The Different Types of Heavy Metal Music

There are many different types of heavy metal music. This blog post will explore the different sub-genres and help you decide which one is right for you.

Introduction

Heavy metal music 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 those genres. The term “heavy metal” originally referred to a particularly loud, hard-rocking style of music; however, the genre has since diversified and now includes a wide range of subgenres.

What is Heavy Metal Music?

Heavy metal is a genre of rock 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. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

Hard Rock

Hard rock is a form of rock music that started in the 1960s. Hard rock bands typically have heavy guitars, drums, and lyrics. This type of music is sometimes considered aggressive or angry. Some examples of hard rock bands are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen.

Metalcore

Metalcore is a fusion genre of extreme metal and hardcore punk. Metalcore is characterized by heavy metal-influenced riffing, tight harmonies, and aggressive, fast tempos. Common characteristics include breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages that are conducive to moshing.

Heavy metal music has roots in hard rock, blues rock, and psychedelic rock. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax are all examples of metalcore bands.

Deathcore

Deathcore is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of death metal and metalcore. The style is typically characterized by growling vocals, breakdowns, and low, heavy guitars. deathcore bands often have lyrics that deal with topics such as death, violence, and despair.

Deathcore began to emerge in the early 2000s, with bands such as Despised Icon and Necrophagist leading the way. Other notable deathcore bands include Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, and Thy Art Is Murder. While deathcore has been met with some criticism from fans of other metal genres, it continues to be a popular style of heavy music.

Doom Metal

Doom metal is a style of heavy metal music that emphasizes its “heavy” aspects: slower tempos, downtuned guitars and a “thick” or ” sickly” sound. The first doom metal bands emerged in the early 1980s.

Pioneering bands include Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of influential doom metal bands arose, including Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema and Cathedral.

Doom metal is typically characterized by its slow tempo (usually around 50-60 bpm), its use of minor keys and its dark atmosphere. Lyrics often center on topics such as misery, despair, death and depression.

The music often features extended passages of Feedback-drenched guitar noise (or ” driftings”) and lengthy drum intros. Because of its emphasis on atmosphere, many doom metal songs lack traditional song structures such as verses, choruses and hooks.

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the early 1980s. It is characterized by slow tempos, low-tuned guitars and a “thick” or “sickly” sound. Lyrics are often based on topics such as misery, despair, death and depression.

The first doom metal bands emerged in the early 1980snamely Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General[1][2] with their pioneering albums released between 1984 and 1986.[3] In the late 1980s and early 1990s influential doom metal acts such as Paradise Lost,[4][5][6] My Dying Bride,[7][8] Anathema[9]and Cathedral[10][11] became mainstream successes with their fusion of gothic rock with heavymetal traditions.[12][13]

Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its high speed and aggressive musicianship. Thrash metal songs typically use fast, percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. The rhythms are often rooted in punk rock and other forms of hardcore music.

The lyrical subject matter often deals with social issues and criticism of The Establishment, using direct and denunciatory language, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk. The genre evolved in the early 1980s from combining earlier forms of metal with the intensity of punk rock. It often features fast tempos, low-register guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos and power chord changes. Thrash metal developed in response to the mainstream appeal of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the subsequent backlash against glam metal.

Thrash metal was an inspiration for subsequent extreme genres such as black metal and death metal. Thrash metal features fast tempos, low-register, heavy percussive guitars that often use palm muting to create a machine gun-like effect, overlayed with high-register guitar solos. The lyrics often deal with social issues or criticism of The Establishment utilizing direct and denunciatory language – an approach borrowed from Hardcore Punk.

Where Did Heavy Metal Music Come From?

Heavy metal music originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. These bands started a new style of music that was louder, faster, and heavier than anything that had come before. Over the next few years, other bands followed suit, creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as heavy metal.

Heavy metal was initially popular with young adults and teenage boys, but it soon began to appeal to a wider audience. By the 1980s, metal bands were topping the charts all over the world andmetal had become one of the most popular genres of music. Today, there are hundreds of different metal subgenres, each with its own unique sound and style.

The Different Types of Heavy Metal Music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has its roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, and its sound often features distorted guitars, bass guitar, drums, and vocals. There are many different subgenres of heavy metal, each with its own unique sound and style.

Hard Rock

Hard Rock is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. Hard rock is a heavier and louder version of rock music. The electric guitar is typically played with distortion, which gives it a “heavy” sound. Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, Queen, Boston, Van Halen and Judas Priest.

Metalcore

Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggressive sounds of hardcore punk with the melodic elements and musicianship of heavy metal. It first began to take shape in the early 1990s with bands like Earth Crisis and Integrity, and came to prominence in the 2000s with bands like Killswitch Engage, Once Nothing, Atreyu, Shadows Fall, Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine, Bring Me the Horizon and Parkway Drive.

Deathcore

Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre. It is a fusion genre that combines death metal with metalcore or hardcore punk. It typically features heavily distorted guitars, double bass drumming, blast beats, and vocals that are sometimes screamed or growled.

Deathcore bands often incorporate breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages that are meant to be inciting mosh pits. The genre is also known for its use of guttural vocals, which are low and growled.

Deathcore has its roots in death metal and metalcore. Early deathcore bands such as Hatebreed and Earth Crisis blended the sounds of these two genres together. Deathcore bands have also been influenced by hardcore punk, particularly Disembodied and Buried Alive.

Some of the most well-known deathcore bands include Carnifex, Despised Icon, Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, and Bleeding Through.

Doom Metal

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a heavier sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, whose pioneering work in the genre created a blueprint for musicians to follow.

Early doom metal bands such as Saint Vitus, Trouble and Witchfinder General were all influential in shaping the sound and style of the genre. In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of doom metal bands emerged from the underground music scene in Scandinavia, including Candlemass, Cathedral and My Dying Bride. Doom metal enjoyed something of a renaissance in the early 2000s, with a number of newer bands adopting a more traditional approach to the genre.

Doom metal is typically downtuned to C♯ or lower. Bands use electric guitars and bass guitars to create a heavy sound, often with down-tuned power chords or simply single notes played at low volume. Bassists often use standard or five-string basses to extend the low end of their range; some band also use octave pedals to drop the pitch of their bass lines even lower. Drummers usually use double kick drums, which allow them to maintain a constant rhythm while playing at extremely slow tempos.

Doom metal songs are typified by slow speeds (60 beats per minute (BPM) or less is typical), heavy guitar distortion and often morbid or introspective lyrics dealing with themes such as death, despair and misery; some songs go so far as detailing funerary scenes or suicides. This heaviness is often offset by using acoustic guitars on some parts of songs (typically duringClean passages), which lend an additional feeling of despair by contrast. Another common feature is assigning different roles for clean and distorted guitars; for example, one guitar might play higher-pitched melody lines while another plays power chords lower down in the mix.

Vocals in doom metal are usually deep growls or high-pitched wails, sometimes screamed whining vocals reminiscent of black metal; female vocals are also not uncommon but are usually reserved for bands influenced by gothic rock such as Paradise Lost or Anathema. Some bands make use of clean vocals; however this is less common than in other extreme metal subgenres because it can interfere with the oppressiveness that is an important part of doom’s atmosphere. Lyrics cover topics such as depression, drug addiction, self-harm/suicide, war/nuclear disaster and apocalypse .

Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its fast tempo and overall aggression. Songs often use fast percussive beats, low-tuned guitars, and applaud along with shouted vocals. This subgenre evolved in the early 1980s from combining elements of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk.

The term “thrash metal” was first used when Kerrang! journalist Malcolm Dome described Anvil’s song “Metal on Metal” as “pure adrenaline-pumping thrash metal” in a review in March 1982. The term was later used by Loudness when their album Thunder in the East was released through Atco Records/Atlantic Records in America in May 1985, although they had been described as a power/speed metal band prior to this.

Conclusion

We hope that this guide has helped you to understand the different types of heavy metal music and the subgenres within the genre. While there is a lot of crossover between the subgenres, each one has its own unique sound and feel. Whether you’re a fan of old-school metal or you prefer the modern sound of deathcore, there’s a subgenre of metal that’s sure to appeal to you. So crank up the volume and headbang your way into the world of heavy metal!