guitars are such a fickle beast. I've had combinations that shouldn't work on paper for the wood, but sound fantastic in reality. Ideally, I would get to play anything I'm interested in before buying. Reality though...
Active- EMG 81/85 or 81/60 is a classic for metal. For a more modern take on that I'd look at the EMG JH set.
Passive I'd look to the classic Dimarzio Super Distortion, or the Seymour Duncan Distortion. Hard to beat those. The Thrash Factor is good.
A Bill Lawrence XL500 plays well with maple as well.