy but not metal.
I’ll save you some time: it’s Carly Rae Jepsen.
No it's obviously Taylor Swift dude
The hell with both of y’all. Ariana Grande is the heaviest nerds
@@Eragor_ nah bro it's Skeeter Davis
Obviously *red hot chilli peppers* are beyond brutality 😂
Definitely actually Iamnotshane.
Strapping Young Lad. Devin's early music was not only sonically crushing & intense, it was emotionally harrowing too. Amazing stuff.
Shitstorm, Home Nucleonics, All Hail The New Flesh, Bastard, OMFG... so many beautiful, ear shredding mindfucks.
Came here to say this...
I think Love? is probably the loudest song I've ever heard at any decibel level.
The perfect balance between pretty much everything Finn talks about here imo
@@ayranbarbarian that was My first thought! That song is heavy as fuck the bass alone is thundering ⛈
Just saw him a few months back in London. Was a beautiful concert. Man is so talented.
I think another important aspect of Pantera was Phil’s willingness to deliver harsh vocals to really sell their performance. You can hear this on songs like Fucking Hostile, Slaughtered and Suicide note pt 2 where he shrieks and hits high notes that can hurt one’s voice but the way Phil delivered them made the songs even more intense. The downside to this though is that can damage your vocals in the long run which is why he said in interviews he can’t sing Cemetery Gates anymore, but Phil did give us some standout vocals that were blistering and a never ending assault on the listener.
Pantera shits on modern death metal in my opinion. Open chugs tuned to drop A and low growls don’t make you heavier.
@@GordoDustin It sure does make the music sound heavier though.
@@GordoDustin midtera
The Alice In Chains album is called “Dirt” and the actual title track lyrics are even heavier than “godsmack” arguably. Amazing album and band though. So heavy live too. Thanks for shouting them out.
Acid Bubble. Fuck it feels like I'm being crushed by the guitars. They can go heavy either way.
I love Alice, and I would agree Dirt is a heavy album that dives deep into a personal hell. Facelift is definitely bluesy. Their self-titled album has a weird sound to it but it works. Listen to Over Now and Jerry’s guitar is out of this world.
That album is phenomenal
Absolutely. Theyre heavy in their own right. Especially to call them grunge since they get lumped together. Definitely the heaviest band in that scene at the time.
There used to be this pro shot live video on RUclips of them opening with “It Ain’t Like That” in a club and it might be the heaviest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t find it anymore.
Nothing is more brutal than Chuck from Death wearing wearing a Kitty T-shirt in an interview
As in that band?
I could never get into death metal, but I cannot be the only person who dreams of a Cannibal Corpse coloring book.
Listen to thrash first
@@Roses._thornz Any specific band recommendations?
@@jamikatechaos9972 not a huge fan of thrash, but listen to Stormtroopers Of Death, one of the only thrash bands I like.
And Vince Locke could do the illustrations that would be epic btw maybe you should read A History of Violence
@@jamikatechaos9972 Start with Slayer.
I definitely agree that groovy, slower, crushing heaviness always ultimately hits harder than just raw noise. I think the ultimate example in my mind would be Black Tongue.
CROWBAR end of Story.
Electric Wizard
I came to say the same thing. Especially the song, Coma.
Yeah I saw black tongue in a small pub in Bolton and people were going hard as fuck because it was so heavy. The owners of the pub had to come out and practically fight the crowd to save the pub and PA from destruction haha
True
Acid Bath is heavy in several aspects that you spoke on. There are heavy parts in the music and it is definitely lyrically heavy. One of my favorites!
Bro Amputated is the heaviest band I’ve ever heard Slam pig hits and skullfuck Lobotomy
Acid bath is amazing rip audie pitre
That is exactly what I was going to write! Acid Bath does it musically and lyrically. Even their acoustic songs like "Bones of Baby Dolls" and "New Death Sensation" have some of the heaviest lyrics I've heard! Good point, dude!
I knew Dax Riggs a little bit back in the day. He’s a kind soul who loves to cook.
All their lyrics are constantly edgy and disturbing af (even worse when the kite string pops is based on irl events) and they all play amazingly and dax vocals are arguably the best in the genre
Electric Wizard likes to coin themselves the heaviest band ever and I can't disagree
Electric Wizard's riffs are not talked about enough in my opinion
in the wake of Trevor Strnad's suicide some of his lyrics really catch your eye. While he was easily one of death metals best lyricists and storytellers he was also one of the best front men of all time, bringing such passion, joy, and love to the scene. Knowing what we know now and the pain he was in it really brings to light the songs Receipt and To Breathless Oblivion. Receipt has such lyrics as:
"Have you ever tasted it?
Metallic barrel placed in it?
Do you possess the gall to pain all those in life you’ve touched?
Failure, I renounce our tenure
This venture has drained me
I ask thee grant self murder’s bliss
My conscience has begged me to end this horrendousness
Wrap rope so tightly ‘round my neck and twist
Suicide be my guide
The only thing I will get right in this life
My appeal shall not be denied
My place - now secured
My home - the other side
I never belonged here
I never did ask if I could join this world collapsed
A hell hath awakened and now I choose sleep
So let this razor get the better of me"
which genuinely feel as though they are written from a person with those experiences and thoughts.
To Breathless Oblivion has the chorus of:
"beyond those cursed stars above
lies the answer that I seek
on the backs of bullets rides my name
longing to kiss my cheek
resentfully decline
retire this hated life
without guilt I break these veins
carved with salvation's knife"
Trevor is a tricky one to ask though because with his knack for lyrics and storytelling its hard to truly know if it was just his raw talent to tell a narrative or if this was where he was at the time. Either way its hard to overstate how heavy TBDM could be.
Agreed 1000%. RIP Trev.
I was thinking of TBDM for most part of the video, they check a lot of the boxes… those 9 albums Trevor did are brutal, a perfect mix between cosmic horror, satanic witchery and the dark side of the human mind.
R.I.P Trevor Strnad
I always get in arguments with friends over this. I think TBDM is heavier than a lot of their compatriots. The lyrics, the sonic depth of the music, the changes and way it all flows like a story. RIP to one of the best to ever do it.
Trevor was a lyrical genius, the best front man. he conducted thr crowd like a master conductor just working his orchestra. I fully believe it was a combi of a English major with an insane vocabulary and insane talent forestry tell mixed with a man who's been dealing with depression since he was a child. The one thing I know for do sure is this world fucking sucks without him. The Black Dahlia Murder fuckin saved me when I was in the Army and had all that shit hanging on me. Thr Black Dahlia Murder are the heaviest band because they have everything, insane vocals, melodic rhythm, super fast drums, amazing guitar work, and the best vocals of any band.
@@CL053DC45K37 totally second that motion! and believe me when I say that I’d tried tones of bands and styles of metal searching for the heavyest of heavys but always come back to The Boys. HEARTBURN FOREVER!
Godflesh is my personal pick. I get that they may not be the "heaviest" nowadays, but their influence is inarguable. Kirk Hammet even called them the heaviest band of all time. When I'm in the mood for a heavy album, nothing beats Streetcleaner. Older Gojira comes closer than most, though.
I was thinking Godflesh and Neurosis. Not as dynamic as others, but CRUSHING.
Jep
@@harveywolfe7288 🤘
Indeed...streetcleaner ftw... and Jesu
I saw them 3 times waaaay back in the day, one of those times was a religious experience. I saw their actual first show in the States and it was really bad. They had equipment and sound man issues and wound up walking off the stage after the second song. "Godflesh don't hear, Godflesh don't play" and walked off. So disappointing but understandable.
Pantera was tuning to drop C in 96 with the Great Southern Trendkill… insanely heavy riffs.
Godflesh been doing that since the '80s.
they had a song in drop G on the great southern trendkill
I thought Dimebag was using a voltage regulator? lol such a boomer fix. Haha.
I think you hit it with the contrast argument. “This Love” by Pantera was the first song I personally heard were the singing and tempo changed so drastically and it sounded so insane to me at the time.
The minute that elitists shit on this album (which absolutely has one of the all time greatest opening tracks, ever)? Was the second I recognized just how fucked the metal scene could be.
And I was literally 12, at that time.
ruclips.net/video/LVREKUVRoEQ/видео.html
5 Minutes Alone as well
@@freedomhardly also, a great FU to those very critics. My favorite album by them by far. Underrated.
Pantera. Full stop. Perfect balance of all the criteria you were considering at the start of the video.
@@tastefulsubstance the breakdown of that song is super fucking heavy and is pretty simple. Gets me every time.
I think the band that really needed mentioned at the end was Knocked Loose. They're the perfect blend of emotionally driven, lyrically intense, disgustingly heavy music there is. A Tear in the Fabric of Life wraps up so much of the stuff you mentioned in this video into one borderline perfect EP.
Knocked Loose is insane. I thought Shade of Blue was the heaviest they can go. But their latest EP blew me away. Bryan is easily one of my top fav vocalists
Couldn't agree more
Fuck knocked loose
Damned Earth might be the heaviest sounding song. Gritty crushing production.
Great band Knocked Loose. I would also say Gatecreeper. They are death metal and they are great. Has the best parts of Morbid Angel and Pantera somehow. It’s got groove and the vocals are not ridiculously guttural, but somewhere between a Randy Blythe and a John Tardy.
JD on Korn’s selftitled.. THAT’s fucking heavy. The anger, the crying, the screaming, the growling, the lyrics, the sobbing, the imagery, the drugs, the producer who triggered JD, and 20+ years later making amends with the past.. That’s brutal af.
Cattle Decapitation satisfies a lot of your main criteria. They have that contrast to which you were referring in the middle of the vid in which you mentioned Suffocation and "Thall", and not to mention they achieve this by tuning to E flat standard. Travis Ryan can easily compete with the deathcore vocalists you mentioned thereafter (and his "cleans" add to the aforementioned contrast) that are in that arms race of vocal extremity (if anything, I'd say he is the most obvious influence on Will Ramos just by listening). Lastly, they satisfy your criteria of lyrical heaviness because while they don't write about incredibly personal subjects we can all relate to, they write about humanity's ecological choices in a very compelling way, and there are certain select songs that can make you emotional (see Lifestalker, Your Disposal, Pacific Grim, and the title track of Death Atlas, for example).
Good band, I should revisit these guys.
They’re my contender ATM for heaviest band on the planet. They are certainly one of the most interesting
Cattle Decap is not the heaviest band there is, and even jokingly entertaining that they might be, it wouldn't be Death Atlas.
RIP Gabe Serbian
Cattle decap is absolutely amazing and my favorite band. Monolith to Humanity checks off so many boxes in terms of heaviness. Maybe not the heaviest band of all time but they are up there for sure. Insanely fast and intense parts along with crushing slams and weird time change ups and an awesome vocal contrast make them stand out. Truly an amazing band and some of the best death metal ever made imo.
To me botch is one of the heaviest bands. Their grooves and breakdowns almost force movement. Loads of contrast and unpredictable switches from fast to slow and quiet to loud. Also it all has a very human feel which as a musician I find quite impressive and is more often than not lost in music that focuses that much on technicality.
oh man, the breakdown/solo part on C. Thomas Howell As The Soul Man is merciless. that double tapped solo is unlike anything I've ever heard, and then the vocals come roaring back in...
Hard to find but Deeds of Flesh - Human Sandbags was a truly unique blend of the aspects mentioned …Same with Suffocation- Effigy of the Forgotten…Can’t leave out early Pyrexia too
Korn gets a lot of shit but you can't tell me that their first 2 albums aren't insanely heavy. The guitar tone is brutal. The atmosphere and lyrics are really dark. Lyrics about real personal shit. My favorite Korn album is Follow the Leader but the first 2 are just insane.
No
@@AgentBeans just no. No Korn they’re god damn terrible. I’m sorry. I don’t find them to be heavy by any means
@@AgentBeans hey, you can like whatever you like. No need to justify it to a stranger on the internet
@@Bungletronics Korn isn't your cup of tea. That's cool with me. Some have different definitions of what heavy is.
Not to be "that guy" but Godsmack was on AIC's album "Dirt". It was the song that created Godsmack the band.
Edit: what makes a band heavy to me is confronting real life problems with realistic approaches and the vocalist at least understanding that they are not a God.
I was looking around to see if there was 'that guy' so I didn't have to be 'that guy' haha.
Im gonna say this and probably get laughed at but Slipknot has the heaviest of all time title in my opinion. What they did on their first two albums are flawless and brought in a new breath of fresh air for extreme metal. Their contribution to extreme metal is even more so than metallica's for thrash. Slipknot is so far ahead of everyone else in the extreme metal category, metallica is relatively loved as much as megadeth, slayer, etc. The music they put on the self titled and iowa is unmatched. Theres nothing else out there that has the passion and darkness behind it like iowa.
I really like how you've explored heaviness beyond the typical tropes (blastbeats, growls, etc.), I think The Downward Spiral is a great example of an album that is heavy but not in the traditional way, first of all it's a concept album about a man giving up all hope and descending into insanity, you have songs like Mr Self Destruct and March of the Pigs that are fast and aggressive with the noisey industrial stuff (forgive my lack of music terminology) adding a whole other dimension to it, tracks like Piggy or Closer which are groovy but with very eery unsettling lyrics and Hurt which is probably the most depressing song ever written, and when you consider that Trent Reznor was a heroin addict when writing it and it was recorded in the same house that the Tate murders took place you end up with an album that is genuinely quite uncomfortable to listen to and provokes a very weird emotional reaction.
I also like the Song Somewhat Damaged for this reason as well. The way the song makes you feel like you’re descending into madness with the singer is always cathartic for me.
Eraser and Mr Self Destruct are so heavy that they should be industrial metal rather than rock. Also, I love TDS but I cannot listen to it anymore because the theme is too much.
Downward Spiral is more of a classic for sure, but I'd say Broken is the heavier album sound wise and still has a lot of the same unsettling nature as tds. It blew my mind back when I was on the quest for unconventional heaviness.
@@5ycey7.n.84 I just thought that TDS showed a bit more contrast between different displays of heaviness, only slightly though, Broken is the one I revisit more often tbh, it's an industrial metal masterpiece and quite an extreme EP in its own kinda way
@ghost mall Somehow I never noticed that's what the sample was haha, but yeah so many bands have tried to do what NIN do but none as well as Trent Reznor, the guy is a genius.
Heaviness is the combination of tone and intent. Outside of those things it becomes a little like sports; once the emotional impact is eschewed in favour of prowess and very “meta” heaviness techniques, it just stops being heavy and becomes about tropes.
Solid insight. Really spot on. Thanks!
As ridiculous as this might sound, for me Dethklok is up there for alot of the combined reasons you mentioned. Their contrast between melody and crushing riffs, groove, fluctuating tempos, the way Gene Hoglans drum patterns (cmon, its gene hoglan) mesh in sync with the riffs and the overall musicality to it just get me going much harder than any of the brutal bands out there. Despite them being a joke / parody, their music is unironically some of the best out there to my ears.
Goddamn right.. Brendan small, gene hoglan, Brian.. Amazing
Brutal
My favorite "heavy by way of overwhelming detail" style death metal band is Weeping Birth, a one-dude project from a dude better known for also being Mirrorthrone (similar sound but black metal instead of death). It doesn't attempt to sound in any way real--everything is obviously digital besides the guitar, but it's all pushed to a beyond-human intensity that uses the inhumanity to contribute to just how overwhelming and chaotic the sound is. It finds a way to actually sound somewhat unclean and insane even though you know every note had to have been specifically placed.
On the sludge-heavy side, Gojira's To Sirius is my singular go-to track. The riffs are just so fucking good.
That entire Gojira album was life changing for me when I first heard it.
I definitely think bands sound heaviest and most interesting when they either go raw and real, like playing an album live off the floor with minimally edited overdubs, or when they go the opposite route and make something batty and insane on a computer that you could never conceive of just by jamming with guitars and drums. A lot of bands take the boring middle route of editing and computerizing everything to be super precise but still using arrangements and techniques that a skilled live band could pull off.
Mirrorthrone is criminally underrated
I always found slower, sludgier metal to be the heaviest stuff i could think of. I dont really like Morbid Angel but God of emptiness is like an auditory lead blanket. Having said that i recently discovered Lux tenebris by The Secret and its the heaviest Black Metal ive heard
I said it above. Corrupted. Band makes people feel ill live.
No one I know seems to agree with me but "A New Level" is the heaviest song I''ve personally heard. That main chromatic riff hits me like a truck every time.
AMEN!!!
A NEW LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE
I am shocked you didn’t mention Korn “Daddy” as one of hardest songs, lyrically, just on the fact that it took him decades to even go back and play that song live. He was reliving all that trauma and pain, an they still put it on their CD. Your videos are amazing, an totally agree that what makes a bad hard is not always who can play the fastest.
Yup... That is indeed a heavy song. Especially if you see it live, or live recording.
@@Cr0wsMurd3r totally agree. Coming from someone who, did not suffer sexual trauma, but physical, it really speaks and allows you to vent your own anger. Sometimes it is hard to list to that some, depending on my mood.
Especially the "you raped!, i feel dirty" part, the vocals&guitar are beyond heavy
Was actually waiting for Korn to be mentioned on that last section.
There was this Spanish nu metal band called Skunk DF that came out with what was very obviously a "Daddy"-inspired song in 1999, but without the personal story instead of being super bleak and heavy it was kinda like just a protest song against child abuse, like someone needed to make a stand against that. I always found that darkly funny
Dying Fetus is the best band I have ever seen live. Absolutely perfect execution.
Seen them 2 weeks ago and it was the most brutal concert I've ever been to. Truly godlike. My neck hurt for 3 days after the show.
The first album I thought of was Sunn O))) with Scott Walker. High contrast, and terrifying vocal arrangements, on an album seems to all about loneliness and alienation. I have a hard time listening to it, Personally.
I feel that Meshuggah will always be the heaviest band out there. It's just something with their sound that is untouchable, just take clockworks or born in dissonance for example, it hits like a truck in the face. And, the album(The violent sleep of reason) is recorded live so there is that too.
Listen to Mass Worship
Theyre literally heavier meshuggah
They got the groove and heaviness down
Meshuggah is not only as heavy as you can get short of crossing over into death metal. But, similar to Pantera, they also created their own unique groove. Not sure if there's a #1 but they are one of the best of all time.
"Nothing" and "Catch 33" in particular are heavy as fuck.
Totally agree with you good sir, was searching for a comment like yours :D
I grew up listening to grunge, which I never thought of as "heavy" until recently. Like you said, it's not all about blast beats and toilet vocals. The lyrics and imperfections attributes to the rawness/heaviness of the music. When I heard Korn's first record, it blew my mind. THAT was heavy as hell. The lyrical content was extreme, the vocals were unlike anything I've ever heard, and the instruments were raw, yet groovy as hell. From there I guess I've had that "natural" heavy growth and started enjoying the metalcore and deathcore scenes. Today I give almost any type of music a shot. And bands like Lamb of God, Lorna Shore and Gorjira are some of my favorites, and they are all super heavy. But I still enjoy (or long for?) That old school Raw, heavy shit that was the groundwork for my tastes today. I still revisit Korn, Alice in Chains and Nirvana on the regular, because it just hits the heavy spot sometimes when my favorite modern bands don't.
Check out Admiral Angry for some raw just downright crushing heaviness. Most of them members are in Black Wall Sheep and their first 3 albums are also intense.
@ghost mall Yea alot of Nirvana's songs off In Uterus were pretty heavy.
This guy thinks Pop music is heavier than Death Metal at 21:56 due to lyrics... Yeah, Pop singers are really pissed off at life in their multi-million dollar mansions and expensive cars.
Lamb of gods 11th hour. The lyrics are about an alcoholic on his deathbed. So dark and heavy and relatable. Also knowing Randy’s relationship with alcohol at that time it hits so hard knowing this came a from a deep place within him
I’ll happily listen to Finn talking about anything tbh. He always makes it interesting and throws a few jokes in.
@ghost mall he’s annoying but he makes fair points lol
You can't talk about heavy bands without including Slipknot, The Berzerker, and Absu... plus a ton of Nu Metal, NWOAHM, alternative, industrial, progressive, and math metal bands.
So glad you mentioned Crowbar. They're one of my favorite metal bands. I love how Kirk and the boys are all about playing low and slow in a way that works through the misery, rather than wallowing it, like so many of their sludgy peers.
Bingo!👍🏾
Check out the band Stressball, they sound like Crowbar, and came out of Louisiana around the same time
@@axeltejeda175 just checked them out… maybe if they weren’t playing through a Marshall practice amp it would be a bit more bearable. Sounds like the worst parts of acid bath lol.
They have plenty of songs that speed up the tempo for a good mosh. Going to see them for the first time right down the road this month. Been listening since 98.
@@frankiesparks2868 Going to see them July 30th, been listening since '95, can't wait!
What you mentioned about emotion is why Slipknot’s first two albums are still to this day so heavy to me. It’s not a particular technique or style, just that they go in there and let it all out. So much hate, pain, and sorrow thrown in a blender and put on a tape. So even if you don’t know the stories they’re telling, you can FEEL them.
Another thing I like is the fact that Corey’s vocals are a lot easier to understand than typical death metal. Rather than thinking it sounds like a demon, or bowel movements, it just sounds like a dude suffering. Because that’s what it is.
And lastly, as you mentioned, dynamics play a part too. They allow some down time, and even throw in a melody here and there, which make it hit harder when the crunch comes back in.
Aight, that’s enough for now.
felt the same exact feeling with Korn's self titled years ago
Their self titled album was recorded as a band live. That's part of the reason its so heavy. I forgot who in the band said it, but Ross Robinson was screaming in their face, hitting them, and do other stuff when they were recording. So he was just amping them up. Having them all in the same room, all playing together, and with Ross fucking with them definitely made it a lot harder sounding. Just a great album as a whole.
Scissors, off of slipknot's self titled album, is probably the heaviest track I can honestly think of. So raw, deeply sad lyrics, and a vocal performance so aggressive that Corey couldn't take it and started puking. That's fucking heavy to me.
I agree so much and it kinda pisses me off when people say slipknot fans are just too weak for death metal, I love death metal and death core, but tracks like sic, eyeless, surfacing and heretic anthem are just more heavy In my opinion
@@mother-chugger Scissors is hands down the best track on the whole album imo
The heaviest band is probably some shitty band no one listens to. Like the ones in those Mr. Incredible transformation videos.
All y’all need some Primitive Man, and Dragged into Sunlight, and Demelich
Primitive Man is disturbing
@@Christian-vq8rd All of them are, in their own unique way.
I totally agreed with this whole video, I think musically the groove stuff and anything with breakdowns is extremely heavy because of the primal reaction we have to the space between notes. I think your example for Alice in chains is a bit odd (the album is dirt not Godsmack btw) I think the opening version of nutshell at MTV unplugged is crushingly depressing as Layne was litterally dying and singing about dying alone. I think bell witch combines both deep depressing reality with crushing musicianship and is the best example imo. While you can't exactly hear the vocals, the actual bass and drum combo envokes such despair that I felt my body go limp when I heard them for the first time, you can really hear the sound of someone who's lost a friend on their album mirror reaper and it's the heaviest shit musically and lyrically.
Also numb little bug is an amazing song, it's so relateable yet catchy kinda like hey ya by Outkast
Bell Witch are fantastic, Mirror Reaper is how I first heard them, awesome band.
@ghost mall the time signature on this is so weird, it really makes you feel kind of rushed despite not being that fast.
@@charliekirkpatrick695 oh man, Bell Witch are amazing, especially when you consider that it's just bass, drums and vocals. occasional keys on the quiet parts.
Tf you talking about? Like anyone's ever doubted Pantera being heavier haha
The Cleansing is the best deathcore album. The magic from that live recording is unmatched in the entire genre.
I've only listened to a few deathcore bands because they all sound very cheesy, and they all sound so similar. The Cleansing was actually really good though, and definitely my favorite deathcore album.
untouchable IMO. Focused on simple gross stank face riffs and no melodeath influences. Too much deathcore has the melodeath or the technicality which just makes it less heavy lol.
Not even close... Mitch isn't a god yk
That album is the epitome of deathcore for me. The production sounds perfect and the fact that it's live makes it even more amazing. Raw, harsh and heavy af
I prefer The Black Crown but The Cleansing is still brilliant
For me deathcore and groove is what I would call heavy. Gojira for sure is top notch heavy(not sure why but they just are). Lyrics and emotion can make song just as heavy for example: "daddy" by Korn or "love hate love" by Alice in Chains. Hell i remember watching "murder song" by Aurora and holy shit that was heavy and its far from metal. Dissonance definitely helps too.
No mention of funeral doom is sad. Ahab, Bell Witch, and Esoteric are some of the heaviest music I've ever heard. When I saw Bell Witch live my whole body shook from the vibration of the riffs and pummeling of the drums
Ahab is awesome, gonna check out Bell Witch. Have you heard Abandon, Mournful Congregation, or Loss?
Always makes my day better when I see a Punk Rock MBA video. Keep up the great work Finn. You're awesome.
I've recently gained an appreciation for suicide silence. I never cared for deathcore (liked a song here and there), but looking back on them, they definitely paved a way for a generation.
I feel bad for anyone who doesn't like deathcore
@@lightningmonky7674 I've honestly tried. It has a lot of elements in metal I like. The songs where the drums are louder than the guitars ruin it for me. If I here the cymbals overpowering the guitar, I just can't listen to it. Ive ran into a lot of deathcore like it. Don't get me wrong. I respect the genre though
@@lightningmonky7674 I'm open minded about it, but more often than not I find it to be just a worse version of Cryptopsy or Aborted with breakdowns that just kill the pace of the song through a chuggy riff or bog standard slammy brutal death metal riff. Though I do find myself digging some of the more symphonic or blackened deathcore bands that have been popping up lately.
@@Gerd0 that's pretty funny cause that's the kind of deathcore I stay away from 😭🤣 different strokes for different folks I guess. And yeah aborted's old stuff is pretty cool but I really haven't liked the second half of their career has sounded really boring to me
Knocked Loose hands down is one of the heaviest in my opinion. Like Tear In The Fabric Of Life is one of the heaviest things I've heard period.
The Rot Within by Bound In Fear is the hardest song I've ever heard.
Acacia Strain has always been the heaviest band I’ve listened to. The lyrics and how Vincent delivers them, coupled with the guttural chug of the instruments. Lines like “Not even your children are safe” and “This is how the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper”. It may not work for everybody, but I dig it.
There’s no heavy quite like Acacia Strain heavy
I feel like since DL left they've lost some impact, but still hit like a truck. Dead walk/Continent/Wormwood are 3 of my fave albums from anyone ever.
@@charliekirkpatrick695 I’ve noticed that too. I still enjoyed the most recent stuff, but it definitely is lacking in places compared to their earlier work.
@@charliekirkpatrick695 what a fuckin era. Saw em half a dozen times back then and it was always insane
JFC! I know others will argue other tracks are heavier, but it's JFC for me. Fucking hell.
Knocked Loose live is one of heaviest bands I’ve ever experienced. But, I think Gojira’s energy is top notch in my opinion. It’s a toss up between those two bands for me.
Saw them both Live together in Oklahoma and you’re absolutely right
both probably really good, only seen gojira but in love with knocked loose in the last year orso, both heavy as fuck in their own way
The Heaviest Matter of the Universe and Love are both two of the heaviest songs I can think of. Gojira goes in.
I can't wait to finally experience Gojira, live. Even if I'm extremely late to that party.
Good answer, that's how I felt about Far Beyond Driven Album by Pantera.
You can't headbang very well with constant blast beats, or at least it's not nearly as satisfying as doing it with the bands who have a heavy groove. And in my opinion, the headbang test is one of the most important qualifications for determining overall heaviness.
Primitive Man is probably the heaviest (literally) band today. Also I think Acacia Strain's It Comes In Waves is heavy AF
Bolt Thrower, especially Realm of Chaos. One of the few bands to never make a terrible album.
Agreed. I still prefer Those Once Loyal.
I was lucky enough to see them in the 90’s as a wide eyed young teenager, what a band.
@@iamnotanumber100 Same, I saw them on the War Master tour and they were amazing IMO.
How many albums would you say you have to release to be on that list?
@@callum9693 Probably only 3 or 4, haha. IMO, most bands release something embarrassing after only a couple of albums.
Great video, just surprised you didn't mentionned the math core/tech metal genre as Dillinger Escape Plan, Psyopus, Tony Danza Tapdance Extravangaza , The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Ion Dissonance, The Chariot, Carbomb, Frontierer, etc
I love Suffocation. However, I'd say Mortician is one of the heaviest of old school death metal.
I saw Suffocation live and they were great.
@@keithclayton1271 Agreed. I saw them many times in NYC, especially B.B. Kings.
@@christlevania5933 oh nice :) I only saw them once, in Dallas with Shadows Fall.
Yeah, those mid tempo grooves from Mortician are heavy as fuck.
Rose Rose - Brutalize was imo the heaviest death metal album.
I happened upon a song called Blasphemian, by Infant Annihilator recently and, once I'd recovered from the shock, I decided that it was hands down the heaviest thing I'd ever heard. It's 7 minutes of unrelenting brutality
Agreed but they’re not mainstream so nobody cares lmao.
As soon as this video popped up I was like hmmm it’s gotta be infant 😂
Aborted would be there, annotations of an autopsy as well (they’re a different heavy)
Infant Annihilator should def be discussed more in this convo..
When it comes to "heavy", Crowbar always comes to mind. Listening to them just feels like raw impact. Another few bands to take that even a step further are Primitive Man and Thou.
It’s absolutely Crowbar. I listen to plenty brutal death metal but Crowbar hits different
Crowbar is serious fat metal.
Crowbar totally deserve to be on the list of all time.
No idea how "Primitive Man" isn't the final answer to this video's query
Honorable mention to CoC
I was listening to Electric Wizard's Dopethrone yesterday, first time in a few years. and part of what makes them so heavy is how saturated and huge the guitar and bass sound. like they're so dimed out it just washes all over you and seeps into your mind. I love doom for that
as far as fast gnarly shit, Anaal Nathrakh's stuff, and specifically their album The Codex Necro, is just completely grotesque, ugly, hateful industrial black metal/grindcore. it chugs battery acid and spits lava. when it came out, it was like, the endurance-test for everyone who wanted to show their friends something that was like "can you handle this?" but beyond that, the lyrics (at least what you could hear or understand) were all about social problems and hatred rather than ice and caves and the usual black metal fare. it made things feel very real.
around the same time there was a band called Axis Of Perdition who mixed more of that caustic black metal with technical weirdness, but also dark ambient passages. their stuff was super inspired by the Silent Hill games and to this day, their album Deleted Scenes In The Transition Hospital is one of the weirdest and most disorienting metal albums I've ever heard.
as far as that more... real kind of heaviness you're ascribing to grunge and stuff, a great example of that is Type O Negative (I know, goth band, whatever) whose stuff was amazing for dynamics but also because Pete Steele was obviously on a very dark, bad trajectory. like musically their stuff is very lurching and punishing, but beyond that, the pain in a lot of that stuff is so damn real.
Bolt Thrower. I continue to be genuinely astounded by how under-appreciated they are.
Bolt Thrower is the ultimate Death metal band imo.
I love that band.
bolt thrower is soooo good
On the Suicide Silence note, i'd love to see a video on the Mitch Lucker tribute show. That might be an interesting deep dive as to who was featured, and why. That is actually how I found out about Myke Terry, his cover of Distruction of a Statue
If Suffocation and Devourment are not on this list there's something wrong with you.
This video reminded me I haven't listened to Chelsea Grin, Job for a Cowboy, Pig Destroyer, Cretin and The Chariot for quite a while...
Heaviness is very subjective. From a purely music perspective Ulcerate, Nails, Trap Them and other bands like that hit me very hard, while from a lyrical bands like Blacklisted and other hardcore bands do it for me. With a mix of emotional lyrics and heavy music there is a great variety of bands and genres like Whirr, Nothing, Deafheaven and especially Oathbreaker with their album Rheia, which hit everybody in the emotional guts that I talked to about it.
Black Tongue is Imo the heaviest band
I would say Darko US and To the Grave are the two heaviest that immediately come to my mind. Lorna Shore is definitely up there as well though.
Really???
I think the experimentation from darko takes away from the heaviness many times kinda like methwitcj.To the grave gets heavier lirically,vocally and musically every time I hear them
In terms of lyrical content, I'm reminded of the quote from Ihsahn, where he said something to the effect of "The Weeknd is edgier than 90% of metal". This is one massive blind spot for a lot of metal. I have never been someone who listened to lyrics over the instrumental sections of songs, but even I can tell that a lot of people aren't going to respond to a lot of metal lyrics. Bands that have a strong message in their lyrics are going to resonate with a much bigger audience, Gojira being a good example.
The real heavy was the friends we made along the way
I started listening to Korn and I thought they were heavy af when I was young, moved to Slayer, then Cannibal Corpse, but I have to say Lorna Shore is one of the heaviest bands out today definetly.
Oh yes definitely Korn, especially when they released the first two albums!
Bound In Fear.
korn's first few albums (excluding most lead singles on follow the leader) stayed consistently heavy, and didn't need raw noise or horrifying topics to do it (mostly). one of the heaviest imo, but ofc i don't listen to everything
Since their in the same vain and age, i wanna mention brand of sacrifice. I Wonder who is heavier, them or lorna
Infant Annihilator is brutal
Dynamics are super important in music. One of my all time favorite metal albums is The Satanist by Behemoth, which is pretty sparse at times, but those moments of downtime make the heavy sections feel so much better.
Yep that's another heavy ass album. I saw Behemoth live with Danzig, Blackest of the Black, and they're one of the heaviest I've ever seen. Blew me away.
I think bands that can really display their dynamic range are heavier because they create the contrast for you to experience.
Chimaera is an excellent band. One of my favourites. Well balanced riffs, heavy, intelligent lyrics and just enough rock mixed in to make it very accessible.
Pass out of existence is a masterpiece.
Musically speaking I think Meshuggah came up with something that can be called structural heaviness. The overlapping of complex patterns (voice included as an instrument) in different rhythm structures, modes and/or keys, without losing the sense of groove and natural flow is unique to them. The guitar solos are angular and free, for a contrast too.
That and JUTE GYTE. Micro-tones are the new heavy arrows.
Meshuggah is one of the heaviest bands imo. They're like a giant block of iron being dropped on your head. There's an elemental brutality about them that just can't be matched.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Especially how "super brutal" death metal stops being heavy. It just turns into a wall of noise and is practically relaxing at a certain point! I think if I had to pick one band as "the heaviest band" it would probably be The Acacia Strain, for the reasons you listed. They have incredible contrast including speed, grooves, brutality, soft parts, etc. And that contrast combined with the sound and tone of their vocals and instruments makes them very heavy for me. I think to an extent, Spiritbox is up there too, because their guitars are tuned down ridiculously low (which doesn't always mean heavy) and Courtney's vocals are so raw, combined with the fact that they have a lot of contrast and a lot of ambient/noise stuff in the background that makes the whole thing feel heavy in an ethereal way. Obviously there are many bands you could consider heavy and I'm sure I'll change my mind later, but that's where my head is at right now.
Really fascinating to bring Alice in Chains into this as just last week I wanted something crushing and heavy and angry and that's what hit the top of my list. Really listening to AiC is some dark shit, man.
Moor by Every Time I Die has alot of different kinds of heavy to it. While i wouldn't say they are the heaviest band by a long shot, this particular song has an immense weight to it and would recommend any music lover check it out!
Did you see Cave In cover Moor. SO GOOD!!!
Primitive Man is the heaviest band I have experienced - both on record and in live performance. Absolutely punishing sonic hellscapes that are reflected in their lyrics as well.
No Group will ever be as exciting and Heavy Musically as Cannibal Corpse!!! Never cared for the perverted lyrics of Chris, though the Music and Intensity was slightly better,,, but had fun with the "Neck's" fairy tale lyrics and journeys of absurdity!! Great Sci-Fi in my opinion... 🤘😜🤘
I've been loving the band Vitriol. I keep going back to their song "The parting of a neck." It's got agonizing vocals, crazy blast beats, evil sounding guitar, a rlly cool guitar solo.
Hunt those who run!
Wow Finn, great video! So glad you mentioned Crowbar, Lamb of God, Suffocation and Nile. LoG is the most brutal pit I've ever been in when they toured with Slayer in like 2007. Crowbar so amazingly great and underrated to this day. A couple I think worthy of mention are of course Sabbath and Heaven and Hell (H&H are so heavy omg), Extermination Dismemberment, and Strapping Young Lad like omg so heavy af. Also wanted to mention that Ministry, NIN and Marilyn Manson, though not really known for sheer heaviness, have a handful of some of the heaviest songs I think I've ever heard... no mention of industrial metal in this vid.
In terms of lyrical heaviness, one album that's not even metal or hard rock but is so undeniably bleak and dark is the Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers. I know they're remembered as a sort of Britpop band but my god that album is one of the darkest records that's not in the metal, rock, or punk domain.
Mick Gordon's soundtrack for DOOM and Eternal!
It's got the perfect mix of aggression, groove, heaviness and energy! And it's not appreciated enough! Maybe because it's not part of a scene or the music industry but I bet it drew more people to heavy music than most bands.
100% agree
Definitely agree! I'd also like to add Mick's track for Fulgore from 2013's Killer Instinct is incredibly brutal and worth the listen. Perfectly conveys that "killing machine" feel for the character.
Korn hands down. Their early stuff especially the self titled album and Life is Peachy are so heavy lyrically wise, so much aggression in Jonathan Davis‘a voice and Munky and Head’s guitar tone and David’s raw drumming style. The tempos go from groovy and then turn around and pick up speed along with the breakdowns in those albums. Korn in the 90s was definitely heavy
Good call dude. Ahhhh, remember back when Korn was good? Remember that, all those years ago?!?!? I wanna be that happy little kid again lol
I agree, that first Korn album had some very heavy lyrics. Still their best album. I stopped listening to Korn after Issues (aside from hearing a single here and there and not really being into it) until their latest album which is actually really good. I was surprised that Korn sounded awesome again. Not heavy like that first album but worth checking out if you are an old Korn fan who has forgotten about them for the past 20 years.
No
I mean even if we go lyrically
Korn has nothing on the last 3 cattle decap albums
You cannot genuinely tell me any song off self titled hits as hard as Death Atlas or Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts lyrically
“Just One Fix” by Ministry is the heaviest song of all time IMO… from the weight of the lyrics to that punishing guitar line it’s got my vote.
I dont think speed makes music heavy. Its more about the feeling of impact and depends greatly on the drums and bass. I think the kick drum in EDM is perhaps the heaviest sound we use in music to day. Its litteraly designed to hit you in the chest
Public Castration is a good idea
I have to give a shout out to Zao - "Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest". That album is just full of agony, betrayal and hopelessness + the heaviness of the music & delivery. Zao has always been a favorite of mine for the genuine emotion through their music. That band has a long past of painful stories.
Preach! Zao is my personal favorite metal band of all time
EyeHateGod sounds and feels heavier than every band in this video. So does Melvins. Speed and growls isn't what makes heavy - clearly. If you can be heavier than every "death metal" band in existence, while playing what is basically downtuned punk and blues... that's how it's done. Anyway....that's the answer; EyeHateGod.
Nails is the heaviest band I know. It’s a combination of fast, aggression, brutal, attitude, and lyrics. Good points about Pantera. I heard Fucking Hostile in the 90s and it blew my mind. I had never heard anything that aggressive before and I was a hardcore music fan. Sold on it instantly.
I second that
Primitive Man might be close
It’s because Grindcore is heavy as fuck.
Finn missed a pretty big part of what can be called "heavy": beat driven metal. That big, booming drum with someone growling or barking along with it hearkens back to the days of war drums and shouting warlords. Think "March of the Pigs," "Links 2 3 4" and "Megalomaniac"
Honest question: Do you mean Groove Metal? I'ma look up the song you mentioned after this video, but I think you may be thinking of Groove Metal
@@TerminatorMetal Somewhat, but more industrial metal, like KMFDM, Rammstein and Ministry.
I don't know why I watch this channel. I'm disappointed every time. Obviously Pumped Up Kicks is "lyrically heavy," but that doesn't make Foster the People a heavy band. Maybe I am looking for too much from an MBA of punk rock when he's speaking about metal.
What Lorna shore song is that ?
Into the hellfire
I believe that Pantera tuned down to C or C# standard on some of their songs. 'Becoming' is one of them to my knowledge.
The Great Southern Trendkill has some of Pantera’s heaviest moments
Yeah he is wrong about a half step down. All Pantera tunings are tuned down an additional quarter step, but they go from E standard on the early stuff, D standard Vulgar/Driven, C# Trendkill/Steel, and then occasional other tunings like Sandblasted Skin is in G or something.
Rhythm and groove.
Too many extreme metal bands relying on straight up blasting , it’s gets sooo overwhelmingly boring and corny…
I’m telling you, throwing in some dynamic rythym, is infinitely heavier than just increasing your tempo to 5000 whateverthefuck bpm and growling over it…
Drums, bass, guitar, vocals can all contribute to a heavy rhythm, which is literally the main component that even makes extreme music “musical”.
For me one of the heaviest bands is defiantly flowers taped to pens. I know skramz isnt everyones cup of tea but the loose lofi production, really emotional lyricism and bloodcurdling vocals is so crushing to me, more so than any death metal band.
Even with the decades of metalcore/deathcore/everything else that's come out since, the breakdown in Pantera's 'Domination' is IMO still the heaviest breakdown ever.
Preaching the truth! Amen! They also have a couple other "breakdowns" in some of their songs (which I of course can't remember right now) that always to me where WAY heavier than all of the contemporary breakdowns of today.
@@IncorrigibleBigotry Too many to count! Their entire discography is full of them, and I do mean the *entire* discography, pre-CFH albums included. The breakdown in 'Hollow' is another of my favorites - the way it goes from a softer song to Dime dive bombing a squeal into the breakdown part is awesome.
Nothing is heavier than a 90's slam riff from any of the bands from that era. Scattered Remnants, Afterbirth, Suffocation, Repudilation, Internal Bleeding, Disgorge, Immortal Suffering, etc. These bands ALONE kick the ass of any shitty new age deathcore with sterile and robotic production and rancid breakdowns and bass drops. Pantera or the like isn't that heavy either IMO, while they might've had a heavy riff here and there, the rest of the music wasn't "heavy" in terms of a slow, crushing and chugging riff that tramples your ears like many of the bands I named use. Metal needs also to be raw to be really heavy, as well as a certain tempo. I mentioned before of a slow, chugging riff and that's because tempo definitely dictates the heaviness of the riff. Take Crowbar, Acid Bath, or any sludge or doom metal band, they had crushing riffs because of the speed of which they play
"Filth" by Swans is one of the heaviest, darkest albums ever made. Sounds like what you would play in a torture chamber.
"Public Castration Is a Good Idea" is their most brutal and darkest album. Even today it's absolutely insane and extreme record
Tried really hard to like that album but it just sounded too much like raw noise and not in a good way either
@@masterknife8423 it's an acquired taste for sure. At least you gave it a try, where others may not dare.
I think the powerviolence hardcore subgenre is some of the heaviest stuff ever. I love how bands manage to mix slow, heavy churning parts with fast parts in 45 second songs.
I also think the punk side of grunge was really heavy too, starting with Black Flag's "My War" that pretty much birthed the scene. Nirvana's album "In Utero" is heavy as fuck, especially "Scentless Apprentice" and "Milk It." Ditto for earlier Melvins and everything Karp put out. I also think the overlooked grunge-influenced Virginia hardcore band The Catalyst were super heavy, especially their album "Voyager."
Love this comment. You and me both have the same tastes when it comes to heavy music! Get me in a band with this guy lol!
I remember getting In Utero when it came out. I was in 8th grade and the first time I heard "Milk It" I was dumbfounded... it was the heaviest thing I'd ever heard in my life :D
@@keithclayton1271 agreed still is one of the most extreme songs I've heard ever
Yeah, you should check out Sex Prisoner. They've got some amazing gigs uploaded on RUclips
Karp WAS actually pretty heavy. I was actually in Montana the day Scott died.
You skipped over Godflesh, Isis, Sunn O))), industrial music, Swans & many more. Any chance of a sequel that's outside of metal/punk?
may i humbly suggest Thou? the combo of pure, crushing tone, diaphragm-ripping vocals, acerbic lyrics, and how the band locks into rhythms to play with this unstoppable synergistic energy at both crawling and bracing tempos is just crazy. i think it goes way beyond “does this sound filthy/extreme”, though they are extremely filthy.
I was looking for this comment. Thou and Amenra are the heaviest to me. The best way I can describe it is "crushing".
I really like how you framed the idea of "heavy". It reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad when I was a lot younger and we were talking about music. I was listening to a LOT of early deathcore at the time and I remember he said in his time Pink Floyd where his definishion of heavy. And he was right the lyrics were heavy, and for their genre they where fucking bleak and a punch to the gut. Definitely changed my idea of heavy after that conversation and helped me open my eyes to a lot more music that are heavy but not metal.
why didn't he say anything about slam