From pop-metal to death-metal, we’ve sampled a bit of it all on our list. Metal is for everyone. Metal is for misfits, new kids, adrenaline junkies, storytellers, and people who want to push their skills in music to their ultimate limits. We’re here to bend the knee to the ultimate greats with our list of the best heavy metal guitar solos of all time (maybe we will do a piano solo list soon!).
What Makes a Great Heavy Metal Guitar Solo?
Speed: The heavy metal guitar solos are next to impossible to unlock when mastering guitar hero. This is primarily because of the absolute speed required to execute them. This kind of technical mastery of the guitar deserves to be appreciated.
Surprise: A sudden change in the tempo, key, masterful melodics, dueling axes, and anything unexpected hooks us and invites us to ascend to another plane of rock. The best metal guitar solos have folded in an unexpected element.
Badassery: Do you have a visceral reaction when you hear it? Can you feel it in your teeth and your guts? Is your arm hair standing on end? There is a certain unquantifiable awesomeness you can only identify when it’s reverberating through your body. We only picked songs that give us goosebumps every time.
If you’d like to listen along while you read, we also assembled a playlist of these songs!
Afterlife by Avenge Sevenfold- Synyster Gates
This early 2008 gift to the metalverse is about a man who escapes the afterlife to address his unfinished business on earth. From the violins at the beginning to the highly melodic bridge and chorus, we love how the solo brings Afterlife home. We had a hard time choosing between this one and the Wicked End, where Gates unleashes another unearthly lick with inspiration from the afterlife.
Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath- Tommy Iommi
Even Black Sabbath would find a list of the best metal guitar solos devoid of its mention sacrilegious. Hear them do their thing in this 1970 self-titled A-side OG masterminded by Iommi, one of the founding fathers of everything we’re here to discuss. This shit is fifty years old, and it’s still badass. This slow burn is terrifying and timeless, frantic and perfect, delivered with the help of demons only Ozzy can lyrically channel.
Through the Fire and the Flames by DragonForce- Herman Li and Sam Totman
Holy flying fingers, metalheads. This notorious bane of anyone who ever tried to master Guitar Hero III will put your tapping, tremolo picking, and sweeping skills. This song will test your stamina, speed, and ultimate chops, even if there are two of you. If you can shred through this one, you have our utmost respect.
Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden- Dave Murray
This brutally honest account of colonization from the perspective of both the natives and the invaders is as provocative today as it was in 1982. Meant to evoke the feeling of a galloping horse, this song channels blood and rage with a pointed purpose. Murray is here to whip the terror into a frenzy.
Painkiller by Judas Priest- Richie Faulkner
Want to breathe for the next five minutes? Don’t play this song. This is not “grandpa metal.” It’s storytelling in classic metal at its best. About a hero combatting Armegeddon, Judas Priest has given us something timeless. Faulkner famously nailed this entire song flawlessly while his aorta burst onstage in October 2021. (He’s okay.)
Tornado of Souls by Megadeth- Marty Friedman
Widely considered one of the most technically perfect metal songs of all time, Tornado of Souls is about ending a relationship gone bad. 1990 also gave us this absolute tour de force, pairing melody and powerful guitar mastery only Megadeth can serve.
Special mention: Skin of My Teeth (1992) also displays some of Friedman’s unparalleled excellence.
One by Metallica- Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield
This classic melodic and haunting song features strings and a hell of a politically charged horror story. One is about the personal experience and physical carnage of a grievously injured World War I soldier. Its dark storytelling about visceral descent into terror is especially compelling when played by two guitarists of Hammett and Hetfield’s caliber.
Advanced Corpse Tumor by Necrophagist- Muhammed Suiçmez
Dow defunct, Necrophagist has made one of the most widely regarded technical death metal albums of all time. The guitar solo, the tempo, the beat underneath, Advanced Corpse Tumor (and really every song on Onset of Putrefaction, 1999) is here to make even the best of us feel bad about our guitar skills every time we hear it.
Floods by Pantera- Dimebag Derrell
Pantera deserves its place on any list of the best metal ever made. This biblically-inspired lament about an apocalyptic flood that humanity may not deserve to survive gives us one of the best Dimebag Derrell riffs of all time, one that he improvised on stage until his on-stage assassination in 2004.