Daily Heavy: As I Lay Dying - Through Struggle

This has become As I Lay Dying's signature song, and for good reason.

It kicks off with a tasty, bouncy guitar riff, which gets any crowd pumped - when I saw them live the floor was moving from the whole crowd headbanging.

The drumming in this song is authoritative - Jordan Mancino is one of the most consistent metal drummers and he really owns this song.

Vocalist Tim Lambesis, growls out his lyrics over the sublime melodic guitar riffs during the verses.

The song quickly reaches a semi-breakdown of sorts and then moves onto a softer passage with clean vocals, which then exchanges with the heavy part from earlier. The use of dynamics makes this song stand out as well as the pedal-tone guitar riffs playing on a theme.

The final breakdown/outro of the song is so brutal. The tempo drops a bit and the full force of the chugging guitars and bass hit you.

The video - well the synchronised headbanging that so many metalcore bands use when playing live was definitely in vogue when this video was shot. As I Lay Dying still do it to this day, but I'm fairly sure they were one of the first to make it a feature of their sets.

Daily Smooth: New Edition - If It Isn't Love

Here's another New Edition classic, from their platinum album, Heart Break.

Ralph Tresvant sings lead on this one.

The beat is so 80s - all the typical new jack swing components are in place - synths, heavy use of a drum machine and lots of layering.

I love the video to this song for some reason - no boybands bother to learn choreography like this anymore.

Daily Heavy: Parkway Drive - Boneyards

Coming from Parkway Drive's second album - the outstanding Horizons - this song is an intense blend of blast beats and some rapid riffing.

The combination of the low hardcore grunts, down tuned guitars and perfectly locked in drum and bass, give this song such impact.

Killswitch Engage guitarist, Adam D, produced this album and his signature production style is clear to hear; the guitar tone and even riff style sounds so much like Killswitch it is uncanny.

The pedal-tone riffs in the song's verses sound like they have been lifted from Killswitch's seminal album, Alive Or Just Breathing. This is no bad thing though - Parkway's vocalist gives them enough individuality to stand out from the metalcore crowd.

Daily Ghetto: Kanye West, Jamie Foxx and Twista - Slow Jamz

I haven't dropped a really massive ghetto tune in a while, so I thought it was time to pull out a big gun from Kanye's legendary debut album, The College Dropout.

This song blends Foxx's soulful voice and Kanye's relaxed flow over an amazing beat. Kanye produced this song, and really I feel that his best work comes in this capacity rather than as a rapper - don't get me wrong he is a great rapper, but an outstanding producer; I can't think of a weak Kanye beat!

Jamie Foxx adds a nice touch to the bridge section of this song as he name-checks some classic artists, and then Twista comes in.

What can I say about Twista - for a while he was recognized as the fastest rapper of all time, and although since surpassed in speed, there are very few rappers who combine his speed, flow and clever lyricism. The bars he drops in this song have become what everyone looks forward to hearing when this song comes on.

I cannot stress how good The College Dropout is - this is one of many top flight songs on that album. This song also features on Twista's Kamikaze, which is a showcase of his superior rapping ability over some nasty beats.

Daily Heavy: The Offspring - All I Want

As with most Offspring songs, this song is short but sweet.

A simple chord progression and up-tempo drumming pushes this song along.

The signature vocal harmonies come in during the choruses.

I was reminded of this song from a childhood spent playing Crazy Taxi on my mate's Sega Dreamcast - ah those were the days.

Daily Ghetto: Dorrough - Piece and Chain Swangin

My first Dorrough post was very well received so here's another banger from his debut album, Dorrough Music. 

This song has a synth heavy beat and Dorrough raps about his jewellery and his diamonds - gotta love basic rappers like this guy!

There's a rather boring verse from Slim Thug towards the end of the song, but Dorrough saves the song with a sick last verse.

There's auto-tune a plenty here in the backing vocals, and all this adds up to this song being a massive club banger.

Daily Heavy: Lamb Of God - Hourglass

Lamb Of God are one of the few modern metal bands that really sound unique.

The combination of midrange heavy guitars that aren't overly saturated, having a very diverse and distinctive drummer and a lead singer who does the "halfway between screaming and singing" so well, gives Lamb Of God the edge over many of their contemporaries.

The only band that sounds anything like them are the legendary Pantera.

Hourglass comes from their seminal album, Ashes Of The Wake. It showcases some tight but groovy riffing from the superb guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler as well as the feral drumming of Chris Adler.

Vocalist Randy Blythe growls in this song, showing off with some wild screams.

For me, the bridge section of this song is outstanding; the harmonized guitar riff requires such skill play and to sync up when recording, and exemplifies how great of a duo Morton and Adler are.

Ashes Of The Wake has to be one of the best metal albums since Pantera's Cowboys From Hell.

From the production, to the guitar tone, to the insane drumming, it is relentless and heavy.