The Cowbell is such a weird and cool instrument. Originally designed for cows, someone thought that it would be a good idea to make a musical instrument based on it. We all remember rock bands like Blue Oyster Cult using it.
This instrument has also been used in metal it is quiet beloved here.
Do you like the cowbell? what are your favourite uses of this instrument in metal?

My fav examples:

Negative Plane - The Chaos Before the Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcIQoxdLhU4

Funereal Presence - Wherein Achatius is Awakened and Called Upon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPWtemX6JEw

Malokarpatan - Nedlho Po Púlnoci Opacha Sa Doplazila Z Dzíry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=schWZrEuPkg

Bridge of Revolution is My Name is the first thing that came to mind. Around 3:02

Still I'm Sad by Rainbow is my favorite example.

Motley Crue's first album, Too Fast for Love', has cowbell all over it. Particularly these tracks, but others too.

25 seconds in for 'Come On and Dance', then again at the :55 mark, then just play through from there because it's used to great effect throughout the rest of the song. If you have any patience, just listen to the song in its entirety because it's one of their coolest early songs




Go to 3 minute mark in Starry Eyes and play for 10 seconds or so- great use of cow bell, it fits this song so well

More like hard rock by today's standards (though somewhat heavy for its time), but iconic startup:

Although I probably wouldn't want to hear cowbell in death metal, it can occasionally work in other genres. Skid Row - Monkey Business is a great song from a great album that uses it just right.

I know Skid Row is metal enough to be listed here but I think it's their position as a 'debatably metal, with plenty of hard rock influence' band that lets them get away with it.

Type O Negative - Christian Woman

The Crown have used a small amount of cowbell on a couple occasions if we're looking for a more extreme metal act to include in this discussion.

R.I.P. by Witchfinder General, the cowbell follows the kick drum pattern.

Starts around :28 sec mark until 1:09

1:32 mark until 2:08

3:31 mark until 3:45



Sinister by Pentagram.

3:00 mark until 3:26



Burning Saviour by Pentagram

4:27 mark until 5:19 the cowbell appears 5 times.

Contemporary bands that embrace some aesthetics from the 80s are also fond of using cowbells from time to time, like Unto Others.

3:00, and 4:18

Pretty sure I hear some cowbell in the intro:

Pretty sure there's a few Carnivore songs that have cowbell as well (God Is Dead and Thermonuclear Warrior are the first that come to mind). Quoting you purely for the Pete Steele connection I guess.

Megalomania by Black Sabbath. I think it sounds great in this song.

And of course there's the goofy chorus of My Friend of Misery by Metallica.

for those more extreme examples

I like the cowbell but I think it can only be used curcmastancially in specific parts.

Examples:

Intro.


Not very metal but still a classic.


Also I do think this song could use some cowbell in the beginning.

Great mentions! I listened to these albums years ago. but totally forgot about them.

I came to mention this very band/album/song

Some really cool examples in the thread already, especially in OP, and the doom metal ones.

I will try to think of some other Metal examples of cowbell being used to great effect, as I love it as well.

NON METAL: Guns N' Roses's Appetite for Destruction has devastating cowbells all over, by Steven Adler (terrific drummer).

Nazareth's Hair of the Dog is another classic for cowbell lovers.

I don't think that's a cowbell in the Darkthrone song. Sounds like one of the rims of either the snare or the tom or maybe even the bass drum.

There is also that one fill in Exodus' song "throwing down" at 3:54

Blue Oyster are in the archives so they count as metal!

They're not and they certainly aren't a metal band.

Monkey Business!
https://youtu.be/2pkpsxEyi-k

Iron Maiden - Can I Play with Madness, and a few other song intros (Hooks in You, Speed of Light) but the cowbell is only used throughout in this one.

And in the famous SNL sketch, it's one 'Bruce Dickinson' who encourages the cowbell player to "really explore the studio space".

Just drove home from a weekend trip and got Suicidal Tendencies' 'Light Camera Revolution' spinning. 'Lovely' has some lovely cowbelling!

Cowbell appears the three times the chorus is sung.

:29 mark until :42

1:02 until 1:14

2:17 until 2:30



From the same album:

3:20 mark until 3:39

Wait, they were last year. I swear. Based on the last album or something.

S.S.H.'s Ban Bards remix:

One would think Blackie’s riffs are already perfect and nothing needs to be added to them, but the cowbell actually makes them even better:

Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor by Black Sabbath

If you're gonna do 70s metal, you need to have cowbell!

I think there is cowbell on Sortilege "Win Her Heart" or "Mourir Por Une Princess".

Been on a The Monolith Deathcult kick the last few days and was reminded of this thread:



Strangely, the cowbell fits perfectly with the whole goroving industrial death metal vibe.

Anthrax's 'Deathrider' has a bit of cowbell at the end of the last chorus.

Carcass - Keep rotting in the free world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMqTuMMtqIcR

There's that Master song with some crazy drumrolls on a cowbell during the bridge but someone else can think of it and post it because I've forgotten the title and I'm lazy to look for it.

Coolest examples of cowbell in metal have got to be:

- Deicide - “Satan Spawn the Caco-Daemon”
- Death - “Regurgitated Guts”
- Suffocation - “Thrones of Blood”
- Taake - “Hordlands Doedskvad, part III”
- Crue - “Live Wire”

Oh, remembered this beast from GWAR!


Get slimy!

The album's three first ones are a great, aggressive way to open it up.

Paradise Lost - The Word Made Flesh has a good bit in either the chorus or bridge if I remember right

I'm one of those joyless souls who absolutely hates cowbell. Cathedral's "Frozen Rapture" (in my opinion the last great song they wrote) is nearly ruined by that brief cowbell break in the bridge. 03.50 in the vid below.
https://youtu.be/eT2Z3tb81GU

It is actually a cowbell, Fenriz mentions it in the deluxe edition commentary, here: https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/track/i ... commentary