Best UK metal band of all time

[Born of Fire]

really nothing worthwhile after 84 in my eyes anyway.

Not even Painkiller, probably the definitive metal album?!

[Nixer]

I'll settle this once and for all. It has to be Sabbath. The first four Sabbath albums are classics that stand the test of time.

Maiden coming in second place is preposterous. The first two albums were good but then they went and sacked the talent and have been riding a wave of mediocrity  since 1982. You know things are bad when a bunch of 70 odd year old men have been shoving the same two hour recycled Dragonforce/Dream Theater album down your throat every time they come only toning it down to talk about aeroplanes or  make famine jokes.

Motorhead on the other hand were a class act. Far, far, far better records than Maiden ever made.

Not a big Priest guy but Turbo Lover is good.

[Kurt Cocaine]

Black Sabbath all the way. Those first 4 albums are untouchable.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage are absolute class too.
And to think Black Sabbath the album is 50 years old next year. That's before most of us on this forum were even born.... 1970 baaaaby....

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5lmIbuJ_sMdsearaCl31bkW9ajZwl5wJ

[Don Gately]

really nothing worthwhile after 84 in my eyes anyway.

Not even Painkiller, probably the definitive metal album?!

Painkiller to me suffers from far too much filler, personally I detest the title track too.  Songs like All Guns Blazing, Metal meltdown,  Leather rebel are all fairly standard Priest songs but add little really.

[Yung Led Zeppelin]

Any option apart from Black Sabbath has to be a wind-up, surely?

[Cosmic_Equilibrium]

I went for Sabbath as they're my favourite band and all but it should be noted that based on live form Maiden are the top dog and always have been.

JP are more inconsistent but interestingly Painkiller is probably the best album by any of the above mentioned bands on a song by song basis. Also IMO no band has quite managed to replicate the atmosphere of those 70s Priest albums.

[Ducky]

I'll settle this once and for all. It has to be Sabbath. The first four Sabbath albums are classics that stand the test of time.

Maiden coming in second place is preposterous. The first two albums were good but then they went and sacked the talent and have been riding a wave of mediocrity  since 1982. You know things are bad when a bunch of 70 odd year old men have been shoving the same two hour recycled Dragonforce/Dream Theater album down your throat every time they come only toning it down to talk about aeroplanes or  make famine jokes.

Motorhead on the other hand were a class act. Far, far, far better records than Maiden ever made.

Not a big Priest guy but Turbo Lover is good.

Who did they sack? The pub band singer?! As for Motorhead, yeah ever song sounding the same is a right hoot.

[Circlepit]

Motorhead all the way. Sabbath for the riffs but it has to be Motorhead overall.

[Lost-Paradise]

Acid Reign! They're only the band the big four could have been!

[Mower Liberation Front]

Maiden.
I'd put Sabbath slightly behind D.A.M., but ahead of Re-Animator.

[Don Gately]

Lawnmower deth

[heyjoe]

Maiden for me, followed by Priest and Sabbath.

Funny how people always say there would be no metal without Black Sabbath when that's utter bollox ...

- Iron Maiden credit Deep Purple / UFO / Prog bands as their influences

- Judas Priest credit Jimi Hendrix ("I wasn't really a Zeppelin or a Black Sabbath fan" as KK writes)

- Motorhead's Lemmy credits The Beatles for everything.

Bands used to talk about Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and many more in the 80s. Then along came Ozzfest in the early 00s and Sharon told bands to talk about Sabbath in interviews. Sharon created this godfather tag. Brilliant marketing. I'm not discounting Sabbath's influence. But some of the best metal bands, English or otherwise, were inspired by others.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Truth. The basic Black Sabbath doom sound appeared first on Abbey Road in "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" a couple of years before Sabbath's debut. Every afficionado of metal's history should know that tune.

[Pentagrimes]

Obviously not in the same league as the greats and all but along with Carcass for later periods, I'd tag Sabbat as the greatest UK band  of their era

[Juggz]

Bands used to talk about Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and many more in the 80s. Then along came Ozzfest in the early 00s and Sharon told bands to talk about Sabbath in interviews. Sharon created this godfather tag. Brilliant marketing. I'm not discounting Sabbath's influence. But some of the best metal bands, English or otherwise, were inspired by others.

Some of us listened to Sabbath even before Sharon told us it was cool   

Only some of us though