As fellow Geek Gamers how many times have you found yourself too weak to defeat the next boss in the game? There has eternally been one answer to solve the problem of being underpowered in role-playing: Grinding for experience points. Just the thought of hours slavishly devoted to the collection of XP so that you may use a single weapon or have a stats that buffs your weapon to its maximum power often leaves gamers cold. Many choose to abandon a great game such as Skyrim, or my favorite Dark Souls in the face of such a task. So today, as a master grinder allow me to give my list of songs that will lift you out of the doldrums of monotony and turn you into a minion slaying beast. Let us look at the TOP 10 SONGS FOR GRINDING XP (METAL EDITION)!
To begin you may ask why Heavy Metal? Heavy Metal, has its roots in England in the late 1960s with bands such as Black Sabbath and Rainbow and to some extent Led Zeppelin. These bands married classic compositions with electronic distortion to formulate a brew perfect for modern RPG Gamers. Many of the album covers depict fantasy style scenarios. Heavy Metal and Dungeons and Dragons grew in a parallel manner in the 70s and 80s and both were wrongfully accused of corrupting the youth of America if not the entire world. So the combination of the two is like peanut butter and chocolate. I will be looking at Heavy metal music from mostly the 70s 80s and 90s for this list.
#10 Deep Purple: Perfect Strangers
Deep Purple starts the list off slow but powerful with their hit song “Perfect Strangers” A song about the journey of a weary warrior. Ian Gillan lays down the gravely vocals while guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore handles the riffs. I cannot think of a better way to start a journey than this classic. It will prepare you for the battles to come!
#9 Megadeath: Holy Wars: The Punishment Due
Playtime is officially over and Megadeath has begun an all-out assault on the senses. The open of Holy Wars: Punishment Due is as hard and tight as any metal song ever. Dave Mustaine’s riffs are robotically precise and fast. Enemies will fall and battlements will be destroyed while this tune is playing I assure you. The second half of the song entitled Punishment Due is a tribute to the Marvel Character The Punisher and I hope come this November this song will make it into the new TV series.
#8 AC/DC: Thunderstruck
You might wonder why I chose Thunderstruck of all of AC/DC’s many hits? The answer is a simple one outside of Deep Purple I want all of the songs on this list to have a high level of speed and intensity and in AC/DC’s lexicon no song fits the bill better than “Thunderstruck!” It is relentless, powerful and perfect for this list
#7 Candlemass: Black Dwarf
This list would not be complete without a band from Sweeden. Dark Metal has never lost popularity in the parts of the world with endless nights and Candlemass may be the most underrated of them all. Black Dwarf is another song that hits and keeps hitting you, it shows no quarter. Let’s face it, with a name like Black Dwarf how can you keep it off this list?
#6 Black Sabbath: I
I hope that you did not think I would keep Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio off this list? Though this is a song that came later in their careers I cannot think of a better one to grind to. It may be the most Narcissistic song in history in the best possible way. When you think of what an undefeatable hero should sound like there is no better choice that DIO and with Tony Iommi’s legendary riffing behind him this is a no-brainer.
#5 Pro-Pain: Make War Not Love
In 1996 I saw Pro-Pain opening for Testament in Providence, RI and 21 years later I have still not recovered from that mosh pit. This song and Gary Meskil’s vocals cut directly into the anger and outrage in us all. Level bosses will have nowhere to hide with Pro-Pain in your headphones.
#4 Iron Maiden: The Trooper
Do I really need to say anything here?
#3 Judas Priest: Painkiller
You will be inflicting much pain on bands of Orcs or Undead or anything you may face while listening to this tune. Rob Halford’s vocals are high-pitched high-speed high-powered nitro as well as Glen Tipton and KK Downing lighting guitar chops. Beware to those who come before you!
#2 Ozzy Osborne: Bark At The Moon
As a child, I spent hours watching horrible 38 Special videos in the hopes of getting a glimpse of Ozzy’s Bark at The Moon. I would jump off the couch and do my best Jake E. Lee air guitar. The power, the riffing and Ozzy’s voice never sounded better. When I need maximum XP this is always in my bag of holding.
#1 Mercyful Fate: A Dangerous Meeting
This may be a dangerous choice for my #1 song but let me tell you as someone who has 250hours in Dark Souls 3 there is no greater song for defeating the monotony needed to turn your character into a legendary hero. I have literally spent hours with this one song playing on repeat. If my character has teleported into your world to help defeat a boss I assure you this tune followed him into battle. King Diamond may be as controversial as D&D was in the 70s and 80s and I simply must insist that when it comes time to defeat that Dragon in whatever game you may be playing accept no substitutes.
Here is a link to the playlist I created just in case you wish to play all of the songs in sequence.
Works for me!
(Maybe a bit o ‘ The Sword also?)
… every single one of these songs are based on white male Caucasian bands.
Why?
Sorry that was not intentional in any way. There have been many great African American Metal bands like Body Count and Living Color but there were no specific songs I would add to the list. There are also bands like Sepultura that are Latain American.