Essential Albums

Sedimentum in a band portrait among trees

The Best New Death Metal Bands

Rafael Quintero · Jul 1, 2026

Behemoth performing live on stage

Black Metal Bands Everyone Names First

Eirik Solvang · Jun 30, 2026

Necrobutcher of Mayhem on stage in 2014, the bass player on Deathcrush

Deathcrush: The EP That Started It

Eirik Solvang · Jun 29, 2026

Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy at the microphone with his mirrored bass at the Manchester Apollo in 1983, the band around him

Heavy Metal Bands with Black Singers

Declan Rourke · Jun 29, 2026

The sleeves of Stormcrowfleet by Skepticism, Earth 2 by Earth and Turn Loose the Swans by My Dying Bride laid side by side

The Doom Metal Albums That Define the Genre

Ilse Brandt · Jun 29, 2026

Entombed performing live on stage

The Best Death Metal Albums of the 1990s

Rafael Quintero · Jun 28, 2026

Cryptopsy band portrait

None So Vile: Cryptopsy and the Canadian Extreme

Rafael Quintero · Jun 27, 2026

Pure Holocaust, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, In the Nightside Eclipse and Storm of the Light's Bane

The Iconic Black Metal Album Covers

Eirik Solvang · Jun 26, 2026

Metal Church in a band portrait

The Best Thrash Albums of 1986

Declan Rourke · Jun 25, 2026

Avatarium singer Jennie-Ann Smith on stage with both arms flung wide, the keyboard player behind her

The Doom Metal Bands With Female Singers

Ilse Brandt · Jun 25, 2026

The sleeve of Piece of Time, Atheist, 1990

Piece of Time: When Jazz Fusion Met Extreme Speed

Rafael Quintero · Jun 24, 2026

Sacred Reich on stage at Wacken

Sacred Reich, Flotsam and Jetsam, Heathen: The Second Tier That Deserved Better

Declan Rourke · Jun 23, 2026

Suicidal Tendencies on stage at Rockharz in 2024

Excel, Attitude Adjustment, Wehrmacht, Cryptic Slaughter: The Second Tier

Declan Rourke · Jun 21, 2026

Agalloch posing together in a forest

The Best Atmospheric Black Metal Albums

Eirik Solvang · Jun 21, 2026

The sleeves of Kill 'Em All and Show No Mercy

The Best Thrash Albums of 1983

Declan Rourke · Jun 19, 2026

Axl Rose and Slash of Guns N Roses on stage at BST Hyde Park in London in June 2023, a video wall filling the stage behind them

The Best-Selling Heavy Metal Albums

Declan Rourke · Jun 18, 2026

Ritchie Blackmore doing the splits on stage with his Stratocaster at the Rainbow in London in 1979

The Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists

Declan Rourke · Jun 17, 2026

The sleeves of Master of Reality, Vol. 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath laid side by side

Black Sabbath's Doom Metal Albums

Ilse Brandt · Jun 17, 2026