Shredders

Our fearless gang of six-string shredders could easily double as a secret society of superheroes — able to ace 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 whammy bar workout ("Eruption"); the intricate, interlocking hydra-head tones of Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield ("Master of Puppets"); and the rip-your-face-off kick start to "Welcome to the Jungle," arguably the most unforgettable rock song opening of the past 20 years.

While many of the same scale-climbers whip out solos in a single bound on our Next Steps list, we've also thrown in some curve balls — like some dude with jazz hands and a KFC bucket for a hat.

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," the head-spinning, Satriani-schooled harmonics of Steve Vai, and the dueling solos of Dragonforce.

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 sophomore 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, from Emperor's archetypal debut — a thorny, tangled display of speed and agility — to 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 swift thrash templates of Slayer, Metallica, and Megadeth; and the new wave of British heavy metal heralded by Judas Priest and Grim Reaper).