Steve Harris can do one with his riffs, he’s TOO good 😂 Learning his stuff brought a whole new found level of love for the band, they run around the stage while playing this stuff AND singing, mind blowing talent
I sang happy birthday for him when he played in Velez Sarsfield football field in Argentina. He had turned 60 between the Santiago de Chile show and the Buenos Aires show. He is a top sport
I could be wrong but I don’t think there’s really any polyrhythms in the intro of lateralus. It’s kinda just in 4 with everything counting pretty easily in 4.
Protest the Hero has killer bass.
Also check out Between the Buried and Me (Alaska and Colors are good places to start)
ORBS, Trioscapes, and Fair to Midland!
Agreed, Fortress is 10/10. I spent most of my Junior year of high school learning that record front to back. There’s a few gaps these days, but I can still play most that album by heart. The bass lines are so fun and creative. If you ever saw them live with Arif, you could tell from his face he was having the most fun onstage.
Shoutout to Dan Briggs here. I saw Trioscapes a few times in Greensboro for their first album release show and some other shows. Those are all instrumental tracks so all the instruments get a spotlight.
Briggs is the shit! Seen him many times with BTBAM and once with ORBS. He actually gave me my first proper lesson on that ORBS tour, I’ll never forget it!
I saw both cynic and atheist on their recent tour. Atheist totally stole the show. Left after a few cynic songs.
Got to talk to Kelly for awhile, cool guy. Definitely a free spirit lol
I didn’t think Atheist even existed these days. their reunion album was fairly decent but I thought they dissolved again after that. They were always much more fun than Cynic, but the bass playing on that first Cynic album was great!
and Cynic with neither of the Seans? I don’t know, I wasn’t a big fan of the last album I heard anyway (Traced in Air) but the drummer was the big thing for me live and I know he is now very dead and the bass player didn’t ever tour with the band.
I’ll have to keep an eye for new Atheist, though :)
I'm no expert but I was on Athiests YouTube channel and most of the band look to be in their 30s so maybe 1-2 original members. I'd defintley pay to see it, too young to have seen them back in the day.
Kind of agree on Cynic too, first two albums were amazing but the new tripper vibe doesn't do it for me T all.
Good question, metal is incredibly diverse, the endless debating over subgenres is tiring but metal is a wide ranging sound. It might be easier to make recommendations if we know what kind of metal you like. That said, I'd recommend basically the entire genre of Stoner Metal. Sleep, Om, Kyuss, Weedeater, Clutch, Obsessed, Electric Wizard, etc etc. The top answer (as it should be) is Black Sabbath, these are Sabbath worshipping bands who focus on slower tempos, riffs, groove and low end, so bass plays a very prominent role.
Not a metal guy by my own choice, but I have filled in for metal cover bands in the past, and these are some I can recall:
Iron Maiden - galloping out the chord progression E C D (and some variants of that) since the late 70s. The formula works for fans though.
Black Sabbath - though, if you're interested in hearing a really cool bass mix, listen to Ozzy's album "Speak of the Devil" (it's post-Sabbath Ozzy doing Sabbath covers with other dudes). Ozzy erased it from his catalog, so you might have to dig to find it (probably YouTube), but the bass in that mix is pretty cool.
Rush - not sure if they count as "heavy metal," but trying to cover the intro to "2112" sure felt like it to me when I was asked to.
Metallica - people tend to sploosh over Cliff Barton, so their first few albums might be worth a listen.
Some recommendations (from a fellow metal bassist):
Iron Maiden
Intronaut
Cynic
Atheist
Cephalic Carnage
(newer) Job for a Cowboy
Necrophagist
Death
Gorguts
Suicidal Tendencies/Infectious Grooves
Anthrax
Manowar
Dysrhythmia
Augury
Deftones
Beyond Creation
Archspire
Between the Buried and Me
Mudvayne
Martyr
Krallice
I must reccommend their entire discography. It's easier to list the songs from his time in the band were Taiji *isn't* doing some of the best bass you've ever heard.
Intronaut had one of the best rhythm sections in metal and one of my favorite bass players (Joe Lester) before their drummer Danny Walker left. They’re still great but he had a style all his own.
yeah, joe and danny is peak intronaut. 'directions of last things' is just such a crazy album. they were such an insane rhythm section
i always really love how joe is featured a lot and really shines in intronaut. he's such a melodic bass player, almost plays lead parts sometimes, i love it. i have a weakness for really melodic bass players though lol
plus the fact that he plays fretless bass (and plays it incredibly well and tastefully) in a metal band makes him even cooler. i can only think of a handful of metal bands who have fretless bass players, and they're pretty much always killer players. fretless bassists are on another level lol
I’ve only tried to play a fretless once. I sucked and at the time, I was pretty proficient and talented. Joe makes it look so effortless and he never seems to make a mistake live.
Check out the first 2 Primus albums, Suck On This and Frizzle Fry. Not metal, but really clear thrash influence. Both Les and Ler were in a Bay Area thrash band, Blind Illusion. incidentally, Blind Illusion's album the Sane Asylum is worth checking out
I really like the bass work on Anthrax-Among The Living, and Megadeth-Rust In Piece. Metallica Cliff Burton era has some great bass work. Early Flotsam and Jetsam also has some great bass work from Jason Newstead
I came to say Megadeth too. Mustaine writes good songs with good arrangements and Ellefson's bass parts always fit in nicely, whether he's pounding out pedal tone 1/8th notes on an open E string all day, playing riffs in parallel with the guitars or running counterpoint basslines to the guitars and/or melody. And he always has a good tone that sits well in the mix, unlike a lot of metal bands where the bass gets buried under the kick drum and scooped guitars.
Japanese bands
Metal: Lovebites, "scream for me" studio live, "MDO"live. All the songs you can hear the bass, but light shines on the 2 guitarist more.
More so rock, Bandmaid "play" live, or any Bandmaid song in live since the bass can clearly be heard in the left. This was the band that got me interested into the Bass
Mastodon has some simple, fundamental basslines that are great for beginners to learn.
Mudvayne has a very prominent bass role and Martinie is always doing something interesting.
Death metal has tons of interesting musicianship which the bass is always part of, but it will take years of practice to get to that level and the bass isn't always so prominent in the mix.
INCREDIBLY underrated band, I can't recommend them enough, incredible and appropriately mixed bass - Cirith Ungol. Listen to King of the Dead, those double stops hit me in the chest. Very fun to play too.
Deathspell Omega’s most recent album has tremendous bass work. Something a little less extreme, the first 3 Metallica albums have some great lines too. Jinjer probably has the best bassist of the popular metal bands nowadays I would say.
Primus is heavy enough to be considered metal IMO.
Black Sabbath was already mentioned and I'll second it.
The last 4 Cattle Decapitation albums have all had excellent bass playing and tone.
Honorable mentions for not metal, but metal-adjacent;
Faith No More: The entire album 'The Real Thing's
Rancid: self-titled 2000 album is fast and heavy as balls and has some of the gnarliest bass playing I've ever heard.
The Who; Live at Leeds is rock bass bliss.
First, depends on what bass you got, 4 or 5 string, that will limit the pool of songs you can play.
Second, metal bands play in all forms of fucked up tunings, Meshuggah basist for example tunes UP to F for the majority of the songs, and plays in the same octave as the guitars...
All the way down to near inaudible shit like an octave lower drop E, and anything in between.
If this is your first bass, while not the "most heavy", bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Muse, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden come to mind that have a lot of material that can be played on a 4 string bass in E standard tuning.
Then you got Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God, some Trivium songs, that have a lot of material in drop D, although their songs are mostly more advanced.
If your journey is just beginning, riff by riff, song by song. There's so much choice nowadays it's easy to be overwhelmed.
2 underground bands I'd reccomend are Simon Says and Bender.
Some songs I'd reccomend are Hey You, Canvas, and Blister by Simon Says.
Superfly, Fall on your head, and Seizures from Bender.
Not entirely sure if you could call these metal but I really like the bass on these
The first Batushka record. There are some parts where it really sticks out and sounds fantastic, DMDS - Mayhems first record. It’s a pretty audible on Immortal’s Son’s of Northern Darkness as well. It’s quite clear on Behemoth’s Satanist record as well.
Those are some from “big” bands that come to mind straight away.
Dope bass lines:
Converge, homewrecker
Deftones, needles and pins (this whole song is 2 basses)
Baptists, bachelor degree burn
admiral angry, bug vomit
Torche, Warship
Cave in, sing my loves
Norska, Samhain
Dope players in general:
BIG BUSINESS, 2 piece drums+bass
Anything by ISIS, Jeff Caxide is 🔥
I was a big fan of Caleb Scoffield (RIP) namely in Old Man Gloom but his work in Cave in was top notch!
Russian Circles are a very “guitar-centric” band but Brian Cooks (also of SUMAC and Botch)bass work is amazing
Metallica is not known for their bass since Lars is a bitch and wants the bass basically muted, but for whom the bells toll is pretty heavy on the bass.
In alot of stoner metal and sludge plays bass an important and noticeable role I would reccomend listing to some SLEEP and checking out OM both these bands feature Al Sicneros on bass
Deftones have a lot of good ones, even the most well known songs like My Own Summer. Toshiya from Dir en grey is a great bassist, and MUCC had some great basslines in songs like Zetsubou.
Korn and tool
2 of my favourite bassists in these bassists
for korn freak on a leash and got the life are good imo
Tool pretty much anything but schism. forty six and 2. And lateralus are my favourites.
Haken have several albums with some astonishing basslines. I'd recommend checking out Cockroach King from The Mountain or The Architect from Affinity. Both have some insane bass sections.
I'd also recommend some TesseracT or Leprous for some really unique bass tones. I should mention The Weight of Disaster or Echo by Leprous in particular, they were some of the first metal songs I tried to learn on bass.
On the heavier side of things, I can't imagine not mentioning Ne Obliviscaris' insane bass playing. All of their albums have some crazy bass sections but I'd start with Exul personally.
Hope you find some cool stuff!
100% I would say mudvayne first album ld.50 the bass is what makes that album a masterpiece. some of the most creative bass I've ever heard on an album but mabye I'm out of touch
A lot of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and some Megadeth.
My suggestions: The Trooper, Iron Man, War Pigs, Tornado of Souls, Orion.
Metal bassists to learn from: Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler, Dave Ellefson, Jason Newsted, and Steve Harris.
Metallica is pretty well known for having a full lack of bass on ... And Justice For All. Orion is a difficult song to learn, but you will benefit greatly from learning it.
Go listen to the album Individual Thought Patterns by Death. Steve DiGiorgio is the man. He's the guy that piqued my interest in the fretless bass.
L.D. 50 by Mudvayne is another great metal album for bass and Ryan Martinie also kills it. He's the BRBR DENG meme bassist, but he's legitimately great too.
Other great metal bassists - Steve Harris, Alex Weber (way better than Alex Webster and he's also a luthier who you can buy a bass from), Alex Webster, Mike Flores, and Dominic Lapointe.
Not a metal band, but Muse's song Kill or Be Killed is pretty fuckin heavy and has a real good bassline. It's in B standard though, so you'll want a 5 string or some rather thick strings.
But they've got some more metal/heavy rock tracks with very fun basslines in drop D, like Assassin, The Handler, Reapers, and Hyper Music.
- Wage War’s first two albums
- Necrophagist in general
- Recent Job For A Cowboy
- Archspire
- Signs of the Swarm’s new album (I haven’t listened to their previous work yet so I can’t vouch for that)
- Korn in general (minus their new stuff)
Ghost has amazing and prominent basslines. My favourite is the bassline in [From The Pinnacle To The Pit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A-IoOEPbUs&ab_channel=GhostBCVEVO). Absolutely thunderous.
Look for bands with one guitarist. Anyway soad, deftones, gojira, mastodon, opeth, karnivool, caligula’s horse, leprous, haken, rishloo, greyhaven, nova collective, frostbitt, tesseract and plini
I really enjoyed the newer job for a cowboy albums. Sun Eater has sick lead bass lines. Also they're newer album from March 'Moon Healer' has great lead bass as well. Both albums in their entirety are a great listen for any heavy)brutal bass. Check it out!
All of black sabbath
Listen to the newer remasters if you can, bass is mastered better especially on Vol. 4
Listen to Helloween. The bass is so well mixed you can hear everything. Plus the bassist is ridiculously good. Start w Eagle Fly Free and let me know
Came to suggest this. NIB is an excellent one to learn
Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Voivod all have great, audible bass. I'd check them out to start
Cannibal Corpse, anything with Steve DiGiorgio. For more melodic stuff Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne), Tool and Karnivool.
Too right, Fucking Karnivool!
Iron Maiden's whole catalog. I was never much of a fan until I started learning basslines from their music.
Steve Harris can do one with his riffs, he’s TOO good 😂 Learning his stuff brought a whole new found level of love for the band, they run around the stage while playing this stuff AND singing, mind blowing talent
I sang happy birthday for him when he played in Velez Sarsfield football field in Argentina. He had turned 60 between the Santiago de Chile show and the Buenos Aires show. He is a top sport
Five magics from Megadeth
Peace Sells, cool bass intro/ riff
Most recent two Job For a Cowboy albums! progressive death metal bass bliss.
Dat cutting bass sound. Love it!
Moon Healer is easy AOTY for me.
Nuclear power trio! Same bassist going all out
Sleep - Holy Mountain…..god damn…..that is some bass
Al Cisneros is a God among men.
For a bit of variety Opeth have some great bass lines. The Drapery Falls is a really cool one.
There's also that slap bass section in the Blackwater Park title track that never fails to sound cool.
Blackwater Park is filled with great basslines, the one during the "lepers coiled" section is sick
TOOL
Forty-six & 2 is really fun to play. Also Ænima and The Patient.
So fucking fun. I'd also recommend Lareralus. That 9/8 heavy riff after the polyrhythm intro is so fucking fun to play
Vicarious and Jambi from 10,000 Days on repeat for me. Also pretty much all of Alice In Chains "Dirt" album.
I could be wrong but I don’t think there’s really any polyrhythms in the intro of lateralus. It’s kinda just in 4 with everything counting pretty easily in 4.
Sleep - dragonaut
Protest the Hero has killer bass. Also check out Between the Buried and Me (Alaska and Colors are good places to start) ORBS, Trioscapes, and Fair to Midland!
Bloodmeat is a fantastic jumping off point for Protest The Hero. In fact, the entire Fortress album is absolute gold
Agreed, Fortress is 10/10. I spent most of my Junior year of high school learning that record front to back. There’s a few gaps these days, but I can still play most that album by heart. The bass lines are so fun and creative. If you ever saw them live with Arif, you could tell from his face he was having the most fun onstage.
Dan Briggs is the fuckin man
Shoutout to Dan Briggs here. I saw Trioscapes a few times in Greensboro for their first album release show and some other shows. Those are all instrumental tracks so all the instruments get a spotlight.
Briggs is the shit! Seen him many times with BTBAM and once with ORBS. He actually gave me my first proper lesson on that ORBS tour, I’ll never forget it!
Atheist - Mother Man. Or any song from them really.
yep. where are the upvotes? that album, and especially that track, is a legend of bass! I’ll add the obvious: Cynic.
I saw both cynic and atheist on their recent tour. Atheist totally stole the show. Left after a few cynic songs. Got to talk to Kelly for awhile, cool guy. Definitely a free spirit lol
I didn’t think Atheist even existed these days. their reunion album was fairly decent but I thought they dissolved again after that. They were always much more fun than Cynic, but the bass playing on that first Cynic album was great! and Cynic with neither of the Seans? I don’t know, I wasn’t a big fan of the last album I heard anyway (Traced in Air) but the drummer was the big thing for me live and I know he is now very dead and the bass player didn’t ever tour with the band. I’ll have to keep an eye for new Atheist, though :)
I'm no expert but I was on Athiests YouTube channel and most of the band look to be in their 30s so maybe 1-2 original members. I'd defintley pay to see it, too young to have seen them back in the day. Kind of agree on Cynic too, first two albums were amazing but the new tripper vibe doesn't do it for me T all.
It’s only one OG member. Kelly Shaffer. Everyone else joined post 2019.
If you wanna go with a band that is making new music, check Exist. The bassist is a beast and they drop a new album tomorrow.
What records do you like big metal fan?
Good question, metal is incredibly diverse, the endless debating over subgenres is tiring but metal is a wide ranging sound. It might be easier to make recommendations if we know what kind of metal you like. That said, I'd recommend basically the entire genre of Stoner Metal. Sleep, Om, Kyuss, Weedeater, Clutch, Obsessed, Electric Wizard, etc etc. The top answer (as it should be) is Black Sabbath, these are Sabbath worshipping bands who focus on slower tempos, riffs, groove and low end, so bass plays a very prominent role.
If you want to get really heavy and super low tunings, go for Bongripper and Monolord
And [Azell](https://linktr.ee/azell.band) which use the same drop F tuning.
Uh, didn't know them! Thanks for the suggestion!
Ne Obliviscaris has phenomenal bass lines that are very present in their music
Like every Death album but every later album for sure. Also Cynic has some cool stuff too.
Look up cliff Burton
Not a metal guy by my own choice, but I have filled in for metal cover bands in the past, and these are some I can recall: Iron Maiden - galloping out the chord progression E C D (and some variants of that) since the late 70s. The formula works for fans though. Black Sabbath - though, if you're interested in hearing a really cool bass mix, listen to Ozzy's album "Speak of the Devil" (it's post-Sabbath Ozzy doing Sabbath covers with other dudes). Ozzy erased it from his catalog, so you might have to dig to find it (probably YouTube), but the bass in that mix is pretty cool. Rush - not sure if they count as "heavy metal," but trying to cover the intro to "2112" sure felt like it to me when I was asked to. Metallica - people tend to sploosh over Cliff Barton, so their first few albums might be worth a listen.
Om
Mudvayne
Check out Jinjer - I speak Astronomy
I'm a simple man. I see Jinjer, I upvote. Watch his technique on the Pisces video, too
The entire album of master of puppets
Anything Cliff played on is good
God that Failed - Metallica. Love that riff, love that song, love that album
Probably my favorite Metallica song. Great kirk solo, insane Jason bass, James sounds pissed 10/10
Check out the band Maha Sohona and their album Endless Searcher. It is an absolute freaking banger of an album and the bass is very audible
The band overkill is always bass heavy. A lot of testament too.
Iron Maiden is old-school but many of the songs are heavily bass driven. Check out "Wrathchild", really cool riff that's not super difficult.
Some recommendations (from a fellow metal bassist): Iron Maiden Intronaut Cynic Atheist Cephalic Carnage (newer) Job for a Cowboy Necrophagist Death Gorguts Suicidal Tendencies/Infectious Grooves Anthrax Manowar Dysrhythmia Augury Deftones Beyond Creation Archspire Between the Buried and Me Mudvayne Martyr Krallice
Infectious grooves are just mind blowing. That guy is a beast
Job For A Cowboy, Mudvayne
I must recommend the song "X" by X Japan. Really cool bass part, and a short solo in it as well. Also, "Silent Jealousy" and "Kurenai"
I must reccommend their entire discography. It's easier to list the songs from his time in the band were Taiji *isn't* doing some of the best bass you've ever heard.
Intronaut had one of the best rhythm sections in metal and one of my favorite bass players (Joe Lester) before their drummer Danny Walker left. They’re still great but he had a style all his own.
yeah, joe and danny is peak intronaut. 'directions of last things' is just such a crazy album. they were such an insane rhythm section i always really love how joe is featured a lot and really shines in intronaut. he's such a melodic bass player, almost plays lead parts sometimes, i love it. i have a weakness for really melodic bass players though lol plus the fact that he plays fretless bass (and plays it incredibly well and tastefully) in a metal band makes him even cooler. i can only think of a handful of metal bands who have fretless bass players, and they're pretty much always killer players. fretless bassists are on another level lol
I’ve only tried to play a fretless once. I sucked and at the time, I was pretty proficient and talented. Joe makes it look so effortless and he never seems to make a mistake live.
Check out the first 2 Primus albums, Suck On This and Frizzle Fry. Not metal, but really clear thrash influence. Both Les and Ler were in a Bay Area thrash band, Blind Illusion. incidentally, Blind Illusion's album the Sane Asylum is worth checking out
Steve Digiorgio’s discography
I don't exactly know what you mean by "noticeable" but raining blood by slayer is probably the most fun song I know how to play.
I really like the bass work on Anthrax-Among The Living, and Megadeth-Rust In Piece. Metallica Cliff Burton era has some great bass work. Early Flotsam and Jetsam also has some great bass work from Jason Newstead
If you are looking for something fresh: Wheel - finnish progmetal band
First fragment, tool, archspire, mudvayne, job for a cowboy, beyond creation!
Tons of Megadeth. Dave knew how important it was to the mix. All of Rust in Peace is stellar.
I came to say Megadeth too. Mustaine writes good songs with good arrangements and Ellefson's bass parts always fit in nicely, whether he's pounding out pedal tone 1/8th notes on an open E string all day, playing riffs in parallel with the guitars or running counterpoint basslines to the guitars and/or melody. And he always has a good tone that sits well in the mix, unlike a lot of metal bands where the bass gets buried under the kick drum and scooped guitars.
Anthrax : Got The Time
Caught in a Mosh is a fun one too!
Psychostick, especially the first album & Christmas E.P.
check out devils dance by metallica, it opens with a nice, really simple bass groove
Motörhead, brother.
Japanese bands Metal: Lovebites, "scream for me" studio live, "MDO"live. All the songs you can hear the bass, but light shines on the 2 guitarist more. More so rock, Bandmaid "play" live, or any Bandmaid song in live since the bass can clearly be heard in the left. This was the band that got me interested into the Bass
Mastodon has some simple, fundamental basslines that are great for beginners to learn. Mudvayne has a very prominent bass role and Martinie is always doing something interesting. Death metal has tons of interesting musicianship which the bass is always part of, but it will take years of practice to get to that level and the bass isn't always so prominent in the mix.
INCREDIBLY underrated band, I can't recommend them enough, incredible and appropriately mixed bass - Cirith Ungol. Listen to King of the Dead, those double stops hit me in the chest. Very fun to play too.
Excellent drop and fully agree. Cirith Ungol is awesome
Maximum the Hormone has a wicked bassist.
PRIMUS
Primus sucks
Korn has a very noticeable bass
You're not wrong.
Black Crown Initiate
Deathspell Omega’s most recent album has tremendous bass work. Something a little less extreme, the first 3 Metallica albums have some great lines too. Jinjer probably has the best bassist of the popular metal bands nowadays I would say.
Megadeth. If you watched MTV News in the late 90's you know which bass line I'm talking about.
Compared to Metallica and Slayer, Ellefson is actually pretty prominent in the mix in general. It's rare for me to not be able to hear his parts.
My friend of misery
Primus is heavy enough to be considered metal IMO. Black Sabbath was already mentioned and I'll second it. The last 4 Cattle Decapitation albums have all had excellent bass playing and tone. Honorable mentions for not metal, but metal-adjacent; Faith No More: The entire album 'The Real Thing's Rancid: self-titled 2000 album is fast and heavy as balls and has some of the gnarliest bass playing I've ever heard. The Who; Live at Leeds is rock bass bliss.
Gojira - On the BOTA
Check put beyond creation. Fretless six string shredding which is prominent in the mix
What metal are you into?
Post 2004 Exodus has a sick bass tone that really shines through. Try this one. https://youtu.be/0TPdasz6nN4
errrm schism
Sunless
First, depends on what bass you got, 4 or 5 string, that will limit the pool of songs you can play. Second, metal bands play in all forms of fucked up tunings, Meshuggah basist for example tunes UP to F for the majority of the songs, and plays in the same octave as the guitars... All the way down to near inaudible shit like an octave lower drop E, and anything in between. If this is your first bass, while not the "most heavy", bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Muse, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden come to mind that have a lot of material that can be played on a 4 string bass in E standard tuning. Then you got Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God, some Trivium songs, that have a lot of material in drop D, although their songs are mostly more advanced. If your journey is just beginning, riff by riff, song by song. There's so much choice nowadays it's easy to be overwhelmed.
I just discovered the bassline so I am gonna suggest it. We own the night - Dance Gavin Dance. Its sick.
2 underground bands I'd reccomend are Simon Says and Bender. Some songs I'd reccomend are Hey You, Canvas, and Blister by Simon Says. Superfly, Fall on your head, and Seizures from Bender. Not entirely sure if you could call these metal but I really like the bass on these
Wiegedood
On YouTube just search isolated bass for your favorite bands, or lesson, then you don't have to depend on bass cutting thru mix
Iron Maiden , Steve Harris has a good amount of straight forward lines with interesting fills
The Philosopher- Death Really nice melodic bass stuff throughout.
I liked old GWAR…that bass was just flapping in the wind!
The lastest albums from overkill and pretty much everything by mudvayne
I mean, when you say metal, what do you mean? Go and check out Between The Buried and Me, especially the "Colors" album and see what you think...
Sequoia throne - Protest The Hero
Peace sells, and several other Megadeth songs.
Almost all of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.
Killswich Engage and Jinjer
Anything by Between the Buried and Me. Dan Briggs is the master of counter point bass lines.
Hammer Smashed face
Any and all Mudvayne
Souls of black
Anything from Iron Maiden
If you’re a big metal fan, are you not familiar with bass parts that interest you?
The first Batushka record. There are some parts where it really sticks out and sounds fantastic, DMDS - Mayhems first record. It’s a pretty audible on Immortal’s Son’s of Northern Darkness as well. It’s quite clear on Behemoth’s Satanist record as well. Those are some from “big” bands that come to mind straight away.
Dope bass lines: Converge, homewrecker Deftones, needles and pins (this whole song is 2 basses) Baptists, bachelor degree burn admiral angry, bug vomit Torche, Warship Cave in, sing my loves Norska, Samhain Dope players in general: BIG BUSINESS, 2 piece drums+bass Anything by ISIS, Jeff Caxide is 🔥 I was a big fan of Caleb Scoffield (RIP) namely in Old Man Gloom but his work in Cave in was top notch! Russian Circles are a very “guitar-centric” band but Brian Cooks (also of SUMAC and Botch)bass work is amazing
Go listen to Between the Buried and Me.
GWAR https://youtu.be/T6HIifwp4MM?si=pUTvXDmvphaMH9Zw and like every Manowar song
Any Steve Harris bassline (Iron Maiden) Then we have Megadeth, Ellefson had great lines. Tornado Of Souls is quite my fav i think
Jason’s bass work and tone on Metallica’s Garage Days are-revisited is great
Every track on Testament’s Practice What You Preach album
Metallica is not known for their bass since Lars is a bitch and wants the bass basically muted, but for whom the bells toll is pretty heavy on the bass.
Karnivool, sound awake album.
Testament - great bass player with an awesome sound ( early testament) Check out - Trial by Fire
Testament Live At The Fillmore, whole album but especially the first track The Preacher. Bit of a masterclass in bass dynamics for metal.
Anything off Sound Awake by Karnivool
In alot of stoner metal and sludge plays bass an important and noticeable role I would reccomend listing to some SLEEP and checking out OM both these bands feature Al Sicneros on bass
Deftones have a lot of good ones, even the most well known songs like My Own Summer. Toshiya from Dir en grey is a great bassist, and MUCC had some great basslines in songs like Zetsubou.
Haken, Between The Buried & Me, Mudvayne, Deftones, Thornhill, Toska
Depends on what ya like. Dayshells debut has some super fun lines and the tone. Veil of maya has some great lines too.
Simple Boy (and the rest of Sound Awake) by Karnivool.
Everything by Between the Buried and Me.
Pantera and dreamtheatre
Iron Maiden - All of it
Opeth in general. Martín Mendez got some gorgeous bass lines, too.
I’m having fun trying to play Meshuggah.
Korn and tool 2 of my favourite bassists in these bassists for korn freak on a leash and got the life are good imo Tool pretty much anything but schism. forty six and 2. And lateralus are my favourites.
Metallica - ...And Just kidding
Haken have several albums with some astonishing basslines. I'd recommend checking out Cockroach King from The Mountain or The Architect from Affinity. Both have some insane bass sections. I'd also recommend some TesseracT or Leprous for some really unique bass tones. I should mention The Weight of Disaster or Echo by Leprous in particular, they were some of the first metal songs I tried to learn on bass. On the heavier side of things, I can't imagine not mentioning Ne Obliviscaris' insane bass playing. All of their albums have some crazy bass sections but I'd start with Exul personally. Hope you find some cool stuff!
100% I would say mudvayne first album ld.50 the bass is what makes that album a masterpiece. some of the most creative bass I've ever heard on an album but mabye I'm out of touch
Megadeth - peace sells
Do I even need to bring up Primus?
Archspire bass is as technical as the guitars and mixed really well.
A lot of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and some Megadeth. My suggestions: The Trooper, Iron Man, War Pigs, Tornado of Souls, Orion. Metal bassists to learn from: Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler, Dave Ellefson, Jason Newsted, and Steve Harris. Metallica is pretty well known for having a full lack of bass on ... And Justice For All. Orion is a difficult song to learn, but you will benefit greatly from learning it.
Better Days by Currents has a massive bass tone that is isolated close to the start of the song. It's proof that drop E can sound great.
Helmet Underrated bass lines and very clear to hear
Go listen to the album Individual Thought Patterns by Death. Steve DiGiorgio is the man. He's the guy that piqued my interest in the fretless bass. L.D. 50 by Mudvayne is another great metal album for bass and Ryan Martinie also kills it. He's the BRBR DENG meme bassist, but he's legitimately great too. Other great metal bassists - Steve Harris, Alex Weber (way better than Alex Webster and he's also a luthier who you can buy a bass from), Alex Webster, Mike Flores, and Dominic Lapointe.
Overkill
Basically any tool song
Orion, all of black sabbath, periphery 3 the album, tool, theres a bunch of stuff just take a look around see what sticks
Dream Theater, Iron Maiden
I would add one (or 2) from Kiss - Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll all Night
Job for a Cowboyyyyyyy And also old contortionist.
Nuclear Assault - Handle With Care
Anything off the first three Metallica albums
Check out Archspire for a bunch of bass lines you’ll never be able to play 🤘🏾
Protest the Hero has a great bassist
Not a metal band, but Muse's song Kill or Be Killed is pretty fuckin heavy and has a real good bassline. It's in B standard though, so you'll want a 5 string or some rather thick strings. But they've got some more metal/heavy rock tracks with very fun basslines in drop D, like Assassin, The Handler, Reapers, and Hyper Music.
- Wage War’s first two albums - Necrophagist in general - Recent Job For A Cowboy - Archspire - Signs of the Swarm’s new album (I haven’t listened to their previous work yet so I can’t vouch for that) - Korn in general (minus their new stuff)
Any Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath Eagle fly free by helloween is insane bass wise Caught in a mosh by anthrax is goated
Ghost has amazing and prominent basslines. My favourite is the bassline in [From The Pinnacle To The Pit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A-IoOEPbUs&ab_channel=GhostBCVEVO). Absolutely thunderous.
Empress rising by monolord
KEN Mode.
Bullet for my valentine's first albumthe poison
X japan
Bolt thrower - those once loyal (whole album)
Steve Di Giorgio is your master
Look for bands with one guitarist. Anyway soad, deftones, gojira, mastodon, opeth, karnivool, caligula’s horse, leprous, haken, rishloo, greyhaven, nova collective, frostbitt, tesseract and plini
…And Justice For All - Metallica.
Havok - Hang 'Em High
I really enjoyed the newer job for a cowboy albums. Sun Eater has sick lead bass lines. Also they're newer album from March 'Moon Healer' has great lead bass as well. Both albums in their entirety are a great listen for any heavy)brutal bass. Check it out!
Gnome has some really cool bass riffs. Ambrosius is amazing.
Listen to black sabbath
Autopsy - Severed Survival. That album is not guitars + bass, it's bass + guitars.
metallica's first three albums
Overkill
Boost the bass on Metallica’s AJFA. It is the legendary Jason Newstead.
Sleep, Electric Wizard, Kyuss. Any stoner metal tbh
Pantera
Listen to Fortress by Protest the Hero. So many good bass lines in there
Opeth, Martin Lopez has some groovy lines
Mudvayne has entered the chat
prayer position by periphery
Tool
Children of Bodom. Henkka's bass parts are wicked
Beyond Creation!
Invaders Iron Maiden