Heavy metal genres

A number of overlapping heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal music in the late 1960s. Please note that these definitions are often quite arbitrary. While some fans have firm notions of what defines genres and sub-genres -- and which performers best exemplify those styles -- others reject such notions as useless or, even worse, as limiting.

• Avant garde metal -- Sometimes called experimental, is characterised by large amounts of experimentation and by non-standard sounds, instruments, and song structures. Examples include Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende and Peccatum.

• Black metal -- Considered to be an extreme sub-genre of metal. The genre has its origins in early thrash/speed metal and is often (but not always) characterised by Satanic or occult lyrical themes, usually 'screamed' or rasped (lower pitched and high-pitched alike) out rather than sung. Venom and Bathory are credited with pioneering the genre. Other notable black metal artists include Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor and Mayhem. There are also further sub-categories such as National Socialist Black Metal and Tolkien Metal.

• Celtic metal is a fusion between Celtic music and Metal, usually Black Metal. Artists include Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander.

• Classic metal -- Characterised by thumping fast bass lines, fast, but less heavy and more melodic riffs, extended lead guitar solos, high pitched vocals and anthemic choruses, this genre evolved from NWOBHM and boomed in the early to mid 1980s. Artists include Iron Maiden, Saxon, Dokken, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Europe and others.

• Dark metal -- A style combining Black, Death, Doom Metal and other forms of extreme metal, bands of this genre rely (as the name might suggest) on a dark atmosphere with synths, occassional female vocals and/or folk elements that do not quite fall in the category of similar underground metal subgenres. Artists include Rotting Christ, Bethlehem, Crematory, early Tiamat and early The Gathering.

• Death metal -- An extreme style of metal with low-pitched guitars and growling, often incomprehensible vocals. Lyrical themes of early death metal often centered around gore horror (hence the term), although the genre has since diversified. Examples include Bolt Thrower, Suffocation, Sepultura, Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide and Entombed. Also see Melodic death metal.

• Doom metal -- Inspired largely by the lumbering dirges and stoned, paranoid darkness of Black Sabbath or Carl Orff, and one of the very few heavy metal sub-genres to prize feel and mood more than flashy technique, doom metal bands include Candlemass, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Cathedral and Anathema.

• Folk metal -- Folk Metal incorporates folk music instruments or themes. Skyclad is probably the most known band in this genre. See also: Finntroll, Korpiklaani and Skyforger.

• Funeral Metal' -- A lot like Doom Metal, but extremely slowed down yet more and emphasize on an atmosphere of despair and emptiness. Most bands in this genre are very underground and hard to find. Some examples of this genre is Morgion, Shape of Dispair, Mournful Congregation.

• Glam metal -- Glam Metal is the genre where musicians wear make-up, which is meant to shock people or to scare people. Unlike Hair metal, it is not meant to look pretty. The music consists of traditional or classic metal and very few ballads, if any. Mostly, the influences on these bands consist of Classic metal bands like Judas Priest, Twisted Sister or traditional metal like Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper or KISS. Bands include Ratt, Slaughter, Cinderella and W.A.S.P..

• Gothic metal -- A fusion of the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal, finding the middle ground between the two styles in a melodramatic sense of theater and lyrical obsessions with religion and gothic horror. Bands include Theatre of Tragedy, Lacrimosa, Tristania and Type O Negative.

• Grindcore -- Influenced by thrash metal, and also hardcore and punk, that takes its name from the "grinding" sound made by the atonal riffs 'grinding' into one another. The style is characterised by a vocal style similar to death metal, rapid fire "blast beats" from double-kick drums and short songs. Exponents of the genre include Napalm Death (regarded as pioneers of the style), early Carcass and Extreme Noise Terror. There are grindcore bands that are more hardcore than metal, but most bands today are heavily influenced by death metal.

• Groove metal -- A derivative of thrash metal incorporating closed mid-placed thrash riffs, overt drumming, groovish styling, and occasional clean vocals. Artists of this genre include Pantera and Machine Head.

• Melodic death metal -- An offshoot of death metal, featuring melodic guitar riffs (sometimes acoustic), and in some examples occasional 'clean' singing. Death and Morbid Angel are primary influences of the genre, which has been developed further by predominately Swedish bands such as At The Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.

• Metalcore -- Defined usually by bands whose music combines both the raw vocals and beat of American hardcore (generally within the Northeast US) with the guitars more often used in European thrash metal and melodic death metal; for example, the guitars of In Flames and Arch Enemy have been cited often as an influence for many of the bands. The four bands most commonly associated with the genre are Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, and God Forbid.

• Neo-classical metal -- incorporates elements or melodies from classical music, especially works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Niccolo Paganini. Yngwie J. Malmsteen is a known proponent of this branch of metal. Classical elements being used in heavy metal and hard rock dates back to Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Eddie Van Halen's innovations in the late 1970s.

• New wave of British heavy metal -- Often abbreviated as NWOBHM, the term is used to describe British heavy metal artists that emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the wake of the 'original wave' of British traditional metal artists. NWOBHM was hugely popular and is influential to virtually all sub-genres of heavy metal since. Major artists included Iron Maiden, early Def Leppard, Saxon and Diamond Head.

• Power metal -- Features fantasy or science fiction themes, and it is mostly characterised by clean, melodic, high pitched (often falsetto) vocals, fast pacing (mostly driven by double kick drumming). The most famous bands include Helloween, Stratovarius, and Blind Guardian, all of them continental European, and Jag Panzer and Iced Earth coming from the U.S.

• Progressive metal -- combines elements of progressive rock and heavy metal. See Dream Theater, Symphony X, Opeth, and Pain of Salvation.

• Rap Metal -- A grenre of metal that institutes the vocal and lyrical form of Rap. Rap Metal tends to have a very large focus on bass lines, powerful lead vocals and a steady rythm, though some bands don't always use a steady rythm. The band Anthrax is some times cretited as the creators of this genre, this is because Antrax teamed up with Public Enemy on a song, and also dabbled in Rap vocals on some songs by thenmselves. There is a connection between Rap Metal and Nu Metal, and some of the bands even cross back and forth between the two genres, most notably KoЯn. Some notable Rap Metal bands are Rage Against The Machine, Biohazard, and Cypress Hill.

• Speed metal -- Speed metal has its origins in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with bands such as Iron Maiden, Raven, Venom and Judas Priest often combining heavy metal with the speed of punk rock. Many Speed Metal bands are also considered Power Metal bands, because of the common speed factor.

• Stoner metal -- Also referred to as stoner rock, it overlaps with doom metal, and features heavy, sometimes slow, sluggish, and distorted riffs and the obvious influence of psychedelic music and more importantly the 1970s fuzz-distorted metal of Black Sabbath and Budgie. Exponents of the genre include Cathedral, Kyuss, Nebula, Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet.

• Thrash metal -- incorporated hardcore punk's speed with traditional metal. Slayer!, Overkill and early Metallica, Sepultura, Anthrax, Testament and Megadeth. As is true for many of the terms in this list, the moniker "thrash metal" was not always embraced by its supposed representatives; early on, Metallica referred to themselves as "power metal" (conflicting with the above definition of this term). Conversely, many more or less obscure bands, like Kreator, came up with equally obscure classifications for themselves, such as hate metal. Such labels were often soon forgotten or reused for something else.

• Traditional metal -- The original wave of British heavy metal artists such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Deep Purple.

• Viking metal -- Unlike what most people think, this is not just metal with Norse-themed lyrics. Instead, this is a fusion between old Nordic folk music and Metal. The lyrics are usually about Vikings, but it is not mandatory. The genre is pioneered by Bathory. Other bands worth noticing are Thyrfing, Enslaved, Amon Amarth, and Falkenbach.

Other metal genres

These genres are not generally acknowledged as metal genres.

• Alternative metal -- A term used to describe styles of metal which are considered to be unique or experimental. Tool are a prime example of the genre, along ex-Faith No More frontman Mike Patton's bands Fantômas and Tomahawk.

• Party metal -- Also referred to as Pop metal, it features lyrics celebrating drinking, rock or metal music, sex, and related topics. The style often overlaps hair metal, classic metal and hard rock. Notable artists include Van Halen, Queen, KISS, Quiet Riot, some Twisted Sister ("I Wanna Rock"), and some Judas Priest ("Living After Midnight", "Heading Out To The Highway," "Hot Rockin.")

• Blues rock -- Many important early heavy metal performers were rooted solidly in blues rock: Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin.

• Christian metal -- This category can be any style of metal featuring explicitly Christian lyrics or themes; also called White Metal. Examples include Stryper, Paramaecium, As I Lay Dying, and Mortification.

• Comedy metal -- Not really a metal sub-genre. Features pronounced humour and comedy. Comedy metal may have been unwittingly created by the film This Is Spinal Tap in the mid 1980s. Besides Spinal Tap, other comedians parodying metal have included UK project Bad News (featuring comedians from The Young Ones) and US comedian Bob Rivers. Comedy metal has also been created by metal musicians themselves, with some achieving commercial success (most notably Green Jelly and Scatterbrain). Comedy metal can be varied in humour, from being blatantly offensive and politically incorrect (such as Anal Cunt and Pungent Stench), to more middle of the road humour (such as Canadian band Zimmer's Hole and GWAR.)

• Epic metal -- Related to (or synonymous with) Battle metal, Epic Metal incorporates high fantasy and related elements. Examples of epic metal include Manowar, Virgin Steele, Cirith Ungol, Omen, Medieval Steel, Bathory, DoomSword. Not a specific genre but a broader definition of some more melodic or atmospheric styles of metal.

• Extreme metal -- Not a specific genre but a broader definition of some heavier and aggressive styles of metal including black metal, death metal, doom metal, dark metal, grindcore and thrash metal.

• Hair metal -- was a commercially popular style of metal in the 1980s, although its origins go back to the 1970s starting with KISS & Judas Priest. It differs from Glam metal in a way that the make-up is meant to look pretty and not to scare people. Also, the music is less aggressive and more onus is on power ballads. Bands include Guns N Roses, Mötley Crüe, Warrant, Poison, Greg Howe, Vixen, and Winger.

• Hard rock -- A progression from blues rock and early psychedelia and a precursor to heavy metal. It was pioneered in the mid to late 1960s by artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf, with British bands such as Led Zeppelin, Cream and Free developing it further. It is hard to distinguish hard rock from early heavy metal, some artists such as Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Queen and AC/DC fall into both styles.

• Industrial metal -- features elements of dance music, techno, and heavy, distorted guitars. Synthesizers and drum machines are heavily used in this sub-genre. This style was created by Godflesh. Well known industrial metal acts include Rammstein, Samael, White Zombie, Fear Factory and The Kovenant.

• Noise metal -- This style is focused on heavy bass feedback and often chaotic and psychedelic rhythms. It utilises the singers voice not necessarily to convey content, but to provide another instrument. This is also reflected in the lyrics, which often have no logical connections. Noise Metal songs are often described as being like wild beasts that need to be controlled. The most prominent noise metal band is Mastodon, who reflect the "beast" imagery in their lyrics and song titles such as "Where Strides the Behemoth", "Elephant Man" and "Megalodon."

• Nu metal -- Features a pronounced hip hop influence, and guitar technique is often different from "traditional metal". It's widely argued that nu-metal is a misnomer, stating the genre has very little to do with heavy metal. See KoЯn, Papa Roach, Staind, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Drowning Pool, and Limp Bizkit.

• Symphonic metal -- Prominently considered a subgenre by many, though the moniker often has not as much to do with style per se as with production values. Symphonic metal is characterised by the presence of grand orchestration, along with choirs and/or operatic vocalisation. Bands include Therion, Nightwish and Haggard.

• Tech metal -- characterised by a show of skill, changeable, sometimes jazz-like time signatures and drumming patterns, and often dissonant or atonal guitar riffs. Death metal and grind-core elements are often found in tech metal. One good example being the German band Necrophagist or the tech pioneers Watchtower.

• True metal -- This term was coined back in the 1980s by U.S. band Manowar but came into wider use in the 1990s when genres such as alternative metal and nu metal began to emerge to distinguish more "traditional" styles such as power metal.

• US metal -- A term used to describe what is called the "American school of power metal", which differs from the European power metal in being less melodic, rawer, often more "traditional" sounding, and of varying use of double kick drumming.

See also

• Influences Of Other Musical Styles On Heavy Metal