We at Ballistic Magazine have close ties to the metal community. We featured Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan on the front cover of our spring 2017 issue.
Hell, we built the entire summer 2018 issue around “American-made metal.” Phil Labonte, frontman of Massachusetts metal band All That Remains, joined our good pal and noted metal head Pat McNamara on the cover.
The metal community is tight and always willing to help, much like the firearms community.
Metal + Fitness
Metal and lifting seem to go hand-in-hand. The raw energy from headbanging metal easily transcends into the weight room. Labonte spends a frequent amount of time at the gym when he’s not on stage.
“The gym and metal keep me sane, and the guns keep me free. Not sure I can pick one that is more important,” Labonte said in our interview.
Meanwhile, McNamara is well-known for his workout videos on Instagram; those videos usually feature face-melting metal music blasting in the background. We previously asked McNamara for his five must-have metal songs for any gym playlist. He gladly obliged, but it got us thinking about our own list, so we put one together.
Best Metal Songs for Your Workout
When you’re at the gym, you need music that can amp you up. It’s about getting pumped while getting your pump on. At the end of the day, Nickelback just isn’t going to cut it. Below is our list of the six best metal songs to kick your workout into overdrive. We tried to keep the songs heavy and as recent as possible, with most being released in the last year.
Spoiler alert: All That Remains’ brand-new banger of a song “F*ck Love” made our list, and not because we’re buddies with Labonte. It’s the heaviest song that outfit may have ever released. We can only assume our extreme personalities rubbed off on Labonte. Enjoy, and keep lifting!
END – “Necessary Death”
Every Time I Die – “Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space
Kublai Kahn TX – “The Hammer”
Chelsea Grin – “Hostage”
The Dali Thundering Concept – “Ink”
All That Remains – “F*ck Love”
