Metal

Aggression, attitude, and acumen are all pushed to the limit in the realm of heavy metal — the sharpest sonic weapon in the toolbox of rock. Here's a heady cocktail of heavy metal hits.

In Ted Nugent's classic "Stranglehold," metal is sludgy yet grooving, while Slayer plays it at inhumanly fast tempos. Meantime, the proud tradition of metal-as-soundtrack-to-unparalleled-backstage-excess is carried on by everyone from UFO to Mötley Crüe, and flat-out anthems like Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" come off as breathtaking as ever.

At one time or another, metal's accoutrements have spanned hairspray and lipstick to black leather and ten-inch nails. Regardless of fashion, very loud guitar is always on hand — and it's rarely sounded better than in the razor-sharp technical wizardry of Testament and the amped-up roots-rock sleaze of Faster Pussycat.

Since its late-'60s birth, when it was often called "the blues cranked up" (more like cranked up, stripped down, and bored out of its mind, if you ask us), heavy metal has become a world unto itself, mutating into rock's deepest and most eclectic misadventure. Enjoy the mayhem and beware — this crash course in heavy metal thunder will likely lead to harder stuff . . .