it might sound like a stupid question but im intrigued as to what people say...
ive just been thinking about it for ages and couldn't come up with one song.
ive asked a few people and got answers like 'hammer smashed face' by cannibal corpse and 'forever' by the berzerker.

.... someone's just said 'exit music for a film' by radiohead for pure intensity purposes ... tis a fair point though how it doesnt have to be screams and pace to make it heavy

I'd say something by Nile ... however, that could be too obvious.

'The Thing That Should Not Be' is pretty heavy ...

Sheesh ... this is a good question.

if you're anything like me it'll mess with your head for hours haha

It's already begun :unsure:

I'd like to get Ed's take on this one.

There is one song which i've described as 'the heaviest song of all time' before: YOB - Mental Tyrant. A sprawling 26 minutes of epic doom, culminating in a truly crushing riff, for me, it's beyond compare.

I generally consider doom heavier than other types of metal, there's just something about the creation of an atmosphere that lends peerless heaviness to the music.

I'm tempted to list a death metal alternative, though.

Where can I get hold of that song do you know?! It sounds ace!

Your best bet is probably to buy the album, The Unreal Never Lived. Or download it, I suppose. The killer riff kicks in at about 16 minutes, and the bass comes in after a break, and it's just head banging every time. Most of the song is quite sedate, but damn, I do love it for that slow, crushing gallop.

As for death metal, i'd probably have to go for Devourment - Babykiller, because I routinely described them as the heaviest band on earth before I got into doom. It's sick, blasting and totally unaccessible.

On a side note, my discovery of extreme music started when I read a magazine article on the 'heaviest riff of all time', which Raining Blood won. 'Fair enough', I thought, 'it's a great riff, but I know there's heavier.' After all, Ugly Kid Joe never ought to feature in the top 20 heaviest riff of all time. So I went out and bought a Napalm Death CD, 'cause I knew they were heavy, got home, put it on, and promptly turned it off, and curled into a little ball, my illusions of being 'heavy fucking metal' shattered. However I persevered with it until I could cope, and then went about asking other people who liked that kind of thing 'what else is good?'. Happy days. :P

actually ed i need your help if ya dont mind...
right i linked my mate to this discussion and he read your description of that heavy song and asked 'what the fuck is doom metal?' to which i spent about 10 minutes trying to explain it without really succeeding hahaha!!
so how would you define it?! and who are like better known doom bands that i could point him towards because the only ones i could think of were pretty obscure...
bare in mind he's a hardcore fan so try not to use big words to throw him off course hhaah :P

I could have a crack at describing doom metal, but I consider my own knowledge of it a bit limited, so I think i'll steal someone else's hard work. The main thing to consider about doom metal is that it was born from Sabbath.

And I should qualify my previous statement by saying that YOB do not neatly fit into any of these categories. Perhaps they are best described as a mixture of death/doom and psychedelic rock.

One of my mates has been doing a fine job of expanding my doom metal horizons, by lending me CDs such as; Corrupted (Japanese ambient/death/doom), Rune, Otesanak, Buried At Sea (amazing slow death/doom), Winter and others. And he'd describe himself as a hardcore fan. To be honest, the genres are more closely liked than you might imagine, especially with 'post hardcore' stuff, or however you might describe some of it. Bands like ISIS in particular are a good link from hardcore. Lots of doom bands go for hardcore style artwork on their CDs too, and tend to be more pretentious about their designs.

Greart ... finally a discussion to get our teeth into. First off Adam, the last three terrorizer mags have been running a three part Doom special which lets you in on all the information you, or your mate might need. Try and get hold of them because they're very good.

Ed's absolutely right about Sabbath kicking the Doom thing off, which strangely comes from Tommy Iommi losing the tops of his fingers in an industrial accident. Since he was unable to play traditional licks, he had to find a variation. So, he downtuned his guitar (or something to that effect and Doom was born). (Thanks Terrorizer!)

There are a shed load of newer bands playing doom, however you should give some of the 'older' bands a go. Listen to: The Obsessed, Candlemass, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and of course, Cathedral.

Then it'll be a good thing to give the newr bands listed in Ed's post above.

Woah! Cheers to both of you for your help, that's great :D

Doom is point of some great crossover songs, too. Bands like Cephalic Carnage have done this. They're typically described as grindcore (or were, before the last album), and they released a single track, 18 minute EP which is a fantastic doom song. Boris also can be described like this; one quarter rock and roll, one quarter death/doom, one quarter drone and one quarter feedback. :P

And lots of black metal strays in the borders of doom too, take Burzum for example, or Xasthur, for something more recent. Also you can get great stuff like Thorr's Hammer, a band who considered themselves black or death metal, because doom wasn't really going then. Really slow and fucking heavy, with sick vocals from Ihsahn's (of Emperor) then girlfriend, and Stephen O'Malley (of SunnO)))) too (if memory serves me correctly).

I guess the new SunnO))) album is a bit of a mix too, because it features Malefic of Xasthur on vocals, and was so labelled 'Black One', contrasting with the numerical number used on 'White 1' to imply that the new album was 'a black one'. Anyway, that's enough rambling.

At risk of being a 'cunt', i'd like to throw a couple more out there. I was on a bit of a grindcore binge this morning, and the opening track to Nasum - Shift, Particles, always rips my balls off. Pretty fucking heavy.

And then there is another band who I couldn't listen to for awhile, Converge. I downloaded Concubine from Jane Doe and just couldn't hack it. When I finally cracked extreme metal, I went back to it and found that I could cope. It is still utterly brutal, though.

I just like the idea that there are so many eligbly heavy songs from different genres. I still go with YOB, though.

:D Can't beat a good bit of Nasum
That's the thing though, like you said I think an ultimate heavy song could come from any range of genres because there's different interpretations of heavy, whether it's mood or sound or speed or what.
I'm still yet to come up with one though haha

Sorry for the absence (Again!)

Anyway this is a great topic, and here's my answer.

I'm listening to it right now actually and there's no doubt I'll still be listening to it by the end of posting as it is...

Dante's Inferno by Iced Earth

16min of the most brutal thrash with amazing complexity. Matt Barlow is known for his melody but on this he shows the Death Metal boys just how to really sound angry!!! If you've not heard this track I charge to track it down, the live version is just as good if not better! This thing has everything with Gregorian Chant, Operatic falsetto ala Handel and even some nice Tubular Bells-esque keyboards. There some amazing bits, the Wolf bit at about 6min, the ultra-heavy riff at 10min and finally the confrontation with Lucifer himself at the end.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this fucking smokes!!!!!!