Metal Genres: Guide to Newbies and the Misguided

[Severus]

IMPORTANT NOTE

This will deal with the main genres of Metal. Some bands are influentiated by MORE THAN ONE genre, and this makes them appear in various categorizations. (Examples: Black Sabbath, Amon Amarth, etc)
This is NOT a definitive genre list, but will help you discover the Metal realm and have a knowledge of the basics.

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal :
This genre started to arise in the mids of the 70's. With bands like Accept and Judas Priest. Then came the bands inspired by them, the England movement called NWOBHM exploded in 1980 (it really ranges from 1979 to 1983), as most of the bands date their first released LP.

Heavy Metal has a marked focus on harmonies and riffing, on a two guitars basis; with clean vocals that can easily reach the high pitch range.

Lyrics are too variated, and bands don't tend to gather in lyrical content groups, though they rather range from history, to metal as a way of life, to drugs.
Extras
-Pioneers: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Manilla Road, Accept
-Bands worth noticing: Wizard, Tank, Hellion, Slayer's "Show No Mercy"

Thrash Metal

Thrash Metal :
Thrash was founded around 1983 (Though demos date from 1981). This genre got a "big 4" which are the leading, most popular bands of the genre, though non of has made a thrash album for a long time. The big 4 consist on Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica.

Overkill was too one of the founding fathers of Thrash Metal and the band that since 1985 (their first release) stayed truer to their roots.

This genre is based on Hardcore Punk like Cro-Mags, and fast metal riffing, with pounding double bass and aggressive shouting (ex. Exodus) or grasping (ex. Kreator) vocals. The palm muting is also a cliched technique for thrash bands.

The thrash metal scene in the U.S. of A. was divided into the East Coast and the West Coast.
There were no real difference between the band sounds, but you've got more bands coming from the West (specialy San Francisco and Los Angeles) than from the East (New York).

From L.A. and San Francisco came bands like Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Forbidden, Testament and Exodus. The East Coast popularly only hosted Anthrax, Overkill and Nuclear Assault.

Though now, as those scenes practicaly decayed in the late 80's, beginning of the 90's. Thrash took a hold of Europe, specialy in Germany, where extremely popular thrash bands like Sodom, Tankard, Kreator, Destruction and more arose to give thrash a bit of a kickback.

Lyrics are normaly based on political views and societal complains.
The term Speed Metal came before Thrash Metal. It started when
Motorhead mixed the speed and rawness of Punk into their Heavy Metal sound. Later, the genre changed somewhat and a lot of bands used Hardcore Punk instead of standard Punk, but still mixed in with Heavy Metal. It's because of later Speed Metal bands that Speed and Thrash Metal got mixed up. Speed Metal however, has more melody and is closer in it's ties to Heavy Metal than Thrash is. (such as Grave Digger and Running Wild).

Extras :
-Pioneers : Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Sodom, Kreator, Overkill
-Bands worth noticing: Sabbat, Testament, Destruction, Metal Church, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Heathen

Speed Metal

Speed Metal :
Speed metal was formally introduced by Motorhead, who combined heavy metal riffs with the speed and rawness of punk in their songs. Later speed metal bands would take their cues from hardcore punk instead of standard punk, changing the style somewhat. Confusion between speed and thrash often arises as a result of this hardcore influence, though the difference is evident in speed metal's tighter adherence to the heavy metal style as well as it's larger emphasis on melody.

Extras :
-Pioneers : Motorhead
-Bands worth noticing: Exciter, Iron Angel, Paradox, early Running Wild and Helloween's first album are all good examples of Speed Metal

Power Metal

Power Metal :
Most popularly, Metal began in 1987 with Helloween's release of their first Keepers Of The Seven Keys. Actually Power Metal began a bit earlier, with the Denmark band Pretty Maids and their album Red, Hot and Heavy from 1984 (in which you can find the song Back To Back, which was covered by Hammerfall nearly a decade later).

Power draws influence from Heavy Metal (mainly, Iron Maiden), though it has evolved over the years into a genre which utilizes fast melodic songs, more often than not, flown in their way with keyboard notes. Vocals are extremely melodic and mostly high pitched, the guitars are used clean and riffs are not often their fort, they concentrate their energy on soloing and melody, the use of double bass is a must, except on the ballads (which are popular amongst most of the Power Metal bands).

Power Metal tends to be a very technical genre, and multi vocals choruses abound in the genre.

Lyrical themes are that of fantasy, love, life, kings, history, sex or happy things.

Bands which possess a too happy music and lyrics lacking powerful riffs and making up for it with keyboards are often determined as Flower Metal even if it's not an actual genre on it's own.

As stated before, Power Metal arose in Denmark (hand to hand with Pretty Maids) but it got massive in Germany, with Helloween.

Symphonical effects never got a big hype from bands in the genre, so it wasn't so prolific, but there is an Italian Power Metal band (Rhapsody), which uses them to the extent in which the music is practically led by it.

Some bands also, as in all genres, blend in different Metal genres to create innovative sounds (ex. Death Vocals(early)/(now) thrashy tones + Power Metal = Children Of Bodom).

Extras :
-Pioneers : Pretty Maids, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray
-Bands worth noticing: Dark Moore, Dragonforce, Lost Horizon, Nocturnal Rites, Sex Machineguns (from Japan), Rhapsody

Progressive Metal

Progressive Metal:
Prog Metal is a mix of basic Metal sound (such as distorted guitars and double bass, plus some elements of Power Metal on some bands) with the progressive rock of the 70's such as Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Rush.

The instruments are played on an extremely technical way and the music is always very produced to add the right amount of effects needed to result in what's desired.

Progressive Metal (as it's also named) was founded in mid 80's by
Queensryche and Fates Warning, though the genre style perfected during the 90's with help from Dream Theater.

Though to an extent it was 1989's "Perfect Symmetry" from Fates Warning which helped develop what would become Prog metal as a whole, and then what we know as prog metal today.

Dream Theater took what Fates Warning created back in that album and added layers and layers of intrinsic, complex guitar work, fast keyboards and opulent vocals. This constituted a very big step to Prog Metal.
This genre, by it's pretentions of animosity and showy musicianship probably has as many fervent detractors as fans.

Bands usualy tend to mix Power Metal with Prog to create a very interesting sound (Symphony X)

Lyrics tend to dwell with life, love, human being, philosophy, stories and such.

Note: Opeth are often mistaken for Death and/or Progressive Metal, even though they do not belong to either of these sub-genres, only utilize them in their sound at times

Extras :
-Pioneers: Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater
-Bands worth noticing: Shaaman, Spiral Architect, Power Of Omens, Pagan's Mind, Symphony X, Ayreon, Angra (everything but the last album), Vintersorg (Last two albums)

[Severus]

Death Metal

Death Metal :
Death Metal was created by Possessed when in 1985 released their first LP "Seven Churches", this genre took Thrash further, downtuned their guitars and gruntled the vocals (dyaphragma style), the drum work was the fastest double bass to that period of time, and the downtuned guitars played a well coordinated cacophony of riffs. The lyrics were based against religion and such, but Death's album "Scream Bloody Gore" from 1987 determined what Death Metal was really (lyricaly) about.

The US Florida scene bloomed in the late 80's leaded by Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death and Obituary, all released landmark albums as the previously mentioned, "Deicide" and "Legion" from Deicide in 1990 and 1992 and "Altars of Madness" by Morbid Angel in 1989.
"Slowly We Rot", "Cause Of Death" and "The End Complete" (from 1989, 1990 and 1992) from Obituary were also very important albums in the creation and stablishment of Death Metal and the Florida scene (which perished in the mid-late 90's).

Sweden took the Death Metal style to form what is now known as "Swedeath", "Gothenburg" or "Melodic Death Metal".
Bands like Dismember ("Like An Everflowing Stream", and "Indecent and Obscene" albums) and Entombed were the pioneers of this genre, followed by the British colaboration of Carcass' "Heartwork" album.
This innovation took Death Metal and added melodic solos (since most of them were, as previously noted, cacophonous. For an example see soloing in Morbid Angel), heavier and a bit slower sound.

Note : Opeth are often mistaken for Death and/or Progressive Metal, even though they do not belong to either of these sub-genres, only utilize them in their sound at times

The genre has "progressed" so much that most bands who are considered "melodic Death Metal" nowadays, do not utilize much Death Metal in their music and are much closer to Heavy Metal with harsh vocals.

Lyrics more often than not talk about Death, Gore, Murdering, Zombies, blood, anti christianity, and some takes on Man and Philosophy by the hand of Death (the band).

Extras :
-Pioneers : Possessed, Death, Obituary
-Bands worth noticing: Entombed, Dismember

Black Metal

Black Metal :
Black Metal started in 1982, as the Speed/Heavy Band Venom released their "Black Metal" album, a roughly produced, Motorhead influenced full of speed metal album which took simplistic lyrics of Death, Hell, Satan and sometimes plain drunk fun and made badly timed, simplistic riffing with agressive vocals. (gotta love it).

From that point, some bands emerged which were nowhere to be linked together except for their themes about Satan, anti christianity and fantasy tales regarding death, graveyards and stuff.
Bands like 1981's Mercyful Fate (Heavy Metal), specially with their release "Melissa" (1983) and "Don't Break The Oath" (1984); 1983's Bathory, featuring the infamous Quorthon (Ace Borje Fosberg), most specially with releases like "Bathory" (1984), and "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" (1987). And 1984's Celtic Frost, with their ever popular release "To Mega Therion" (1985) and their debut album "Morbid Tales" (1984).

The style these bands took was nowhere near similar, but it was all classed as Heavy Metal. They were later discussed as Black Metal because of the lyrical content explained above.

These bands gave influence to the creation of a new wave of Black Metal led by Mayhem (bandname based on Venom's "Mayhem With Mercy") and their 1987 E.P. "Deathcrush", in which they were markedly influenced by all the previous bands, taking the raw riffing from Celtic Frost and Venom, and the shrieking vocals and satanic messages of Bathory, to produce a minimalistic sound.
The Black Metal style of the "second wave" got standarized as fast picking, insanely fast tremolo riffing and blasting drumwork with satanic lyrics delivered in various styles of shrieks and growls.
Other Black Metal bands took a more symphonic stand on the process (Emperor and early Dimmu Borgir), to create a more accessible sound.

There existed in the early 90's an almost mafia like group of Black Metal bands formed by members in Emperor, Mayhem, Darkthrone and Immortal (all founding fathers of the second wave), which comited crimes against christianity such as the most infamous of these actings , the church burnings in Norway (where the 2nd wave originated). It is also known that one of the members of this organization murdered an homosexual man. Some of these bands standed on their own views of Nietzscheism, Satanism and Nazism.

Nicknames are also important on Black Metal, even if the trend was created jokingly by Venom, which on their album "Black Metal" holded the following lineup:

Chronos - Dynosaur Destroyer Bass & Vocals (Bass and Vocals)
Mantas - Chainsaw Guitar (Guitars)
Abaddon - 123 Inter-City Express (Drums)

The instrument name-calling was mainly adopted by Cradle Of Filth (arguably, a Gothic Metal band).

Many bands have taken black metal as a crossover style, to create different and innovative music (Thrash + Black = Destroyer 666) (Black + Folk = Finntroll) (Industrial/Electronic + Black Metal = ...And Oceans)

There is supposedly now a third wave of Black Metal, which holds a much more melodic style and have it's base in France, originated by Blut Aus Nord. And other bands like Ukraine's Nokturnal Mortum.

Extras :
-Pioneers of the First Wave: Venom, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Sodom (first album)

-Pioneers of the Second Wave: Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Burzum

-Bands worth noticing: Blut Aus Nord, Graveland, Absu, Nokturnal Mortum, Naglfar

Viking Metal

Viking Metal :
Viking metal evolved from Black Metal. A lot of people mistake Viking metal for any metal with lyrical themes about Viking or Fenno-Ugric mythology, Heathenism etc. However, this is a completely different musical style. Arrangements are usually more complex than the somewhat simple early black metal that originated in Norway in the early 1990s and Folk Metal is often mixed in, though it not a necessity by any means. The most important bands to the Viking Metal genre are Enslaved and midperiod Bathory and most noteworthy bands would be Moonsorrow, Wintersun and Ensiferum.

Extras :
-Pioneers: Bathory
-Bands worth noticing: Einherjer, Moonsorrow, Wintersun, Ensiferum, Enslaved

Doom Metal

Doom Metal :
Doom was originaly the first Metal subgenre to ever be put on a record, Black Sabbath self titled song (1970) is what I mean. Doom Metal features slow, evil riffs, lots of dark groove and bleak, sense of despair lyrics with depressive matters and deep vocals were what gave inspiration to bands like Candlemass and St. Vitus, the first full on Doom Metal bands.
The general feeling of doom is dark, and depressive (existing a subgenre of it called Funeral), singing about death, lost loves, mourning, ruin and tragedy.

There are mainly two ways that bands today play doom metal. Traditionaly in the vein of Candlemass and St. Vitus like the bands Solitude Aeternus and Doomsword, or bands which came out of the early 90's that combined some of the sense of despair and doom style with bits and pieces of Death metal vocals, such as My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost.
What was named as Funeral Doom, is lead by Pantheist, which holds the newer (death vocals) style and reduces the pace and rythm of the songs even more.

Extras :
-Pioneers: Black Sabbath, Candlemass, St. Vitus
-Bands worth noticing: Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Doomsword, Morgion

Goregrind / Grindcore

Goregrind / Grindcore:
Arguably (and with all right), Grindcore really belongs in the Punk realm, not really Metal. That's why we are going to concentrate on Goregrind, led specially by Carcass. This band took Death Metal and mixed it up with their Napalm Death influences for the album Sc** (1987) to create Reek Of Putrefaction (1988), an album that remains as the creator of Goregrind and one of the most influential (and variated inside this limiting style), it features relentless speed drumming and guitars with gutural and gnarly vocals that usually don't even go along the lyrics which treat subjects like explicit rape, dismembered guts, blood, death, blood, blood, murder, blood and sex.
Also worth noticing their Symphonies Of Sickness (1989) album.

Extras :
-Pioneers: Napalm Death, Carcass, Repulsion

-Bands worth noticing: Exhumed, Dying Fetus

[khekshial]

wow! great sharing severus!