A History of Heavy Metal Music

The history of heavy metal music is one of rebellion and excess. From its early beginnings in the 1960s, to its heyday in the 1980s, to its current incarnation, heavy metal has always been about pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable.

Whether it’s the aggressive sound of the music, the explicit lyrics, or the outrageous stage shows, heavy metal has always been about excess. And that is what has made it so popular with its fans.

Origins of Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Originally, the term referred to a specific type of rock music played by a number of bands, including Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. In the 1980s, the term was expanded to include other styles of music, including glam metal, thrash metal, and death metal.

Hard Rock Origins

The origins of heavy metal can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, with bands such as Black Sabbath, Cream, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin creating a distinctly heavier sound that would become the blueprint for the genre. These early pioneers would lay the foundations for what would become known as hard rock, a subgenre of rock music that is characterized by a heavy sound and aggressive lyrics.

While hard rock would go on to become its own distinct genre, it would also give birth to heavy metal in the 1970s. Bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden would take the hard rock sound and infuse it with faster tempos, more distorted guitars, and harsher vocals. This new sound would come to be known as heavy metal, and it would quickly gain a dedicated following throughout the world.

Today, heavy metal is one of the most popular genres of music, with countless bands continuing to push the boundaries of the genre. From its early days as a niche subgenre of rock music to its current status as a global phenomenon, heavy metal has come a long way in its 50-year history.

Proto-metal and early metal

Proto-metal and early metal
The origins of heavy metal can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a number of bands created a loud, distorted sound that was heavier than what had come before. These bands – which included Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin – became known as proto-metal or early metal. They laid the foundation for the development of heavy metal as a distinct genre.

While there are earlier examples of heavy music, such as the work of composer Gustav Mahler and the Rolling Stones’ 1964 album The Rolling Stones Now!, it was not until the release of Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album in 1970 that heavy metal began to take shape as a distinct genre. This album featured dark, ominous songs with doom-laden lyrics, which set it apart from the music of the time. It also featured extended guitar solos and heavily distorted sounds, which would become hallmarks of the genre.

In the years that followed, other bands began to experiment with similar sounds and styles, helping to pioneer theheavy metal genre. Deep Purple’s 1972 album Machine Head is often cited as an important early metal record, due to its use of distortion and its influence on subsequent bands. Led Zeppelin’s 1973 album Houses of the Holy also made use of distorted guitars and featured a number of classic metal songs, such as “The Song Remains the Same” and “No Quarter”.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) was a musical movement that started in the late 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. It was a reaction to the declining state of heavy metal music in the UK. Many of the bands that arose during this time went on to influence the development of metalcore, death metal, and thrash metal.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) was a musical movement that started in the late 1970s and peaked in popularity in the early 1980s. It fuses elements of hard rock and heavy metal, and is seen as a precursor to, or one of the earliest precursors of, thrash metal and speed metal. The NWOBHM began as an underground phenomenon growing in parallel to punk rock. It was only in the late 1970s, however, that it began to receive widespread attention in the music press with bands such as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motörhead. These bands were often stylistically similar to earlier hard rock bands such as Deep Purple, but with a heavier sound and more aggressive guitar work.

The American Heavy Metal Scene

The American heavy metal scene was largely influenced by the British scene, but there were some key differences. American bands tended to be more musically diverse, incorporating elements of hard rock, thrash metal, and punk rock into their sound. They also tended to be more politically and socially minded than their British counterparts, addressing issues like racism, homophobia, and injustice in their lyrics.

Some of the most influential American heavy metal bands of the 1980s and 1990s include Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera, and Alice in Chains. These bands helped to define the sound and style of American heavy metal and inspired countless other bands to form in their wake.

Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrash metal is characterized by its aggressive, fast-paced sound and its reliance on guitars. Often, thrash metal songs are about topics such as warfare, violence, and other aspects of the human condition.

The Big Four

The Big Four is a term used to refer to the four most influential and commercially successful thrash metal bands from the 1980s: Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer. These bands helped shape the sound and style of thrash metal and are often credited with helping to popularize the genre.

The term “The Big Four” was first coined by Kerrang! magazine in a 1988 cover story on Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. The four bands had a strong influence on each other’s careers;Anthrax and Megadeth were particularly close, with members often guesting on each other’s albums and tours. Metallica also had a close relationship with Slayer, as both bands were founded by guitarists Lars Ulrich and Jeff Hanneman.

Other notable Thrash Metal bands

Other notable Thrash Metal bands include:

-Anthrax
-Exodus
-Overkill
-Sodom
-Testament
– Destruction
-Kreator
-Forbidden

Death Metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes. Death metal developed in the 1980s.

Early Death Metal

Death metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that emerged in the late 1980s. It is characterized by its brutal, aggressive sound and dark, often gory lyrics.

The genre was pioneered by a few bands, including Possessed, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and Morbid Angel. These bands were influenced by earlier heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, as well as speed metal bands like Venom and Motörhead.

Death metal is typically played with down-tuned guitars, blast beat drumming, and guttural vocals. The lyrics often deal with themes of death, violence, and the occult.

The earliest death metal bands were mostly based in the United States, but the genre quickly spread to other countries such as Sweden (with bands such as Entombed and Dismember) and Brazil (with bands such as Sepultura and Sarcofago).

In the 1990s, death metal experienced a major surge in popularity, with bands such as Death, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and Obituary achieving mainstream success. The genre has continued to be popular in the 21st century with newer bands such as Behemoth, Thy Art Is Murder, Gojira, and Avenged Sevenfold.

Deathcore

Deathcore is an extreme metal fusion genre that combines the characteristics of death metal and metalcore and sometimes hardcore punk. It makes use of death metal riffs and blast beats, as well as metalcore breakdowns. Vocals in deathcore are typically gruff, growled, or screamed.

Deathcore gained most prominence within the metal underground community in the early 2000s. Many bands signed to local independent record labels and gave rise to a underground scene. By the mid-2000s, several deathcore bands had been signed to major record labels. In recent years, the genre has continued to grow in popularity.

Some notable deathcore bands include Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Despised Icon, Thy Art is Murder, The Faceless, Oceano, Job for a Cowboy, Fallujah, and Lorna Shore.

Doom Metal

Doom metal is a genre of heavy metal that developed in the late 1980s. Early doom metal was influenced by Black Sabbath, while later doom metal was influenced by death metal. Doom metal typically features slow tempos, down-tuned guitars, and a heavy, atmospheric sound.

Funeral Doom

Funeral doom is a subgenre of heavy metal music that emerged in the early 1990s. It is characterized by slow tempos, dark atmospheric soundscapes, and mournful vocals. Funeral doom is sometimes described as a cross between death-doom and funeral dirge music.

The genre is named for its somber tone and slow, droning rhythms, which are meant to evoke a sense of mourning and despair. Funeral doom bands often use baritones and growls to create a sense of heaviness, and the lyrics often deal with themes of death, loss, and human suffering.

Funeral doom began to take shape in the early 1990s with the release of several seminal albums, including Thergothon’s Stream from the Heavens (1992), Skepticism’s Stormcrowfleet (1995), and Evoken’s Embrace the Emptiness (1996). Since then, the genre has continued to evolve and diversify, with bands incorporating elements of drone metal, black metal, sludge metal, and even dark ambient music into their sound.

Today, funeral doom is widely considered to be one of the most extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. If you’re looking for something truly dark and depressing, this is the style for you.

Sludge Metal

Sludge metal is a metal music subgenre that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It’s characterized by slow tempos, low-tuned guitars, and a “thick”, “heavy” overall sound. Oftentimes, …

Black Metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that often features fast tempos, growled vocals, high-pitched guitar riffs, and synthesizers. It emerged in the early 1980s in Europe. Black metal typically uses minor keys or atonality, and its lyrics often focus on Satanism, anti-Christianity, and the apocalypse.

Second Wave Black Metal

The Second Wave of Black Metal is marked by its abundance of Norwegian bands. By the early 1990s, Norway had become something of a hotbed for black metal, with Bergen and Oslo playing host to a number of influential bands and musicians. One of the most important aspects of the Second Wave was the emergence of Vikernes and his one-man project, Burzum. Vikernes’ ambient and atmospheric music differed greatly from the rawer sound favored by most black metal bands at the time, setting him apart as a highly innovative musician within the genre. In addition to Burzum, other notable Norwegian black metal bands from this era include Emperor, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, and Immortal.

Post-Black Metal

In the early 2000s, a new wave of black metal bands began to emerge. These bands were influenced by the second wave of black metal bands, but they also added new elements to the music. This new wave of black metal is sometimes called post-black metal.

Some of the most popular post-black metal bands include Alcest, Deafheaven, and Bosse-de-Nage. These bands often experiment with different sounds and styles, which makes their music more interesting and complex.

Post-black metal is a very exciting and innovative genre, and it’s one of the most interesting things happening in heavy metal music today. If you’re a fan of black metal, or just heavy metal in general, you should definitely check out some of these bands.

Heavy Metal in the 21st Century

Heavy metal music has come a long way since its early beginnings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The genre has evolved and changed considerably over the years, but one thing has remained the same: the passion and intensity that fans and musicians feel for the music. In the 21st century, heavy metal is as popular as ever, with new bands and styles constantly emerging.

Metalcore

In the early 21st century, a new type of heavy metal music known as “metalcore” began to rise in popularity. Metalcore is a mix of traditional heavy metal and hardcore punk, and it is characterized by its aggressive sound and use of screamed vocals. Some well-known metalcore bands include Bring Me the Horizon, Killswitch Engage, and Avenged Sevenfold.

Nu-metal

Nu-metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that emerged in the late 1990s. It is characterized by a fusion of heavy metal with elements of other genres, such as hip hop, alternative rock, and grunge.

Nu-metal bands have been criticized for their focus on image and style over substance, as well as for their often-negative lyrical themes. However, the genre has also been praised for its innovation and success in crossing over into the mainstream.

Some of the most successful and well-known nu-metal bands include Korn, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Slipknot, Papa Roach, and Limp Bizkit.

Djent

Djent (/dʒɛnt/) is a style of heavy metal music characterized by highly technical, palm-muted guitar work, polyrhythmic beats and extreme low-end tones. It was developed in the early 2000s as a subgenre of progressive metal by bands such as Meshuggah, SikTh, and TEXTURES. Djent became popularized as a descriptor in the late 2000s and early 2010s by fans of these bands on forums such as Ultimate Guitar, and has since been used to describe the music of other similarly-minded groups.

Djent is typically characterized by heavily distorted, palm-muted guitar chords played in syncopated, staccato rhythms with low-pitch “growled” or “screamed” vocals. The style is often described as being “busy”, “complex”, and “math metal”. Djent songs are often long and epic in structure, with multiple changes in time signature and tempo throughout.

While djent began as a subgenre of progressive metal, indie rock and pop artist began to adopt the style in the mid-2010s. In 2016, American singer-songwriter Jon Bellion released his album The Human Condition which featured elements of djent in the song “He Is the Same”. The popularity of djent amongst mainstream audiences was further bolstered in 2017 when American nu metal band Linkin Park released their seventh album One More Light which featured the djent-inspired song “Heavy”.