So, for the purpose of joyful storytelling time, I query this to the peoples of the forums; what are, for you personally, some moments that define what metal means in your life? It could be the moment you heard the opening drum bit in Painkiller and your entire nervous system got instantly re-arranged, or any collection of Sabbath riffs, or the moment you realized something heavier than Creed exists in the world.

For me, two that stand out are:

1) Hearing the main riff of Iron Man back when I was in high school and being immediately entranced by this new, indescribable sound and finding myself craving more of it.

2) Hearing Dio sing for the first time, which made me understand that a) WOW, and b) that you don't need to be a banshee wailer to sing metal like you were born for the task.

So yeah, pretty much that. Any more to add to the pile?

Why everything has to be about Behemoth for me, I'm not sure, but there's a couple big ones that include them

-I distinctly remember how fucking life changing "Horns Ov Baphomet" was the first time I heard it all those years ago. Never heard something that heavy before. My adrenaline shot through the roof, and all I could think was "I don't know what this is, but this is it!"

-My first time ever being in a mosh pit at SOTU 2006. It was Behemoth playing "Antichristian Phenomenon". The famous beginning sample played, Inferno did four hits on the toms, and before you know it the place I was standing was the pit. I didn't choose to be in it, it chose me to be in it. Amazing time.

Some that don't relate to them:

-My first time listening to black metal via Windir's "Todeswalzer". I was introduced to them by some Norwegian chick that went to this Slipknot forum I'd frequent back when I was 11. Apparently Windir was her favorite band. I would constantly come back to the short preview of the track they had on their website. That followed up with me finally downloading 1184 via some really crappy p2p program I can't remember the name of. I think this band was the first to show me just how truly beautiful metal could be without relying on the overtly epic symphonies that a band like Dimmu Borgir puts on.

-....but, to be honest, that first time hearing "Progenies..." by Dimmu Borgir was also a pretty epic metal moment. This was before I discovered Windir, and for the time, Dimmu Borgir introduced me to just how heavy metal could get. In retrospect, I don't think I realized just how tame they are compared to what I would later get into, but man, they were heavy for my sensibilities back then. And epic.

Beautiful contribution, Unorthodox! My reckoning with extreme metal was quite a bit different from yours, but the idea of being "chosen by the pit" is so hilariously beautiful, I love it. Hell, "Chosen by the Pit" should be a song/album title! Somebody please get on that, hahaha.

Hearing Jag Panzer's Ample Destruction and Slough Feg's Down Among the Deadmen in 2006-07 or so was a real breakthrough as to what kind of stuff I wanted to hear more of. The sheer energy and power was simply what I wanted in music as a baseline. Not sure there's much of a story otherwise, just me listening in my room, on the bus, working out, etc a lot back then, plus discovering new bands.

A few years ago I saw Raven blow out the speakers at a tiny dive bar in my area and that was really a testament to how metal can be live. Just infectious, radioactive energy hitting you for an hour. Those motherfuckers have been at this for decades and still sound as energetic as on their old albums.

Specifically, Iron Maiden with any of their epics... with solos. And pm solos too, despite not hearing much of these in the last years(more of extreme stuff for me). EU pm.

The entire performance of "Battery" from the Seattle show in Metallica's Live Shit video set. I need not say anymore. Just watch the video.



Also, discovering the performance of "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden at Rock in Rio 2001 was the moment I fell in love with Iron Maiden, and I was so entranced and enthralled by what I was watching that I needed to find more like it. That was when I truly became a fan of metal music.

After Horna finished playing at MDF one year the crowd started chanting "SATAN! SATAN!" for five minutes. Just thanking the big man for making it all possible.

My first time hearing the Raining Blood Intro was magical. its was far more ominous than everything i've heard before, like if the apocalypse was arriving. Then when the fast part start you know that it was true

I've experienced a similar feeling some years later with DSO's Kenose I : the slow, four minute buildup culminates with those apocalyptic choirs and then falls into a level of dissonance that i've never experienced before, save for few tracks on Obscura. it was like a new world opening!

Honorable mention with Motorhead's Overkill title track, No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith version: i was very young when i heard it and the combination between the fast drums, the riff and Lemmy's vocals made me feeling like i was beaten up by the music: it make me kinda understand why this music is called heavy metal as i felt like between an hammer and an anvil

Eric's "Death is fulfilled" scream @ 5:36. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8fjhuf9XXw
The. Most. Metal. Moment.

Does watching the film "Demons" and seeing this count?

Abso-frikkin-lutely!!!

The first time you hear the drum intro to Priest's Painkiller, one of the best openings to a record (metal or not), ever.

A personal one for me was the first time I finally saw Metallica live. I had been a fan since I was a young kid, and finally saw them in 2003. After watching live films like the ones in the Binge N Purge box and numerous bootlegs I owned on VHS, when the lights went down and the Ecstasy of Gold started with 40,000+ people going nuts, I almost left my body. Thinking about it now still gives me chills. I've seen them a dozen or so times since, and every single time, the makes my heart race.

What I like about it is just how no-nonsense it is; straight to the metal, no atmospheric intros or pretense of doing anything other than shredding your goddamn face. It's the musical equivalent of getting mauled by a badger.

The whole opening of "Creeping Death".

Hearing these bands for the first time - Metallica ("For Whom The Bell Tolls"), Judas Priest (towtal "Genociiiide"), Black Sabbath ("Black Sabbath"), Iron Maiden ("Hallowed be thy Name"), Motorhead ("Killed By Death"), Venom ("Chanting of the Priests"), Manilla Road ("Dreams of Escaton"), Celtic Frost ("Dethroned Emperor"), Morbid Angel ("Immortal Rites"), Voivod ("Astronomy Domine" - without first hearing the original), Katatonia ("Gateways of Bereavement"), Trouble ("Victim of the Insane"), Pantera ("Psycho Holiday"), Manowar ("Battle Hymn"), Dream Theater ("Pull Me Under"), Anthrax ("Indians"), Symphony X ("Inferno"), RJD ("Children of the Sea"), Candlemass ("Dark Reflections") - left such a mark on me. I had a bunch of CD-Rs with these songs and more I can't recall now from various sources. I had ignored metal for the longest time and was mostly into Hip Hop and Punk/Hardcore. Didn't like the nu-metal stuff with the rapping and riffs, thought that was awkward and dumb. I would hear the good stuff every now and then from the people I hang around back then though.

Oh I also played Megadeth's "Peace Sells", "Hook In Mouth" and "Symphony of Destruction" songs A LOT and thought they were the shit lol. You can imagine my reaction when I heard Rust In Peace.



Drum intros when done right are incredibly rousing. Trouble's "Victim of the Insane" is my favorite intro ever. That riff and the pounding. Good lord!

Cool thread, though it isn't quite what I was expecting. Many of these read as personal initiations into metal. (Mine would be: getting my ass whooped by "Angel of Death.")

I thought it'd be more like, I dunno, "that time Maniac injured a concert-goer with a severed pig's head." (Bad example.) Or maybe "metal moments" of a more everyday sort, like having the cashier ring up your lunch order at... $6.66.

For me, it was two things:

1. The moment I felt Metal “capture” me for the first time was hearing the chorus riff to “Master of Puppets” and the main verse riff to “Leper Messiah”. MOP the song has been long overplayed for me now but I still fucking love Leper Messiah.

2. After about two years of steadily discovering more bands, I heard Death’s Left to Die and knew that I would always love this music.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. During my early teens music as such wasn't really a thing for me. So I'm around 13 years old or so, visiting a friends house to prepare for a D&D campaign and he puts on Creeping Death. Yeah, there was no coming back from that one.

Fast forward a few years, I'm around 17 years old, basically a euro power metal nerd into Blind Guardian and Rhapsody and such, dabbling in this crazy black metal thing with Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir on the side, was already familiar with Emperor's IX Equilibrium and Anthems (the latter didn't really do much for me) and I listen in the store to their apparent classic of the genre, In the Nightside Eclipse. Those opening moments blew my godsdamned mind. Turned me in to a full black metal nerd for the next decade and change right there on the spot.

Obvious but being smacked in the face with Painkiller for the first time, in the form of its title track. That is basically the most metal metal album to ever exist so, it only makes sense that the first time I gave it an honest shot was my most metal moment ever. Even more obvious but second place goes to hearing Ride the Lightning for the first time, in the form of 'Fight Fire With Fire', which was the first time metal well and truly grabbed me by the neck and would not let go.

Even though they're not one of my favorite bands, Slayer is responsible for one defining "metal moment" that, for me, best encapsulates the ass kicking nature of this genre. It's the transition in Angel of Death at 1:38. So fucking metal.

Back when I first got into metal in 89/90 I had this perception that metal people and rap people were enemies (I know that's not the case) so I myself wouldn't go near rap music.
Fast forward 30+ years and I had attended the Soundwave festival in Adelaide, Australia in 2014. It was an awesome weekend where we happened to stay in one of the hotels the bands were staying at so I got to meet guys like Chuck Billy, Gene Hoglan, John Boekelin, Phil Anselmo, the Duplantier bros and a bunch of others. I was waiting at the airport with a whole bunch of bands for my flight to Perth when in through the arrival gate came Public Enemy. They walked right through all the metal bands and there was a heap of loud greetings, backslapping and whatnot without an ounce of tension.
It may not be metal but it was a surreal moment for me for sure.

It is always good to see a moment of genuine good will and brotherhood between artists, no matter their differences. It also helps that Public Enemy seem to have a degree of metal cred, from what I remember.

IX Equilibrium is masterful, completely underrated in the Emperor back catalogue compared to what came before. Curse You All Men, The Source Of Icon E, An Elegy Of Icarus... Just a fantastic album imo. I don't think it gets the love it deserves, although I realise it had big shoes to fill. That late 90s black metal era was incredibly creative. I listen to so much atmospheric black metal (seems to be the majority of black metal releases these days) that I wish some albums would just fucking shred like IX Equilibrium.

Anyways, I was expecting this thread to be the most metal moments by metal bands and artists ever, ie Ozzy biting bats or something. Since everyone is going over nostalgia, there was a great metal show on Irish radio every Sunday and that really opened my ears. Cradle Of Filth had just released Cruelty And The Beast and the first time I heard The Twisted Nails Of Faith, I was 12, and my mind was completely blown. Never heard vocals like that. I recorded it on tape and played it over and over again. Then Old Man's Child with the piano playing under the guitars in the symphonic black metal way and I was hooked. I had heard death and thrash before but the symphonic black metal was what got me really hooked on metal.

I kinda stopped listening to metal in my late teens and just really got back into it the last few years.

Seeing Emperor at Heavy MTL in 2018 - it downpoured like mad 10 minutes before they went on. First gig in North America in about 20 years.

The crowd was screaming at the sky and chanting "EMPEROR! EMPEROR!" like wild barbarians and the road crew were tarping the amps and drums, trying to keep them dry. At one point a couple of them just stopped to look at us and they looked bewildered like "if Emperor doesn't play these guys are gonna fucking riot" and one of them either took a video or photo with his phone.

After about 8 minutes and an announcement that it was going to have to wait a couple minutes, the rain stopped and the roadcrew came back to remove the tarps and dry everything. The crowd then started chanting "SQUEEGEE GUY! SQUEEGEE GUY! SQUEEGEE GUY!" and the squeegee guy held up his squeegee and cheered

Then Emperor came on and fucking leveled the place with Ye Entrancemperium. Afterwards Ihsahn was like "you guys don't mind the weather do you?....OF COURSE NOT!!!" - the tarps were still on stage but pushed off to the side, and he was just as stoked as we were!

=-=-=

The only thing that would've made it any more black metal is if it were a fucking blizzard. Best show I've ever seen.

The mental image of the squeegee guy holding up his tool like Conan raising a sword to the sky is fantastic

When I saw Nile, every band before and after them had problems with the guitars/basses on the one side of the stage. It was around 6 bands total and the final band was Over Kill. Before the third band went on, either the venue or whoever's PA it was spent about an hour trying to fix the damn thing. Which caused one band to be able to play only one song (Swallow the Sun). When Nile went on at one point the bassist walked offstage midsong. The band kept playing and Karl came over to a group of us. As they played he yelled to the group of us has anyone seen my bassist? Probably one of the funniest moments, out of all of the shows I have been to. When it happened to Over Kill, Dave walked off mid song during Elimination. The band literally froze in whatever positions they were in. For about two or three minutes. They were like statues. Dave came back out and strummed the intro. They went right back into where they were in the song. It was about the tenth time I've seen Over Kill, so it was no big deal. Actually kind of cool, how tight the band was to do that. Then after the song Dave went over to DD and I heard him say it's not my fault. I'm sorry it's not fault. The fucking system is fucked up. I thought DD was going to kill him right there and the next day I would see that Dave was fired. Never happened. Turned a cool moment into a I know who runs that band moment and very uncomfortable to anyone who saw the look on DDs face. I felt really bad for Dave.

Pretty much what it was like! That guy got his few minutes of fame Also in regarding the comment above, YES IX Equlibrium is a massively underrated album! If "technical black metal" were ever a genre, that would be a great example. Decrystallizing Reason and Of Blindness And Subsequent Seers are still 2 of my favourite Emperor songs!

After playing all of Anthems, Emperor then played Curse You All Men! and it totally blasted our faces apart. It rivalled (and IMO surpassed) the intensity of the entire Dead Congregation set at Covenant a few months earlier!

Excellent idea for a thread and very interesting replies.

My first metal experience was walking by a music shop back in the day and seeing a huge poster of the Powerslave art cover and being absolutely enchanted and mesmerized by it.
Up until that point I was listening to stuff like Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, etc via my parents. I had never even heard of Iron Maiden before, let alone be familiar with the music. But I loved the artwork so much, I saved up some money (I was around 11 or 12 at the time), I got what would be my first metal record. As corny as it might be, it was indeed life changing. Iron Maiden - as well as Judas Priest - became my absolute favorite bands for many, many years and are still responsible for many joys all over these years as well as many financially irresponsible decisions.

When it comes to albums that, for whatever reason left a huge mark in me, there's too many to mention. Here's a few from the top of my head:

* Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth
I still love this record up to this day. All about it was (is) amazing. The gorgeous artwork, the Silmarillion concept, the best damn intro to any metal record, Hansi's godly vocals, Thomen's superb drumming, the melodies, the choruses, even the infamous interludes that irk most, I just love all about it. The entire atmosphere this album has is just something special. I was never into Power Metal but this was my first Blind Guardian album, and I absolutely love them.

* Death - Human
I am always drawn to bands that manage to be heavy and visceral and yet be somewhat sophisticated and complex, with a strong display of musicianship without forsaking songwriting. Enter Human. Not much that needs to be said about this record, I believe, other than I was obsessed with it, I listened to it over and over, and it was, for me, a defining, turning moment in my "career" as a metal fan.

* Meshuggah - Chaosphere
This was my first contact with Meshuggah and I couldn't believe how heavy, wild, and just off kilter this band was. I had heard nothing even remotely like it before. It was the first time (not many more after that) that I felt something was truly original and different. I still remember telling all my mates about it and almost forcing them to like it!

* Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk
My first Emperor album, one of my very first contacts with Black Metal (I remember hearing some Bathory and Venom before).
Needless to say, it is one of my favorite records ever, it introduced me to Black Metal, it made Norway a must visit on my list of travels and listening to this very record while hiking the Romsdalseggen ridge was a beautiful, powerful experience that I'll always remember and cherish.

* Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines
Excellent record, my favorite of them. This was, for me at the time, the next level for death metal. The speed, the brutality, the musicianship, everything was top notch.
But what I remember mostly was how interested in Egyptian Mythology I became and how much I read and researched about the theme. All because of a metal band.

* Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm
This is a heavy one.
It was during a rough time in my life when this record came out. I was in the hospital for almost a month due to a motorcycle accident and I remember listening to it non-stop on my discman. I was dealing with some bad stuff at home and professionally I was a bit lost as well. I felt everything was happening at the same time and I couldn't figure how to deal with it. And Neurosis was my soundtrack. I love Neurosis and this album, but as a result of the circumstances, it brings back painful memories so I don't listen to it often.


Regarding concerts, there's also many to mention, but seeing Tool with Mastodon as an opening act back in 2006 in Pavilhao Atlantico (a great venue in Lisbon) was huge.
Mastodon was still an amazing band (not the travesty they are today) and absolutely destroyed. They had just released Blood Mountain. Then Tool came and it was almost transcendental.
I remember thinking that we, metal fans, are spoiled for choice and have so many great bands that are so different from each other and yet part of the metal universe.

In 2002, me and my band were lucky enough to have a chat with John Petrucci from Dream Theater when they played in Praca Sony, Lisbon.
It was around 10AM, me and my friend were having some drinks in this place called "Cenoura do Rio" (River Carrot) when suddenly we see John Petrucci casually walking in with two other guys in Ernie Ball t-shirts. Apparently, it was supposed to be an autograph session that was not advertised, so no one was aware of it, no one was therre. Because of that, the five of us chatted with Petrucci for like half an hour if not more. It was kinda surreal. He was nice, friendly, very calm and down to earth.

If I stop to think about it, I'll come up with many more, but at the top of my head this is what I remember mostly.

Same here. I bought it half-blindly after Jack Osbourne mentioned the band on that Osbournes reality show. I think he wanted to terrify the neighbors by blasting some "Norwegian death metal." Evidently that was enough for me.

At the time, "heavy" to me meant Korn and Static-X, so, I had a really difficult time processing this album. At first it registered as quite literally mindless, impenetrable noise; I honestly couldn't tell the difference between any one song and the multi-layered song/noise collage at the end of "Elastic." So, I don't know what persuaded me to give it another listen - novelty, maybe? But I gradually began connecting with the alien melodies, which struck me as so...damaged, unsettling. And some of the vocals sounded just inhuman to me. Suddenly I found myself listening to the album on repeat.

A classmate mentioned he had seen them at some big alternative rock festival, and indicated very matter-of-factly that they were offbeat and sucked. I'm surprised in retrospect that I didn't pounce on him, and launch into some embarrassing teenager tirade - "Meshuggah is real art, man! You just don't get it!" Ah, to be just discovering metal...



Fantastic album as well. I'm sorry you have some rough memories associated with it.

Thanks man, it's all good now. Majestic piece of music that album.

Awwww, guys, all this sincere sharing of great moments is lovely. I'm so glad I made this thread.

That's my favorite Neurosis album too. It sorta fits the situation you related. Recuperating to music that is desolate, contemplative but that speaks of bravery and stoicism in such earthy tones. I can see it. Gods bless Scott and Steve, man.

"No River To Take Me Home" has provoked a few tears from me. That line "Whatever comes through me, I will be" speaks to my soul. Haunting stuff and yet so uplifting.

I met Daniel Gildenlöw in Atlanta when Pain of Salvation played Remedy Lane at ProgPower - another carthatic type album. I was too self conscious to admit how much his lyricism had meant to me.

The very first metal album I ever purchased was Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness. It was a blind buy at a local record shop and I was drawn to the cover art and band photos. My only exposure to metal at that point was the mainstays and things that get played on the radio (Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead, Megadeth ect). I remember listening to Immortal Rites and thinking that there was something fucked up with the cd, and feeling uneasy as I continued listening. Didn't sound like music played by people to my ears then, and because it had that forbidden fruit aspect I kept listening to it until it clicked. It's one of those albums that allows the imagination to run wild and conjure up esoteric lovecraftian evil forms. That's what initially hooked me on metal music and remains a feeling that I chase while digging up obscurities of the scene.

I live in Florida and it was February - one of the very sparse cold times of the year - and I'd been through a breakup in 2019. Listening to Usurper 'Twilight Dominion' while wandering around the chilled, rainy lakefront for some after-work exercise was a pretty metal moment and it looked like the fucking demon hordes were gonna rise any second to those colossal riffs and vocals. What a fantastic band that is.

My first Iron Maiden show at Ottawa Bluesfest in 2010. This festival takes place in the shadow of Canada’s War Museum, and the band actually took the time to recognize that. Asked us 28,000 fans for a moment of silence before beginning the show - it was beautiful.

A band that sings about the horrors of war recognizing the fallen. Very apt.

Ok another one. People can decide whether it's metal or not.

In the 90's I got to see Slayer with Biohazard as a support. Both them and the local support put on a great show. During Biohazard's set, a guy ran onto the stage nude with something painted on his chest. He tried to go near Evan but Evan shooed him away so he sang for a bit with Billy then disappeared.
Not long after the show I heard it was someone backstage got really drunk, shat themselves, tried to draw the Biohazard logo in their poo in their chest then ran around the stage naked (this has been confirmed in several interviews).
Slayer still refuse to talk about that show......

There are times when it seems metal is directly speaking to my life. Once I was on the bus going to a job interview. I was on the fence about it, because a few posts online had flagged the company as scammers. So just as the building came into view down the road, my iPod shuffled up of all my thousands of songs, Katatonia’s “No Good Can Come of This”. That was enough of a sign for me to leave the bus, turn around and go home.

I think the first band I listened was Hermetica in midle of the 90´s after that well ..... many songs past I remember one day I listened
Yngwie Malmsteen´s song ´´Braveheart´´ with that celtic melody ........ Other day I knew Black metal and I had the idea they talk about northern mitology and they live in a country with woods and cold.