Metallica

Metallica
Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s, responsible for bringing the music back to Earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star games of metal stars of the early '80s, the band looked and talked like they were from the street.

Down
Down is an all-star heavy metal side project whose original lineup consisted of members from Pantera (singer Phil Anselmo), Corrosion of Conformity (guitarist Pepper Keenan), and Crowbar (guitarist Kirk Windstein, bassist Todd Strange, and drummer Jimmy Bower).

The Sword
Not to be confused with the Canadian heavy metal band from the late '80s, named simply Sword, the Sword is a retro-metal four-piece hailing from -- of all places -- the singer/songwriter oasis of Austin, TX.