If you could create your own heavy metal supergroup of any metal musicians you wanted, who would be in your group and why?

For me, it would be the following:

Rob Halford: Lead Vocals - Because he has the best voice in the whole business, always has and always will. His natural voice has a range greater than anyone I've ever heard of before. Most people use falsettos to hit those high notes, but not Rob. That's why is voice is amazingly powerful sounding.

Michael Angelo Batio: Lead and Rhythm Guitars - I love how lightning fast this guy can shred, and I love his Neo-classical style of playing. His accuracy and skill in hitting the notes with a clear intensity is what makes him so pleasing to listen to. I also love the outrageousness of his double and quadruple guitar solos.

Andy LaRoque: Lead and Rhythm Guitars - This guy is one hell of a riff composer. He's catchy, solid, and plays real metal guitar in my opinion. His Neo-classical influences would blend well with Batio. Together they'd make an outstanding duo.

Rhino: Drums and percussion - No one plays drums as furiously as Rhino of Manowar's 1992 Triumph of Steel lineup. His style of playing is to kick ass constantly at a non stop full throttle lightning speed. I haven't seen anyone that has matched his success in performing top notch technical quality single stroke rolls across the drums, combined with a steady, unfaltering flow.

Joey Vera: Bass Guitar - I feel that in order for this band to work out successfully, Joey Vera's inclusion would come of utmost importance. Many people neglect the bass guitarist of a band, but in this case he is to be possibly the most important member. It's very difficult to find someone who actually knows how to play metal bass and is proud of it, but he knows his shit. He's one of those guys that understands the importance of simplicity in metal bass. His playing will provide the powerful, driving rhythm that this supergroup needs to survive.

Tuomas Holopainen: Keyboards - For those few numbers that have an epic keyboard accompaniment, he shall perform the parts during live shows. Someone's gotta do it, and he obviously won't let anyone down.

My heavy metal supergroup would probably consist of

Rob Halford
Glenn Tipton
KK Downing
Scott Travis
... and someone on bass.

Seriously though, I can't go past any of those guys for their respective instruments.

Ian Hill has always been Priest's bassist. As a matter of fact, he was the original member.

Very difficult, but here's one that I think would be radical:

Mick Box - Lead/Rhythm Guitars (When the guitar enters in "Gypsy", I still get shivers down my spine.)

Dave Murray - Lead/Rhythm Guitars

Steve Harris - Bass Guitar

Geezer Butler - Bass Guitar

Ian Paice - Drums/Percussion

Jon Lord - Organ (It was a toss up between him and Ken Hensley from Uriah Heep.)

Glen Tipton - Lead Vocals/Additional Guitars (Seriously, his vocal performance on Baptizm Of Fire was astounding.)

Geddy Lee
Neil Peart
Alex Lifeson

hahaha all kidding aside...

Band 1:

1. Steve Harris- Iron Maiden Bass: I love him.
2. Marty Friedman- Megadeth Guitarist/Solo: He is one of the most versatile guitarists and extremely skilled.
3. Dave Mustaine- Megadeth Vocalist/Guitarist: I just really like Mustaine's old vocals. I can't enjoy anybody as much as I enjoy him. His songwriting is great and his guitar isn't bad either.
4. Mike Portnoy- Dream Theater Drum/Percussion: He's extremely skilled, and I just like his drumming style. Similar to Peart's

Band 2:

1. Ronnie James Dio- Dio Vocals: This man has the greatest vocals in Heavy metal, in my opinion.
2. Steve Vai- Solo Guitar: One of my favorite guitarists of all time. I think he would do very well with Dio
3. Duncan Scott- Diamond Head Drum/Percussion: I like his drumming in Lightning to the Nations.
4. Steve Harris- Iron Maiden Bass: teehee
5. Dave Murray- Iron Maiden Guitar: Another of my favorite guitarists. Him and Vai could do sexy harmonics.


I wanted to add Satriani and Lemmy, but I can't

Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth): Vocals/Guitars: I think he's one of the most talented musicians and song-writers ever - plus both his death and clean vocals are high enjoyed by me.

John Haughm (Agalloch/Sculptured): Vocals/Guitars: I'm not necessarily a huge John Haughm fan (though I do like him, and his work in Agalloch/Sculptured), but I think his style would meld wonderful with Mikael Åkerfeldt's.

Nicholas Barker (Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir/Various others): Drums: I love this guys mastery of the kit. Sure he plays a lot of blast beats and constantly double-bass-pedals, but that's fine; I like that. Plus he uses a lot cymbals which I like a lot. I'm not sure how well he would fit with the group as I have it, but I think he'd be just fine.

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden): Bass: I don't care if he'd fit in or not; Steve Harris is fucking amazing, so he's in. His song-writing ability and bass-playing-awesomeness would surely be an inspiration to the rest of the band.

As far as I know, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. Ian Paice is a really good drummer and it upsets me that he's not credited as much as John Bonham or Bill Ward. I love the sexy drumroll intro on "Pictures of Home" and all of the drumming on "Fireball". Proto-Speed Metal!

Besides DP, the last band he drummed with was Sir Paul's backing band.

Russell Allen of Symphony X on Vocals

Richard Christy of Death and Control denied on Drums

Steve Digorgio on Bass (been in to many bands to name)

Dave Murray on Rhythm and Leads

Either Paul Gilbert or Michael Romeo on Lead guitar

I'm going to have to divide mine up by styles; there's no way I can come up with only one 'best' line-up.

Death Metal:

Frank Mullen - Vocals
Daniel Mongrain - Guitar
Terrance Hobbes - Guitar
Francois Mongrain - Bass
David Gray - Drums

Black Metal:

Wroth - Guitar
Wrest - Guitar/Vocals
Secthdaemon - Bass
Proscriptor - Drums

Thrash Metal:

Dave Mustaine - Guitar
K.K. Warslut - Guitar
Tom Araya - Bass/Vocals
Dave Lombardo - Drums

Power Metal:

Jens Carlsson - Vocals
Andre Olbrich - Lead Guitar
Emil Norberg - Rhythm Guitar
Steve DiGiorgio - Bass
Richard Christy - Drums
Tony Kakko - Keyboards

Doom Metal:

Messiah Marcolin - Vocals
Tony Iommi - Lead Guitar
Stephen O'Malley - Rhythm Guitar
Geezer Butler - Bass
Des Kensel - Drums

Well, I'd definitly have to put Snorre Westvold Ruch and Marko Laiho together in a band. I'm sure they'd come together to create something truly ugly. I mean, Marko is just amazing with a keyboard and we all know what Snorre can do if you hand him an electric guitar (and he's quite good with a keyboard too). Two musicians who are that good at creating atmosphere working together is a metal dream of mine.

And, just to make creating a masterpiece harder on Snorre and Marko (and to confuse all of you), I'd have Anneke van Giersbergen do the vox.

EDIT: of course it wouldn't be a black metal band. I'd rather swallow a whole propane tank than listen to that Anneke person try to scream.

...ugh... that would be horrible.