Shamelessly plugging my recent video on Carcass below. But, I genuinely want to know who you guys feel are the most influential band in the Extreme Metal spectrum?

Is it Carcass with how they helped shape multiple sub-genres, from Grind/ Goregrind to Melodic Death Metal to Death 'n' Roll? Or could it be someone like Bathory who were arguably the first proper Black Metal band (or at least the first to play a style that is still comparable to BM of today) and then experimenting with what would eventually turn into Viking/ Pagan metal....

I can't really think of any other bands who played a bigger role in shaping the Extreme Metal scene?

Slayer.

You'd probably have to go back to the beginnings of what Extreme Metal once was, and yeah, Slayer, Venom and maybe even early Metallica would be good candidates. All three inspired later generations of bands to up-ratchet the tempos, intensity, noise and heaviness of their music, which led to a lot of the later genres (Black metal, death metal, etc.) to be spawned.

Carcass would certainly be right up there, however. I would argue that Napalm Death, whose early grindcore sound directly inspired Carcass (among a ton of other bands) and whose guitarist actually went on to FORM Carcass, would be a better candidate though.

Slayer.

Celtic Frost probably deserves a mention.

Venom

I guess I'll nominate Venom. I don't personally like their albums, but they are namedropped a ton of other early pioneers of extreme metal genres. They are at the root node of many other branches of the metal tree.

Martin Ain has been on record saying Venom were a huge influence when he started Hellhammer, the Metallica guys were into Venom too if I recall correctly. On the black metal side of things, the guys in Mayhem were early fans, and there is a semi-famous story of how they met their first vocalist (Messiah), they approached him at a Dio concert because he had Venom patches on. Those are just a few examples off the top of my head, I'm sure tons of other bands will cite them.

Another vote for Venom, responsible for the birth of Black metal, thrash, speed, death...

Are Slayer extreme enough? If not, probably Venom. If not Venom, it's Bathory.

This is the right answer.

I think it really comes down to these three.

Motörhead

Witching Metal demo has gotta be up there for importance.

To add:

Death
Kreator
Morbid Angel
Possessed
Napalm Death

Judas Priest unleashed in the east

Darkthrone
Dissection
Satanic Warmaster
Incantation
Immolation

It seems once again some confuse "most influential" with "my favourite bands".
An objective answer would be Venom of course. I'm not a big fan of them but I've got to admit they're the first extreme metal band and they initiated thrash, black, death and almost everything that is extreme in metal. Every thrash, proto-death/black metal bands of the early 80's could be named "Venom metal".



Or Elvis Presley maybe? A bit too early and rock 'n' roll for me to be called the most influential extreme metal band... And Judas Priest had played stuff as extreme as Motörhead before Motörhead.



Well... Slayer, not extreme enough? They're not the darkest, but one of the most brutal bands in 80's extreme metal. Give them another listen and tell us!

Did slayer influence bands anymore than Venom? Mix Venom and Discharge and you have Slayer...

Mercyful Fate deserves a mention for obvious reasons.

Death...

Musically speaking, Venom influenced Slayer and influenced them all and even those who were influenced by them. We're talking about "most influential" isn't it?

Discharge is not metal, but their influence on extreme metal is immensely underrated: there isn't anything more extreme and brutal than Discharge in 1981-1982. And you're right, basically, Venom + Discharge = birth of thrash metal.

Mercyful Fate deserves more a mention for their influence on make-up. Don't get me wrong, they're influential, but far from Venom.

Death is undeniably one of the most influential too. But hearing their demos, they wouldn't be same without the existence of Venom.

If you were to draw a complete family tree of all metal, you would see a single branch off in 1980 towards extreme metal. Venom would be the band at the top of this branch, and absolutely everything else that comes to under the loose banner of extreme would come under Venom. There is only one answer.

Its simple Venom were influenced by Motörhead so Motörhead influenced extreme metal…

It’s a matter of logic.

"Who were the most influential Extreme Metal Band?" - Motorhead were not 'extreme metal'.

You are not reading the question correctly.

Metallica, Slayer, and Possessed are obvious answers, but Kreator and Dark Angel aren't far behind. Without Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Seven Churches, Pleasure to Kill, and Darkness Descends, I feel like it either wouldn't exist or would be very different.

Really?

Yes they have influenced last twenty years of black metal…

Half at least…

I think Slayer is the most influential. Hell Awaits IMO is where the split really happens between the old metal sound and the more extreme sound. That album just oozes what was to come in the extreme metal scene, and they had massive worldwide appeal. Obviously their is so many artists that helped shape things, you cant speak on it without all of them, Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Bathory, Venom, Death, all played pivotal roles in the development in extreme metal but I feel like Slayer is where it all began.

Honorable mention to Napalm Death whom I would say is probably the 2nd most important band in extreme metal development.

Yes you right

I read what band influenced extreme metal more

Satanic Warmaster has to be the least influential extreme metal band that I can think of. If someone erased them from history nothing substantial would change except maybe we would have less bigots into extreme metal. Not what I'd call "influential".

Been pondering this for over a day now. I just can't arrive at any other answer than Venom.
Sure, Slayer, Bathory, Death, Mercyful Fate, etc., all were major influences in their own ways, but it all seems to distill back down to Venom.

Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Death, Tom G. Warrior, all have cited Venom as a significant influence.

"Welcome To Hell" hit the stands in 1981!!!

Venom are obviously immensely important in the historical development of extreme metal. However, I'm not sure that their direct influence is anywhere near as profound as that of Slayer. There really aren't that many bands that sound like Venom.

Agree with Napalm Death being an honourable mention.

If we're using Venom then its simply a chain of bands that inspired Venom to use Satanic imagery and speed to differentiate themselve, so who would be credited as their influence Motorhead or Sabbath? Slayer are superior to Venom in every way whether its musicianship, cited bands of influence, or noticeable impact on subsequent subgenres like death and even contemporary thrash metal bands.

So yeah Slayer. Adding in crossover appeal Napalm Death are massively influential on hardcore, punk, crust/powerviolence, and death metal as well.

Yes Mgla were influenced from Impaled Nazarene….
Or Germany scene,Finland,France,Quebec…

Melodies come from there…

We are not speaking of simpathy or other things…

Anyway trust me I have knowledge of black metal scene of last twenty years…

Any answer other than Venom is without question wrong.

Truth is spoken.

If you're asking for one band that's the most influential in all of extreme metal, then it's definitely Slayer.

So why Satanic Warmaster exactly?

I pass on SW, I have neither patience neither desire to argue over a lost cause(Sarkrista,Totenwache,Sarastus,Human Serpent,Eternal Alchemist,Aegrus,Malum,Gratzug,Shores of Ladon,Spectral Wound,Asagraum are all influenced by Beherit….)

I have agree on Venom and Slayer top bands expecially Slayer with Necrophliac have influenced thrash,black and death metal…

Gorguts and Morbid Angel deserve a mention…

If Venom didn't exist black metal would be completely different. If Satanic Warmaster didn't exist, we wouldn't have a bunch of post-1998 bands (and for some reason Beherit too, what does Beherit have to do with Satanic Warmaster). I'm not even sure your post has anything to do with the topic we're discussing.

Man, I really don't want to be rude. I don't know if it's the language barrier or something but half of your posts are just nonsense.

I think he's just being sarcastic (i.e. sarcastically saying that all the bands he listed are clearly influenced by Beherit because others are claiming SW had no influence at all on black metal etc.). He's not literally saying that all those bands wouldn't exist without Beherit.

It's kind of irrelevant anyway because Satanic Warmaster is far, far, down the list of influential black metal bands. Pretty much every major band from the Norwegian second wave scene is far more influential than SW will ever be, not to mention bands like Dissection, Rotting Christ, Samael etc. Of course Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer are even more important since the second wave wouldn't exist without them.

Everyone needs to shush and listen or leave the fuckin hall, Lee's got this one covered.

Deafhaven