
100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal is the ultimate journey into the heart of heavy music, hosted by Metal Blade Records’ founder, Brian Slagel. Each week, Brian dives into one of his personally curated tracks from his list of the heaviest songs in metal and hard rock, exploring the music that shaped a genre. With special guest musicians—some who wrote and recorded these iconic songs and others who ... more
| Publishes | Weekly | Episodes | 75 | Founded | a year ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | Music HistoryMusicMusic Commentary | |||

Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses Slipknot's "Surfacing" from their debut record with the producer of that album, Ross Robinson, and Zach Johnson from the band The Ghost Inside. As always, Martin Popoff provides historical context and in... more
SONG -Black Sabbath : "N.I.B"
Released Friday February 13, 1970
Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." with the bands longtime manager, and wife of Geezer Butler. They also discuss the different eras of Sabbath, Hal... more
SONG - Mercyful Fate : "The Oath"
Released September 7, 1984
Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses the Mercyful Fate song "The Oath", the quasi-title track from 1984's "Don't Break The Oath" with actor-musician-host Elliott Fullam. They al... more
SONG - Coheed and Cambria "Welcome Home"
Release Date - September 20, 2005
Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria about their song "Welcome Home", his writing process, his career, the other forms of medi... more
People also subscribe to these shows.





Absolutely love this pod cast! I’m a 54 year old UK metal head and really enjoy going behind the scenes of these classics…excellent stuff.
Slagel is a decent host, and his intimate knowledge of metal is worthwhile. He gets great guests who drop intriguing details from metal’s past and present. But the editing of this podcast is HORRENDOUS. People talk over each other in a way that’s clearly just a bad copy-paste, the trims are jarringly unnatural, the volume is mouselike (exceedingly inappropriate for tinnitus-plagued metalheads).
It’s worth a listen, but it desperately needs better production — a major topic of the podcast itsel... more
Love the show. Not sure why the song snippets are of a lowfi quality though?? Also, no more of that Siriusxm Jose Magniwhatever guy. Please. Guy loves to talk about himself.
I absolutely love this podcast, but the amount of ads is absurd. Most of the time you’re close to 7-8 minutes in before there’s any content that isn’t an ad, the intro song, or the copy and pasted intro. Then, more ads (at least 2 minutes) between each segment. It’s crazy.
Like I said, I love it, but, c’mon, a 50 minute episode shouldn’t be 30-35% ads and less than 30 minutes of new, original content.
It could be great, but for now it’s frustratingly good.
Awesome as always Brian, Tom's section was so interesting, always learning something from these episodes!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #214 | |
Apple Podcasts | #157 | |
Apple Podcasts | #171 | |
Apple Podcasts | #71 | |
Apple Podcasts | #154 | |
Apple Podcasts | #218 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
A deep-dan metal history show that uses a rotating cast of guests to unpack classic tracks that helped define the genre. Each episode pairs insider perspective from producers, engineers, and musicians with historical context from a respected music journalist, plus host-driven storytelling that links studio choices, live performance energy, and the era more broadly. Notable strengths include access to high-caliber production and performance anecdotes, strong ties to label history, and a consistent focus on how specific songs became enduring touchstones for metal. Listeners can expect detailed production notes, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and broader genre context that appeals to die-hard fans and curious newcomers alike.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal:
1. The Jasta Show
2. The Eddie Trunk Podcast
3. Dean Delray's LET THERE BE TALK
4. The Metallica Report
5. The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan
100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal launched a year ago and published 75 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal include:
1. Ross Robinson
2. Zach Johnson
3. Gloria Butler
4. Elliott Fullam
5. Claudio Sanchez
6. Adam Rank
7. Wendy Dio
8. Ryan Williams
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.