Replacing Dave Mustaine as Metallica’s lead guitarist in 1983, Kirk Hammett cut his teeth on Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. So it’s unsurprising that he lists Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and Zeppelin’s ...

Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett named one particular guitar riff that he believes “shifted heavy metal.” In anew feature with Consequence, the Metallica guitarist chose 11 albums that he thinks every ...

Heavy metal certainly had its origins prior to Black Sabbath's 1970 debut album – and more specifically, the intro riff to the opening song "Black Sabbath" – but the genre certainly came into form at ...

Heavy metal had been slowly growing in popularity for decades by the time it hit its commercial peak. The ’80s are considered mainly the heyday of heavy metal in its official definition. That being ...

What band wrote the first-ever heavy metal riff? According to Zakk Wylde, that honor goes to the legendary English power trio Cream. In addition to Cream, Benante points to Queen for their influence ...

The riff. It's everything to metal. You can strip away pretty much any other element that has come to define the genre over the years - haunting atmospherics, scorching wails and guttural screams, ...