Index of/ Music: Heavy Metal

If you’re a fan of heavy metal music, then you’ll want to check out this index of metal bands. You’ll find everything from classic metal to modern metal, so you can rock out to your favorite tunes.

Introduction

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. The genre’s lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

In 1969, the first nationally distributed heavy metal fanzine, Kick Out the Jams, was published.Metal developments in the 1970s included Judas Priest’s breakthrough British Steel (1980), which along with its 1978 touring teammate Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath),Saxon’s Wheels of Steel (1980) and British Lions’ self-titled debut (1978), broke new ground stylistically and established much of the musical grammar that would come to define heavy metal. Motörhead’s Snaggletooth Logo was an important influence on subsequent logos.Speed metal eventually evolved into thrash metal.

What is Heavy Metal?

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. The genre’s lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

Origins

The first heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, though they were often critically ridiculed. This negative reception was common throughout the 1970s, with bands such as Kiss and Scorpions.

In the 1980s, glam metal became a commercial force with bands such as Mötley Crüe and Warrant. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, while other extreme subgenres of metal such as death metal and black metal remain subcultural phenomena. Since the mid-1990s popular styles have further expanded the definition of the genre. These include groove metal (with bands such as Pantera) and nu metal (with groups such as Linkin Park), both of which have influenced heavy metal music in general.

Characteristics

While the term “heavy metal” can be used to describe any genre of rock music that has a strong guitar-driven sound, there are certain characteristics that are common to most heavy metal subgenres. These include fast tempos, distorted guitars, and aggressive or dark lyrics. Heavy metal artists often also use extended guitar solos and powerful vocal melodies.

Heavy Metal Subgenres

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has its roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, and often incorporates elements of punk rock and hard rock. Heavy metal is characterized by a thick, intense sound, characterized by distortion, extended guitar solos, and vocal styles that range from shouted to screamed.

Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. The songs usually employ fast percussive beats, low-register guitar riffs, and high-register soloing. The lyrics often deal with social issues and reproach for The Establishment, using direct and denunciatory language, an approach borrowed from Hardcore punk.

Thrash metal developed in the early 1980s, partly as a reaction to the more conventional and widely acceptable New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but it can be also seen as a descendant of earlier heavy metal such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Thrash metal features fast tempos, low-register guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos and double bass drumming.

The genre evolved in the early 1980s from combining elements of NWOBHM with speedcore punk influences like Motorhead,[5][6] Venom[7][8] and hardcore punk to create a new type of heavier music. Beaten to Death, Sodomized Black Goatsemen is considered the earliest recorded thrash song; it appeared on Steel Prophet’s 1992 album The Oath of the Goatsemen.[9][10]

Death Metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes. During the genre’s development, death metal lasted a relatively short time – between 1986 and 1992 – before evolving into a more commercialized form. Early death metal was an influential movement in extreme metal music.

Death metal tends to stress melody and thematic content over traditional “metal” riffing. Many older bands have downtuned their instruments to produce a heavier sound. Death metal recalling early black metal in its infamy for extremity, dissonance and inciting controversy as well as its use of Satanic imagery. Lyrical themes include occultism, demonology, blasphemy, suicide, death and decay.

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 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, Darkthrone and Gorgoroth. The early Norwegian black metal scene developed the style of their forebears into a distinct genre. Norwegian-inspired black metal scenes arose throughout Europe and North America, although some otherscenes developed their own styles independently. Some prominent Swedish bands spawned during this second wave were Marduk, Dissection and Edge of Sanity.

Early black metal was characterized by its moribund atmosphere[21] but later became more riff-oriented than its forebears. Certain pioneering venomous artists are credited with creating the template for black metal. Although possessing different characteristics from one another musically, these artists shared similar intents; all desired to antipathetically promote “evil”, “darkness” or “chaos”.

Notable Heavy Metal Bands

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band’s fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship placed them as one of the founding “big four” bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. Metallica’s current lineup comprises founding members Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine was a member of the band from 1984 to 2002. Bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.

Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer’s fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the founding “big four” bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Slayer’s current lineup comprises King, lead vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt. Hanneman and drummers Dave Lombardo and Jon Dette are former members of the band.

Slayer has released twelve studio albums, two live albums, a box set, six video albums, thirty-nine music videos, ten extended plays, forty-nine singles—including nineteen promotional singles—and fourteen retired live songs. Four of the band’s studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. As of 2018, Slayer has sold roughly 11 million records worldwide.(from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer)

Megadeth

Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. The group was formed in 1983 by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson, shortly after Mustaine’s dismissal from Metallica. A pioneer of the American thrash metal movement, the band is credited as one of the genre’s “big four” with Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer, responsible for its development and popularization. Megadeth’s signature musicianship and songwriting helped to spawn a number of spin-off bands including Garbage, Ignite,Testament, Soilworkand Dream Theater. Megadeth played a critical role in bringing metal back to a mainstream audience in the 1990s with platinum-selling albums Countdown to Extinction (1992) and Youthanasia (1994).

The band temporarily disbanded in 2002 when Mustaine suffered a severe nerve damage due to a broken vertebra in his neck which caused him to lose feeling in his left arm and left him unable to play guitar. After extensive physical therapy and rehabilitation, Mustaine regained the ability to play guitar and rejoined the band in 2004. Megadeth has released fifteen studio albums, two live albums, five compilation albums, one EP, forty-six singles, ten video albums and thirty-nine music videos. The group has received five Grammy Award nominations making them the only thrash metal band with Grammy recognition. They were nominated for Best Metal Performance for their songs “Symphony of Destruction” (1993), “À Tout le Monde” (1996), “Trust” (1998)and “Dystopia” (2016). In 2009 they were ranked No. 40 in Joel McIver’s book The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time. Ellefson is the only original member currently present in the lineup; drummer Dirk Verbeuren joined Megadeth on August 26th 2016 while Kiko Loureiro joined on October 6th 2015 as permanent replacement for guitarist Chris Broderick who was amicably dismissed earlier that year.

Conclusion

Though heavy metal saw a decline in popularity in the 1990s, the genre has experienced a resurgence in recent years. Thanks to bands like Metallica, Slipknot, and Slayer, heavy metal is once again at the forefront of the music world. If you’re a fan of heavy metal, be sure to check out our list of essential albums. And for more on the history of the genre, check out our article on the origins of heavy metal.