What makes a "great" metal guitarist?

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[MetalMike]

So what makes a "great" metal guitarist?

Guitar is the instrument that drew me to metal and even though I suck at playing (not practicing will have that effect) I still really enjoy hearing a "great" player.  But is a guitarist great because he (or she) is technically proficient (Malmsteen, Satriani, Batio) or because they sound good for the music they play (Angus Young, Glenn Tipton, etc.)?

Personally, while I think Michael Angelo Batio is amazingly technical, his solos are terrible because he sounds like he's playing something completely unrelated to the song (at least in the Nitro tracks I've heard).  On the other hand, Glenn Tipton and Angus Young play, what I think of as relatively simple solos, but they sound great in the songs.

Thoughts?

 Powerwolf - Lupus Dei

[xiphos]

Well, it has to sound good and fit with the music. This is why I don't like Batio, as you can't really play technical in a glam band. It doesn't really sound right. Death metal, on the other hand, relies on a lot more technically proficiant guitar solos. Also, rhythm is the most important skill (unless, of course, you are in Necrophagist  ) as you are playing rhythm about 90% of the time.

Glenn Tipton
Angus Young
Tony Iommi                  <----------- Good Examples
Criss Oliva
Dave Murray

[4th Horseman]

I can't think of a single technical solo (or anything from those guys you mentioned) that I can say I like.

So if someone's trying to sell me a band, going on about their technical abilities will just blow the deal, because usually, the music just downright sucks if that is your main selling feature.

[RedMenace]

If someone is trying to sell a band to me, the main focus is never the soloing but rather the riffs. The best guitarists can write monster riffs even though they might not have the chops to solo.

[Sargon the Terrible]

Guitar is the soul of metal, you cannot have metal without guitars.  At all.  Period.  But a great guitar player is not one who just plays 50,000 notes per second.  Guitar is about more than speed, just as metal is about more than just heaviness.  A great metal guitarist knows about phrasing, about tone and dynamic.  A great guitarist also knows he is not the only musician in the band.  Guitar is the center of the metal universe, yes, but without balance you are just wanking.  If you are wanking you obviously don't care about the song, and therefore you do not really care about metal.  There are guitarists who play metal because they love metal, and then there are those who play metal because they think it gives them an excuse to show off.  This latter sort is to be despised.

Great Metal Guitarists (Top of my head, not intended to be exhaustive)

Euronymous (Mayhem): A magnificent composer who understood the use of tremolo maybe better than anyone else alive.

Mark Shelton (Manilla Road): the most soulful player in Metal.  He can do more with one bent note than other players can do with 20 of them.  A master of phrasing and timing.

Alan Jones (Pagan Altar):  The undisputed king of tone with a fantastic ear for melody.  Listen to "Cry Of The Banshee" to see what I mean.

Rich Walker (Solstice): Very much of the same school, but Rich tends more towards deeply melodic riff-work.

Mike Scalzi (Slough Feg): Another classicist whose leads blend seamlessly into riffs.  "Traveller" is one of modern Heavy Metal's definitive guitar statements.

Thomas Youngblood (Kamelot): A kick-ass player who never gets in the way of the song, despite how amazingly tight and complex his playing is.  A deceptive player, his work is much more challenging than it sounds.

Nils Norberg (Nocturnal Rites): An old-school shredder who never forgot that riffs are just as important as leads.

[xanades]

Nils Norberg (Nocturnal Rites): An old-school shredder who never forgot that riffs are just as important as leads.

Until recently, it would seem.

Matt Pike (High on Fire) - His work, especially on Blessed Black Wings, is a fantastic example of the power of the riff. Throw in some of his excellent solos and you have a great metal guitarist. 

[Chris Foley]

Jorn Viggo Lofstad (Pagan's Mind) - shouldn't really need to state why

[metal_xxx]

Thomas Youngblood is the most underrated metal guitarist alive... I think he should be given more space. I agree about Jorn Viggo Lofstad. He's a great guitarist, and makes alot of good riffs. Good riffs are just as important as good solos. Shitty riffing destroys everything. I also agree with Sargon about the wanking part. Pointless tempowhoring is not positive. Even though he is one of my favourites, Petrucci does this a little too much nowadays. The feeling is all gone.

[MetalMike]

Glenn Tipton
Angus Young
Tony Iommi                  <----------- Good Examples
Criss Oliva
Dave Murray

Outstanding list.  All of these gentlemen are well represented in my collection.  And I'm glad to hear so many of my peers value sound and feel above technical ability.  I would also like to add Kai Hansen, both early Helloween and Gamma Ray.

And nice call by Sargon on Thomas Youngblood and Nils Norberg.  I'm a relative late-comer to both bands, but the riffs are great.

 Nocturnal Rites - Tales of Mystery and Imagination

[Phoenix]

Until recently, it would seem.

We don't talk about that.

Jim Matheos in Fates Warning is good for many of the reasons Thomas Youngblood is so good. Edward Pursino of Virgin Steele is sort of a jack of all trades and is pretty much excellent at everything he tries - the big, booming riffs, the melody-laden solos, etc.

I agree with Sargon's list otherwise, good one.

[vorthas]

the guys in Nevermore are rather good (shame Dane destroys the band).

I think, when a guitarist does something out of the norm, and it works is something that helps make one a "great" guitarist. I mean, most metal bands in the early days had mostly aeolian solos (Minor scale solos), whereas chuck schuldiner from death had Harmonic Minor solos (middle-eastern scale solos) in his works after scream bloody gore.

I think there should be a difference between great composers (song writers), and great guitarists (players). Example - i think you can be a damn good piano player, even if you're never written music before. Great guitarists don't RULE at one type of playing (Paul Ryan of Origin and Yngwie, for example, are good at what they do - but NOT amazing guitarists). Great guitarists are good at all styles, a la Petrucci, Skolnick, Broderick, Schuldiner, Quorthon, Shaefer and Burkey (from Atheist). Anyway - thats my two cents.

[metal_xxx]

Brodeick and Loomis are damn skilled... But again, I don't like their style one bit.

[Phoenix]

You'd hardly know they were skilled with some of the boring crap they have to play in Nevermore. But the solos are good, occasionally.

[metal_xxx]

Yea... I never knew they were good before I saw Betcha can't play this, and checked out Loomis' solo album. Nevermore is probbly the most overrated band ever. Just for the record:P

[Warhammer]

Great metal guitarists that fulfill the requirements that Sargon mentioned, in my opinion. Unbelievable tonal quality and catchy but interesting rhythms. Leads are not overly technical or exaggerated but fit perfectly for the music.

Jimmy Hedlund - Falconer

Christer 'Krunt' Andersson  - Tad Morose

Steve Garcia - Cage