I think, if you’re a heavy metal fan, you’re aware of just how sexy the genre can be. But if it’s not your primary music of choice, the seductiveness that dwells within might surprise you, in a good way.
You can go back years to songs by Judas Priest and the Scorpions, just to name a couple, that are all about the sexiness and spice of being in love, or lust. Below, you’ll find four metal songs that prove this genre can get very sensual and intimate when it wants to. Read on at your own risk.
“Provider” by Sleep Token
Look, we are not here to debate the relevance of Sleep Token in the metal scene right now. We’re here to talk about the Venn diagram of sexy and heavy, and this IS the crossover.
Let’s take the song “Provider” from their fourth album, Even in Arcadia (2025). It’s a profoundly sensual track that pleads for the chance to shower a lover with gifts and adoration. Who doesn’t want to cuddle up with that?
Sexiest lyric: “And our bodies converse like old friends / Exchanging the years in silence / With something unsaid on both ends / Surely we know the difference.”
“Sexual Hallucination” by In This Moment, Feat. Brent Smith of Shinedown
I’m going to call this the sex-metal version of “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. That famous country duet has to be responsible for much of the Elder Millennial generation.
Here, with “Sexual Hallucination”, In This Moment singer Maria Brink and Shinedown frontman Brent Smith do something similar. Only this one is for Millennials. Their voices are an intense pairing and their energy is raw. This song will get you feelin’ some things.
Sexiest lyric: “You watch me come undone / (It makes me want you more) / I’m crawling into the unknown / (I’ll follow you to the core).”
“Rosemary” by the Deftones
It’s hard to understate the sensual nature of the Deftones’ music. From the very beginning, they have incorporated salacious elements into their music, never allowing it to feel cheap or performative.
There are dozens of Deftones songs you could put on this list, but I’m choosing “Rosemary” from Koi No Yokan, their seventh studio album. It builds so steadily and then climaxes into an otherworldly dreamscape of heavy shoegaze sounds. You’ll need a cigarette after this one.
Sexiest Lyric: “Our minds bend / And our fingers fold / Entwined, we dream / Unknown.”
“Love You to Death” by Type O Negative
Type O Negative ARE sex-metal. They just are. Even now I can picture you reading this and nodding your head in realization, as if to say, “Yeah. Yeah, that’s so true.” See, I know you.
Like the Deftones, there’s a plethora of sexy Type O songs to pick for this list, but why not go with an ol’ reliable: “Love You to Death”. It’s a heaving, sultry track; bursting with tension and dripping in confidence. Get a towel.
Sexiest Lyric: “I beg to serve, your wish is my law / Now close those eyes and let me love you to death / Shall I prove I mean what I’m saying, begging / I say the beast inside me is gonna get ya.”
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