Debate: what was metal's greatest decade?

A man crowdsurfing over a crowd at a metal show — (Image credit: Getty Images)

What decade from metal history has been its greatest so far? It's a debate whose answer will often depend on which year you personally discovered metal for the first time. If you were there from day one, how can you vote for anything other than the 70s, where Black Sabbath sparked and then shaped the genre as we know it?

If your first exposure to heavy music was stumbling into a record store in 1986 and laying you hands on Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood and Somewhere In Time, chances are you'll pick the 80s as metal's finest showing.

Or maybe the wild west of the 90s, where hard-hitting ragers like Pantera and Sepultura rubbed shoulders with trailblazing masters like Korn, Deftones and Rage Against The Machine, was where the genre peaked for you?

Alternatively, if you were sucked into metal's slipstream in the year 2000 via nu metal juggernauts like Infest, Chocolate Starfish and Hybrid Theory before later dining out on metalcore classics like The End Of Heartache and Ascendancy, you might struggle to look past the 2000s as metal's true moment in the sun.

The 2010s has plenty to say for it too: Sempiternal's scene-shifting impact saw Bring Me The Horizon reshape alternative music as we know it, while the decade would end with the likes of Ghost, Architects and Parkway Drive making their way up the metal ladder.

So, what do you think? What truly was metal's greatest decade so far? Let us know in the comments below. And play nice! Remember: there are no wrong answers here (unless you say anything before 1970. Don't be silly).

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.

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