22. “The Agonist – Lullabies for the Dormant Mind” (2009)
Before Alissa White-Gluz joined Arch Enemy, she absolutely slayed on this brutal yet melodic masterpiece. Clean vocals? Growls? Screams? She’s doing vocal gymnastics while the guitars shred your soul. 🧨
21. “Pussy Riot – xxx” (2012)
Okay, not traditional metal, but punk-metal rage with riot-grrrl attitude, political fury, and pure chaos. This EP is raw, noisy, and powerful as hell. Ideal for moshing and marching. ✊🖤
20. “Kittie – Spit” (2000)
Teenage Canadians churning out nu-metal rage? Yes please. This debut was feral, female, and fuming. It’s like your angsty diary grew claws and screamed into a mic. 🐈⬛🔥
19. “Holy Moses – Finished with the Dogs” (1987)
Old-school German thrash fronted by absolute legend Sabina Classen. Her vocals could sandpaper a brick wall and still have enough left to shout down the apocalypse. 🇩🇪💀
18. “Cerebral Bore – Maniacal Miscreation” (2011)
Scotland’s brutal death metal offering with Simone “Som” Pluijmers on lead throat-tearing duties. Don’t let the innocent look fool you – this is technically punishing and gloriously vile. 🧠🔨
17. “Otep – Sevas Tra” (2002)
More art-metal than traditional riffage, but Otep Shamaya’s debut is snarling, poetic, and completely unhinged. Spoken word, screaming, whispering, shrieking – it’s a beautiful mess. 🎭
16. “Jinjer – King of Everything” (2016)
Ukrainian groove metal brilliance. Tatiana Shmayluk’s vocals alone could start a riot – flipping between soulful cleans and demonic growls like she’s got two souls in her throat. 🌀👑
15. “The Gathering – Mandylion” (1995)
Anneke van Giersbergen’s soaring, haunting vocals over progressive doom metal. It’s a lush, layered experience. Not brutal – just beautifully heavy. 🌫️💫
14. “In This Moment – Blood” (2012)
Maria Brink went full dark priestess here – part industrial stomp, part sultry chaos, all wrapped in theatrical flair. You will feel like summoning something after listening. 🕯️🔴
13. “Butcher Babies – Goliath” (2013)
Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey deliver double vocal carnage while riffs go full nuclear. Love ’em or hate ’em – this album goes off. 🔪👯♀️
12. “Eluveitie – Slania” (2008)
Celtic death metal with hurdy-gurdies, flutes, and Anna Murphy’s ghostly vocals swirling through the chaos. It’s like if a Renaissance fair went full black metal. 🍀🎻
11. “Battle Beast – Bringer of Pain” (2017)
Imagine 80s power metal on steroids, fronted by the unstoppable Noora Louhimo. Catchy, bombastic, and unapologetically metal AF. 🦸♀️⚔️
🎧 Top 10 Time – Buckle up, butt!
10. “Epica – The Divine Conspiracy” (2007)
Simone Simons’ classically trained voice floats over symphonic chaos like a Valkyrie leading the charge. Operatic, epic, and oh-so-metal. 🎼🛡️
9. “Nightwish – Once” (2004)
Tarja Turunen’s swan song with the band. She brought opera to metal in a way nobody else had – “Ghost Love Score” still causes full-body shivers. 🧝♀️🎻
8. “Arch Enemy – War Eternal” (2014)
Alissa White-Gluz makes her explosive debut here, picking up the torch from Angela Gossow and setting everything ablaze. Melodic death metal never sounded this lethal. 🔥🎯
7. “Lacuna Coil – Comalies” (2002)
Goth metal royalty! Cristina Scabbia’s duet vocals with Andrea Ferro brought a dark romanticism to early 2000s metalheads’ eyeliner-streaked hearts. 🖤🌒
6. “Spiritbox – Eternal Blue” (2021)
Courtney LaPlante rewrote the modern metal rulebook. Atmospheric, technical, and punishing – this one is fresh, fearless, and flawless. 💙📦
5. “My Ruin – Speak and Destroy” (1999)
Tairrie B is the OG queen of rage. Think feminist fire, poetic fury, and riffs that don’t quit. Criminally underrated – but never quiet. 🎙️🚬
4. “Witch Mountain – Mobile of Angels” (2014)
Uta Plotkin’s bluesy, doom-laden vocals haunt this album like a whisky-soaked ghost. Doomy, dreamy, and devastating. 🪦🥀
3. “Plasmatics – Beyond the Valley of 1984” (1981)
Wendy O. Williams was metal mayhem incarnate – chainsaws, explosions, and anti-establishment chaos. This is proto-thrash anarchy with lipstick and grenades. 💋💣
2. “Darkher – Realms” (2016)
Imagine if doom metal had a heartbeat and a dream. Jayn Maiven’s eerie vocals drift over cinematic sorrow – like black metal wandered into a forest and fell in love. 🌲🖤
🥇 1. “Coven – Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls” (1969)
The blueprint. Before Ozzy ever muttered “Satan,” Jinx Dawson was performing rituals on stage and singing about witchcraft, death, and darkness. Proto-metal? Occult rock? Call it what you want – this is history and it slaps. 🧙♀️🔮
🤘 Final Thoughts, Mun!
From guttural growls to operatic highs, from old-school thrash to futuristic djent and doom – women in metal have always been here, kicking arse and taking names. This list only scratches the surface of the carnage they’ve conjured.
Got a fave we missed? Shout it loud – or better yet, start your own bloody band. We’ll be in the front row. 🎤🖤
Want more chaos, riffs, and cheeky metal madness?
Follow us on @theriffreportuk
And diolch for keeping it loud! 🏴🔥
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