Shredders

Our fearless gang of six-string shredders could easily double as a secret society of superheroes — able to nail finger-flexing solos and complex chord progressions without breaking a bead of sweat. Up first are some of their greatest guitar-slinging fight scenes, played out by way of a blazing workout (Eddie Van Halen on "Eruption"); a lesson in hyper-spatial, star-dusting, silver-plated fingerwork from Joe Satriani ("Surfing with the Alien"); and the rip-your-face-off kick-start to "Welcome to the Jungle" (thanks, Slash), arguably the most unforgettable rock song opening of the past 20 years.

More scale-climbers whip out solos in a single bound . . . on our Next Steps list.

There's always been a level of camp to Cradle of Filth's symphonic black metal, but "The Principle of Evil Made Flesh" is as frightening and downright primitive as a red-eyed wolf with tonight's kill between his teeth. Other Shredder selections that'll keep you on your toes and twitching are the catchy but caustic groove-metal guitars of "Refuse / Resist", the baffling tempo changes of "Hangar 18", and the duelling solos of Dragonforce (the head-spinning, million-notes-per-minute lava storm that is "Through the Fire and Flames").

Bringing it all back to Cradle of Filth — only grimmer and more underground — are our Deep Cuts: a deviant, pitch-dark parade of tongue-biting technicality.

While they were a lo-fi thrash band at heart, Venom gave black metal its name and a few sonic starting points with the ravenous riffs and Satanic stance of their second album. Bathory also set the bar for black metal's rapid-fire riffage through its own brand of vicious "viking metal", but the genre's inherent grimmer-faster-stronger competitiveness made sure that more sinister and sinewy riffs unfolded in the decades since: check out Marduk's frenzied, foaming-at-the-mouth approach to guitar anti-heroism.

Here's something to keep in mind as you tear through our Shredders Essentials: good luck keeping up. While you may be able to bang your head to a recurring riff or two, most of these tracks will turn your brain to mush. The catch? You'll be smiling the whole way through, caught in a shock-and-amaze cycle of everyday people with inhuman hands (Joe Satriani, Tom Morello, Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde) and sadomasochistic peddlers of sheer brutality (the black metal of Mayhem and Enslaved; the thrash templates of Slayer and Megadeth; and the new wave of British heavy metal heralded by Judas Priest and Grim Reaper).