10 Greatest Metal Songs Never Performed Live
As metal albums become classics over time, it’s rare that every single song on the record isn’t performed live at some point. With years and even decades having passed since these albums changed the metal landscape, there have been outliers we were shocked to learn had never seen a live audience.
When Pantera unleashed Vulgar Display of Power, it was only the second album representing their new sound. With such a monumental album raising the Texans to the status of metal gods, you assume they’d bust out all 11 tracks at some point, right? Nope! There’s one song Pantera never took to the stage — “Regular People.” Exactly why is a mystery, especially since “Regular People” is far from a low point on the remarkably consistent Vulgar Display of Power.
Iron Maiden’s Powerslave is one of the iconic metal band’s most beloved and commercially successful albums. Just eight tracks long, a single Powerslave track has been excluded from Maiden’s sets for nearly 35 years — “Back in the Village.” Even the instrumental “Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) ” has been played dozens of times!
Meshuggah is the most powerful rhythm machine on the planet, devastating fans with intricate and wildly technical extreme metal. The Swedish band’s 21-minute “I” is just too much for ‘Shuggah, though, with Tomas Haake going on record saying nobody in Meshuggah knows how to play the bizarre track from front to back.
Check out the 10 Greatest Metal Songs Never Performed Live in the Loud List above.
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