The Heavy Metal Music Wiki
Contents
Looking for information on heavy metal music? Check out The Heavy Metal Music Wiki for everything you need to know about this genre of music!
Introduction
Welcome to the Heavy Metal Music Wiki, a collaborative encyclopedia about everything heavy metal music-related.
Since its inception in 2006, this site has been growing steadily, and now contains over 4,000 articles. We are always looking for new contributors, so if you like metal music and would like to help us out, please create an account and start editing!
There is a lot of information on this site that still needs to be added, so if you can think of anything that should be included, please don’t hesitate to create a new page or edit an existing one.
And finally, if you need any help, feel free to leave a message on theFAQ page.
What is Heavy Metal Music?
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.
The Origins of 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.
In 1970, four key British bands released debut albums that are now seen as seminal works in the development of heavy metal: Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut, Deep Purple’s In Rock, and Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut. These albums showcased contrasting proto-metal styles: Sabbath emphasized blues-influenced riffs with morbid lyrics; Led Zeppelin created anthemic hard rock with swirling unions between guitar and vocals; Deep Purple employed distorted guitars played over bluesy riffing; and Maiden featured dueling lead guitars with operatic vocals set against a backdrop of fast tempos and powerful riffing. Although all these bands came from different regions of the UK (Sabbath from Birmingham, Led Zeppelin from London, Deep Purple from Hertfordshire, Maiden from Essex), they were united by their embrace of Marshall amplification to achieve sonic heaviness. Each band also built up a loyal regional following among working class youths before achieving mainstream success.
The Development of Heavy Metal
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom. 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 1970, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid popularized the use of distorted guitar power chords to create a heavy sound. Thus,Heavy metal music is typically based on riffs created with three main rhythmic patterns: crackling snare drums played with straight eighth notes (generally 150 beats per minute), distorted guitars played with palm-muting power chords often Africa beat rhythm (85–110), and basslines played with staccato eighth notes (70–100). Heavy metal subgenres variously emphasize , partying, brooding or dark themes. Some progressive metal bands have incorporated classical music influences and instrumentation such as pianos.
The Elements of Heavy Metal Music
There are generally agreed-upon elements of what makes music qualify as “heavy metal.” These include heavily distorted and amplified guitars, screamed or growled vocals, and extremely fast tempos. Additionally, the songs often have dark and aggressive lyrics, as well as instrumentation that is meant to be shocking and offensive.
The Instruments of Heavy Metal
The instruments used in heavy metal music are electric guitars, electric bass, drums, and vocals. Metal musicians have traditionally been very interested in using new technologies to enhance their music. As a result, metal has been one of the most revolutionary genres of music in terms of its use of technology.
Guitars: Heavy metal guitarists use a lot of distortion to create a “heavy” sound. This can be done by using a distorted amp setting, or by using pedals that add distortion to the sound. Many metal guitarists also use down-tuning to create a heavier sound. This means that they tune their guitars to lower pitches than standard tuning.
Bass: The bassist in a metal band often uses similar techniques as the guitarist to create a heavy sound. They may also use down-tuning to create a deeper sound.
Drums: The drummer in a metal band usually uses a double bass drum pedal to create a very fast, pounding beat. Metal drums often have high-tech features such as triggers (devices that make the drums sound different when they are hit) and sampling (which allows the drummer to play pre-recorded sounds).
Vocals: Heavy metal vocalists usually sing in a very aggressive style. They may also use techniques such as growling and screaming to create a more intense sound.
The Sound of Heavy Metal
The sound of heavy metal is often characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and vocal styles. The typical heavy metal guitar sound uses high-gain amplifier settings with distortion to create a “thick” or “heavy” guitar tone. As with traditional blues-influenced hard rock, the sounds are often blues based.
The sound of heavy metal is created by applying various effects to the basic sounds of the electric guitar and bass. These include but are not limited to: distortion (overdrive, fuzz), feedback, wah-wah, phasers, flangers, chorus, delay and reverb. All of these effects are applied using either stomp boxes plugged into the guitar/bass or by using signal processors such as rackmount units.
Bassists use a variety of techniques to achieve their desired sound. These include but are not limited to: picking style (finger or pick), slapping , popping , tapping , thumping , growling and harmonics .
Vocals in heavy metal music are typically much louder and clearer than in other rock genres; however, some subgenres such as black metal or death metal will use throat-shredding vocals which sound almost like a cross between animal grunting and a machine gun .
The Culture of Heavy Metal Music
Metalheads, as they are commonly known, are a group of music fans who listen to the heavy metal genre of music. They are usually united by their love of the music, fashion and lifestyle. The culture of metalheads is one that is often misunderstood by the mainstream.
The Fans of Heavy Metal
Heavy metal fans go by a number of different names, including metalheads, headbangers, and moshers. Metal fans are typically characterized as being passionate about the music, dressing in a certain style, and attending concerts.
Despite the negative stereotypes often associated with heavy metal fans, research has shown that they are generally well-adjusted and have higher self-esteem than non-fans. They also tend to be more open-minded and tolerant of others than people who don’t like metal.
So, if you’re a fan of heavy metal music, don’t be afraid to show it!
The Bands of Heavy Metal
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom. 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 lyrical themes often revolve around topics such as violence, sex, religion, and/or love.
There are many bands considered to be pioneers of heavy metal. These include Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Cream, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Motorhead, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax.
The Future of Heavy Metal Music
With a decade already under its belt, the 21st century has seen heavy metal music continue to evolve and grow. Newer bands are influenced by the sounds of the older bands, but they are also bringing their own sounds and ideas to the genre. This has led to the genre becoming more diverse than ever before. So, what does the future hold for heavy metal music?
The Evolution of Heavy Metal
The evolution of heavy metal music has been a long and winding journey, from the early days of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to the modern era of metalcore and djent. The genre has constantly been in flux, with new subgenres and styles emerging all the time. And as metal continues to evolve, it’s hard to predict where it will go next.
One thing is for sure, though: heavy metal is here to stay. For over 50 years now, metal has been one of the most popular genres of music in the world, and it shows no signs of slowing down. So whatever the future holds for heavy metal, one thing is certain: it’s going to be loud!
The End of Heavy Metal?
Heavy metal music has been around for over 50 years, and in that time it has undergone many changes. In the early days it was all about loud, fast guitars and simple songs about sex, drugs and rock & roll. As the years went on, more complex song structures and arrangements became common, and lyrical themes began to expand to include social commentary, fantasy and science fiction, and personal struggles.
In recent years, heavy metal has continued to evolve, with some bands moving away from traditional instrumentation and structures in favor of more experimental sounds and concepts. Some believe that this indicates a decline in the popularity of heavy metal music, while others believe that it is simply a natural evolution of the genre.
Time will tell whether heavy metal music will continue to be popular or whether it will fade away into obscurity. In the meantime, fans can enjoy the wide variety of sounds and styles that the genre has to offer.
