100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal
61
Episodes
4.9 / 5
Rating

100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal

by Brian Slagel

Category
Music Commentary
Frequency
Updated Weekly
Language
English
100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal is the ultimate journey into the heart of heavy music, hosted by Metal Blade Records’ founder, Brian Slagel. Each week, Brian dives into one of his personally curated tracks from his list of the heaviest songs in metal and hard rock, exploring the music that shaped a genre. With special guest musicians—some who wrote and recorded these iconic songs and others who found inspiration in them—the show unearths the stories behind each track. Whether you’re a lifelong...

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Recent Reviews

Only for die-hards

Nicholas, Tell Him1/16/2026

Slagel is a decent host, and his intimate knowledge of metal is worthwhile. He gets great guests who drop intriguing details from metal’s past and present. But the editing of this podcast is HORRENDOUS. People talk over each other in a way that’s clearly just a bad copy-paste, the trims are jarringly unnatural, the volume is mouselike (exceedingly inappropriate for tinnitus-plagued metalheads). It’s worth a listen, but it desperately needs better production — a major topic of the podcast itself.

Well Done!

Castermt1/15/2026

Love the show. Not sure why the song snippets are of a lowfi quality though?? Also, no more of that Siriusxm Jose Magniwhatever guy. Please. Guy loves to talk about himself.

Great but…

Tsauce1245/15/2025

I absolutely love this podcast, but the amount of ads is absurd. Most of the time you’re close to 7-8 minutes in before there’s any content that isn’t an ad, the intro song, or the copy and pasted intro. Then, more ads (at least 2 minutes) between each segment. It’s crazy. Like I said, I love it, but, c’mon, a 50 minute episode shouldn’t be 30-35% ads and less than 30 minutes of new, original content. It could be great, but for now it’s frustratingly good.

Thank You!

77frankk4/1/2025

This is absolutely fantastic! This is what I have been waiting for. Keep up the excellent work Brian. One thing I would love to know is how these artists and guests got into these bands/songs you dive into. When was the first time you saw this band? No complaints at all though! Thank you again!! Frank

Awesome!

Sam Ferguson12/22/2024

Loving this podcast and the inside knowledge of Brian Slagel incorporated in these stories. I can’t wait to hear the next episode.