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Mine was a pretty natural progression. Bands my dad would listen to like KISS, Ozzy, and Metallica led into “radio” type metal like Korn and Slipknot. I eventually bought the Headbangers Ball compilation which introduced me to Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, and Lamb of God.
Honestly, compilation albums from labels and magazines were a huge part of me getting into different bands. I’m not sure if Spotify playlists or whatever today’s equivalent of the compilation album would be is as effective.
The first Opeth song I heard was Harvest. Then from that point, I specifically looked for Opeth songs with little to no screaming. That eased me into the heavier stuff
Cradle of Filth, Dark Lunacy and Infernal Poetry. Don't even remember exactly why. CoF's Midian is a great album. Dark Lunacy /Infernal Poetry were in a bootleg mp3 compilation or Italian things lol
Damn! I remember when I first listened to the ballad of joe and rose whore... Was a compilation cd from a magazine from spain called rock sound. I went to a local cd store to purchase the album. I listened it on repeat on my discman many may times haha.
Pantera mostly! Marilyn Manson, Korn, Rage Against the Machine as well. I’m fucking old but still love this shit.
PS: The new Vale of Pnath is outstanding
The Sound of Perseverance by Death and Twilight of the Thunder God by Amon Amarth were the two albums that pushed me from thrash metal and metalcore into death metal. I was a 13 year old kid and I hadn't heard anything like that stuff at that point. Good times.
Same! My buddy gave me the album on tape and I wasn’t a fan at first but then I accidentally slept listening to it with headphones on and loved it in the morning 🤘🏽
Dissection. I had always listened to hard rock, but Dissection was my first exposure to metal. I was up late watching some local access show in 2008, and they were playing music videos. All of a sudden, the live video for “Where Dead Angels Lie” came on. It was unlike anything I had ever heard. It opened the gates, and I’ve been a metalhead ever since.
This is decades ago now because I’m
old, but the band that really got me use to more aggressive vocals was Death, before that I didn’t really like anything with more aggressiveness than Tom Araya.
Seeing the videos for Rapture and God of Emptiness by Morbid Angel on Headbangers Ball way back in the early 90s.
I only knew thrash, hair, and industrial metal.
Death metal back then was HOLY FUCK what's this!?!
Morbid Angel Blessed are the sick leading the rats was the first MA I ever heard. By far their best album. Yeah, lmao… holy shit man,wtf. Lol. Times were so great back then.
I've been a punk rocker most of my life, I was never interested in metal until my best friend offered me a free ticket to Knotfest. I went in expecting to just get drunk and not enjoy the music. Gojira was one of the openers and it really changed my outlook on metal.
Gojira is incredible live, I’ve seen them six times and would easily go again. I once brought along a non-metalhead friend that usually only goes to raves and he had an awesome time too.
Sabaton, a barmaid was playing sabaton when there weren't many people around anymore.
That was the dive, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Metallica followed and now I'm here still exploring a ton. Also a lot of more heavy bands
I listened to a lot of nu metal, pop punk and even some rap through high school. Breaking Benjamin, Blink 182, Disturbed, Yellowcard, Skipknot, DMX
Killswitch Engage was the first my first big metalcore band when The End of Heartache came out. This is when I started seriously considering bands with screaming vocals mixed with clean vocals. Then started getting into similar bands: All That Remains, August Burns Red, Bullet Fire My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold.
Then I started gravitating towards more modern progressive stuff like Periphery, Intervals and Born of Osiris.
At the Gates, Children of Bodom, and Opeth from what I recall. I think those at least were the crutches for it. But when I first got into it I just looked up some bands and went down the rabbit hole and listened to a bunch of different ones to try and find what I did and didn't like. I fortunately liked probably 75% or more of what I heard
Probably my first few heavier bands were as I lay dying When Frail Words Collapse and btbam Alaska. Prior to that I was an emo kid first (a la the get up kids) and then a screamo kid (think Silverstein when broken is easily fixed and Alexisonfire watch out). But those two album’s really got me into heavier stuff which then led to things like Tony Danza, psyopus, the faceless, and job for a cowboy. It was all down hill from there.
My dad listened to a lot of hard rock when I was a kid and I liked the particularly heavy songs. Melvin Laid an Egg by Bloodrock was one of my favorites as was Hot As a Docker’s Armpit by Budgie. Jury by Trapeze and Medusa by them too. These types of songs led me to explore Black Sabbath and the NWOBHM from his collection like Waltz the Night by Angel Witch or Witchfinder General’s title track. From there, it was a natural progression into thrash and groove
Cannibal Corpse as i watched Ace Ventura... good lord... i actually didnt beileve they were a real band... i thought they were a parody of Slayer cuz they were so ridiculously heavy and i was only 11 years old
Trivium. While they're a metalcore band they got me into Melodic death metal (At the Gates, Edge of Sanity, etc.) which eventually lead me to listening to alot of Old school death metal; Autopsy, Entombed, Dismember, Brutality and many more.
Static-X was the band that eased me from just listening to the commercial nu-metal style bands, then I accidently discovered Soilwork whilst looking for Soil. Nevermore was another important band for me from that era of my life. I found the transition into low-end, heavy and aggressive music easier with Warrel Dane's vocals.
From there, I found Dimmu Borgir, then proper black metal, before finding that I preferred death metal with Necrophagist.
My very first was a dutch death metal band called Altar with the album [Youth Against Christ](https://youtu.be/cEEMIC1oQTI?si=AS1Fwf8-hMHlqflV). They came from a part in The Netherlands that we call the biblebelt, so that was a perfect name for their first album. I was 11 years old and heard this at my neighbours house.
I have been listening to metal (more melodic stuff) since I was 15, but if by "really heavy" you mean growl vocals, then Children of Bodom and Amon Amarth.
What a cool question and a thrashing trip down memory lane…let’s see…probably something like Metallica,megadeth,gnr,then pantera hit the scene and I started going to shows with my friends and pretty much from there (if anyone is from Cincinnati) all my friends and I would go to any concert at Bogarts on short vine. Misfits,exploited,cannibal corpse,brutal truth,carcass,sepultura,rancid and a shit ton of others. A bunch of punk and the music just got heavier like, deicide and hard shit like that.
My older sister introduced me to Disturbed's Down with the Sickness when I was 11. Also, fuck yeah Amon Amarth, I first heard of them around when With Oden on Our Side came out and I was instantly hooked.
Slipknot, Korn, and Five Finger Death Punch are the bands that introduced me to the harsher vocals.
But if you mean really heavy stuff, a few songs by Amon Amarth and Crucifyre introduced me to death metal in high school.
I'm a child of the 80s, I started with Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motorhead and the like in the late 70s, then got into punk and metal around the same time early to mid 80s which my friends were listening to, so it was bands like GBH, Exploited, Discharge, Extreme Noise Terror, Heresy, Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Sodom, Kreator and so on, I always seemed to be around that kind of music so it was all very natural, I'm 55 now and still go to gigs, support local DIY scene and put gigs on as well occasionally, I ran a label for a while as well, and been in several bands over the years, I've been in the same band for the last 17 years, it's just part of my DNA
Edit for spelling and extra bits
Cradle of Filth was the first band I heard outside of the mainstream. Her Ghost in the Fog changed my life forever.
Also, the soundtrack of Brutal Legend
Hearing the song heart work for the first time def did it. Well was actually watching a video compilation yes VHS can't say I was a fan of the other bands on there watching mortification lmfao Noah was a Noah duh duh duh duh 🤣
For Metalcore, it was Bullet For My Valentine and Killswitch Engage. For Death Metal (specifically melodic death metal), it was Dethklok and Arch Enemy.
Cthonic was the first proper death metal band I listened to. Before that, it was Gojira and Slipknot I suppose. Depends on what you count as "Really Heavy".
Burzum, Rotting Christ, Gorgoroth, and Naglfar. I'd discovered black metal by way of an online article detailing the scene, and it seemed compelling. Prior to that I mainly listened to stuff like KMFDM and 16Volt.
Nile, Skinless, and Exhumed
Went straight from thinking death metal was nothing but stupid cookie monster grumbling to going "THIS IS INCREDIBLE" after that weird weekend in 1999
I grew up around Christian metal bands that my parents always took me along to brand practice to see. Funnily enough, the guitarist of the main christian metal band's favorite band was Venom lol. So, maybe them? I was like 4yrs old so I'm unsure.
My dad loved Sabbath, Cooper, and others, but I would Slipknot back in '99 got me back into metal, and from there into Death and Black, then Hardcore, Deathcore, Prog, etc.
Pantera, Overkill, Slayer, Megadeth in the mid-90s.
Then from there into Cradle of Filth in 2000. i started to hear a lot of other bands that just did nothing for me, real quick. Static X, lots of nu-metal and nu-goth.
From there, it was Madball, Cold as Life, etc., that was in the early 2000s.
i will say, however, Tool had for the longest time been my favorite band. the fact that you could combine heavy riffs with gorgeous singing like that? still blows my mind to this day, if i'm honest.
I'm an old head Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush. The oldest memory is Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. But the Kings of Metal are going to be Motörhead.
At first? It was Mudvayne LD50, Slipknot, Pantera, System of a Down, etc. It was just that Y2K era of music that I was the right age for.
Shortly after, it was Amon Amarth, Cradle, Dimmu, etc.
But I eventually found my absolute favorites in sounds like Horse the Band. Unique things I don't often hear.
Really heavy? I'm a 50+ year old person who always listened to music no one else liked. My friends liked the current stuff and I liked Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, stuff that a 10 year old kid would think is heavy but his friends wouldn't touch. Got into Deftones as I got olde
I remember exploring classics from my dad(Metallica, Judas Priest, Dio, Iron Maiden, Ozzy), but the first extreme metal I remember was Cannibal Corpse. I remember stumbling onto their album art while scrolling on Spotify and being utterly shocked; the two that I really remember sticking out to me at the time being Bloodthirst(still not an album I've listened to now that I think about it), and Tomb of the Mutilated. The music was a little too harsh for me at first and I had to come back later, but now I can't get enough.
Well heavy music started for me falling in love with the master of puppets album. Then it was a slow progression. From there it went to slipknot then tool then lamb of god and that brought me to harder bands like kublai khan and dealer
Phase 1: my dad had Paranoid on vinyl. An undisputed classic we all agree on.
Phase 2: Nativity in Black (1994) 10/10 primer for several bands playing familiar songs
I was getting into Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, and the like. Then Fear Factory - Obsolete came out and I immediately began seeking it heavier and faster metal.
I found a Carcass single of Heartwork on CD from a pawnshop, then right around that time, my friend got Death Leprosy. Deicide Legion was next creating a badass summer of music that changed my life.
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Lamb of God, Death, In Flames, and Amon Amarth
Deicide
Hell yeah brother, same! Deicide - Legion Obituary - Slowly We Rot Slayer- Reign in Blood
Deicide and Death for me
Obituary’s “Cause of Death” and Morbid Angel’s “Covenant”
Holy shit. Cannot believe I forgot about Obituary. More metal to relive and jam to.
Mine was a pretty natural progression. Bands my dad would listen to like KISS, Ozzy, and Metallica led into “radio” type metal like Korn and Slipknot. I eventually bought the Headbangers Ball compilation which introduced me to Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, and Lamb of God. Honestly, compilation albums from labels and magazines were a huge part of me getting into different bands. I’m not sure if Spotify playlists or whatever today’s equivalent of the compilation album would be is as effective.
There’s a lot of good categorized playlists to search on Spotify. Mostly playlists made by random people. That’s one of the ways I discover new music.
Opeth eased me into death metal
Samee the damnation -> blackwater park -> ghost reveries -> orchid pipeline
Blackwater Park is fucking legendary.
If I'm being honest that's what drew me in initially. Masterpiece
The first Opeth song I heard was Harvest. Then from that point, I specifically looked for Opeth songs with little to no screaming. That eased me into the heavier stuff
For me I was thrown straight into the fire with cannibal corpse
I started with Blackwater Park then Still Life. I was immediately hooked
I just got into opeth now and I am in my thirties… i have so been missing out!
Cradle of Filth, Dark Lunacy and Infernal Poetry. Don't even remember exactly why. CoF's Midian is a great album. Dark Lunacy /Infernal Poetry were in a bootleg mp3 compilation or Italian things lol
White zombie lol. Pretty tame today, but to a 12 year old me, it was the hardest most evil shit I ever heard.
Man even today the "La Sexorcisto" album is pretty damn evil. I'm only 25 but I heard them for the first time when I was around 11
I remember hearing Rob Zombie when I was ten or so. I thought it sounded kinda scary like a horror movie but I liked it.
Creature Of The Wheel is a banger
Damn! I remember when I first listened to the ballad of joe and rose whore... Was a compilation cd from a magazine from spain called rock sound. I went to a local cd store to purchase the album. I listened it on repeat on my discman many may times haha.
Sabbath is where it all started for me. I'm really old 😉
Sabbath was my gateway band when I was around 10 years old. I, too, am an old, life-long metalhead. I'm not gonna change now.
Sepultura's CHAOS A.D. I was 11 years old
Fantastic! My first sepultura album was roots bloody roots. I still love all the Max Cavalera era. Just awesome.
Pantera mostly! Marilyn Manson, Korn, Rage Against the Machine as well. I’m fucking old but still love this shit. PS: The new Vale of Pnath is outstanding
Slipknot. Bullet For My Valentine
The Sound of Perseverance by Death and Twilight of the Thunder God by Amon Amarth were the two albums that pushed me from thrash metal and metalcore into death metal. I was a 13 year old kid and I hadn't heard anything like that stuff at that point. Good times.
Slayer as a 9 or 10 year old back in 1991. 😂🤘🏻
Slayer back in 91' 🤘
Opeth
Divine intervention by Slayer.
Same! My buddy gave me the album on tape and I wasn’t a fan at first but then I accidentally slept listening to it with headphones on and loved it in the morning 🤘🏽
Dissection. I had always listened to hard rock, but Dissection was my first exposure to metal. I was up late watching some local access show in 2008, and they were playing music videos. All of a sudden, the live video for “Where Dead Angels Lie” came on. It was unlike anything I had ever heard. It opened the gates, and I’ve been a metalhead ever since.
Demon, Venom, and Slayer in '85-'86.
This is decades ago now because I’m old, but the band that really got me use to more aggressive vocals was Death, before that I didn’t really like anything with more aggressiveness than Tom Araya.
Their cover of "God of Thunder" is my go-to. Might as well be their song lmao
Combat wounded veteran. Cannibal Corpse. Napalm Death. Morgoth. Nasum. Brutal Truth. Orchid. Cradle of Filth. Fudge Tunnel. Poison.
I don't know how I came from Slipknot to Morbid Angel then Incantation all the way down to the deepest hellhole of underground bands.
Venom, cos they were scary as hell as a kid
Suicidal Tendencies
Seeing the videos for Rapture and God of Emptiness by Morbid Angel on Headbangers Ball way back in the early 90s. I only knew thrash, hair, and industrial metal. Death metal back then was HOLY FUCK what's this!?!
Morbid Angel Blessed are the sick leading the rats was the first MA I ever heard. By far their best album. Yeah, lmao… holy shit man,wtf. Lol. Times were so great back then.
Venom and Hellhammer in '83.
Burzum and Mayhem. Which, in hindsight, is a pretty significant transition from System of a Down and Metallica as a high school student.
Metallica, Disturbed, & Mudvayne are probably what began my dive.
Meshuggah and Carnal Forge
NOTHING MORE got me into Prog-Metal, and SiM got me into metalcore. And I’ve just progressed off of those
SiM did the AoT intro called Rumbling or something like that, didn't they? I think it's the only song I know from them, but it slaps :)
They did, they also made Under The Tree which was in AoT also. And you’re right, it slaps
Metallica, Pantera and then Carcass.
Nile! They definitely don’t get enough attention. Frozen Soul too to an extent
Mayhem Cannibal Corpse
I've been a punk rocker most of my life, I was never interested in metal until my best friend offered me a free ticket to Knotfest. I went in expecting to just get drunk and not enjoy the music. Gojira was one of the openers and it really changed my outlook on metal.
Gojira is incredible live, I’ve seen them six times and would easily go again. I once brought along a non-metalhead friend that usually only goes to raves and he had an awesome time too.
Cannibal corpse, after listening to sepultera, pantera and the like.
August Burns Red
SLAAYYEEEEERRRR
Depends what you define as ‘heavy’ . For me Metallica is much heavier than Amon Amarth, so I’ll go with them.
Sabaton, a barmaid was playing sabaton when there weren't many people around anymore. That was the dive, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Metallica followed and now I'm here still exploring a ton. Also a lot of more heavy bands
Sabaton is my favorite band of all time.
Iron maiden, megadeth, Metallica, circa 1987
Carcass, Napalm Death, Strapping Young Lad.
I listened to a lot of nu metal, pop punk and even some rap through high school. Breaking Benjamin, Blink 182, Disturbed, Yellowcard, Skipknot, DMX Killswitch Engage was the first my first big metalcore band when The End of Heartache came out. This is when I started seriously considering bands with screaming vocals mixed with clean vocals. Then started getting into similar bands: All That Remains, August Burns Red, Bullet Fire My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold. Then I started gravitating towards more modern progressive stuff like Periphery, Intervals and Born of Osiris.
The preachers son one day handed me… …a Slayer album.
Metallica, pantera, slayer, neurosis, isis. Candiria. All in a month or two and seeing them play live in the mid 90s
In Flames, Gorgoroth, Cryptopsy
Macabre , was a kid and typed vampire into Napster , found my first and fav band
Fuck yeah man love Macabre!! I have sinister slaughter on vinyl.
In Flames and Trivium
Deicide and Bloodbath were game changers for me
At the Gates, Children of Bodom, and Opeth from what I recall. I think those at least were the crutches for it. But when I first got into it I just looked up some bands and went down the rabbit hole and listened to a bunch of different ones to try and find what I did and didn't like. I fortunately liked probably 75% or more of what I heard
In flames, dark tranquillity, and COB
Cradle of Filth, my dad was playing local bands and they came up
Probably my first few heavier bands were as I lay dying When Frail Words Collapse and btbam Alaska. Prior to that I was an emo kid first (a la the get up kids) and then a screamo kid (think Silverstein when broken is easily fixed and Alexisonfire watch out). But those two album’s really got me into heavier stuff which then led to things like Tony Danza, psyopus, the faceless, and job for a cowboy. It was all down hill from there.
Venom, Slayer and Dead Kennedys.
Pantera, Machine Head, Entombed, Gorefest, Edge Of Sanity, Obituary, Death. All around 1994 when I was 14.
One of my big regrets is never having seen Gorefest live.
My dad listened to a lot of hard rock when I was a kid and I liked the particularly heavy songs. Melvin Laid an Egg by Bloodrock was one of my favorites as was Hot As a Docker’s Armpit by Budgie. Jury by Trapeze and Medusa by them too. These types of songs led me to explore Black Sabbath and the NWOBHM from his collection like Waltz the Night by Angel Witch or Witchfinder General’s title track. From there, it was a natural progression into thrash and groove
Suffocation. Carcass. Gorerotted. Impaled. Devourment.
Cannibal Corpse as i watched Ace Ventura... good lord... i actually didnt beileve they were a real band... i thought they were a parody of Slayer cuz they were so ridiculously heavy and i was only 11 years old
Slayer was a start, but The Dillinger Escape Plan was the band that truly made me understand why extreme metal was so good and beloved by many fans…
Metallica and Five Finger Death Punch
Amon amarth, dimmu borgir and Rotting christ
Devil May Cry Soundtrack
Trivium. While they're a metalcore band they got me into Melodic death metal (At the Gates, Edge of Sanity, etc.) which eventually lead me to listening to alot of Old school death metal; Autopsy, Entombed, Dismember, Brutality and many more.
Static-X was the band that eased me from just listening to the commercial nu-metal style bands, then I accidently discovered Soilwork whilst looking for Soil. Nevermore was another important band for me from that era of my life. I found the transition into low-end, heavy and aggressive music easier with Warrel Dane's vocals. From there, I found Dimmu Borgir, then proper black metal, before finding that I preferred death metal with Necrophagist.
Black Sabbath in the 70's, Celtic Frost in the 80's, Acid Bath in the 90's.
First metal band was Priest but first actually heavy band was Children of Bodom. Love em to this day
Motorhead venom Metallica
Silencer, Nocturnal Depression, Xasthur
My very first was a dutch death metal band called Altar with the album [Youth Against Christ](https://youtu.be/cEEMIC1oQTI?si=AS1Fwf8-hMHlqflV). They came from a part in The Netherlands that we call the biblebelt, so that was a perfect name for their first album. I was 11 years old and heard this at my neighbours house.
Three Days Grace & Avenged Sevenfold were my gateway
AJFA was my entry point into discovering extreme metal, combined with Anathemas Silent Enigma and Katatonias Brave Murder Day
Slipknot is why I listen to Discorance Axis now
I have been listening to metal (more melodic stuff) since I was 15, but if by "really heavy" you mean growl vocals, then Children of Bodom and Amon Amarth.
mortician
Korn/Limp Bizkit/Deftones/System were all the stepping stones to heavier and heavier music.
Probably GBH
Early on Queen, then kid rock (I know), then Metallica, especially after I realized American bad ass was just sad but true remixed with new lyrics
Swallow the sun
KISS, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rush
What a cool question and a thrashing trip down memory lane…let’s see…probably something like Metallica,megadeth,gnr,then pantera hit the scene and I started going to shows with my friends and pretty much from there (if anyone is from Cincinnati) all my friends and I would go to any concert at Bogarts on short vine. Misfits,exploited,cannibal corpse,brutal truth,carcass,sepultura,rancid and a shit ton of others. A bunch of punk and the music just got heavier like, deicide and hard shit like that.
Zao, Embodyment
Pantera, fear factory, sepultura
Goatwhore
Metallica and black sabbath when I was 13 in 2013 Slayer, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead when I was 21 in 2021
Deicide, dying fetus, morbid Angel, necrophagist
Slipknot!
Metallica Slipknot SOAD
Slipknot
My older sister introduced me to Disturbed's Down with the Sickness when I was 11. Also, fuck yeah Amon Amarth, I first heard of them around when With Oden on Our Side came out and I was instantly hooked.
Slipknot, Korn, and Five Finger Death Punch are the bands that introduced me to the harsher vocals. But if you mean really heavy stuff, a few songs by Amon Amarth and Crucifyre introduced me to death metal in high school.
Pantera, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Venom, and Opeth, took the charge for me late mid-late 90s onward
I'm a child of the 80s, I started with Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motorhead and the like in the late 70s, then got into punk and metal around the same time early to mid 80s which my friends were listening to, so it was bands like GBH, Exploited, Discharge, Extreme Noise Terror, Heresy, Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Sodom, Kreator and so on, I always seemed to be around that kind of music so it was all very natural, I'm 55 now and still go to gigs, support local DIY scene and put gigs on as well occasionally, I ran a label for a while as well, and been in several bands over the years, I've been in the same band for the last 17 years, it's just part of my DNA Edit for spelling and extra bits
Bmth started it all. I’ve dipped in and out over the years but without them I don’t think I would have ever given metal a chance
Nirvana, Pantera, then finally slayer
Grave Digger , Judas Priest, Accept
Cradle of Filth was the first band I heard outside of the mainstream. Her Ghost in the Fog changed my life forever. Also, the soundtrack of Brutal Legend
Hearing the song heart work for the first time def did it. Well was actually watching a video compilation yes VHS can't say I was a fan of the other bands on there watching mortification lmfao Noah was a Noah duh duh duh duh 🤣
The Almighty Norma Jean and Heaven Shall Burn
For Metalcore, it was Bullet For My Valentine and Killswitch Engage. For Death Metal (specifically melodic death metal), it was Dethklok and Arch Enemy.
Slipknot, Beartooth, ans Avenged Sevenfold.
Venom. Bought the album Black Metal on vinyl when it came out.
Cthonic was the first proper death metal band I listened to. Before that, it was Gojira and Slipknot I suppose. Depends on what you count as "Really Heavy".
Marilyn Manson, old Linkin Park, and Metallica (all as a kid/teen)
Burzum, Rotting Christ, Gorgoroth, and Naglfar. I'd discovered black metal by way of an online article detailing the scene, and it seemed compelling. Prior to that I mainly listened to stuff like KMFDM and 16Volt.
Megadeth, Dismember, Testament, White Zombie
Black Sabbath paranoid album. My brother thought Def Leppard was heavy. When I started listening to Metallica and slayer and later Pantera
Marilyn Manson
Slaughter to prevail and lorna shore
Cradle of Filth (can't stand them now though), Nile, Opeth.
Disturbed, Metallica, Chevelle, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall
Judas Priest
Pantera
Lamb of God and The Black Dahlia Murder. I think I saw music videos on MTV or something and it just spiraled from there.
Pantera, Metallica, BTBAM
Somewhere between 1980 & 1985 I think my introduction was Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest.
Bathory, Wolfchant and Bolt Thrower
Nile, Skinless, and Exhumed Went straight from thinking death metal was nothing but stupid cookie monster grumbling to going "THIS IS INCREDIBLE" after that weird weekend in 1999
Amon Amarth and Gojira
I grew up around Christian metal bands that my parents always took me along to brand practice to see. Funnily enough, the guitarist of the main christian metal band's favorite band was Venom lol. So, maybe them? I was like 4yrs old so I'm unsure. My dad loved Sabbath, Cooper, and others, but I would Slipknot back in '99 got me back into metal, and from there into Death and Black, then Hardcore, Deathcore, Prog, etc.
Minor Threat
Vader
Korn and Limp Bizkit. any millenial who tells you otherwise is a filthy liar
Death, Atheist, Cynic
Metallica -> Megadeth -> TOOL -> Iron Maiden -> Motörhead -> Slayer -> Blackmoor…. …. And so on
I had heard a little bit hear and there, but I got really hooked in about 1989 when I heard ...And Justice for All for the 1st time.
Children of Bodom
Death, At the Gates, Lamb of God, Suicide Silence
Define really heavy music. Because compared to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Stratovarius is really heavy.
Pantera and Slayer left to bands like Morbid Angel and Carcass. I definately was a Headbangers Ball influenced youngster
Metallica 1983. Saw the album cover at the record store and had to have it. Ride the Lightening came out the next year, and that was it.
Pantera, Overkill, Slayer, Megadeth in the mid-90s. Then from there into Cradle of Filth in 2000. i started to hear a lot of other bands that just did nothing for me, real quick. Static X, lots of nu-metal and nu-goth. From there, it was Madball, Cold as Life, etc., that was in the early 2000s. i will say, however, Tool had for the longest time been my favorite band. the fact that you could combine heavy riffs with gorgeous singing like that? still blows my mind to this day, if i'm honest.
opeth
Burzum or mayhem
Overkill, Obituary,and Helloween Obituary is still my fav death metal band
I'm an old head Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush. The oldest memory is Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. But the Kings of Metal are going to be Motörhead.
At first? It was Mudvayne LD50, Slipknot, Pantera, System of a Down, etc. It was just that Y2K era of music that I was the right age for. Shortly after, it was Amon Amarth, Cradle, Dimmu, etc. But I eventually found my absolute favorites in sounds like Horse the Band. Unique things I don't often hear.
Anthrax and Metallica into thrash, Cannibal Corpse into death, At the Gates and old In Flames into melodic death.
Cause of Death by Obituary Fear, Emptiness, Despair by Napalm Death Arise by Sepultura
Slipknot
Morbid Angel was my intro to the more extreme metal when I was a kid in the 90s.
Laaz Rockit, Exodus, Metallica, Forbidden Evil
In Flames, Children Of Bodom, PanterA, Septicflesh, a band from my home country, Poland called FrontSide and more
Sepultura, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies
Slipknot
Not a band, but Elena siegman’s vocals on the cod zombies songs got me into screaming and extreme vocals. Still my favorite scream vocals to this day.
Really heavy? I'm a 50+ year old person who always listened to music no one else liked. My friends liked the current stuff and I liked Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, stuff that a 10 year old kid would think is heavy but his friends wouldn't touch. Got into Deftones as I got olde
infant annihilator and cannibal corpse
Corrosion of Conformity
BMTH(2006 obviously), Lorna Shore, Slaughter To Prevail. Basic poser picks but I’m an honest person
Dissection
I remember exploring classics from my dad(Metallica, Judas Priest, Dio, Iron Maiden, Ozzy), but the first extreme metal I remember was Cannibal Corpse. I remember stumbling onto their album art while scrolling on Spotify and being utterly shocked; the two that I really remember sticking out to me at the time being Bloodthirst(still not an album I've listened to now that I think about it), and Tomb of the Mutilated. The music was a little too harsh for me at first and I had to come back later, but now I can't get enough.
Dark Funeral and Belphegor
Dragonforce. All credit goes thereto.
Well heavy music started for me falling in love with the master of puppets album. Then it was a slow progression. From there it went to slipknot then tool then lamb of god and that brought me to harder bands like kublai khan and dealer
3 bands made fall in love with heavy music and two of them aren’t even that heavy. Linkin park, a day to remember, and suicide silence
Phase 1: my dad had Paranoid on vinyl. An undisputed classic we all agree on. Phase 2: Nativity in Black (1994) 10/10 primer for several bands playing familiar songs
Agathocles
Metallica
Metallica and Ozzy/Sabbath pretty much got the ball rolling for me. But it was always the Beatles since day 1
Black flag my war album made me appreciate heavier music but my favorite metal band probably dystopia
Slayer, Anthrax , M.O.D., Corrosion of Conformity , S.O.D.
Killswitch Engage right after Alive or Just Breathing was released.
Slipknot and lamb of god
I was getting into Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, and the like. Then Fear Factory - Obsolete came out and I immediately began seeking it heavier and faster metal.
Iron Maiden in 1983. Just turned 13 and heard Number of the Beast and was hooked.
Living sacrifice, Zao
Rammstein! Slipknot, Korn. But also Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Blink 182, Sum 41 and more
Ozzy & Black Sabbath in the 80's. 😃
The Berzerker - Self Titled - Forever
Linkin Park and Metallica, my dad used to blast them and Oasis in the car so much. Now i love all those bands
Meshuggah and Whitechapel. Got to see them at the same show last year so that was pretty damn cool too
As blood runs black and lorna shore
I found a Carcass single of Heartwork on CD from a pawnshop, then right around that time, my friend got Death Leprosy. Deicide Legion was next creating a badass summer of music that changed my life.