The Top Ten Metal Album Opening Tracks

UPDATE
I've made a complete balls up with this as My Last Serenade is actually no4 on Alive Or Just Breathing. That's officially dropped and replaced with Aces High by Iron Maiden. More detailed fix coming in due course.
END UPDATE

The other night, coming home late on the delayed train from work I was listening to my ipod when something of a relevation for a blog post hit me. Top 10 lists are done all the time, particularly when it comes to metal, metal songs and metal albums, but something I've never seen before is a top 10 post about what the best opening tracks on metal albums are. I started thumbing through my ipod and realised immediately what I was onto as my "shortlist" was around 50 tracks within a few minutes.

I've since had more time to dwell on this and whilst I'm sure no-one will agree with the whole thing, here's my take on the best 10 metal album openers. Please join in the debate by posting comments as I'd love to get a wide range of views on this. I'm sure there are plenty I've missed so I encourage contributions, I'm just going by what I had on my ipod and could remember at the time!

Criteria:

1. Must be track no1 on the album it was released on. Little intro songs and then the track being number 2 do not count.
2. Must be by a band who are generally accepted as being metal, whether its thrash metal, nu-metal, death metal or any other sub-genre. Hard rock bands such as the Foo Fighters don't qualify or emo bands such as My Chemical Romance or Jimmy Eat World don't qualify. I'm going to do a separate rock version of this top 10 list at some point in the future
3. Must not be from a compilation / best of album. The track listing must be on the album the track was originally released on
4. Must not be from a live album for the same reason as no2.
5. One entry per band, otherwise I probably would have filled this with entries from just Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer.
6. The songs aren't in any particular order, as I found it too difficult to try and rank them.

Slayer - Angel Of Death
From: Reign In Blood (1986)

The opening track from what could arguably referred to as the fastest and most violent of all thrash albums (and certainly those by the big four), Slayer's "tribute" to Joesph Mengel, the evil Nazi, remains one of the most iconic metal songs of all time and has lost none of its potency in the 25 years since it was written and originally released to the world. Some of Tom Araya's most deranged sounding vocal work of his whole career combined with some ultimate speed thrash instrument playing makes this for me the most obvious song of the lot.

Megadeth - Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
From: Rust In Peace (1990)

Another song guaranteed to transform any devotee of thrash and the big four into a sense of childlike glee (that or to make them behave like a lunatic), Holy Wars is the opening track of Megadeth's magnum opus, Rust In Peace. That the album was given a 20th anniversary tour last year shows the importance of the album to the band and to thrash metal in general (and its entirely regrettable that they only chose to play 5 tracks from it rather than the whole thing at Download 2010). Nearly seven minutes of Dave Mustaine's considerable musical and lyrical skill at its finest, this is another track that never ages a day. As mentioned above, this could quite easily have been another song as Megadeth possess some killer album openers, but this just beat out Symphony Of Destruction for its place in the list.

Judas Priest - Painkiller
From: Painkiller (1991)

One of the most famous drum intros of all time and Judas Priest's biggest hit for a very long time when it was released, Painkiller (both the song and album) is a stand out moment in the 40 year history of the Metal Gods from Birmingham. KK Downing and Glenn Tipton's razor sharp guitar work underpin Rob Halford at his falsetto best. Another long one, this is six minutes plus of finest British heavy metal, complete with more fine solos than you can shake a stick at.

Linkin Park - Papercut
From: Hybrid Theory (2001)

Though you could struggle to refer to them as metal now (with some justification), back when Linkin Park burst onto the scene they were one of the hottest properties in Nu-Metal (along with Limp Bizkit and fellow listees KoRn). Hybrid Theory is the biggest selling Nu-Metal album of all time and Papercut is the track that started it all off. Still in rotation on the likes of Kerrang more than a decade later, it summed up all the good qualities of Nu-Metal (and if you never liked Nu-Metal this is my post so tough shit) with a catchy up, a riff that stuck in your head and a huge chorus. This song is a huge part of the reason that Linkin Park are global superstars today, it would be nice if they returned to their roots.

Metallica - Battery
From: Master Of Puppets (1986)

Anyone who knows me to be one of the biggest Metallica fans on the planet will know that this is the entry in the list I have agonised over most as Metallica are not exactly short of candidates for this list with Blackened, Fight Fire With Fire, Hit The Lights and Enter Sandman especially all being rather obvious candidates to be on this list. In the end I opted for what is possibly Metallica's heaviest song, and also one of their finest examples of combining riffs and melodies with brutalness so effectively (as they do throughout the whole Master of Puppets album which this song kicks off). Another song guaranteed to produce chaos wherever it is heard be it gig or club, this is another one for the ages.

Machine Head - Imperium
From: Through The Ashes Of Empires (2003)

Everyone said they were finished. They were dropped by their US record label and the band was in turmoil. And then Machine Head came out with this, the opening track to the career saving and relaunching Through The Ashes Of Empires. One of the greatest intro build ups to any song anywhere ever, this is a song that eats you up and shits you out at full force and has oblierated many a venue and festival field. The musicianship is first rate and the vocals capture the angry mood of the song perfectly. Again Machine Head are a band with many other good candidates, but this just gets in for me over Davidian and Clenching The Fists of Dissent.

Killswitch Engage - My Last Serenade
From: Alive Or Just Breathing (2002)

The song that many in the music journalism world refer to as "the song that was the final nail in the coffin of Nu-Metal" (first time around), My Last Serenade was the emergence of Killswitch Engage to the wider world and the beginnings of the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal" and "metalcore" scenes being accepted by the masses. Thumping riffs and growled vocals from Jesse Leach before the transformation into the epic clean chorus gained the band an enormous following for this song alone (even if they were to lose a fair amount of that fan base in the years to come). One of the most recognisable metal hits of the 00's, it was a cracking way to begin an album.

Iron Maiden - Aces High
From: Powerslave (1984)

Originally not on here but given a reprieve due to my screw up over Killswitch Engage, The mighty Iron Maiden take a deserved place on the list. Aces High is one of the all time great Iron Maiden songs, containing all the elements that makes Maiden so great including a quality vocal from Bruce Dickinson. Powerslave is arguably one of the greatest Maiden albums (thats a debate for another time)as well which validates the choice further. A stunning live experience that produces one of the biggest Maiden singalongs of the lot, this just hops in ahead of The Wicker Man and one or two other Maiden classics.

KoRn - Blind
From: KoRn (1994)

Not being a massive KoRn fan, I can still appreciate the importance of what this song meant when it was released. Grunge was in full swing and traditional metal was suffering, and then along came the Bakersfield boys with the first true massive Nu-Metal hit. Jonathan Davis' cries of "Are You Ready" before the song fully kicks in leaves you in no doubt of whats coming while the song really struck a chord with pissed off kids and adults alike because there was nothing like it at the time. Like other songs on this list, this track is a rock club staple hit which brings the house down every time close to 20 years after being released. KoRn will never top it.

Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
From: Cowboys From Hell (1990)

The birth of Pantera Mark II (as there are not all that many who are aware of the band's power metal roots with songs such as "Ride My Rocket"), Cowboys From Hell the song is a groove-riff laden assault on the ears assembled as only Dimebag Darrell could put together and who pitifully few have ever come close to matching since (Rich Ward excepted). Phil Anselmo's dark vocals combining with Dimebag's guitar work and Rex & Vinnie's rhythm section made it seem to the world like Pantera had never existed before Cowboys From Hell. We all know how the story ended, but this was a magnificent rebirth.

Black Sabbath - War Pigs
From: Paranoid (1970)

This list couldn't really transpire without an entry from the most famous of metal's forefathers, and War Pigs is an almost mandatory addition to this list. Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill crafted a 8 minute masterpiece on the Vietnam War which really doesn't need me to tell you how good it is. It's been covered a thousand times over (most famously by Faith No More) and will likely be covered another thousand times in years to come. Another song that will remain timeless throughout the progression of heavy metal.

Incase people were wondering about other bands who nearly made the cut, the likes of Iron Maiden, Amon Amarth, Limp Bizkit, Chimaira, Kamelot, Malefice, Opeth, Katatonia and Symphony X to name but a few were almost on here. Particularly Symphony X, who only got dropped when I realised that Imperium was missing (sorry Russ and co!).

Anyway, I'm sure anyone reading this will agree with less than half of this at best, but thats why I'd really like people to comment with their own ideas. If we get enough I'll tally up the results at the end.

Over to you guys!

Tags: Metal Album Opening Tracks, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Machine Head, Linkin Park, KoRn, Killswitch Engage, Pantera, Judas Priest

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