System of a Down "Toxicity"

Toxicity is System of a Down's second album release. Produced by Rick Rubin, Toxicity was released on September 4, 2001 by American Recordings, debuting at #1 on both the United States and Canadian charts. Toxicity received mass critical acclaim, making many end-of-year "best of" lists (such as being named SPIN Magazine's #1 record of the year), and earning a Grammy nomination for lead single "Chop Suey!". The album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and is multi-platinum in the United States. It is also the only System of a Down album not to feature the Parental Advisory label, with only minor profanities. [Wikipedia]

Slipknot "Psychosocial"

"Psychosocial" is the second single and fourth track from Slipknot's fourth studio album, All Hope Is Gone. It entered airplay on June 26, 2008 and was originally planned for release as a digital single on July 1 but was delayed and released on July 7. Slipknot performed "Psychosocial" live for the first time on July 9, 2008, at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington. In 2008 the track was featured on the soundtrack to Punisher: War Zone. The song has also been nominated to 'Best Metal Performance' for the 51st Grammy Awards, but lost to Metallica's "My Apocalypse". Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan told The Pulse of Radio what he could regarding "Psychosocial", saying, "One thing I can feel is like that song has got a lot of, I would say social anxiety. It's got a real good tempo. It's really fun and it's different. I think most of the stuff that we have is different." Rolling Stone praised the song, saying that it "slows down the tempo to bludgeon with a steady, pounding groove instead of all-out thrash in a manner reminiscent of the band's more slow-burning but still malicious second album, Iowa." They went on to explain, "That track is capped off with a time-signature shattering guitar/drum breakdown that will leave the best air-instrumentalists stumped." [Wikipedia]

Disturbed "Inside the Fire"

"Inside the Fire" is the first single from American rock band Disturbed's fourth studio album, Indestructible. It was released on March 25, 2008 as a digital download. The song features suicidal themes, and, in May 2008, a music video was unveiled for the song. However, because of the suicidal themes of the original music video, an "all-performance" version was released, lacking the suicidal themes. On March 24, 2008, "Inside the Fire" debuted on more than sixty radio stations, quickly showing up on many significant music charts and reaching number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart. The single became nominated for a Grammy award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. A music video for "Inside the Fire" premiered on May 2, 2008. A suicide hotline phone number appears before the video, due to its nature and content, along with a message from vocalist David Draiman regarding suicide. An "all-performance" version of the video premiered later, featuring no dark themes or messages. [Wikipedia]

Rammstein "Feuer Frei! [xXx]"

"Feuer Frei!" is a well-known song from the German band Rammstein. The title is from the command to start shooting in German military language. It is also often mistaken with Fuer Frei, a German Website. Feuer frei! is one of the band's better known songs thanks to the band's appearance in the 2002 movie xXx. It literally means "fire free" (or "fire freely"), but the closest equivalents in English would be "fire at will" or "open fire." [Wikipedia]

The Cranberries "Zombie"

"Zombie" is a protest song by the Irish band The Cranberries from the 1994 album No Need to Argue. The song, which laments The Troubles in Northern Ireland, features a heavy guitar riff which is uncharacteristic of the band's usual sound, more akin to heavy metal than their usual alternative rock style. This song met great success in many countries, including France, Belgium, Australia and Germany where it topped the charts. Zombie" was released as a music video in 1994. The video was directed by Samuel Bayer, and produced by Doug Friedman and H.S.I. Productions. In the video, Dolores O'Riordan, is covered in gold makeup. She wears an Egyptian headdress as well as Egyptian eye makeup, reminiscent of the Egyptian Goddess Isis. Standing in front of a cross, she's surrounded by golden children with bows and arrows. The video also contains shots of British soldiers on patrol in Northern Ireland. The unsuspecting troops were told that their footage was to be included in a documentary about the day to day operations of various peace-keeping/occupation forces.
[Wikipedia]

Uriah Heep "Easy Livin'"

Demons and Wizards is the fourth album released by British rock band Uriah Heep. The songs "The Wizard" and "Easy Livin'" were released as singles in the United Kingdom and North America, as well as many other markets. "Easy Livin'" entered the US Top 40 at #39, making it Heep's first American hit. "Easy Livin'" was also a mega hit in New Zealand and Germany, countries which were becoming a strong market for the band. It reached a disappointing #75 in Australia.[Wikipedia]

Motörhead "Ace of Spades"

"Ace of Spades" is a song by the English heavy metal band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #15. The song is considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem, and "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed". The song ranked in at #10 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #27 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, stating "This song has an intro which wouldn't be out of place ushering in the end of the world". In 2009 it was named the 10th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[Wikipedia]

Steppenwolf "Born To Be Wild"

"Born to Be Wild" is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire and made famous by the Canadian rock band, Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. The song is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song ever written and is also said to have inspired the name of the emerging heavy metal genre; although these claims are disputed, the song's second verse (which refers to "heavy metal thunder," though it is either a reference to the weight of the motorcycle or a powerful car) contains the first recorded reference to "heavy metal" in the context of rock music. [Wikipedia]