Who do you guys believe to be the heaviest non metal band?

Mine would have to be Harvey Milk. They have some amazingly heavy moments, that are more brutal than any other sludge band

I also think that Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult, and King Crimson have had their heavier moments.

Actually, pretty much all prog bands from the 70's had heavy moments.

Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot and Suicide Silence are pretty heavy

In all seriousness, whether a band is heavy or not doesn't mean that they aren't crap. Hardcore can get pretty heavy though, and there's some pretty good bands.

you could always text KGB and see what they say, or look into the earliest "extreme" bands thread for a few answers. it's entirely up to you.

When did I say that being non-metal meant being crap?

Dude, my favourite bands are indie/noise bands....not metal at all...

DOOOOOMMM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TpurTY9BaQ

When did he say that being non-metal meant being crap? He said that just because a band is heavy, doesn't mean it's good.

Last Days of Humaity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBP8imm0 ... re=related

GG ALLIN!!

A lot of "noise rock" bands always feel pretty heavy to me. Some good examples, I suppose, are:

Lightning Bolt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MhRj_48-7w

And this song by Young Widows has always felt incredibly heavy to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdv5JVJhHY

The slower hardcore punk that inspired the Melvins is also pretty heavy to me, I'm thinking the b-sides from Black Flag's "My War" as well as the majority of Flipper's material: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gbcsc0q3-M

Modern hardcore doesn't do that bad either, if Converge made more songs like this I'd be inclined to listen to them a lot more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrFt8GgFN3k

Most likely something like early Swans or Greymachine.

That would certainly make for an interesting installment on one of KGB's next commercials

Well, I would go more into the direction of a variation of house music, also called hardcore. It has a very hard bass and can sometimes (in very extreme cases) be compared with noise. Imo though.

Rompeprop!

A lot of grindcore/industrial stuff would qualify.

The more interesting question is, are there any bands that do not use distortion guitar or heavy synths that you'd consider as heavy?

Define "heavy". If you mean in speed, or aggression, it'd probably be a hardcore or powerviolence band like Black Flag or Spazz. If you mean in thick guitar tones and such, then it'd probably be a band like Swans, or noise rock acts like Lightning Bolt or Noxagt.

Gore is pretty heavy for being rock, pretty cool too.

Negative Approach, Kickback or maybe some NYHC band like Vision of Disorder or Sworn Enemy.

Dude I didn't say anything about metal. I was just saying that heaviness isn't always a good thing. Unless it is applied correctly(as it is with metal and much of hardcore, industrial and non-metallic grindcore), it can ruin music. There is nothing I can't stand more than some lame rock band posturing and trying to be all tough and heavy. Sorry for any misunderstanding though. I wasn't criticizing you or this thread. I was just trying to bring up a point on "heavy music" in general.

People seriously misinterpreted the OP. What I was trying to say was, bands who weren't metal that had metallic qualities. That's why i used Van Halen as a good example.

People think "heavy" means loud and abrasive, but that's not what I meant by it.

Les Rallizes Denudes were quite heavy at times, being noise terrorists from Japan and all.

This one really heats up about a minute in. That bass line is menacing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHpLkDYfjew

Heavier than a death in the family, indeed.

Although this list does not consistently reflect my notions of "heaviness" it's got some punishing non-metal stuff in it: http://www.peacedogman.com/bmlhnm.htm

Utopia 1992 got pretty heavy at times.

Swans, especially the Cop/Young God era.

I prefer to ask the CIA for answers to my random text questions.

besides the obvious examples from the harcore/crust/grind scene and hard rock id like to say that the chemical brothers' album "dig your own hole" is fucking heavy, i remember being blasted by the beat of elektrobank and block rockin' beats at my sweet age of 12

Being considered a non-metal band, Gronibard are nevertheless supermassively heavy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB1B9kq_S4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ChZCQ6NF5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBOdZIx00uo

Imagine sitting right being a trombone or any of the brass in this song... you would go fucking def.

TSOL! Hardcore 80s punk is the way to go

A lot of post rock like Isis, Pelican, etc can be very heavy. Smashing Pumpkins had quite a few heavy moments on tracks like Airplane Flies High, Lucky 13, Hummer, Siva etc. Also under consideration for heavy non metal should be stoner rockers Kyuss.

Kyuss are on the archives, dude. As are Isis.

However, they aren't metal, so his is a valid selection (however misguided he may be tastewise).

Combichrist.

Kyuss are metal. Otherwise, they wouldn't be on the archives.

http://metal-archives.com/band.php?id=81

These threads never work because people can never agree on the definition of "heavy".

Or any aesthetic judgments, for that matter.