Strats In Metal

[LordGrendel]

Well, I don't know. If my Ibanez RG was a bit less pointy and had Fender on the headstock, it'd still sound the same, but people would call it a Strat aswell.
If it sounded anything like a Strat I would never have bought it in the first place, because I can't stand the things. I'm a Les Paul player, the other extreme of the spectrum.

...I do agree with you that it's not a strat in the fact of how it sounds, but the stock pickups do still have the a certain strat tone to them. But the neck is thicker than an Ibanez Wizard neck by far and the look of it is still very much like a fat-strat, now if we were talking about a "Heartfield" or "Talon" then I would definitely agree with you on everything that those are more like Ibanezs or Jacksons, heck the Talons and Heartfields were made at the Ibanez factory in Japan with their Different headstock, H/S/H pickup config, pickguard like a RG550, OFR and rosewood fretboards...If I had to chose between a strat and Les Paul I would choose a Les Paul as well, but other than that I'm a Ibanez man all the way...

 

[Metal Ken]

Recorded with a fat strat tuned to B.

 

[Ruins]

^and this is why the sound don't have the "balls" in my opinion

edit:
just noticed ,did you refer FAT strat to ibanez ?

 

[Scali]

...I do agree with you that it's not a strat in the fact of how it sounds, but the stock pickups do still have the a certain strat tone to them. But the neck is thicker than an Ibanez Wizard neck by far and the look of it is still very much like a fat-strat, now if we were talking about a "Heartfield" or "Talon" then I would definitely agree with you on everything that those are more like Ibanezs or Jacksons, heck the Talons and Heartfields were made at the Ibanez factory in Japan with their Different headstock, H/S/H pickup config, pickguard like a RG550, OFR and rosewood fretboards...If I had to chose between a strat and Les Paul I would choose a Les Paul as well, but other than that I'm a Ibanez man all the way...

Well Ibanez and Jackson aren't the only Superstrats. It's just that some of the most popular brands/models of Superstrats back in the day, no longer exist. For example Kramer, or Valley Arts. Or the original Ibanez Roadstar (RG is the new Roadstar, introduced in 1987, together with the Jem. They dropped the Roadstar name a year later). Those were much more like a Strat in terms of body shape, neck etc. But still they didn't sound anything like a regular Strat.
Brands like Charvel and Washburn still exist, but their Strat-like models went out of fashion.... we now have a bit of a retro-movement in that respect.

Lots of guys used to play on Superstrats like that. I believe Iron Maiden played on Charvel Strats with humbuckers at one point. They also used Roadstars for a while. In fact, Steve Vai's Green Meanie (the legendary predecessor of the Jem series) was a Charvel Strat aswell. Eddie van Halen used Kramer, as did many other guitarists.
So well, if you consider those Strats rather than specifically Superstrats, then Strats were (are?) very common in metal, and actually dominated metal in the 80s, especially because of Eddie van Halen's Frankenstrat and Steve Vai's Green Meanie. Those were iconic 'prototype' Superstrats.

Brands like Ibanez and Jackson just created off-the-shelf models of Superstrats, and the guitars we have today are mostly a result of those early Superstrats. Which is why I think you should draw a line between classic Strats and Superstrats, because else it's pretty obvious that Strats are excellent metal guitars.
Yngwie Malmsteen stands out as one of the few guitarists that plays that sort of music with a 'classic' Strat, giving him a very distinct tone.

 

[Drew]

I think the original poster was asking more about guys playing singlecoil-equipped strats in metal, and not merely strat-shaped Fenders.

Terria is one of the heavier singlecoil-equipped Strat albums, though I gather the guitars on Lifer's self-titled debut were mostly a Telecaster - not sure if it had a humbucker or not, but that's a pretty brutal tone.