List of heavy metal genres

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A number of overlapping heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal music in the late 1960s. Please note that these definitions are often quite arbitrary. While some fans have firm notions of what defines genres and sub-genres -- and which performers best exemplify those styles -- others reject such notions as useless or even worse as limiting.

• Black Metal -- Considered to be the most extreme sub-genre of metal. The genre has its origins in early thrash/speed metal and is often (but not always) characterized by Satanic or occult lyrical themes, usually 'screamed' out rather than sung. Venom and Bathory are credited with pioneering the genre. Other notable black metal artists include Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon and Mayhem. There are also further sub-categories such as National Socialist Black Metal and Tolkien Metal.

• Celtic Metal is a fusion between Celtic music and Metal, usually Black Metal. Artists include Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander.

• Classic Metal -- Characterized by thumping fast bass lines, fast, but less heavy and more melodic riffs, extended lead guitar solos, high pitched vocals and anthemic choruses, this genre evolved from NWOBHM and boomed in the early to mid 1980s. Artists include Iron Maiden, Saxon, Dokken, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Europe and others.

• Dark metal -- A style combining Black, Death, Doom Metal and other forms of extreme metal, bands of this genre rely (as the name might suggest) on a dark atmosphere with synths, occassional female vocals and/or folk elements that don't quite fall in the category of similar underground metal subgenres. Artists include Rotting Christ, Bethlehem, Crematory, early Tiamat and early The Gathering

• Death Metal -- An extreme style of metal with low-pitched guitars and growling, often incomprehensible vocals. Lyrical themes of early death metal often centered around gore horror (hence the term), although the genre has since diversified. Examples include Bolt Thrower, Mortification, Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide and Entombed. Also see Melodic death metal.

• Doom Metal -- Inspired largely by the lumbering dirges and stoned, paranoid darkness of Black Sabbath or Carl Orff, and one of the very few heavy metal sub-genres to prize feel and mood more than flashy technique, doom metal bands include Candlemass, My Dying Bride, Cathedral and Anathema.

• Folk Metal -- Folk Metal incorporates folk music instruments or themes. Skyclad is probably the most known band in this genre. See also: Finntroll, Korpiklaani and Skyforger.

• Glam metal -- Glam Metal is the genre where musicians wear make-up, which is meant to shock people or to scare people. Unlike Hair metal, it is not meant to look pretty. The music consists of traditional or classic metal and very few ballads, if any. Mostly, the influences on these bands consist of Classic metal bands like Judas Priest, Twisted Sister or traditional metal like Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper or KISS. Bands include Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Slaughter, Cinderella and W.A.S.P.

• Gothic Metal - A fusion of the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal, finding the middle ground between the two styles in a melodramatic sense of theater and lyrical obsessions with religion and horror. Bands include Theatre of Tragedy, Paradise Lost, Lacrimosa, Tristania and Type O Negative.

• Grindcore -- Influenced by thrash metal, and also hardcore and punk, that takes its name from the "grinding" sound made by the atonal riffs 'grinding' into one another. The style is characterized by a vocal style similar to death metal, rapid fire "blast beats" from double-kick drums and short songs. Exponents of the genre include Napalm Death (regarded as pioneers of the style), early Carcass and Extreme Noise Terror. There are grindcore bands that are more hardcore than metal, but most bands today are heavily influenced by death metal.

• Groove metal -- A derivative of thrash metal incorporating closed mid-placed thrash riffs, overt drumming, groovish styling, and occasional clean vocals. Artists of this genre include Pantera and Machine Head.

• Melodic Death Metal -- An offshoot of death metal, featuring melodic guitar riffs (sometimes acoustic), and in some examples occasional 'clean' singing. Death and Morbid Angel are primary influences of the genre, which has been developed further by predominately Swedish bands such as At The Gates, Opeth, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.

• Neo-Classical Metal -- incorporates elements or melodies from classical music, especially works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Niccolo Paganini. Yngwie J. Malmsteen is a known proponent of this branch of metal. Classical elements being used in heavy metal and hard rock dates back to Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Eddie Van Halen's innovations in the late 1970s.

• New Wave of British Heavy Metal -- Often abbreviated as NWOBHM, the term is used to describe British heavy metal artists that emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the wake of the 'original wave' of British traditional metal artists. NWOBHM was hugely popular and is influential to virtually all sub-genres of heavy metal since. Major artists included Iron Maiden, early Def Leppard, Saxon and Diamond Head.

• Power Metal -- Features fantasy or science fiction themes, and it is often characterized by falsetto vocals. The most famous bands include Helloween, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, and Hammerfall, all of them continental European, and Jag Panzer and Iced Earth coming from the U.S.

• Progressive Metal combines elements of progressive rock and heavy metal. See Dream Theater, Symphony X, Opeth, and Pain of Salvation.

• Speed Metal -- Features fantasy or science fiction themes, and it is often characterized by falsetto vocals. Speed metal has its origins in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with bands such as Iron Maiden, Raven, Venom and Judas Priest often combining heavy metal with the speed of punk rock. Speed Metal is very conformable to Power Metal. Speed Metal bands are, as a rule, Power Metal bands, for example: Blind Guardian, Primal Fear or Helloween.

• Stoner Metal -- Also referred to as stoner rock, it overlaps with doom metal, and features heavy, sometimes slow, sluggish, and distorted riffs and the obvious influence of psychedelic music and more importantly the 1970s fuzz-distorted metal of Black Sabbath and Budgie. Exponents of the genre include Cathedral, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Nebula, Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet.

• Thrash Metal -- incorporated hardcore punk's speed with traditional metal. Slayer!, Overkill and early Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth. As is true for many of the terms in this list, the moniker "thrash metal" was not always embraced by its supposed representatives; early on, Metallica referred to themselves as "power metal" (conflicting with the above definition of this term). Conversely, many more or less obscure bands, like Kreator, came up with equally obscure classifications for themselves, such as hate metal. Such labels were often soon forgotten or reused for something else.

• Traditional Metal -- The original wave of British heavy metal artists such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Deep Purple.

• Viking Metal -- Unlike what most people think, this is not just metal with Norse-themed lyrics. Instead, this is a fusion between old Nordic folk music and Metal. The lyrics are usually about Vikings, but it is not mandatory. The genre is pioneered by Bathory. Other bands worth noticing are Thyrfing, Enslaved and Falkenbach.

Other metal genres

These genres are not generally acknowledged as metal genres.

• Alternative Metal -- A term used to describe styles of metal which are considered to be unique or experimental. Faith No More are a prime example of the genre, along with ex-frontman Mike Patton's side projects Fantômas and Tomahawk.

• Party metal -- Also referred to as Pop metal, it features lyrics celebrating drinking, rock or metal music, sex, and related topics. The style often overlaps hair metal, classic metal and hard rock. Notable artists include Van Halen, Queen, KISS, Quiet Riot, some Twisted Sister("I Wanna Rock"), and some Judas Priest ("Living After Midnight", "Heading Out To The Highway," "Hot Rockin")

• Blues rock -- Most important early heavy metal performers were rooted solidly in blues rock: Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin.

• Christian Metal -- This category can be any style of metal featuring explicitly Christian lyrics or themes; also called White Metal. Examples include Stryper, Paramaecium and Mortification

• Comedy metal -- Not really a metal sub-genre. Features pronounced humor and comedy. Comedy metal may have been unwittingly created by the film This Is Spinal Tap in the mid 1980s. Besides Spinal Tap, other comedians parodying metal have included UK project Bad News (featuring comedians from The Young Ones) and US comedian Bob Rivers. Comedy metal has also been created by metal musicians themselves, with some achieving commercial success (most notably Green Jelly and Scatterbrain). Comedy metal can be varied in humor, from being blatantly offensive and politically incorrect (such as Anal Cunt and Pungent Stench), to more middle of the road humor (such as Canadian band Zimmer's Hole and GWAR)

• Epic Metal -- Related to (or synonymous with) Battle metal, Epic Metal incorporates high fantasy and related elements. Examples of epic metal include Manowar, Virgin Steele, Cirith Ungol, Omen, Medieval Steel, Bathory, DoomSword. Not a specific genre but a broader definition of some more melodic or atmospheric styles of metal.

• Extreme metal -- Not a specific genre but a broader definition of some heavier and aggressive styles of metal including black metal, death metal, doom metal, dark metal grindcore, and thrash metal.

• Grunge Metal -- Sometimes seen as distinct from grunge itself, although combining elements of both grunge and metal. Prominent grunge metal acts include Alice In Chains and King's X.

• Hair Metal -- was a commercially popular style of metal in the 1980s, although its origins go back to the 1970s starting with KISS & Judas Priest. It differs from Glam metal in a way that the make-up is meant to look pretty and not to scare people. Also, the music is less aggressive and more onus is on power ballads. Bands include Warrant, Poison, Greg Howe, Vixen, and Winger.

• Hard rock -- A progression from blues rock and early psychedelia and a precursor to heavy metal. It was pioneered in the mid to late 1960s by artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf, with British bands such as Led Zeppelin, Cream and Free developing it further. It is hard to distinguish hard rock from early heavy metal, some artists such as Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Queen and AC/DC fall into both styles.

• Industrial Metal -- features elements of dance music, techno, and heavy, distorted guitars. Synthesizers and drum machines are heavily used in this sub-genre. This style was created by Godflesh. Well known industrial metal acts include Samael, White Zombie, Fear Factory and The Kovenant.

• Metalcore -- This style is a fusion between hardcore and thrash Metal. Notable metalcore artists include Shadows Fall, Unearth, All Out War and Killswitch Engage.

• Nu Metal -- Features a pronounced hip hop influence, and guitar technique is often different from "traditional metal". Some argue nu-metal is a misnomer, stating the genre has very little to do with heavy metal. See Korn, Papa Roach, Staind, Tool, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Orgy, Drowning Pool, and Limp Bizkit.

• Tech Metal -- characterized by a show of skill, changeable, sometimes jazz-like time signatures and drumming patterns, and often dissonant or atonal guitar riffs. Death metal and grind-core elements are often found in tech metal. One good example being the German band Necrophagist or the tech pioneers Watchtower.

• True Metal -- This term was coined back in the 1980s by U.S. band Manowar but came into wider use in the 1990s when genres such as alternative metal and nu metal began to emerge to distinguish more "traditional" styles such as power metal.