In this Loud List, we're looking beyond bands and their battle-tested songs and albums. That's right — we're diving into how this music even came to be in the first place by celebrating the musicians responsible for crafting the metal we've all come to love over the years!

The songwriting process is a peculiar one as we never truly see how ideas were shaped, reshaped and arranged over and over until the finished product has already been recorded and released. When we get an album, we often spend hours absorbing each little nuance for further dissection and discussion. Over time, we come to realize certain hallmarks of a musician's playing style, watching it take various forms as new albums come.

Whether the entire band is involved or just one or two key members contributing to a bulk of the songwriting, the respect for the craft is immense. With a band like Tool, for example, their music is unfathomably deep as each member weaves in and out of the other's playing, coming away with some of the most challenging work ever laid down.

On the flip side, there's Chuck Schuldiner who shouldered the entirety of the songwriting in Death, regarded as the godfather of death metal and a musical genius. Changing lineups with each album, 'Evil Chuck' selected musicians with qualities befitting of what his next record demanded from its players.

But who sits at No. 1? You'll have to watch the video at the top of the page to find that out!

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