I'm a little confused by the title of this thread, is this a "Beginner's Guide" essentials list or essential to metal as a whole? If it's the later then Celtic Frost are definitely an essential metal band because of their huge influence on European metal, specifically the black metal scene in Norway and the death metal scene in Sweden.

Megadeth should be the fifth metal band. Especially considering they made the greatest thrash metal album of all time with 'Rust In Peace.' Not to mention they are still making kick ass albums today. I mean, has anyone heard their new album 'Endgame'? If not, check this video out.

Megadeth would work but I think it would be more interesting to find a band of a different metal style like Korn. I`m no fan of Korn but their importance on the metal genre since the 90`s has been essential for metal as a whole.

That 5th spot could easily be fought over between Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Tool and Korn as all are mainstream and I could easily give an argument for all 6 without thinking too much!

I think its meant to be a beginners guide as the usual suspects like Maiden and Metallica etc were mentioned. If not, then as you say Celtic Frost would fit the bill perfectly.

I think Sepultura is much more important than Korn. They easily influenced everyone that Korn might have been an influence on plus a ton of bands that Korn didn't influence. Not to mention that Septultura were a huge influence on Korn themselves. Hell, wasn't Life Is Peachy or one of their other albums even recorded using a bunch of Sepultura's gear or something? I thought I heard that somewhere.

i see where you're coming from but Korn but the Deftones precede them by a few years. though from my perspective i think Fear Factory deserves a nod in helping shape post 80s metal. Soul of a New Machine as well as Demanufacture are massive discs. vocal dynamics, traditional and electronic beats, no guitar solos, keyboards for texture. hell i'd go so far as to say Burton C. Bell and his range is the reason there's been a noticeable increase in female metal vocalists over the years.

or we could really try rocking the boat and say - MINISTRY.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Dio yet!

that's because the vast majority of people didn't pay attention to him until he was almost dead then they all decided they had to overcompensate for neglecting him until then by pretending they'd been listening to him forever.

i call it the Johnny Cash effect.

I was a huge fan of them when I was growing up and they are definitely one of the most influential bands on my personal musical taste. That said they in no way belong on any kind of essential metal list. I realize that their later stuff is metalish, but they really aren't a metal band.

i'm thinking in terms of influence on metal though. how many modern bands borrow (at times quite heavily) from that classic Ministry sound?