Sometimes you have to go it alone.
The world of metal is full of larger-than-life figures, heavy-music icons we’re all on a first-name basis with. Though many of these solo acts began their careers making music as part of a band — indeed, in some of the biggest the genre has ever seen —fate had other plans for them, so they also made a go of it by putting their proper name at the top of the marquee. And it paid off big.
So, we asked out readers who put out the greatest solo album in the metal realm. From a pair of post-Sabbath ventures to a boggy debut and beyond, these were their picks, ranked accordingly.
Bruce Dickinson – The Chemical Wedding
Though Bruce Dickinson has played some of the world’s biggest stages as the frontman for Iron Maiden, the legendary “Air Raid Siren” has also had plenty of fans screaming for his solo work, too.
Dickinson formally launched his eponymous era with 1989 Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack single “Bring Your Daughter… to the Slaughter” (which was later reworked with Maiden), and has cut seven full-length solo LPs in the years since. The bulk of these were tracked during his Nineties-era apart from Maiden
The one that got the most love for this week’s poll was 1998’s The Chemical Wedding, an occult-themed union of groovy mood metal and detuned power-waltzes that found Dickinson backed by guitarist Adrian Smith — it was the last Dickinson solo record to be made before both rejoined Maiden for 2000’s Brave New World.
Devin Townsend – Ziltoid the Omniscient
From singing with Steve Vai and Strapping Young Lad, to prepping a number of prog, death and rock-flavored outings under his own name, the British Columbia-bred Devin Townsend has amassed one of heavy music’s most eclectic and staggeringly complex back catalogues.
Though a bunch of you tried to cast your ballot for HevyDevy as an entity — likely encompassing solo albums and work with his Devin Townsend Band — many favored one of his weirdest projects, the Coffee-infused, interstellar metal opera he calls Ziltoid the Omniscient.
A major plot point of Townsend’s 10th solo release has Ziltoid calling a cup of hot java “fetid.” The fandom, meanwhile, thinks this sonic brew possesses notes of genius.
Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot
Boggy Depot, indeed.
While released in 1998 during his downtime from Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell’s debut solo album still highlights a lot of what fans loved about the Seattle outfit he co-shepherded to fame earlier in the decade — think enigmatic vocal harmonies and darkly melodic riffage as soupy as a 50-foot-deep mud puddle at the base of Mount Rainier.
It’s worth noting that Cantrell put the solo album together with a band of brothers, specifically AIC’s founding skinsman Sean Kinney and their longtime bassist, Mike Inez. But on the other side of things, Pantera’s Rex Brown also added some low-end, while Fishbone member Angelo Moore’s guest horn blasts across creep-grooved rock sambas like “Cut You In” spike the sessions with newfound funky fervor.
Dio – Holy Diver
A bunch of you rode a tiger right into the comments section to rep the anthemic Eighties drive of Ronnie James Dio’s first album with his eponymous metal project.
That said, some folks pedantically posited that Holy Diver doesn’t count for this poll, as Dio is technically the name of the band. While true, it’s still the Metal Elf’s last name that’s doing the heavy-lifting with the branding, so we’re going to led it slide.
Following his time with Elf, Rainbow and a pair of scorching LPs with Black Sabbath — and alongside budding guitar prodigy Vivian Campbell, drum lord Vinny Appice and bassist-keyboardist Jimmy Bain — Dio ran his dramatic vibrato to the max for fancifully fist-hoisting anthems like “Rainbow in the Dark” and the triumphant title track. And we’re still drinking deep on his Diver.
Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
It would have been extremely easy to max out this whole damn poll with a series of Ozzy solo albums, and that would have been perfectly fine by metalheads around the world. The Prince of Darkness’ oeuvre is stacked, to say the least, and readers showed up in bulk to salute genre classics like 1981’s Diary of a Madman and 1991’s No More Tears. But then came the blizzard of votes for Osbourne’s instantly adored, and eternally impressive 1980 solo debut.
Blizzard of Ozz exists in a rarified space for many, a wall-to-wall ripper featuring monster hits like “Crazy Train,” “Mr. Crowley” and more. It’s the album where Osbourne picked himself up after an acrimonious departure from Black Sabbath and redefined his artistry for the next several decades. Yet while billed under the Oz Man’s name, Blizzard finds him surrounded by a crack team of friends and musicians, including a legacy-cementing performance from neo-classical shred hero Randy Rhoads.
Sure, it begins with the reality-questioning “I Don’t Know,” but Ozzy fans are certain that this is greatest solo album in all of metaldom.