Types of Heavy Metal Bands

There are many types of heavy metal styles that have come out of the original heavy metal movement.  It can sometimes be difficult to tell differences, but the most noticeable difference are in tempo, vocal style, instrumentation, lyrics, drumming style and guitar playing style.

What we now call Traditional Heavy Metal is usually a grouping of some of the original Metal bands that were around before the Metal genres split into many smaller sub-sets and styles.  Some examples of these groups include Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.

Black Metal –

Originates from Speed metal, Thrash metal and hardcore punk in the early 1980’s.  Black metal has had much opposition from mainstream culture due to many of its bands having an anti-Christian worldview. Typical instruments include vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar and drums.

Death Metal –

Originates from Thrash metal and early Black metal in the mid-1980’s.  Uses heavily distorted guitars, blast-beat drumming, and deep growling vocals.  Inspired by groups such as Slayer, Celtic Frost and Kreator.

Doom Metal –

Originates from classic heavy metal, especially Black Sabbath albums of the early 1970’s. Uses slower tempos and a much heavier and “thicker” sound.  Lyrics tend to evoke a sense of dread, doom or despair.

Drone Metal –

Became more popular in the early 1990’s.  Drone metal melds Doom metal with the long duration tones of  drone music.

Folk Metal –

Developed in Europe in the mid 1990’s.  It fuses classic heavy metal with traditional folk music through the use of folk instruments.

Glam Metal –

Also known as “hair metal”, it arose in the late 1970’s and stayed popular through the 1980’s.  It combined the looks of glam rock with the power chord hard rock style of music.

Gothic Metal –

Combines heavy metal with gothic rock.  Originated in the early 1990’s from a mixture of death metal and doom metal.  Popular bands include Paradise Lost and Anathema.  Lyrics are brought out through gothic fiction and personal experiences.

Groove Metal –

Sometimes referred to post-thrash, originated in the early 1990’s from genre’s including thrash metal and hardcore punk.  A popular Grove Metal album would be Pantera’s  Cowboys from Hell.

Industrial Metal –

Draws from heavy metal and industrial music using sequencer lines, distorted vocals, sampling, and repeating metal guitar riffs.  Established in the late 1980’s, popular bands include Fear Factory, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails.

Metalcore –

Gets the name from a fusion of hardcore punk and heavy metal.  Metalcore is different from other punk metal bands because of the emphasis on slower and more intense breakdowns that are conducive to moshing.

Neo-Classical Metal –

Heavily influenced by classical music, Neo-classical metal is a very technical music performance that was established in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Nu-Metal –

Developed in the 1990’s, this music blends both hip-hop and  grunge with classic heavy metal.  Popular bands include Korn, Deftones and P.O.D.

Post-Metal –

Originated in the early 2000’s, post-metal is characterized by minimal vocals with distorted guitar and heavy atmospherics.  The group, Isis, is usually credited with originating and making popular post-metal music.

Power Metal –

Originating in the mid 1980’s, it is a mixture of classic metal with speed metal which adds in a symphonic element, usually through the use of keyboards.

Progressive Metal –

Established in the mid 1980’s, progressive metal is a mix of classic heavy metal with progressive rock.  Early bands mixed heavy metal from groups such as Metallica and Megadeath with progressive rock bands, namely Rush and King Crimson, who were already fusing some heavy metal into their music.

Sludge Metal –

Originating in the late 1980’s, sludge metal is a mix of both doom metal and hardcore punk.  It is aggressive with shouted vocals, contrasting tempos and heavy distortion.  It moves through slow paced songs that have brief hardcore tempos.

Speed Metal –

Established in the 1970’s and 80’s, speed metal is characterized by extremely fast and technically demanding song sets.  While still popular today, more prevalent is the toned down version of speed metal called thrash metal.  Motorhead and Judas Priest were two of the most influential bands of this genre.

Thrash Metal –

Originating in the early 1980’s, thrash metal descends from speed metal.  It is characterized by low-register guitar riffs and shredding style lead work.  The “Big Four” of thrash metal are Metallica, Slayer, Megadeath and Anthrax.