Any grand metal bands, that are active, and would fit these particular genres: deathcore, death metal, groove metal, metalcore, nu metal, thrash metal. I'll comment on best answer????. Headbanger's roll!
I would say 1970-1976 cause Sabbath made metal mainstream to an extent with hard rock also taking in effect at the same time. But with the rise of disco and punk really made rock go on a downfall. Now 1980-1994 cause the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) kept metal from going out of ectinction with bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, etc. Then in 1984 you had Quiet Riot which was the first metal band to reach No 1 on the billborad charts with there cover of Slade's Come On Feel The Noize. With Quiet Riot's sucess it made metal mainstream. With hair metal bands such as Motley Crue, Ratt, Def Leppard, etc.Now the fall of Glam Metal was grunge and the power balled. Also because most hair metal bands worried about looks more than music. In 1992 Metallica, Guns N Roses and Skid Row each hit No 1 each seperate week. Skid Row was the first to hit No 1. Pantera also kept it alive with there hit album also reqaching No 1. After that I would say metal has died and went back to the underground fan base
The best era of metal is anything pre 90's. When they started a form of music known as rap metal, when there was nothing metal about it. Many bands in the 90's and beyond used the label Metal to try and distinguish themselves. But the true fans of metal saw through the B.S. Don't get me wrong, there are some good metal acts that came out around the 90's. But... My Vote is the 70's. The reason being, is that it was in a fairly early stage, and generally untarnished by the likes of the sensationalism and commercialism it faces today, and if it were not for the bands that helped define and create the genre, there would BE no metal.
1984-1990 Pretty much all of the best thrash metal releases were released between these years, in addition in the late 80's you started to get the sub-genre split up, so there'd be speed metal just about to edge into power metal, death/thrash popping up more often (a godly combo), Exhorder starting the in your face rude boy groove sound with the immense album Slaughter in the Vatican, great for more technical thrash metal fans too, the amount of awesome releases in 1989 alone is staggering. A lot happened in those 6 years, and most of it was goooood. The 90's is underrated though if we're talking about true metal, the major rise of Black, Death, especially Power and even folk metal as we know it happened during the 90's, so just 'cause a load of kids thought slipknot and linkin park were metal doesn't make the 90's bad for actual metal.
I'd say that two eras stand out for me: 1979-1986, when the rules were being written and torn up over and over, seemingly overnight. Iron Maiden, Savatage, Bathory, Queensryche, Metallica, Megadeth, Witchfinder General, Trouble, Fates Warning, Voivod, Celtic Frost, Motorhead, Possessed. Think about any major form of metal and chances are that it began and/or crystallized in this period: NWOBHM, power, prog, doom, death, black, you name it. 1992-98: the underground's extreme metal was pushing the envelope in all kinds of new, forward-thinking, fabulously innovative ways: Tiamat, Sentenced, The Gathering, Anathema, Dissection, Entombed, Opeth, Cynic, Emperor, Borknagar, My Dying Bride, At the Gates, In Flames, all paving the way for the current era's acceptance of more aggressive forms of the artform.
right f'n now there are some brilliant technical death bands around at the moment. modern production quality, innovation and accessability have spawned fantastic bands like Psycroptic and Alarum, and you can hear every note. having said that popular metal has turned to crap. and 70's 80's popular metal bands were heaps better than arch enemy disturbed and the sh*t the industry promotes today.
