What is the band that first got you into metal?

For me, it was Thousand Foot Krutch, and Disciple to a lesser degree. Despite one of these bands having perhaps the worst band name in the history of Christian music, and neither being “true” metal, it was when my mom bought a couple of their cd’s from the Christian bookstore for my younger brother that I realized I liked heavier music. It was like a gateway drug, and from there I got into “real” metal. And I still think TFK’s The End is Where we Begin is a banger album.

While I enjoyed some hard rock as a kid, it was discovering Van Halen as a kid that really opened the floodgates for me.

Rez Band with the song Attention! Which is pure molten liquid hot heavier than earth's gravity metal.

Petra to Rez to Saint to Bride, and on it goes...

I'll go with Boston. The self-titled is the first record I recall taking notice of in '79 when I was 11, and it was just amazing. They have a permanent spot at the top of my list. I say they "got me into metal" because that's where it all started for me and as time went on I became interested in heavier and heavier music. It was inevitable.

In the midst of the backward-masking scare, record burning and the like, during the 80's, I struggled with the whole idea of owning / listening to secular music, which continued for the next 35 years, so I confined myself to "Christian" music after an initial jump into buying secular records. I probably would have availed myself of more of the heavier material out there at the time otherwise.

seth wrote:For me, it was Thousand Foot Krutch, and Disciple to a lesser degree. Despite one of these bands having perhaps the worst band name in the history of Christian music, and neither being “true” metal, it was when my mom bought a couple of their cd’s from the Christian bookstore for my younger brother that I realized I liked heavier music. It was like a gateway drug, and from there I got into “real” metal. And I still think TFK’s The End is Where we Begin is a banger album.

What's wrong with the name?

Agree about End though. And I would definetely say that from 1997-2005, Disciple was true metal

For me it was Deliverance. I first heard Learn (because my dad listens to them), didn't like it much, thought it was too hard (or "loud" as I called it back then), but the chorus to 1990 stuck with me, as well as that riff that sounded like it was saying "watcha gonna do", and I remembered the first song was about time. Then I heard WooW, actually knowing the artist and album names this time, and the only thing I liked was the cover art, the music just sounded like random fast guitaring and screamy growly noise of words I couldn't make out. Then I eventually one day randomly remembered 1990 and wanted to find it again, and slowly started thinking "was that a Deliverance song?" so I checked the tracklist to all my dad's Deliverance albums, checking the chorus of the second songs in the sleeve, until I found one with the first song titled "Time", and sure enough it was the correct second song. So we put it on the car radio when we drove to my grandmas house. Having the lyrics on a sleeve helped me appreciate the faster songs, and metal slowly became my favorite style of music.

For me that journey began with Slippery when wet by Bon Jovi

Boston and Deep Purple introduced me to harder edged music.

Metallica turned me into a metalhead.

It was KISS for me. I had a cousin that had some cassette tapes and I heard the song “Tears Are Falling”. I thought it was cool and catchy. Maybe it was closer to hard rock, but that song was my gateway to metal. 

Prior to that, I was listening to Oingo Boingo and before that, Hall and Oats.

KISS for me too but a lot earlier stuff... I am old lol. Also, Van Halen, AC/DC and Scorpions.

Kiss, Black Sabbath and then Maiden hit and I was hooked

StevenCressler wrote:

seth wrote:For me, it was Thousand Foot Krutch, and Disciple to a lesser degree. Despite one of these bands having perhaps the worst band name in the history of Christian music, and neither being “true” metal, it was when my mom bought a couple of their cd’s from the Christian bookstore for my younger brother that I realized I liked heavier music. It was like a gateway drug, and from there I got into “real” metal. And I still think TFK’s The End is Where we Begin is a banger album.

What's wrong with the name?

Agree about End though. And I would definetely say that from 1997-2005, Disciple was true metal

I just think it sounds ridiculous. What does “thousand foot krutch” even mean lol

I always took it as a play on Jesus being a “crutch.”

Still sounds ridiculous to me though. Like a name a small child would come up with. Although I think the unusual name may be why my mom and brother picked their cd from the bookstore having never heard of the band before, so I can’t be too hard on them for it

The earliest bands I can remember were Disciple and their album “Back Again” and Pillars debut album who’s name eludes me at the moment…

Above was Pillar’s major debut.

seth wrote:For me, it was Thousand Foot Krutch, and Disciple to a lesser degree. Despite one of these bands having perhaps the worst band name in the history of Christian music, and neither being “true” metal, it was when my mom bought a couple of their cd’s from the Christian bookstore for my younger brother that I realized I liked heavier music. It was like a gateway drug, and from there I got into “real” metal. And I still think TFK’s The End is Where we Begin is a banger album.

I was a Disciple fanatic as a kid, I could probably still sing word for word most of “back agains” lyrics. I’m surprised I didn’t wear the cd out. Thousand foot krutch’s first album was a staple for me at that time too.

Pethead wrote:Above was Pillar’s major debut.

Ok I was mistaken then, it was their album “Fireproof” that my dad had.

Fireproof is an amazing album.

Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and Linkin Park. Debatable, if you want to consider them true "metal" bands, but they got me craving harder music. Eventually I went on to stuff like slayer, metallica, cradle of filth, dimmu borgir and so on. It just kept growing

It was only recently I decided to only listen to Christain music. It just didn't feel right when I listened to secular music

Scorpions, Blackout was the eye-opener for me.

Possibly Limp Bizkit. I was 13 and they had just released "Take a Look Around." From there it was basically an ascension in heaviness from POD to Blindside to Demon Hunter to BTA and beyond.

Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet

Daniel Band, first time I heard it was on my older brother's turntable 
On Rock is a legendary album for me, all eleven tracks are gold 
Years later I heard Vengeance's "Mulligan's Stew" on a compilation cassette and turned me on to thrash
Will alwways love those first three D Band albums, though