Who influences you the most in the metal world? Who do you look up to and highly regard?

1. Vegard Sverre Tveitan aka. Ihsahn - starting my journey into the realm of black metal

2. Mikael Åkerfeldt - the beautiful music, lyrics, and emotion shown through the lyrics, whenever I'm feeling down I pop in Still Life or Watershed, and it helps me get through the day.

3. Rob Halford - his influence on heavy metal in general, and the awesome music he's produced, and I have enjoyed.

4. Quorthon - may his soul rest in peace, one of the greatest pioneers of black metal.

5. Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg - the work he's done in Mayhem, and so many metal bands out there, infernal hails to him, his skills in drumming are unmatched in black metal.

6. Øystein Aarseth aka. Euronymous - another highly influential pioneer of black metal. Though I never agreed with his philosophies or religious views, I highly regard him as someone who pushed black metal to the degree that it is today. May his soul also rest in peace.

7. Chuck Schuldiner - one of the greatest figures in death metal, not much more to say. May the memory of him last throughout the ages.

The music that these individuals have made has deeply influenced me in what I believe, and my journey through the world of metal. They have given me a deeper sense of mind I suppose, Ihsahn especially. The ideas and thoughts expressed in his music are identical to my own, people like him make me feel like I'm not alone in this world. Emperor was the first black metal band I ever listened to, Inno A Satana being the first song, and ever since then its pushed me deeper and deeper into the realm of black metal, and deeper yet I am still wandering.

If you want this thread to have any chance of survival you're going to need to write a few things about WHY these artists influence you so highly. Otherwise its just another shitty list thread.

That is fantastic, I'd like to hear why these are your favorites though!

Fine then, lol. Fixed.

I really admire Vladimir Cochet. An extremely talented young individual able to create fantastic music of a number of different styles, and he does it all by himself.

Oh yeah, Mirrorthrone is definately a great band.

I probably admire Tom Fischer the most. Not just for being in two such important bands, but for really not taking any shit from the music industry, or holding himself back with any sort of "standards". He and the band had complete control over "Monotheist", and it shows. Fantastic album.

Project, not band.

Or something..

Well you know what I mean lol.

I wasn't just referring to Mirrorthrone, he has multiple projects and they're all awesome.

I adore Kristoffer Rygg (Garm) from Ulver for creating such a ingenious and highly infuential and original music and scoring in many different genres. It is also one of my favourite vocalists.

I like also mike Patton. He said he is refusing to being repetitive.
what he did in Mr.Bungle is phenomenal. It is fantastic music without any borders.

Another big persons of metal music are Cornelius Jakhelln from Solefald and Carl Michael Eide (Czral) from Virus, they both never repeat himselfs, everytime you get something new, fresh, avant-garde and however these works are sometime underrated in the presence, after some time it became appreciated. they are pushing genres to the new, unknown levels!

Yeah Unholy Matrimony and Weeping Birth. Haven't listened to those projects yet but I really need to some time.

Well I have influences in Blues & Punk as well, but as for metal/Rock. Here it goes.....

1: Ritchie Blackmore: He was the first guitarest I ever heard back in 1987 (was 5 years old then) & from then on he introduced me into the metal/rock world.

2: Kerry King: Slayer was one of the first thrash bands I ever got into (other then Destruction & Infernal Majesty) while yes Jeff's the better guitar player, but back then there was just something about Kerry.

3: Trey Azagthoth: Helped introduced me into the journey that is death metal.

4: Michael Amott: Haveing said what I said about Azagthoth, Michael during his Carnage/Carcass days was nothing like anything else during the early/mid 90's.

5: Jerry Cantrell/Layne Staley: While some can argue there "grundge" but they have metal elements & both of them togeather just knew how to write a song along with Cantrell's guitar skills defanetly helped.

6: Jeff Waters: Annihilator was about the 2nd or 3rd Canadian band I ever heard up here in Canada. Jeff was defanetly differant then some of the guitarest's during the late 80's.

7: Ihsahn: Helped introduced me into the journey that is black metal, even though later on his skills had some thrash elements.

8: Iscariah: Perhaps it's because Immortal doesn't sound like every other black metal band or maybie because Damned In Black's my favorite album (along with Pure Holocaust).

9: Zakk Wylde: While I'm not a fan of Ozzy's solo stuff, the first time I heard Zakk was in 1991. He just knew how to play the guitar & look or be drunk @ the same time haha.

10: Dave Mustaine: I won't deny I was a Metallica fan growing up but even then I always felt Mustaine may have not been a better guitarest then Hetfield/Hammett (up for debate) but he was a better vocalist then Hetfield.

I love Ulver, and I have to agree with you Garm is such an original artist. I just wish Ulver albums weren't so hard to find.

They're not. Where do you purchase music?

Steve Harris - I recently started playing bass and I really admire his style, it really gives me a boost to know that a great bassist like him is selftaught

Jeff Hanneman - Slayer

This will sound superfiscal - but I was 13 at the time, so what do you expect?

I grew up listening to punk, and as the 80's moved along, I began listening to what we have come to call grindcore. Everyone told me I needed to listen to Reign In Blood but I never did. I was your typical elitist bastard - too busy listening to punk to check out this thrash shit. Finally, one of my better friends showed me a picture of a band jamming on stage. One of the guitarists had punk stickers all over his guitar. I was reluctant, but nontheless impressed so I checked them out. It goes without saying that I was floored.

The simple fact that someone so immersed in punk could make such intense music completely opened my mind. Since that day I have been off on a wild metal journey that appears to be without end. I no longer listen to Slayer, in fact I never really did beyond RiB. But thanks to some punk rocker named Jeff who jammed for some thrash band named Slayer, I have an open mind and respect all things metal. Thanks, dude.

Fenriz, just because he is so damn cool with his uncompromising rock n' roll, "fuck your opinion" attitude.

If you haven' seen the interview where Fenriz shows around his flat, I urge you to youtube it now.

Mikael Akerfelt because his musical talent and songwriting is amazing.

Fenriz because of his views on the music industry.

David Vincent - Greatest vocals ever recorded on Altars of Madness and some of the evil lyrics ever written.

Like the two above me, I would have to say, Fenriz. I must add though that he's a very under-appreciated drummer, and definitely inspired me in my own playing. Whether it's the busy and delightfully complex work on the death metal albums, the unusual accents and fills on "Under a Funeral Moon" or the eminently propulsive and catchy style he employs on the last few albums, Hank just knows how to capture the rhythm and groove of a song with real taste andd character. Also, his explorations in other musical territory are quite diverse. I love solo works like the Isengard albums ("Vinterskugge" is underrated!) and the Neptune Towers projectt is a phenomenal tribute to early 70s German ambient music that helped get me interested in this style. He's always seemed like a good character, too, and someone with whom it'd be great to have some beers and smoke with.

mark Shelton, of Manilla Road, is certainly another. One of the finest guitarists in metal, a brilliant song-writer who has never really compromised his vision since the early 80s. He can talk about ancient history for hours with fiery enthusiasm and it's just awesome to hear. Also, I'm pretty sure he's a real shark at the poker table.

Good to see Car-Michael mentioned here, too.

Thinking about this, I could rattle off this guitarist or that drummer, but this is my pick:

Ronnie James Dio

Even though I'm not a vocalist, I think RJD is a phenomenon. When I was 12 (this was in 1980) a good friend of mine's cousin (who I was also friends with) had an album that we listened to called "Heaven And Hell" and I was pretty blown away by the musicianship but especially by Ronnie's voice.

Time passes on, and Dio does HOLY DIVER and LAST IN LINE, I'm a fan. But even more than anything, once Dio did the Sabbath reunion for DEHUMANIZER (I saw them twice on that tour at The Beacon) that really did it for me. Seeing how he could keep going regardless of popular genre changes was amazing.

Then, FFWD and seeing him in 2002 at Roseland (the DVD was filmed for that show) still ruling, through seeing him at The Beacon on Master Of The Moon, still ruling; and then seeing the Sabbath i.e. Heaven And Hell reunion at Radio City 10th row (and that was also filmed for a DVD) all confirmed to me something...

All joking aside, age is not really important...state of mind is what is. You are forever young if you feel young and Dio even though he's lost some ground in the last few years vocally (compared to even how he was back in 2002) has proved this to be true. He's proved to be a warrior of metal through his old days of Elf and Rainbow through Sabbath and his long solo career and then back with Sabbath and then back solo, and back with Sabbath again with no jumping on genre bandwagons (although we all know he started out singing in the late 50's in a different type of genre, but once he found his niche stayed true to it for over 35 years). That to me is a true metal warrior.

Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till

The stuff these guys have been doing under Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot, and all their other projects has been just phenomenal. Definitely two of the greatest song-writers out there now.

Just in case you don't know, Hank was his "joke" name on the first Darkthrone release, not his real name

I completely agree with you, Fenriz is an awesome drummer best showcased by Soulside Journey. He'd also be the perfect guy to get wasted with.

Tom G. Fischer inspried me to begin playing metal. I remember just listening to Hellhammer about 7 years ago and being compleatly blown away.

Martin Ain: His work on the Hellhammer demos and EP is just awesome. He's probaly my favorite bass player and has had a big impact on my playing. Recently, his work on Monotheist was just amazing and his best moment. Plus he has a great voice.

Satyr: His vocals have had a huge influence on my black metal vocals.

Chris Barnes: He's not the most popular dude on here, but I don't mind saying that his vocals have impacted my death growls. I don't try to sound like him, but I just do. My friends even say that I sound just like him.

Hetfield.

For being a rather good vocalist, an excellent rhythm guitarist, and a fairly excellent dude all round (especially these days, since he seems to have mellowed out a fair bit). Also just for the whole 'underdog w/bad acne who becomes super famous, solely on his terms' thing. He's come through plenty of adversity and consistently came out on top. What a legend!

I'd also say JK Broadrick; whether he was helping pioneer grindcore, industrial or whatever Jesu is, he's done a pretty excellent job of it all. He also seems like a dude with which many beers could be drunk.

Points 1 and 2: Fair enough

Point 3: Definitely not in the past, hard to say about now. It does appear that he's mellowed out with the AA and Phil Towle treatment, but he's probably still a control-freak cunt. Pretty funny guy backstage though, from what I've seen on film.

Most of those I admire are the songwriters and composes for bands:

Anders Jacobsson: Draconian are one of the few goth/doom bands that don't dissapoint. I admire Anders' ability to write touching and emotional lyrics, and the composition of numerous songs (She Dies, Cry of Silence) are simply amazing.

Tuomas Holopainen: Though Nightwish undoubtedly have a commercial sound to them now, at least his lyrics haven't degraded much. Changed theme, perhaps, but they're far from mediocre. Also, Oceanborn is still one of my favorite albums.

Jake Superchi: Ceremonial Castings still stand as some of the best BM I've had the fortune of listening to, and a great deal for that is because this guy can play his guitar like a fucking weapon, and his vocal style is incredible.

Morten Veland: Similar case with Nightwish. Though Sirenia is on the verge of abominable commercialism too, his work with Tristania blow my mind.

DISMEMBER

first for youthful enthusiasm, then later for perseverance and pride, and always for a knack of creating some of the most infectious and honest and passionate DeathMetal on earth.
Also lyrically for being so heavy handed in self empowerment and the abolishment of ALL religious affiliation in the name said empowerment.
the band on and off stage LOVES the music and has such a great joy for performing and writing it. Noone embodies all of the positive qualities in the music like they do.
Matti Karki also directly-personally inspired me to get more involved with the worldwide underground scene and i owe alot of my time and effort to his words he was so generous to give me.
A GREAT band for more than just their wonderful timeless music!

Ahh, completely agree about his drumming on Under A Funeral Moon. I've always loved that almost falling fill he does with about a minute to go on The Dance Of Eternal Shadows. So unsettling. And Isengard is definitely an awesome project and Vinterskugge is most definitely an underrated release. Ut I Vannets Dyp Hvor Morket Hviler is so, so evil and yet catchy at the same time.

Not sure that I actually 'look up' to that many musicians, although I will say that Burzum's music has had a profound effect on me since I first started getting into it. Something about it has always just really connected with me on a level that no other music or band has been able to.

I have many. Too many in fact. So I'll just list one;

Dream Theater.

These guys mean so much to me. The way they go about writing and creating music inspires me greatly as is their dedication to their instruments. The amount of work they each have put in is amazing. Their professionalism when it comes to live shows blows the majority of bands out of the water. And finally something that has effected me personally, their treatment to their fans. I waited after one of their shows to just see a glimpse of them. I saw them step out and get into a bus (fair enough it had been a long night for them), but then Mike Portnoy saw me. He walked over to me (hobbled more like it) and said hello to me and shook my hand and signed my ticket, even though as he said himself he was "fucking exhausted". That is why I look up to and highly regard Dream Theater.

Although for the record, the shirt I bought from that concert was a piece of shit and was made from the worst fabric I have ever seen! Oh well!

Ihsahn- Ever since I heard the introduction to The Eruption on Prometheus, he has inspired me to play piano. The Adversary was one of the greatist albums I've listened to, and I've never been dissapointed with a single one of his releases.

Nergal- He remindes me so much of me. How he conducts himself in interviews in contrast to how he conducts himself on stage. He knows what good stage presence is, and Behemoth is probably my favorite band to see live because of this. Furthermore, I seem to always create music in a very similar style to how he creates it. Brutal, yet harmonizing between guitars to get something more than a wall of sound. His lyrics are always great, and overall just seems like a very cool guy.

1. Senmuth. Anyone who can make music THAT fast and have it be such good quality is some kind of genius.

2. Goth Gorgon/Draakh Kimera. Toss up between the two founding members of one of my favorite bands (if not THE favorite). Bloody monstrous riffs that were never in short supply, a distinct and powerful voice and a testament to Swedish black metal. R.I.P. Mörk Gryning.

3. Valfar. He was the mind and soul of Windir. Despite the skill of the rest of the band on later releases, Arntor and Soknardalar were solo albums. Both are beautiful, folky, and slightly sad folk influenced black metal. R.I.P.

This is so ass-backwards my mind almost breaks imagining it. Mustaine slaughters Hammett and Hetfield at guitar, but is an incredibly bad vocalist. I still prefer Mustaine over the Metallica guitarists though, even though Death Magnetic may be marginally less sucky than United Abominations.

I have infinite respect for the members of Heathen, who have managed to survive the Great Grunge Holocaust and subsequent dark age more or less untouched, a living relic from glory days past. Even Dave White's vocals are still in top form, and Lee Altus seems to be resisting the sellout pull of Gary Dolt (come on, give up on Exodus already, they're not the band you dreamed of playing with in 1986!).

Bruce Dickinson is a god among men. Not only is he an even better vocalist now than he was in 1982, he's been extraordinarily successful in many walks of life and just seems like a great guy in general. I mean, he flew a transport plane into the middle of a fucking war zone to help suffering civilians--is that badass or what?

Even if I do not agree with all of the ways their music has changed and evolved over the years, and I am concerned over the way Mike Portnoy seems to be slowly rising to dominate what was once a group of equals, they're still amazing not only in their musicianship and professionalism but in their generosity and devotion to fans. The fact that they remain a far more vital and creative band than 99% of their imitators and worshipers is just gravy.

I rather admire Jason Newstead for seeing the warning signs that led to Metallica's disgrace in 2003 and getting out with his dignity intact. He was always a bit player in Metallica and never got the respect he deserved.

Vindsval is just an incredible musician, his work on Ultima Thulee just destroyed me.

What? Didn't Heathen just promptly disappear for a while after VoD? That's hardly that praise worthy, releasing a thrash album in 1991? That's not particularly impressive either (even if the album itself is pretty damn good). If you're going to give special praise for any thrash band for "weathering the grunge storms!" or whatever how about Sodom, they never sold out or pandered. In 1994 they were releasing decent - if punkier - stuff like Get What You Deserve... as well as being far better and more important to the overall thrash movement than Heathen... but that's a totally different story!

People I'd praise (somewhat obviously)

Tony Iommi - invented it all, came up with the best riffs ever, nice chap, is a consumate musician... blah, blah, blah. But if you look at the quality stuff Tony put out over a 25 year period, now that too is very impressive. Between 1970 and 1995 I only really don't like Forbidden and TE. Numerous line up changes, fashions come and go and for a time Sabbath were about the least cool band in existence but Tony kept going. Some of the Sabbath tours were done out of his pocket and he kept it going because he fucking believed.

Lemmy - the best lyricist out there, pioneering, a great song writer, been there and fucked it all... blah, blah, blah. But again for consistency, there are only about 2 Motorhead releases I don't like and most of them I love. What about being in a real touring band all this time and even at 64... coming on 65 this December if memory serves me right.

Lord Worm and Steve Thibault, undoubtebly. I talk to Steve a bit nowadays, and his methods of guitar and his composition are unmatched in my eyes. Any of Blasphemy Made Flesh's song will tell you that. He's a fucking monster on guitar, and a really cool guy. Last I talked to him we discussed the beer industry, which I will work in in the future.

Lord Worm: I have a severe case of hero-worship with this guy. I style my vocals after his (but, of course, do my own thing with them: deeper growls laced throughout, higher screams, longer screams, longer growls, Sylvain Houde-gasps, etc.), write lyrics like he does (which I am improving on, thankfully), even took up entomophagy to see what it is like. It isn't half bad, honestly.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the future someone called the band I belong to, perhaps, the spiritual successors to the Brutal, Old-school Cryptopsy. I try hard to make it as good or better then them. Not outright copying them, but I am largely influenced by their first two and their Necrosis stuff.
Throw your tomatoes at me, go on!

there were a bunch I really looked up to when I was a kid but over the years I either lost interest or those musicians kept on making 'not so good music' since like nineties...

I used to look up to Scott Ian. His credits on old 'Thrax and SOD and the way he plays those stompin' riffs live. The man was a God to me.
And of course there was Steve Harris obviously. But that became less and less since '95....

Chuck Schuldiner is one of the most important musicians to have an influence in my life mostly because of being a pioneer of Death Metal, but not only being that, for being an extremely consistant genious in the music writing and riffs department. Every Death album had a superior chunk of catchy riffs, and the solos that accompany those riffs on their albums were just mandatory of air-guitaring, and had a lot of feeling in them.

Lee Altus is, as well, a genious in my book. Mostly because of the two Heathen albums that he contributed a lot to. Breaking the Silence was a really great album chock full of extremely memorable riffs, whereas Victims of Deception had a really progressive feel to it with the longer and more technical song structures, but still fully listenable. I mostly remember Lee for writing those awesome mid-sections to the songs, where the solo's come in and a series of trade-off solos will take place along with excellent thrash drumming.

Steve Harris is also a huge influence on my part. Although I'm a guitarist and not a bassist, he still had a huge impact on my journey into the Heavy Metal world. Harris had some great ideas and for him to lead a band into creating 7 classic albums, where after only two, the band were at the top of their game for quite a while. Albums like Powerslave and Somewhere in Time were absolute classic masterpieces in my opinion.

I appreciate these Metal personalities:

1. Jon Nödtveidt - for me he was one of the best Metal musicians in the world. Dissection affected my musical direction a lot.
2. Arjen Anthony Lucassen - an excellent musician, composer and very mature man.
3. Waldemar Sorychta - a proficient guitarist as well as a producent.
4. Peter Tägtgren - another Metal name.

I would surely find many others. Some of them were already mentioned.