Another Word for Heavy Metal Music

Looking for a way to describe heavy metal music that isn’t just “loud and aggressive?” Check out our list of 25 terms that capture the true essence of metal.

The Different Types of Heavy Metal Music

There are many different types of heavy metal music. Some of the more popular genres include death metal, black metal, and power metal. Each subgenre has its own unique sound and style. Death metal is typically the heaviest and most extreme type of heavy metal music. Black metal is often characterized by fast tempos, deep growling vocals, and dark, sometimes Satanic, lyrics. Power metal is a more upbeat and positive type of heavy metal music that often features fantasy or medieval themes.

Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that emerged in the early 1980s. The genre is generally characterized by a high level of speed, aggressive musicianship, and lyrical themes often dealing with social issues and criticism. Some of the earliest examples of thrash metal include bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, and Anthrax.

Death Metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, aggressive, powerful drumming featuring double kick and blast beat percussion, Minor key tonality, and cascading riffing.

Death metal features a thick, heavy guitar sound, characterized by highly distorted, down-tuned guitars played with palm-muting and low chord progressions. The genre’s lyrics are typically: violent, dark imagery politically charged; nihilistic; and concern topics such as: death, suffering, anti-establishment sentiments, disaster,,pessimism,, misanthropy,, the fear of God,, End Time themes,, the Satan,.

Characteristic of death metal are blast beats, which are fast paced rhythms often played on the kick drums. They vary from 150 to 200 beats per minute. Blast beats are used in almost all death metal songs. Many songs also use double kicks drums throughout the song giving a pounding feeling to the music. Guitar riffs are usually down tuned often to drop C or lower. This gives the guitars a thicker sound.

Doom Metal

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1960s, when early black Sabbath recordings influenced musicians to experiment with slower tempos and more oppressively loud rock sounds. English rhythm guitarist Tony Iommi’s use of power chord riffs on songs such as “Black Sabbath” and “Into the Void”, as well as his slow, blues-influenced soloing style, was particularly influential. Production standards were low in the early 1970s, and most recordings were made without multitrack recording equipment; as a result, sound quality varied considerably from one recording to the next.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of British bands such as Witchfinder General, Sabbat, Solstice, and Pagan Altar helped to pioneer the doom metal sound. American bands Trouble and Saint Vitus also had a significant influence on the genre’s development. Trouble’s 1984 self-titled debut album featurediral doom riffs and dark subject matter, while Saint Vitus’ 1986 album Born Too Late further explored themes of despair and addiction.

In the early 1990s, a number of Swedish death metal bands such as Death Breath and Dismember began to experiment with doom-influenced riffs. This led to a cross-pollination of ideas between death metal and doom metal, resulting in the emergence of death-doom: a subgenre that fuse death metal’s aggression with doom metal’s melancholy atmosphere. In 1992, Paradise Lost released their breakthrough album Gothic, which featured distorted guitars tuned to lower than standard pitches (a technique known as “drop tuning”), creating a more “crushing” sound. My Dying Bride followed suit with their 1993 album Turn Loose the Swans; both albums are considered major milestones in the evolution of doom metal.

Today, doom metal is thriving worldwide thanks to a new generation of bands keeping the flame alive. If you’re looking to explore this unique style of music, check out our list of essential doom metal albums.

Black Metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.

During the 1980s, several thrash metal and death metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. This so-called first wave included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. A second wave arose in the early 1990s, spearheaded by Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor, Gorgoroth and Darkthrone. The early Norwegian black metal scene developed the style of their forebears into a distinct genre. Norwegian-inspired black metal scenes emerged throughout Europe and North America, although some other scenes developed their own styles independently. Some prominent Swedish bands spawned during this second wave included Dissection and Marduk.

Black metal grossed $17 million in ticket sales in North America in 2016

The Origins of Heavy Metal Music

Heavy metal is a type of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms, amplified distorted guitars, and strong vocal melodies.

The First Heavy Metal Bands

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of rock bands began to experiment with sounds and styles that would eventually come to be known as heavy metal. These bands were influenced by the hard-edged, blues-based rock of bands such as Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, as well as by the more experimental music of bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

Among the earliest heavy metal bands were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. These bands developed a sound that was characterized by high levels of volume, distortion, and aggression. They also often employed occult and Satanic imagery in their lyrics and stage shows.

In the early 1970s, British band Judas Priest helped to solidify the heavy metal sound with albums such as Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin. The band would go on to influence a number of subsequent heavy metal acts.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new wave of British heavy metal bands emerged, including Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Saxon, and Def Leppard. These bands expanded on the sound pioneered by earlier groups, adding elements of speed and technical proficiency to create a more aggressive style of music.

American bands such as Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Exodus were also instrumental in developing the thrash metal subgenre in the 1980s. Thrash metal is characterized by its fast tempos, aggressive guitar work, and often violent lyrics.

Today, heavy metal remains one of the most popular forms of rock music. It has continued to evolve and splinter into subgenres such as black metal, death metal, power metal, doom metal, folk metal, gothic metal, groove metal, symphonic metal, sludge metal, progressive metal

The First Heavy Metal Albums

It’s often said that the first true heavy metal album was Black Sabbath’s self-titled 1970 release, but there were other contenders for the title in the early 1970s. Albums like Deep Purple’s In Rock (1970) and Led Zeppelin’s IV (1971) are also often cited as being among the first metal albums. There is no definitive answer, but what is certain is that these albums laid the groundwork for the genre that would come to be known as heavy metal.

Black Sabbath’s sound was characterized by slow, heavily-distorted guitar riffs and dark lyrics delivered in Ozzy Osbourne’s distinctive growl. This combination of elements would become one of the key ingredients of heavy metal music. Deep Purple also featured heavily-distorted guitars, but their sound was more energetic and upbeat than Black Sabbath’s. Led Zeppelin took a different approach, blending elements of blues and folk with hard rock to create a sound that was both heavier and more bombastic than anything that had come before.

All of these bands would go on to have hugely successful careers, and their early albums would inspire a new generation of metal musicians. In the 1980s, bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer would take the genre to new heights with their own groundbreaking albums. Heavy metal had arrived, and it was here to stay.

The Evolution of Heavy Metal Music

Heavy metal music has come a long way since it first started in the 1970s. Originally, the genre was known for its loud, fast-paced, and aggressive sound. However, over the years, it has evolved to include a wide range of styles. Today, there are many different subgenres of heavy metal music, each with its own unique sound.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a movement that started in the late 1970s and gained momentum in the early 1980s. It was a reaction to the morepub rock and disco-influenced sounds that were popular at the time, and it rejuvenated the heavy metal genre. Bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Judas Priest led the way, and their success paved the way for other bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. The NWOBHM had a major impact on metal music overall, and its influence can still be heard today.

The American Heavy Metal Scene

American Heavy Metal is a subgenre of Heavy Metal music that originated in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is typically characterized by its aggressive sound and lyrical themes.

The American Heavy Metal scene was largely influenced by British bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, as well as American bands such as Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad. The genre began to take shape in the early 1970s with bands like Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Aerosmith. In the 1980s, the genre exploded in popularity with bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. The 1990s saw the rise of nu-metal bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit, as well as the return of more traditional heavy metal with bands like Pantera and Metallica.

Heavy metal music has been accused of promoting violence, Satanism, and other controversial topics. However, many fans of the genre argue that it is simply a form of entertainment that should not be taken too seriously.

The Future of Heavy Metal Music

Heavy metal music has been around for decades and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Some people think that it’s a dying genre, but I believe that it’s just evolving. There are so many subgenres of metal now that there’s something for everyone. I think the future of metal is bright and I can’t wait to see what new bands emerge.

The New Generation of Heavy Metal Bands

There is a new generation of heavy metal bands that are bringing the genre back to its roots. These bands are heavier, faster, and more aggressive than the metal bands of the past few years. They are also more technical, and their songs are more complex.

The new generation of metal bands includes such bands as Evil Scarecrow, Cyborg Octopus, Foeturism, and Dyscarnate. These bands are all signed to independent record labels, and they are all releasing albums that are getting great reviews.

The future of heavy metal music is in good hands with these new bands. They are bringing something fresh and exciting to the genre, and they are sure to win over a new generation of fans.