What does Revolution sound like in the world of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal?

Led Zeppelin

When they turned up the amps and blues chords into power chord riffs, Zep created Hard Rock. Add in Plant’s screaming vocals and you have the formula that hundreds have followed since.

Black Sabbath

When Tony down tuned and used The Devils Interval in his mighty riffs, and Geezer started writing about Satanic stuff, Heavy Metal was born. An entirely new genre that would go on to conquer the world. That’s revolution.

Judas Priest

If Sabbath were the spark, then Priest were the accelerant. Add in a second guitar, increase the pace and you have the blue print for modern metal.

Deep Purple

Adding keyboards into the mix and with a classically influenced guitarist in the form of Blackmore, Purple create a more Baroque sound, as well as some of the most killer riffs of all time. Still making great albums today.

Alice Cooper

The man who brought shock rock to the masses, with his gritty but anthemic hard rock and a live show that delivered a chamber of horrors, thrilling fans and cultivating outrage from authority figures (which just made the fans love him all the more).

Motörhead

Ignoring the term Heavy Metal and focusing on Rock n Roll, but turning the bass to 11 and playing it like a rhythm guitar, Lemmy creates one of the most influential bands of all time. He may be gone but his influence lives on.

Van Halen

With a bona fide genius who reinvents the possibilities of expression on the electric guitar and with a flamboyant front man who introduces elements of RnB and Disco, hard rock becomes palatable to an even wider audience. EVH maybe gone but Wolfgang is stepping up nicely.

Iron Maiden

Fusing Zep, Sabbath and Priest, while introducing galloping bass lines and a more melodic approach to song, you get Power Metal. They’ve stayed true to this and are still making high quality records and playing awesome shows. Metallica By introducing the DIY ethic, anger and speed of Punk to metal,

Anthrax

Combining the speed and fury of hardcore punk with the guitars and vocals of heavy metal, they helped create a new subgenre of heavy metal. As the ’80s became the ’90s, they also began to increase their experiments with hip-hop, culminating in a tour with Public Enemy in 1991, and a joint re-recording of PE’s classic “Bring the Noise.”

Faith No More

With their fusion of funk, hip-hop, prog rock, abrasive vocals and Jim Martin’s metal guitar FNM were true revolutionaries. 1987’s Introduce Yourself, was a cohesive and impressive effort; with the rap and metal elements complementing each other nicely.

Rage Against The Machine

Outspoken firebrands and activists RATM educated the masses of heavy music fans by injecting their bombastic Molotov cocktail of rap, hardcore punk, funk, and metal with a sobering dose of fiercely polemical, politically charged urgency. That’s revolution.

Ministry

Ministry did more than any other band to popularize industrial dance music, injecting large doses of punky, over-the-top aggression and roaring heavy metal guitar riffs that helped their music find favor with metal and alternative audiences outside of industrial’s cult fan base. They were not always guitar-oriented, with samples, synthesizers, and tape effects being deployed just as often as guitars.

Pantera

The preeminent metal band of the early to mid-’90s, Pantera put to rest any and all remnants of the ’80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al., were anything but passé.

Korn

Korn’s cathartic sound positioned the group as one of the most popular and provocative acts to emerge during the 1990s. At the forefront of the nu-metal/rap-rock movement of the time, they quickly evolved, developing a trademark style that incorporated downtuned guitars, a groove-heavy rhythm section, haunted atmospheric production, and dark lyrics.

Sepultura

The most successful Brazilian heavy metal band in history transformed themselves from a primitive death metal ensemble into one of the leading creative trendsetters of the international aggressive music scene of the 90s. With Roots they fused their heritage and indigenous sounds with Metal. We demand a reformation NOW.

Slipknot

Slipknot’s mix of grinding, alt. metal, soaring choruses and OTT personas have propelled them to become of the most popular bands from the nu-metal explosion of the late 1990s. But the X factor in the toxic brew is their nightmarishly theatrical image which fuses cinematic horror and unrelenting metal into one dark, psychedelic vision. Slipknot have mugged the mainstream with a baseball bat. Now that’s cultural revolution.

To celebrate Revolution, we’ve created a playlist for you. It finishes with a track from Queensrÿche’s ambitious concept album, a testament to the bands creativity and talent, and as fitting a song about revolution as any we know.