BASIC GYM BROS will tell you that trap or “old-school Eminem” is the best music to listen to you when you work out. That’s fine. A good beat can push you through a tough workout. But nothing seizes you like metal.
Nothing digs its claws into the very squishy centre of your reptilian brain and commandeers your FIGHT instincts like metal. Nothing captures the agony – the blood, the sweat, the toil – of a gruelling, punishing workout session like metal. If you want to rage and pummel and conquer, then it is heavy metal and only heavy metal.
Particularly these 12 of the best heavy metal songs of all time, presented with no order or ranking. Just pure chaos. As it should be.
1. “Hallowed be thy name” by Iron Maiden
Off the 1982 album Number of the Beast Bruce Dickinson wails as his final hours approach. The desperation. The fear. The impending doom! It’s heavy metal workout motivation distilled: Something looms—can you prevail?
Motivating lyric: Somebody please tell me that I’m dreaming // It’s not easy to stop from screaming
2. “Blood and Thunder” by Mastodon
Roiling and churning, this homage to Moby Dick by way of guitar-pulverizing is the up-and-down of ambition and depletion all in one.
Motivating lyric: Split your lungs with blood and thunder // When you see the white whale // Break your backs and crack your oars men // If you wish to prevail
3. “We Rock” by Dio
The early metalworkers shred in the face of apocalyptic reckoning through this track off their classic 1984 album The Last in Line.
Motivating lyric: Ride out, stand and shout, carry on
4. “Cascade of scars” by Noisem
Sheer chaos reigns on this 2015 noise-fest that sounds like someone unleashed Cerberus on a Gold’s Gym.
Motivating lyric: You rip, you cry // Runaway, never today
5. “Walk” by Pantera
The Dimebag diatribe is, at its pulsating heart, a song about standing your ground and building yourself up.
Motivating lyric: RE // SPECT // WALK
6. “Are You Dead Yet?” by Children of Bodom
The force of this Finnish group’s all-encompassing sound bites down within the first few seconds and doesn’t release until the last breath fades. Pair with noise-canceling headphones and a hoodie for maximum effect.
Motivating lyric: Should I regret or ask myself are you dead yet?
7. “Master of puppets” by Metallica
The driving guitar that fuels this 8:35-long powerhouse only lets up for one melodic guitar solo mid-song, a needed respite in a fury. It’s heavy metal in all of its glory: triumphant and relentless; epic and tactical. And for a band coming off 1984’s Ride the Lightning, a maturation in sound and scope that cracked the boundaries of the entire genre.
Motivating lyric: Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream // Master, master!
8. “Blow your Trumpets Gabriel” by Behemoth
This monster of a song engulfs you, swallows you whole, and masticates your very being with a big, deep, and unholy sound. All you can do is hold on and hope to survive.
Motivating lyric: Break the bread and crumb by crumb into the Leviathan’s den // Nations fall prey // Hail my return
9. “Sweating Bullets” by Megadeath
Dave Mustaine sneers through five minutes of mirror introspection. Sound familiar?
Motivating lyric: I’m chomping at the bit // I’m sharpening the axe // Here I come again, whoa // Sweating bullets
10. “The last disease” by Nightfell
Full-tilt, unhinged, and unrelenting, this apocalyptic screed surges through your system like The Four Horseman. Is that the sound of someone trying to free themselves from shackles in the background?
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