Top Metal Artists on Rhapsody Online

Linkin Park

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

Naysayers predicted that this whole rap-rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are one of the most successful guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down at the altar of hip-hop. In the course of a single song they let their guitars run amok, push plodding rhythms and growl like angry dogs roused from sleep -- all while dexterously zipping back and forth along record grooves. Linkin Park formed in 1996, but all the pieces didn't fall into place until 2000, when Warner Brothers released Hybrid Theory, dubbed after the band's original name. Thanks to "In the End," the album was a massive hit and the second single, "Crawling," won them a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance." Despite a somewhat cool reception from anyone over the age of 13, Linkin Park claimed a spot at the very top of the heap in the early 2000s nu-metal arena. They have since released an album of Hybrid Theory remixes, a studio album and a live album chronicling their extensive tours. A single called "Numb/Encore," featuring a collaboration with rapper Jay-Z, was released in 2004; the EP it was taken from, Collision Course, and single hit No. 1, and firmly reset Linkin Park's place at the top of the charts. In 2005 the band concentrated on a number of relief efforts to aid victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. MC Mike Shinoda splintered off to work on his solo project, a hip-hop group called Fort Minor. The band released Minutes to Midnight in 2007, another chart-topper that scaled back the rapping in favor of a more straight forward arena-friendly rock sound; the live album Road to Revolution followed in 2008. - Kali Holloway

Shinedown

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:43 -0800

Formed in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2001, Shinedown have separated themselves from the ranks of their peers since the very beginning, when an acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" found its way into local and then nationwide rotation. The modern hard-rockers' debut album, Leave a Whisper, was re-released on the heels of the single's success and promptly went platinum, while carving out a Southern rock identity for the band. Second record, Us and Them, appeared in 2005 and furthered Shinedown's popularity on the strength of the emotionally charged, grungy single "Heroes." Third album, The Sound of Madness, found the band moving away from their Southern rock label and toward more straight-up hard rock with strong elements of the salad days of grunge informing their sound. The album yielded hits in "Devour," "Second Chance" and the title track. - Mike McGuirk

Kid Rock

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

After spending a decade toiling in obscurity and releasing a handful of albums that went nowhere, Kid Rock — Detroit's self-proclaimed "American Bad Ass" — spiked the title track of his forth album, 1998's Devil without a Cause, with a bold declaration: "I'm going platinum!" With the white trash rap/rock anthem "Bawitdaba" and a star-making performance at Woodstock '99, he delivered on his promise. But within a decade, Rock had made the total transformation into a classic rock singer when his 2007 album Rock N Roll Jesus debuted at Number One.

He was born Robert James Ritchie on Jan. 15, 1971, in Romeo, Michigan, a small, rural town north of the Detroit metro area, where his father owned a Lincoln-Mercury dealership. While growing up, he frequently clashed with his father, whom he blamed for being a workaholic, resulting in Ritchie's leaving home on multiple occasions as a teenager. He experimented with drugs and occasionally sold crack for spending money, but his primary focus was music. Though raised on his parents' classic rock & roll albums (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Seger, etc.), Ritchie was equally interested in hip-hop. He formed his own break-dance crew, the Furious Funksters, and refined his scratching skills. Before long, he was DJ'ing and rapping at clubs and parties throughout the Detroit area, slowly building a reputation that led to a deal with Jive Records.

His 1990 debut, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, netted Kid Rock an opening spot on an Ice Cube tour and sparked controversy when the FCC threatened to fine a college radio station $23,750 for playing the album's homage to oral sex, "Yo-Da-Lin in the Valley." The fine was eventually dropped and so was Kid Rock; Grits Sandwiches had failed to sell enough to keep Jive's interest. He then signed to the indie label Continuum, which released 1993's The Polyfuze Method and the 1994 heavy metal-leaning EP Fire It Up. Both failed to reach an audience beyond Rock's local Detroit following. Undaunted, Kid Rock borrowed $8,500 from his father to set up his own label, Top Dog, and self-released his third full-length album, Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp, in 1996. The album sold enough for Kid Rock to attract the attention of Atlantic Records.

Devil without a Cause (Number Four, 1999) was slow out of the gate but began a steady climb up the Billboard 200 as rock radio and MTV picked up on the album's hybrid rap/metal singles "I Am the Bullgod" (Number 31 Mainstream Rock) and "Bawitdaba" (Number 10 Modern Rock). A third single, "Cowboy" (which threw dirty Southern rock and country elements into the mix), went to Number Five on the Modern Rock chart and Number 82 on the Hot 100. In 1999 — ten years after his debut album — Kid Rock was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy. (He lost to Christina Aguilera.)

The History of Rock (Number Two, 2000) featured remixed and rerecorded versions of tracks culled from his pre-Atlantic career and a couple of new tracks. He also announced plans to issue various projects by members of his Twisted Brown Trucker Band on his Atlantic-distributed Top Dog label, beginning with Double Wide (2000) by his DJ, Uncle Kracker. An album was also planned for his sidekick, Joe C. (born Joseph Calleja), but the diminutive, 26-year-old rapper, who suffered from the digestive disorder celiac disease, died in his sleep on November 16, 2000.

The following year Rock released Cocky (Number Three, 2001), his official follow-up to Devil Without a Cause, which featured a mix of rap/rock, Southern rock and country-tinged material. That year, he began talking up his love of country music and Southern rock, and appeared with Hank Williams Jr. on an episode of CMT's Crossroads show. Like Devil Without a Cause, though, Cocky's sales were sluggish at first. But by the time he released its biggest single — a duet with Sheryl Crow on the country-rock ballad "Picture" (Number Four, 2003) — the album went on to sell more than four million copies. "Picture," which also reached Number 21 on the Hot Country singles chart, signaled a major change in style for the rap/rocker.

When he returned with the self-titled Kid Rock (Number Eight, 2004), his transformation into a classic rocker was complete. The album spawned three Top Forty Mainstream Rock hits—a cover of Bad Company's mid-Seventies rock hit "Feel Like Makin' Love" (Number 33, 2004), "I Am" (Number 28, 2004) and "Jackson, Mississippi" (Number 14, 2004)—as well as the Number 50 Hot Country single "Single Father." After much touring, his rock band Kid Rock & the Twisted Brown Trucker Band released Live Trucker (Number 12, 2006), a performance set whose cover paid homage to Detroit rock legend Bob Seger's 1976 album, Live Bullet. Kid Rock returned the following year with Rock N Roll Jesus (Number One, 2007), which yielded the singles "Amen" (Number 11 Mainstream Rock, Number 27 Modern Rock, 2007) and "So Hott" (Number Two Mainstream Rock, Number 13 Modern Rock, 2007). He has said he will return to his hip-hop roots on his next album, following a side project with Run-DMC's Rev. Run.

Kid Rock's extramusical affairs have often eclipsed his music. In 2001, he began an on-again-off-again relationship with Pamela Anderson, whom he married in 2006 and then promptly divorced five months later. He's been arrested a number of times on assault and battery charges, including a 2005 incident in which he punched a DJ at a strip club, and a pair of 2007 incidents in which he was in a fight in an Atlanta Waffle House, and a more public dust-up when he and Motley Crue drummer (and former Anderson husband) Tommy Lee got into a scuffle at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.

Disturbed

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:46 -0800

Heavy metal will mutate in a thousand directions, taking on pop, hip-hop, ritual killing and even short hair in their turns. But the truism that the music will never disappear, always finding a new generation of misfit kids to carry the torch, remains no less obvious in the 21st century. Disturbed are testament. Led by one of those former "maladjusted" teens, singer David Draiman (veteran of five separate school expulsions), this Chicago-based band has already outlived many mainstream-friendly acts and fusion-minded fads. Rooted in the styles of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and their ultra-hard brethren, Disturbed also recall the fierceness of early Metallica while maintaining fidelity to a belief in making a song's case, then quickly shutting up. After their debut, The Sickness, took off in 2000, they were invited to play the main stage at 2001's Ozzfest, and their growing popularity led to platinum (and multiplatinum) ratings for a string of albums across the decade, culminating in 2008's Indestructible; the following year they took stock of their career with The Complete Studio Albums. - Jaan Uhelszki

Van Halen

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:46 -0800

In the late 1970s and on into the '80s, Eddie Van Halen's virtual re-invention of the guitar and David Lee Roth's horny circus performer stage presence were the core of one of Hard Rock's most enduring bands. Eddie's older brother Alex's shimmering hi-hat attack has always been as much a trademark of their shiny, sexy sound as Eddie's hammer-on-crazy solos -- solos that essentially introduced the phrases "ribboning leads" and "guitar pyrotechnics" into the rock vernacular. From their self-titled 1978 debut to the chart-smashing, band-wrecking 1984, each of their records with Roth contains at least one Classic Rock gem, if not an entire side of them. The band's early era was topped off with Fair Warning (1981) -- an uncharacteristically dark record that, through blazing songs of pure, unyielding rock power, reflects the growing tensions between Eddie and Roth at the time. Those same tensions eventually led to a much-debated switch to frizzy-haired "Red Rocker" Sammy Hagar in 1985. While the Hagar years still featured dynamic playing, the dreaded power ballad became a staple of their new, more mature demeanor. Nevertheless, VH continued to sell an unholy number of records on through the mid-1990s, and you practically had to kill yourself in order to avoid hearing their cloying soft drink anthem "Right Now." After further upheaval led to the departure of even Hagar's replacement Gary Cherone, rumors flew that the unfortunately named Bruce Cockburn would take over next. - Mike McGuirk

Guns N' Roses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:47 -0800

Not since the Sex Pistols, has a band generated more grist for gossip column mills than Guns N' Roses. The sexual exploits of the band's members and their persistent problems with drugs have led to relentless badgering from the music press. As with the Pistols, it is difficult to objectively comment on the merits of GN'R's music, because of the tower of hype obscuring it from view. Suffice it to say that the 1987 album Appetite for Destruction is a benchmark against which few albums in the genre of Heavy Metal (including subsequent GN'R records) can be measured and not deemed inferior. Axl Rose's vitriolic songwriting electrified a generation, and the enigmatic Slash will no doubt continue to be the subject of fawning guitar magazine profiles for decades to come. Though they've taken a beating over the course of their career, few would write off at least the possibility for Guns N' Roses to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes and reassert their claim to the Heavy Metal throne. - Chad Driscoll

Evanescence

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:48 -0800

Some say the devil is in the details. If that's true, the particulars of the Evanescence story add up to an epic allegory involving a Judas-like betrayal of the band's early Christian fanbase during its rise from a little-known Southern goth-metal band with religious underpinnings to a massively successful mainstream band in the secular pop world.

From the beginning, Evanescence was well crafted and well-marketed. Lead singer Amy Lee had the right goth look, from her ghoulish make-up and left-eyebrow piercing to her Victorian-style clothing, corsets and fishnets. Her ex-boyfriend, original guitarist and co-founder Ben Moody, was in a Christian praise and worship band when he met Lee at a church youth camp and was smitten by her voice and piano playing. Still in their early teens, the two formed Evanescence in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1998 and developed a following on the Christian rock circuit. They eventually fleshed out the band's lineup with keyboardist David Hodges, guitarist John LeCompt, bassist Will Boyd and drummer Rocky Gray. After recording a few independently released EPs, which included clearly Christian-themed songs such as "Give Unto Me," the band signed with Wind-Up Records, home to other successful religious-leaning rock acts such as Creed and 12 Stones. With Evanescence's involvement, Wind-Up's early marketing plan included a push to Christian music fans, and the band's 2003 debut album, Fallen, was sold in both Christian and secular music outlets.

That's when the story of Evanescence took a drastic public detour. In April 2003, a month after the release of Fallen, Lee and Moody renounced their association with Christian music in an interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine that included profanity. It riled their Christian fans and Wind-Up immediately posted an apologetic letter on the Christian Music Central Website announcing that the band members' statements made it clear they considered Evanescence a secular band and that the aptly titled Fallen would be pulled from Christian retail outlets.

It didn't affect album sales at all. Fallen became a huge success, reaching Number One on Billboard's Top Contemporary Christian chart and Number Three on the Billboard 200. Its singles included "Bring Me to Life" (Number One Modern Rock; Number Five Pop, 2003), "Going Under" (Number Five Modern Rock, 2003) and "My Immortal" (Number Seven, 2004). The album went on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide and Evanescence won two Grammys including Best New Band. But chatter on Christian Websites polarized the group's religious fans and tensions within Evanescence created a schism among its members. Even before the Entertainment Weekly scandal had broken, keyboardist Hodges left the group because he had mistakenly believed Lee and Moody wanted Evanescence to be part of the Christian music scene. Then, six months after the dust-up, Moody left due to "creative differences" and was replaced by Terry Balsamo of the Florida-based metal band Cold.

In 2004, Evanescence released a live album, Anywhere but Home, which reached Number 39 on the Billboard 200. If it wasn't already clear that Lee was the focal point of the band, the October 2006 release of The Open Door established her dominance once and for all. The album shot to Number One on the Billboard 200 and produced another Top 10 single, "Call Me When You’re Sober,: written about Lee's post-Moody relationship with Seether singer Shaun Morgan. Shortly before The Open Door's release, bassist Will Boyd left and was replaced by Tim McCord of the California metal band Revolution Smile. Six months after the album came out, guitarist John LeCompt announced that Lee had fired him via cell phone and that drummer Rocky Gray had also decided to leave the band. Lee replaced the two musicians, who had been with Evanescence since its Little Rock days, with drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, both of the metal band Dark New Day. That lineup toured through late 2007.

After his departure from Evanescence, Moody underwent treatment for substance abuse problems and then began collaborating with pop stars such as American Idol singers Kelly Clarkson and Daughtry as well as Avril Lavigne, Lindsay Lohan and Celine Dion. As of 2008, his solo debut, tentatively titled Can't Regret What You Don't Remember, had not yet been released. He also has worked on various projects with Hodges, who has remained a vocal member of the Christian music scene.

Three Days Grace

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:45 -0800

Formed in Ontario way back in 1992, Three Days Grace is a 4-piece alternative metal act prone to heavy radio fare concerned with the darker side of life, due in part to singer Adam Gontier's struggles with substance abuse. After a two-year hiatus between 1995 and 1997 (as well as a name change from Groundswell), the band signed to Jive Records and released a self-titled debut in 2003. Album number two, One-X, appeared in 2005, and focused on Gontier's recent experiences in rehab. The record gained the band a following in both Canada and the U.S., thanks to the single, "Animal I Have Become," extensive touring with such peers as Seether and Breaking Benjamin and respectable showings on the rock charts. As of 2008, Three Days Grace had assumed their spot as de facto kings of the alt metal hill. Third studio album Life Starts Now, a title that reflected Gontier's post-rehab outlook, surfaced in September of 2009. - Mike McGuirk

Staind

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:48 -0800

Formed by two like-minded nu metal buds in Springfield, Mass., in 1995, Staind grabbed the attention of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst and the rest -- as they say -- is history. Prior to signing to a major label, the band was ignored by the Boston scene. They ended up playing lower-profile but frequent gigs in Western Mass, their dark sound benefiting from edgy, melodic vocals (somewhat like Alice In Chains) that ride over heavy, groove-oriented metal. Their frequent touring strategy paid off: after seeing the Staind open up a show for him, Durst took them under his wing. They released Dysfunction on Elektra in 1999, but their big breakthrough was Break the Cycle, which came out in 2002 and yielded the mega-mega seller "It's Been Awhile." In 2005, the band set its sights on the commercial alternative charts with Chapter V. - Jessy Terry

Korn

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:48 -0800

Between the mid-'90s and the early '00s, Korn was the de facto nu metal band, spawning the nu metal movement and even the term itself; armies of disenfranchised 13-year-old fans flocked to stadiums to see them and innumerable copycat bands sprang up on MTV and the radio looking to get in on the action. Today the band is still cited as a major influence on most radio metal, with Taproot and Breaking Benjamin being prime examples. Before them it was Alien Ant Farm and, to a degree, even System of a Down. Since their self-titled first album came out in 1994, Korn has had nine consecutive records debut in the Top Ten, one of which was just a greatest-hits collection. Musically, the band has messed with prodigious amounts of funk and hip-hop from the beginning, folding sheets of abrasive noise into the mix and ultimately being identified by Jonathan Davis' soul-baring mania delivered in a stricken yelp-and-growl freakout and James "Munky" Shaffer's banking, spiky guitarwork. - Mike McGuirk

Alice in Chains

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:46 -0800

Alice in Chains' debut arrived at the outset of the '90s without a name for the market they were supposed to attract. Their sound was too unique to be considered metal and more visceral than mere straight-ahead rock, but it was soon lumped in with that of other prominent bands emerging from the overcast skies of Seattle around the same time. Gritty, down-tuned guitars kept their legion of fans headbanging to "Man in a Box" and "Would?," offering sharp contrast to their mellower acoustic output ("Got Me Wrong," "No Excuses"). However, it was Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley's thick and dissonant harmonies which became one of their most imitated and original features, spawning endless copiers. Heroin-tinged lyrics and jagged, odd-time riffs foreshadowed their supposed demise, but their influence lives on in many of today's copycat bands. - Jessy Terry

Breaking Benjamin

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:55:03 -0800

Breaking Benjamin formed in northern Pennsylvania in 2000, when members of the Universal-signed alt metal act Lifer split to start the band with singer and primary songwriter Ben Burnley. In the ensuing years, they toured with Evanescence, released a pair of records on the Hollywood imprint, got sued by their former drummer and collaborated with former Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan. 2006 saw the release of their third album, Phobia, which became a quick success on active rock radio thanks to the single "The Diary of Jane." - Mike McGuirk

Nine Inch Nails

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:41 -0800

Nine Inch Nails is a one-man industrial-rock band whose symphonic noise and intense lyrics articulate an alienation and rage that have attracted a wide audience. The diviner of this millenarian angst is Trent Reznor, who writes, arranges, performs, and produces all of Nine Inch Nails' material.

Reznor grew up isolated in small-town Pennsylvania, where he studied classical piano as a kid, switching to keyboards and playing in garage bands as a teen. He dropped out of Pennsylvania’s Meadville College, moved to Cleveland, and recorded a self-made demo. That tape got him signed to TVT, an independent label best known for compilations of TV jingles.

Pretty Hate Machine was coproduced by Flood (Depeche Mode, U2), John Fryer (Love & Rockets, Cocteau Twins), and Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc. It yielded three college-radio hits, most notably “Head Like a Hole,” the video for which got extensive MTV play. Although the album vented an extremely dire, introspective outlook, it sold a million copies. This was at least in part due to the fact that Reznor assembled a band that spent three years on the road promoting Pretty Hate Machine, in the process dazzling audiences at the 1991 Lollapalooza Tour and opening for Guns n’ Roses in Europe. NIN spent so long touring because Reznor was suing to be released from TVT, who he said didn’t support him artistically or financially. Several other companies were interested in NIN, and when TVT wouldn’t let Reznor go, Interscope negotiated an agreement to corelease the band. Interscope also gave Reznor his own label, Nothing. Broken (Number Seven, 1992) was recorded during this period in a number of locations “without the permission of The Record Label,” as the liner notes say. The EP is an intensely devastated and devastating document, once again entirely masterminded by Reznor, with three tracks coproduced by Flood. NIN had Coil and Foetus’ Jim Thirwell remix tracks from Broken on Fixed.

Broken debuted at Number Seven on the pop albums chart, while “Wish,” a track from the record, won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Reznor tested the freedom granted by his new record company on the video for “Happiness in Slavery,” which showed a man being sexually tortured and ground into a pulp by a machine - a visualization of NIN’s own tortured nature as a synth band venting human emotions and an apt metaphor for Reznor’s feelings about the music business. This was not the first controversial NIN video: “Sin,” from the first album, was refused by MTV for its images of genital piercing and gay men smearing blood on each other, while outtakes from “Down in It” were investigated by the FBI, which suspected that they were culled from a snuff film.

Working on his next album in L.A., Reznor moved into the house where Charles Manson’s followers murdered Sharon Tate. Flood again coproduced, and the album featured guitarist Adrian Belew. The Downward Spiral (1994), a dense, depression-filled, and uncompromising work, debuted at Number Two on the chart and went on to sell 5 million copies.

In the summer of 1994, NIN appeared at the Woodstock ’94. A version of “Happiness in Slavery” from the live album culled from performances at the festival earned NIN its second Grammy for Best Metal Performance. In 1996, Reznor coproduced shock-rocker Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar (the two men later had a falling-out). Reznor also produced the soundtracks for Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994) and David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997).

Accolades from both the rock and mainstream press were pouring in by this time, with Time magazine naming Reznor one of the 25 most influential Americans. In 1999 NIN released its first studio album in five years, a despairing double CD called The Fragile (Number One). Working with a broader sonic palette than before, Reznor tempered his throbbing cacophony with moodier, subdued moments; ROLLING STONE hailed the record “a brutal and delicate masterpiece.” “The Day the World Went Away” debuted at Number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart to become the first Top 40 single of NIN’s career.

All that Could Have Been, a live disc and video documenting the Fragile tour cycle, followed in 2002. Reznor resurfaced three years later with another Number One studio album from Nine Inch Nails, With Teeth, which included the Number One Modern Rock singles “Every Day is Exactly the Same” and “Only.” NIN was slated to perform the anti-George W. Bush song “The Hand That Feeds” at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards but dropped out when the channel refused to allow the group to perform in front of a large image of the president. The group toured through 2006, stopping briefly for Reznor to put together another set of studio tracks, and resumed touring in 2007. The bleak Orwellian concept album Year Zero (Number Two) arrived in April, spawning the Number One Modern Rock hit “Survivalism.” The album included a pre-release marketing campaign that involved an elaborate online alternate reality game offering fans clues to the album’s storyline, and a remixed version (Y34R Z3R0 R3M1X3D), offered fans the opportunity to contribute their own remixes of the tracks online. Reznor, long unhappy with the music industry, announced that October that Year Zero had been his contract-ending release for Universal Music Group and that he would release all future music independently. In 2008, within two months of each other, Reznor released two albums: Ghosts I-IV, an entirely instrumental album, was released in March and The Slip, released in May, was given away as a free download.

Updated from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

System of a Down

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:46 -0800

Along with Slipknot, Los Angeles-based System of a Down are far and away the most impressive mainstream metal band today. Despite the fact that they appeared amid a maelstrom of crappy Korn-inspired rap metal that was controlling the airwaves, their hyperactive song structures and truly warped vocal stylings put them way beyond the pap being served up by many of their Ozzfest colleagues at the time. When music this extreme makes it onto the radio it's always a good thing. They broke nationally with their second record, Toxicity, which shot to No. 1. Through the next several albums, System of a Down took lessons learned from Tool and other bands from the "alt metal era" of the early 1990s and transmuted them, adding eastern European folk elements, a wide array of traditionally non-metal instruments, and strong political content in the lyrics department. By the time they released Mesmerize and Hypnotize, an epic album released in two parts -- and seven months apart -- in 2005, the band had ramped up their vision, incorporating a wider range of influences than ever before, with the vituperous madman vocals of singer Serj Tankian as potent as ever. - Mike McGuirk

Creed

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:24 -0800

Floridian superstars Creed play punchy, Grunge-inflected rock. Big, open acoustic chords, rock-solid drums with sophisticated accents and singer Scott Stapps' powerful, earnest voice drive epic verses with introspective lyrics. Also watch for thunderous, sometimes beautifully melodic choruses.

Slipknot (Metal)

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:19:31 -0800

Adopting stage costumes reminiscent of Clive Barker's Hellraiser might cause some to wonder what it is about Slipknot's music that cannot speak for itself. But for the mostly teenaged fan base of these twisted metallurgists, the masks are infinitely more entertaining than the Iowa farm boy personalities behind them. The nine, count 'em, nine members of this band crank out dense, claustrophobic walls of sound that turn the forces of Metal and hip-hop loose on one another in a brutal battle royal. Whereas the vast majority of Rap Metal acts aren't rap at all, at least Slipknot are down enough to get themselves a DJ. Perhaps beneath the carnival-esque madness of their costumes, there is method after all. - Chad Driscoll

Marilyn Manson

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:46 -0800

Drawing inspiration from Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, the occult, horror comics, and, by his own admission, the King James Bible, Marilyn Manson established himself in the '90s as one of the most vilified agents provocateur in rock history. Predictably, the more parental groups, politicians and religious advocates protested his music and stage antics, the more Manson emerged as a martyr in the war against censorship. Charismatic and outspoken in interviews, he defended himself as a result of, rather than a cause of, a corrupt society.

Manson was born and raised Brian Hugh Warner in a middle-class family in Canton, Ohio. He was close to his parents but chafed at the ideologies and rules of his private Christian school. Seduced by rock during lectures about alleged evil messages embedded in the music, he took to rebellion and was expelled. Finishing at a public high school, he moved to South Florida with his family, and formed Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids in 1989 after a short stint in rock journalism. Each member of the group adopted a stage name patterned after Manson's, a female icon's name crossed with a serial killer's.

The band released a series of self-produced cassettes and attracted the attention of Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who signed them to Nothing, his Interscope imprint, in 1993. The following year, Reznor produced the group's industrial-metal debut, Portrait of an American Family, and took the band on tour with NIN. There, Manson wasted little time securing his status as a nightmare to the Christian right, exposing himself and feigning sexual acts onstage with other band members. (He was arrested after one show in Florida in what would become the first of several on- and offstage skirmishes that resulted in lawsuits.) He was made a "reverend" of the Church of Satan by founder Anton LaVey, though Manson would later note that he was no more a practicing Satanist than he was a practicing Christian, as he was baptized.

Nonetheless, the controversy — and a radio hit with a hard-rock cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" — pushed the 1995 EP Smells Like Children to Number 31 and (eventually) platinum sales. With Antichrist Superstar (Number Three, 1996), Manson became a star. A brutally aggressive concept album about a nihilistic rock god, it spawned a stage show in which Manson ripped pages out of a Bible. Fueled by (false) rumors that the shows contained animal sacrifices, bestiality and rape, activist groups across America lobbied to ban the group's performances. In the midst of the furor, Manson cowrote an autobiography, The Long Road Out of Hell, with rock journalist Neil Strauss, in 1997, the same year as the Remix & Repent EP (Number 102) and his big-screen debut in David Lynch's Lost Highway.

For Mechanical Animals (Number One, 1998), Manson adopted a new persona, an androgynous, Ziggy Stardust-style glam rocker, Omega. He explained to interviewers that Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals were part of a pseudoautobiographical trilogy, told in reverse order, with Mechanical Animals intended as a satire in which the protagonist's revolution becomes "sold out." The album went platinum like Antichrist Superstar before it, but the accompanying tour was derailed when Manson's music was blamed, along with violent video games, as a negative influence on the two teenage boys responsible for the Columine High School massacre in April 1999. Manson canceled several concert dates in light of the tragedy but vehemently distanced himself from it, decrying the killings as well as allegations that his or anyone else's music was responsible for the murders. (He appeared in Michael Moore's 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine to discuss violence and the media.)

After a live album, The Last Tour on Earth (Number 82, 1999), Mason returned in 2000 with the final part of his trilogy, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (Number 13). Telling the story of the future antichrist superstar's origins before his corruption, the album ditched the glam-rock sound of Mechanical Animals for a return to heavy, industrialized goth rock. Twiggy Ramirez left the band soon thereafter due to creative differences, but Manson continued on with The Golden Age of Grotesque (Number One, 2003), which was heavily influenced by Weimar-era Berlin and produced a Grammy-nominated single, "Mobscene." A best-of, Lest We Forget, followed a year later. By this time, the edge had slightly worn off of Manson's persona: The Onion satirized the rocker with the headline "Marilyn Manson Now Going Door-to-Door Trying to Shock People. He'd become more famous for his relationships: a brief engagement to actress Rose McGowan, a short-lived marriage to neo-burlesque queen Dita Von Teese and subsequent canoodling with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood, who appeared in the video for "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)," the first single from his 2007 album Eat Me, Drink Me (Number Eight). Manson reunited with Twiggy Ramirez for the album's Rape of the World Tour, citing Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion as an inspiration.

Manson, who started producing his own brand of absinthe, has been working on the film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, about the fantastical children's author, for several years (he is directing and starring in the lead role).

Papa Roach

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:46 -0800

Great big guitars and steadfast, drumstick-twirling breaks fronted by an angry rapper/cusser -- that's Papa Roach in a nutshell. If you miss the genre-smashing hybrid of Faith No More's breakout record, these guys will be happy to fill the void. Regardless of whether you consider the fact to be positive or negative, Papa Roach took the nu-metal world by storm in 2000 with the massive hit single "Last Resort." The album that single came off of, Infest, sold about a gajillion copies, making Papa Roach a household name practically overnight. Their 2002 follow-up, Lovehatetragedy, didn't break any records, but the band managed to hold onto a respectable following. "Getting Away With Murder," their first new single in two years, was released in July 2004, and led off their album of the same name. Papa Roach's fourth album, The Paramour Sessions, came out in fall of '06. - Mike McGuirk

Hollywood Undead

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:47 -0800

By throwing together a kitchen-sink mix of hip-hop, metal and pop punk, Hollywood Undead update the sound of '90s rapcore acts like Insane Clown Posse and Korn. It's hardly groundbreaking, but it works -- they've won wide adoration from MySpace crowds, who have helped them break out of the social networking site and into mainstream pop culture on the strength of their singles. Hollywood Undead became the first act to sign on with MySpace Records in 2005, wearing hockey masks that introduced the band's puzzling public image -- another imitative nod to Insane Clown Posse. After a number of personnel changes (all of which happened behind the shroud of their veiled identity), the core duo of Deuce and J-Dog put together a lineup for live gigs in 2008. That same year Hollywood Undead signed to a major and released their debut, the encouragingly titled Swan Songs. - Nate Cavalieri

Motley Crue

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:48 -0800

The poster boys for Eighties hair metal, Mötley Crüe parlayed whip-lash hard-rock songs, melodic power ballads and a hedonistic image into platinum-level heavy-metal superstardom, topping the charts with Dr. Feelgood (Number One, 1989) and coming close with Theatre of Pain (Number Six, 1985), Girls, Girls Girls (Number Two, 1987) and a greatest-hits collection, Decade of Decadence — '81-'91 (Number 2, 1991).

Nikki Sixx was a member of a successful L.A. metal band called London when he decided to form his own band. Tommy Lee came aboard as drummer, and they decided to call themselves Christmas. Guitarist Mick Mars was discovered through a classified ad reading, "Loud Rude Aggressive Guitarist Available." Vocalist Vince Neil was plucked from a Cheap Trick cover band. Mars came up with the new, strangely umlauted name. Their eponymous, independently released debut was picked up by Elektra Records and retitled Too Fast for Love (Number 77, 1983).

Shout at the Devil (Number 17, 1983), with its canny hints of Satanism, followed, but the band did not catch on in a big way until Theatre of Pain. Fueled by a cover of Brownsville Station's 1974 hit "Smokin' in the Boy's Room" (Number 16, 1985) and the power ballad "Home Sweet Home" (Number 89, 1985), the album sold more than two million copies.

For all the album sales, Crüe also was known as an extravagant live band, a scrappier Van Halen doing a rock version of a Vegas review, with elaborate sets and lighting, revolving drum platforms, pyrotechnics and dancing girls. Still, subsequent albums Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood continued the band's streak of platinum discs, selling two million and four million copies, respectively. In addition to its selection of greatest hits, Decade of Decadence included new material, such as a hard-rock cover version of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."

Off stage, Mötley Crüe lived the rock & roll lifestyle to its fullest, with celebrity marriages — Tommy Lee to actress Heather Locklear, from 1986 to 1994, then to Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson from 1995 to 1998; Nikki Sixx to former Prince protégée Vanity in 1987 — substance abuse and scrapes with the law. Sixx spent more than a year addicted to heroin. In 1986 Neil was convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a drunken car accident two years earlier resulted in the death of Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley. Neil served twenty days in jail, performed 200 hours of community service and was assessed $2.6 million in damages.

After the band replaced Neil with singer John Corabi in 1992, Neil filed a $5 million wrongful termination suit and released a couple of solo albums, Exposed (Number 13, 1993) and the weak-selling Carved in Stone (1995). Mötley Crüe (Number Seven, 1994), the band's first album without Neil, produced two songs that charted on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, "Hooligan's Holiday" (Number Ten, 1994) and Misunderstood (Number 24, 1994). The band fired Corabi two years later to bring Neil back on for a reunion of the original lineup. The resulting album, Generation Swine (Number Four, 1997) attempted to cash in on the alternative-rock craze, with songs exploring grunge and industrial metal, but despite the band's carbon-copy re-recording of an old hit, re-titled "Shout at the Devil '97," the album quickly fell off the chart.

Greatest Hits (Number 20, 1998) and Live Entertainment or Death (Number 33, 1999) continued the Crüe's commercial skid. Shortly after completing the subsequent tour, drummer Lee spent four months in jail for assaulting his then-wife, Anderson. Upon being released, Lee left the band and formed the rap-metal band Methods of Mayhem, in which he played guitar and sang. Mötley Crüe replaced Lee with former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo and returned to its original hard rock formula for its final album, New Tattoo (Number 41, 2000). Castillo died of cancer two years later. The band went on a recording hiatus for five years but its members, appearing on reality shows and in gossip columns, never left the public eye. In 2005, the Cr ü e hit the road for a reunion tour that coincided with another greatest-hits compilation, Red, White & Crüe (Number Six, 2005), that included three new tracks, "If I Die Tomorrow" – penned by pop-punkers Simple Plan - (Number Four, Mainstream Rock, 2005), "Sick Love Song" and a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."

All four members of Mötley Cr üe convened in 2008 to record Saints of Los Angeles, a musical autobiographical companion to the band's 2001 tell-all book, The Dirt. A planned movie stalled in the production stages. The title track holds the honor of being the first single to be debuted in the influential Rock Band video game series, and the album debuted at Number Four.

Avenged Sevenfold

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:55:03 -0800

Avenged Sevenfold are a Huntington Beach, CA phenomenon. They apply soaring, pop-punk harmonies to raging power metal licks with chugging hardcore breakdowns. At the start of their career in 1999, it seemed fans of Bad Religion and Iron Maiden finally had something to agree on, but these metalcore stalwarts-turned-mainstream-rock-stars upped the ante on their signature sound, combining a more eclectic range of influences in the hard rock arena, and flipping the ratio of guttural growls to clean singing to include more of the latter and less of the former. In 2005, this new approach saw the release and success of City of Evil -- the band's major label debut, and platinum-selling record. Continuing to conquer the Billboard Charts, A7X returned in 2007 with their self-produced, self-titled hard rock tome containing political outcries and an ode to Pantera. - Jen Guyre

Godsmack

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0800

Boston lumpen-rockers of note have made a career out of flogging the last bit of life out of Alice In Chains' workhorse grunge formula: fierce guitar riffage, over-the-top crooning and heavy bass lines that sink through the rock sludge like Liquid Plumber. By taking heavy metal chops and precision beats and hammering them together with "'roid rage," Godsmack have created the state-of-the-art jock rock for the new millennium. The band signed to Universal Records in 1998 and almost immediately scored with the single "Whatever," from their self-titled debut. A spot on the Ozzfest tour followed, as well as their follow-up record, Awake, which cemented their place near the top of the post-grunge heavy music heap. In 2002, they were nominated for a Grammy for "Best Instrumental Rock performance" for the song "Vampires." Godsmack continues to headline tours and put out records, the most recently, an acoustic reworking of some of their older songs, came out in 2003 and was titled The Other Side. - Chad Driscoll

Rage Against the Machine

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:46 -0800

Rage Against the Machine's militant political stance straddles an equally militant sound. Furious riffs churn out of Tom Morello's guitar and dive into grinding psychedelics -- the American music of opposition. But these are the sounds of a culture that is too angry for '60s passive resistance. The wah-wah pedal is a call to action. The urgency of Zack de la Rocha's frantic podium rants are taken out of the riot directing bullhorn and put into percussive rap poetics. Key to RATM's appeal is their fusion of some of America's most political musical movements: the liberation sounds of funk, the anarchistic resistance of punk, the angry alienation of metal, and the urban exasperation of hip-hop creating a revolutionary synergy on all four studio albums. De La Rocha left the band in 2000 to pursue a solo career while his bandmates went on to form Audioslave with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden on vocals. In 2007, Rage were received with open arms as they re-grouped and returned to performing and politicking. - Marc Kate

Ozzy Osbourne

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

He fronted Black Sabbath. He purposefully bit the head off a live dove in a meeting with Columbia Records executives. He accidentally bit the head off a real bat at a concert. He pissed on the Alamo. He was accused of subliminally manipulating kids to commit suicide. Basically, Ozzy rules. During a career that spans more than thirty years as the lord of heavy metal, he has amassed a veritable army of devoted fans. His first two records, both of which include the talents of late guitarist Randy Rhodes, are timeless classics, packed with cut after cut of blazing, untouchable riffs. Though his subsequent material never quite reached the creative peak of these recordings, they are far from poor, and continue to amass new followers. Anyone who needs further proof of Osbourne's immeasurable contribution to rock needs only to look at the enormous success of the Ozzfest tour, whose entire lineup includes bands that could never have existed without their hero. - Doug Russell

Killswitch Engage

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

Vocalist Howard Jones, guitarists Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel, bassist Mike D'Antonio and drummer Justin Foley are no strangers to the history of the modern metalcore scene they represent. Hailing from a strong lineage of seminal Massachusetts metalcore outfits, with former members from pillar bands Overcast and Aftershock, their family tree doesn't stop there. KSE guitarist and producer extraordinaire Adam D. not only produces every Killswitch album, but has also pulled production duty for Mass natives Unearth, All That Remains and Shadows Fall, among many other popular metalcore acts from across the country. Translation: Not only have Killswitch helped set the stylistic pace of what denotes modern metalcore, but they also have a hand in the sound new metalcore acts churn out. Sonically, Killswitch Engage possess the same preciseness and agility in and out of labyrinthine passages as Swedish melodic death metal masters At the Gates. Flame-scorched screams define verses and trade off into clean, operatic choruses and bridges while rending guitars and hardcore breakdowns fully define their amalgamated approach. - Jen Guyre

KISS

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:46 -0800

Scene: interior of house. Dad reading newspaper on recliner. Mother crocheting on couch. Television is on, Mary Tyler Moore is heard dimly in the background. A young man of about fifteen walks through front door carrying a plastic bag. He says nothing to his parents, walks down the hall into his bedroom. Posters of rock stars like KISS, Alice Cooper and Queen are on his wall. He shuts the door, sits on his bed, takes a record out of the bag. It is KISS Alive!. He removes vinyl from the sleeve, puts record on turntable and stares in awe at the maniacal, rapturous, cartoonish hard rockers on the cover. "Deuce" blasts out of the speakers, and the boy is transported to an arena where it's all happening.

Scene: Concert stage. Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter are there, bashing away at their instruments, the crowd is screaming with delight, smoke is pouring from the stage, explosions are going off. The boy finds himself with a guitar around his neck and in makeup similar to the others; he is called the Hawk. He finds he can play his guitar like a champ, and is soon beating out those bar chords while Paul sings, Ace plays lead, and Gene and Peter hold down the rhythm section. The teenager feels warm liquid hit his torso; he realizes that Gene has just spit blood on him. They smile at each other.

Scene: the boy is back in his room, eyes closed, playing air guitar while "Hotter Than Hell" blares from his stereo. His mother is banging on the door. We hear her shout, "Turn it down, godammit!!!" The boy doesn't hear her. He's in hard rock paradise. - Will Lerner

Skillet

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 22:53:09 -0800

Apropos to their name, husband and wife hard rockers John and Korey Cooper, joined by Ben Kasica on guitar and Lori Peters on drums, have spent their first five albums throwing all things rock into a pan and seeing what cooks up the best. Techno, thrash metal, grunge, even an excursion into acoustic alternative went into the mix, but the constants have been their strong spiritual lyrics, challenging themes, musical boldness and their worshipful willingness to experiment. It's been that sense of fearless unpredictability that keeps the charts and the "Panheads" -- as their fans dub themselves -- satisfied. - Amy Bartlett

Chevelle

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:38:15 -0800

Formed by three brothers -- Pete, Sam and Joe Loeffler -- outside of Chicago in 1994, Chevelle began making noise right off the bat. Their debut album Point # 1 was produced by Steve Albini, and it earned them a spot headlining Ozzfest that same year. Their second and third albums, Wonder What's Next (2002) and This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) (2004), both yielded hits on MTV. Vena Sera came out in 2007. The band plays the sort of heavy rock with strong melodies such groups as Trapt and Creed are known for. Although lyrically Chevelle remain focused on positivity and soul-searching, they have since distanced themselves from a Christian rock categorization they had been labeled with early on in their career. In May of 2007, their entire trailer of equipment was stolen while touring Texas, resulting in the immediate but temporary cancellation of the tour. - Mike McGuirk

Limp Bizkit

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

Perhaps the new leaders of the rapcore movement, Florida's Limp Bizkit had a solid underground following long before they were signed to Interscope in 1997. They have a singular approach to psychedelic guitars overdriven past the point of corrosive distortion into the realm of aural punishment, flanked by harsh funk basslines and hip-hop beats. Aggressive rap vocals occasionally venture into whiteboy soul-isms.

Sugar Ray

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:43 -0800

Sugar Ray owe a great debt to the powers that make their fusion of styles so darn catchy. Somehow, the union of hardcore Speed Metal with growling vocals, the sunny, feel-good songs with shimmering acoustic guitar, grungy guitar-driven rock and DJ Homicide's groovy beats make a unified sound all their own. Fueled by the popularity of their ubiquitous first single "Fly" and singer Mark McGrath's pin-up looks -- the five-piece SoCal band seem likely to beat Warhol's "fifteen minutes of fame" prediction. - Kali Holloway

Iron Maiden

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:48 -0800

Iron Maiden's heavy metal assault has soldiered on since the band's inception in 1980. As frontiersmen of the massively significant New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Maiden has influenced metal's many branches, from power and prog to speed and thrash. Rhythmic velocity, epic lyrics, operatic vocals and tremendous, wailing TRIPLE guitars with ripping solos to match are what made them kings early on, from 1981's Killers to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. After weathering several lineup changes and directional departures during the '90s, Maiden's legendary status was restored when famed singer Bruce Dickinson returned in 1999. They charged into the new millennium by touring and releasing new albums. 2008 found Maiden flying around the world on the Somewhere Back in Time Tour, performing an all-vintage set -- complete with the original 1985 Powerslave stage design. Maiden continue to conquer and inspire. Up the irons! - Jen Guyre

Puddle Of Mudd

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:55:03 -0800

This hugely popular alt-metal four piece owes a great debt to the dark mood metal of Alice In Chains and Tool. The group's aggressive, no-frills approach has won them many fans who value the type of earnestness mixed with self-deprecating Cobain-isms heard on their big hits, "Control" and "She Hates Me." - Jon Pruett

Buckcherry

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:46 -0800

Buckcherry made a name for themselves in 1999 with the infamous semi-hit single, "Lit Up," which was a very explicit ode to the joys of cocaine use, from their self-titled debut. The band's aggressive aesthetic was not exactly embraced by everyone, but the fact is, in those times of the post-grunge era, emotional garbage was clogging the radio and Buckcherry's strict adherence to old school hard rock moves may have hardly been fashionable, but at least they were genuine. The band's follow-up album, Time Bomb did not sell well. Not surprisingly, the Buckcherry brand of retro hard rock, steeped in AC/DC, early Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses, became somewhat fashionable again, with the rise of the Darkness, the formation of post G'N'R and Motley Crue-spawned supergroups (Velvet Revolver, Brides of Destruction), as well as a rash of underground hipster bands all playing loud, abrasive cock rock. This prompted the band to record a third album, 15, which featured the characteristically anti-social lead single, "Crazy Bitch." - Mike McGuirk

Audioslave

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:00:46 -0800

Audioslave combine three former members of Rage Against The Machine with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. Despite early talk that the group might retain the RATM name and some stop-start activity prior to releasing their debut, the band emerged as a newly named unit in 2002 with a sound that substituted Cornell's powerful introspection for Rage's political fury. Though it's hard to hear their debut as much more than a collaboration between two forceful personalities, the dynamic does offer major fist-pumping power and has lead to subsequent albums. Out of Exile appeared in 2005, mostly conforming to the band's established modern hard rock pattern. 2006's Revelations, however, took a rootsier approach. First single "Original Fire" shakes and rattles with an almost bluesy swagger, marking a new direction for the supergroup. No tour in support of the album led to some fan speculation of a breakup...and that's exactly what happened. Rage Against the Machine reunited in 2007 and Chris Cornell eased back into a solo career. - Jon Pruett

Megadeth

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:36 -0800

Who knew when Dave Mustaine was booted out of Metallica in 1983, that he'd go on to form one of the biggest Thrash Metal acts of the '80s and '90s? Mustaine's Megadeth torpedoed through the starting gate with albums that corralled bottled up, suburban teen male angst and exploded it onto vinyl. They were nihilistic and numbingly relentless in their twin guitar and rhythm section assault. In 1990, Rust in Peace fulfilled the promise shown on their major label debut Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? -- Thrash Metal with complex musical craftsmanship. Mustaine had always surrounded himself with talented players and certain songs on that album are mind-blowing in their construction and musicianship. However, a band can't live by lightning fast riffs, long instrumental passages, lyrics that play upon the supernatural, and a cynical worldview alone. By the early '90s, Grunge became the rallying cry for repressed youth. While all eyes focused on Seattle, Megadeth began another gradual metamorphosis, streamlining their sound (stirring in pop with their metal and later, even claiming the Beatles as an influence!). They began to surface on near-prime time MTV (not just specialty shows like "Headbanger's Ball") and commercial rock radio. To this day, Megadeth are one of the few metal acts to have maintained a lion's share of their following from their heyday in the late '80s. - Will Lerner

Poison

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:42 -0800

For many listeners, Poison's music is adequately summed up by the band's name -- pretending to spit out noxious fluids when a Poison song comes over the radio is a timeless gag. But do we actually change the station? Usually not. There is an undeniable magnetism in Poison's music that remains forceful even though the 1980s are so long past. With party anthems like "Nothin' But a Good Time" and "Unskinny Bop," Poison captured the hedonistic sound of Metal before it lost its innocence to aggro-suburbanite Crossover Rap. Back then, it was okay for boy bands to squeeze their asses into spandex, tease their hair, paint their faces and sing a tender ballad like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." It's time to 'fess up -- we only made fun of Poison to look cool. Secretly we loved them, and today we kind of miss not having them around. - Chad Driscoll

Soundgarden

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:50:59 -0800

Soundgarden debuted as a swaggering, leaden Hard Rock outfit, all flailing hair and meaty Metal riffs -- this was the Soundgarden of "Big Dumb Sex" and "Full On Kevin's Mom." By the time grunge reached its heyday on MTV, the pages of Rolling Stone, and the radio, the Seattle band had reined in its lunk-headed tendencies and focused on crafting excellent songs such as "Burden In My Hand," "Like Suicide" (the elegiac swansong for grunge's commercial invincibility), and "Overfloater." They never completely captured the imagination of a generation the way their friends and contemporaries did -- Nirvana were more mercurial, Pearl Jam more anthemic. But more than any other grunge outfit, Soundgarden demonstrated the influence of '70s Hard Rock on grunge. Longtime fans claim that Soundgarden softened up over the years, citing the insane crossover success of "Black Hole Sun" (1994) as Exhibit A in the band's paving of their previously potholed Grunge/Metal hybrid. But given a closer listen, some of the band's later material -- "Pretty Noose" and "Let Me Drown," for example -- thuds just as emphatically as their late '80s releases on Sub Pop and SST. - Charles Hodgkins

Coheed And Cambria

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:49 -0800

Although Coheed and Cambria had been churning out an effective blend of metal-tinged indie rock since the mid-1990s (occasionally under the name Shabutie), their explosive debut didn't drop until 2002. That record, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, took hold of a devoted group of fans who like their punk dark, literate and complex. Word-of-mouth about the record built the band a following, as did the constant touring. Their follow-up, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, showed a love of progressive rock, glam and new wave, which made the band even harder to pigeonhole. For 2005's Good Apollo: Vol. IV, the group became a twin-guitar-blazing prog-metal band with a background in punk rock. Adding a sort of frenetic, spastic intelligence to the oft-perceived single-mindedness of the Warped Tour brigade, Coheed and Cambria keep the fringe alive and dangerous. - Jon Pruett

Judas Priest

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:05:23 -0800

Blessed with as many lives as a cat, not only have the protean "Priest" undergone nearly seasonal lineup changes, but on numerous occasions they have completely reinvented their sound to keep up with shifts in public taste. Originally deeply immersed in Progressive Metal elements (composing epic fantasy narratives in song), they soon switched roles from Conan-rockers to leather-clad, would-be Hell's Angels. Focusing their power into smoking, twin guitar testosterone fests, Judas Priest's Stained Class and Hell Bent for Leather catalyzed the so-called New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Once the arrival of Metallica and other Speed Metal acts made the Priest's mid-tempo, work-the-body assault sound outmoded and irrelevant, the band again huddled together and came up with a new game plan. They came out swinging, hoping for a swift KO. Painkiller (1990) was a blue ribbon entry in the Thrash category, much faster and heavier than anything else in the band's career; but when the album's tepid reception helped precipitate lead singer Rob Halford's defection from Judas Priest, the band's final transformation was already afoot. The remaining members hired themselves a new vocalist and, with a magician's finesse, turned a nine-lived cat into a chicken with its head hacked off. - Chad Driscoll

Bullet For My Valentine

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:43 -0800

Hailing from Bridgend, England, Bullet for My Valentine's first incarnation was quite a bit different than the thematically immense, metal-clad rock of 2005's debut, The Poison. Back in 1998, the quartet of lads from Bridgend College was churning out Metallica covers under the name Jeff Killed John. It wasn't until 2003 that the band changed its name and beefed up their sound with a solidified lineup of guitarist and singer Matthew Tuck, guitarist Michael Paget, bassist Nick Crandle and drummer Michael Thomas. After issuing an EP and their debut on the British label Trustkill, they picked up Kerrang! magazine's Best British Newcomer Award in 2005 and eventually signed a deal with Sony/BMG. The band enjoyed quick success with American audiences and a number of high-profile tour slots, including one supporting Rob Zombie, from which they were booted when Tuck called Zombie and his cohorts "money-grabbing f*cks" on the band's message board. - Nate Cavalieri

Pantera

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:52 -0800

If you've ever shaved the sides and back of your head and left the top long, you probably know what Pantera's about. Driven by the Van Halen-influenced wailing and Metallica-like sledgehammer riffs of "Dimebag" Darrell, Pantera forged their own niche in the early '80s, barreling over lighter Metal fare with a fast, heavy, gut-vibrating energy. Philip Anselmo's deep growls and stratospheric screams may have had their roots in the group's original incarnation as a hair metal band, but they perfectly complement Pantera's speed-thrash and moody ballads. Double-bass drumming by Vinnie Paul and an in-your-face Texas attitude complete the formula for one of Metal's ballsiest, most ear-demolishing bands. - Jessy Terry

A Perfect Circle

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:58 -0800

The most obvious criticism of A Perfect Circle is that they're not Tool. Anyone who comes to this Maynard James Keenan side project looking for a booster shot of venom to tide them over until the next Tool album will begin to feel the hot flashes and nausea of withdrawal almost immediately. Not surprisingly, "Judith," the most Tool-sounding song on Mer de Noms, was also the first to be promoted, but don't be misled -- A Perfect Circle are much closer in sensibility to the Smashing Pumpkins than Tool. Songs such as "The Hollow" and "Thinking of You" show Keenan to be capable of sensitivity, longing, even instances of vulnerability. His sinuous voice still sneers on occasion, but is more inclined to coil gently or soar ecstatically. On "Orestes" he sounds like a man liberated, however briefly, from a defeated world. Even without the presence of strings (!) and the gorgeous textures achieved by vocal overdubbing, there's something phenomenal happening here that fans won't find on a Tool album. This is someone's attempt to rescue a little sweetness and light from an encroaching darkness -- and it's an attempt that succeeds over and over again. - Chad Driscoll

RED

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:05 -0800

RED are one of those all-too-rare bands for whom success came fast and hard. Founded in 2004 by ace guitarist/composer Jasen Rauch and drummer Andrew Hendrix (who would eventually leave the group), the Nashville-based quartet was quickly signed to Essential Records, Sony BMG's hugely successful Christian music imprint. RED's debut, End of Silence, produced by the in-demand Rob Graves, made the group an instant force not only in the world of Christian metal but in all of modern rock as well. With its crunchy yet melodic mix of post-grunge angst and snarling metalcore, the group's first single, "Breathe Into Me," cracked the Top 20 on Billboard's U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. RED's second full-length, the even heavier Innocence & Instinct, generated more crossover appeal, debuting on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at a whopping No. 15. In November 2007, the group's tour van was in a serious highway accident near Nashville. But despite injuries to drummer Hayden Lamb, who sat out the rest of the tour and subsequently left the band, RED soldiered on, tirelessly delivering its brand of brooding Christian hard rock to an insatiable and ever-growing fan base. - Justin Farrar

Escape The Fate

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:06:58 -0800

Las Vegas-based post-hardcore quintet Escape the Fate formed in 2005 and immediately gained a large local following thanks to radio airplay and by winning a contest judged by members of My Chemical Romance, who took the fledgling band on tour with them. After signing to Epitaph, releasing an EP (No Sympathy For the Dead) and a debut LP (Dying is Your Latest Fashion) in 2006 and agreeing to a tour with Bullet For My Valentine, singer Ronnie Radke was charged as an accomplice in a murder trial, an event that sunk the tour opportunity and effectively ended Radke's time in the band. In 2008, Escape the Fate released This War Is Ours with new frontman Craig Mabbitt. - Mike McGuirk

All That Remains

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:42 -0800

choruses that aren't afraid to flirt with emo at its poppiest. Shadows Fall vocalist Phil Labonte and guitarist Oli Herbert -- an innovative shredder fond of unusual modes, like the Hungarian minor scale -- formed the band in 1998, and by 2002 they had signed to Metal Blade. After a few lineup changes, including the addition of guitarist Mike Martin, 2004's This Darkened Heart proved the band's breakout album, with production by Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz putting just the right degree of polish on their fusion of Swedish black metal stylings and American emo yearning. In 2006 All That Remains followed up with The Fall of Ideals and hit the road with Ozzfest before strutting their stuff on 2007's incendiary All That Remains Live. For all the hardcore swagger on display onstage, 2008's Overcome encountered a backlash from fans none too enamored by the band's radio-ready choruses. - Philip Sherburne

Mudvayne

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:19:32 -0800

Formed in Illinois in 1996, Mudvayne have risen as one of the top players in the nu-metal scene. Drawing many Slipknot comparisons, Mudvayne too wear crazy costumes onstage, but instead of masks, they wear frightening makeup for a chaotic appearance that goes well with their frenzied brand of metal. Banking time signatures, radical shifts in tempo, and vocals that go from semi-rapping to death-metal gurgling to unhinged screaming and even to clean singing (on later albums) are the hallmarks of Mudvayne's music. Their major label debut, L.D. 50, yielded the hit "Dig" in 2000; one year later they released the concept album The Beginning of All Things to End, which further cemented their place in the minds of America's angry teenagers. On 2005's Lost and Found Mudvayne dropped the facade, emerging in plain clothes without makeup on their most personal record to date. With four R.I.A.A.-certified gold albums, Mudvayne continue to write new records and deliver for their fans, whom they let choose the track listing of 2007's B-sides and rarities compilation By the People, For the People. - Jen Guyre

Scorpions

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:00:47 -0800

Thirty years strong and still rocking out, this German quintet virtually defined the Pop Metal genre. Their "Wind of Change" provided a fitting soundtrack to the end of the Cold War, and "Rock You Like a Hurricane" remains a fixture at air shows across the country. Between the dueling guitars of Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, Jurgen Rosenthal's booming drums and Klaus Meine's high-pitched vocals, Scorpions have carved out a Hard Rock niche as distinct as it is bombastic. Anyone who has seen them live will tell you that their concerts always live up to their Monsters of Rock status, and that live is the only way to experience the band. To quote the title of their eleventh epic album, when you hear Scorpions, it's Love at First Sting. - Doug Russell

Rob Zombie

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:46 -0800

When Rob Zombie's first album, Hellbilly Deluxe sold better in its first week than any White Zombie album had managed to do, Zombie dissolved the group to pursue his solo career full-time. Since then, he has continued to explore his obsessions with horror movie shtick and sci-fi schlock, incorporating these themes into instantly accessible Industrial Metal grinders. Throwing himself utterly into his undead persona, Zombie has emerged as alternative music's premier purveyor of heavy, disco-metal grooves that break down the barricade between the mosh pit and the dance floor. - Chad Driscoll

Black Sabbath

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:53:46 -0800

Black Sabbath kicked loose rock that's still setting off avalanches of creativity across the musical landscape. Their phenomenal first four albums -- Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, and Vol. 4 -- remain the clearest articulations of heavy metal vocabulary to date. Bassist Geezer Butler, the man responsible for the lion's share of Sabbath's early hits, focused his lyrics on social ills, self-destructive behavior, fantasy and the occult, setting forth the primary concerns which continue to preoccupy metal bands from velocity addicts Venom and Napalm Death to sludge fiends such as Monster Magnet. Lead guitarist Tony Iommi's loose tunings revolutionized the craft of electric guitar by uncovering unsuspected fuzzy depths. And, of course, Ozzy Osbourne's manic live performances introduced an element of pure theatricality that remains central to metal's identity. Beginning with '75's Sabotage, Sabbath's credibility has been constantly imperiled by failed experiments in prog-ish rock. With the exception of the Ronnie James Dio albums of the early '80s (Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules), the moments when Sabbath play up to their ability have been few and far between. Perhaps aware of this themselves, they convinced Ozzy to return to the fold in the late '90s for a series of penitential performances focusing on their glorious early material. - Chad Driscoll

Trapt

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:38:33 -0800

Trapt have been together since the mid-1990s, and were playing high-profile gigs (opening for alt metal bands such as Papa Roach) while Trapt's band members themselves were still in high school. Lighter than most nu-metal but still plenty heavy, the Southern California four-piece combines grunge-inflected '90s metal with modern, Linkin Park-style melodies and the occasional rapped verse. Signed to Warner Bros. in 2001, the band released a self-titled debut which shot them up the charts thanks to the MTV hit "Headstrong." They didn't get around to releasing a follow-up album until 2005, the slightly darker Someone In Control. - Charles Hodgkins