History Main / HorribleHistoryMetal

* HammerFall have a number of songs about the Crusades. Realism does not seem to be a priority.

* {{Korpiklaani}} more commonly sings about mythology, but in "Vesaisen Sota" (Vesaisen's War), they describe the Russo-Swedish war of 1540-1627.

* IronMaiden loves this trope. Notable examples are "The Trooper" (about the Crimean War) and "Paschendale" (about WorldWarOne).

* Most of {{Sabaton}}'s lyrics are about WorldWarTwo and/or ThoseWackyNazis. They also have "Counterstrike" about the [[ArabIsraeliConflict Six Day War]], "Back In Control" about TheFalklandsWar, "Cliffs of Gallipoli" and "The Price of a Mile" about WorldWarOne, and "Panzer Batallion" and "Reign of Terror" about the GulfWar.
** You could argue this is an exception though as Sabaton identifies itself as "War Metal" as they make nothing but songs about certain wars and/or battles.

* {{Slayer}} has "Angel Of Death" about horrible medical "experiments" conducted by [[ThoseWackyNazis Josef Mengele]] during WorldWarTwo, and "Unit 731" about horrible medical "experiments" conducted by the Japanese during the SecondSinoJapaneseWar.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Trooper_2607.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Are you metal enough for the CrimeanWar?]]

[[quoteright:157:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Trooper_2607.png]]
[[caption-width-right:157:Are you metal enough for the CrimeanWar?]]

[[Music/IronMaiden quoteright:157:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Trooper_2607.png]]

* Mictlantecuhtli has several songs pertaining to Aztec history, along with Aztec myth, many of which can be quite vicious.

* Tyr covers a number of subjects pertaining to Norse history, along with their subjects on Norse mythology and lore

* Most of {{Sabaton}}'s lyrics are about WorldWarTwo and/or ThoseWackyNazis. They also have "Counterstrike" about the [[ArabIsraeliConflict Six Day War]], "Back In Control" about TheFalklandsWar, "Cliffs of Gallipoli" about the [[WorldWarOne Gallipoli Campaign]], and "Panzer Batallion" and "Reign of Terror" about the GulfWar.

So you're writing a HeavyMetal song. You've got a few good riffs and chord progressions down, but now you need lyrics. You don't want to write about [[RockMeAsmodeus Satan]], [[FilkSong existing works of fiction]], [[HeavyMithril elves and orcs]], or even about [[HeavyMeta metal itself]]... so what ''do'' you write about? Well, history, of course!

* Most of {{Sabaton}}'s lyrics are about WorldWarTwo and/or ThoseWackyNazis; they also have "Counterstrike" about the [[ArabIsraeliConflict Six Day War]] and "Back In Control" about TheFalklandsWar.

Note that to fit this trope, the lyrics have to be about a specific historical event. Metal that just evokes the imagery of a more loosely defined historical setting (e.g. VikingMetal or [[Music/{{Alestorm}} Pirate Metal]]) is not this trope - that's more of a "Metal PeriodPiece".

Metal, much more so than other genres, has a tendency to be about RealLife history. Since history can be rather gruesome, it appeals to {{Metal Head}}s' love of songs about violence and death; also, writing about history can be an excellent way to [[ShownTheirWork Show Your Work]] and convince the critics [[{{Irony}} you're not just shallow sensationalists who write about violence and death]].

Horrible History Metal usually averts MadLibMetalLyrics - it's hard to write meaningless rambling and still maintain it's "about history"... although some bands certainly try their best. Has nothing to do with HorribleHistories.

* Music/RunningWild did a lot of this, usually digging out either WoodenShipsAndIronMen imagery or evil [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Catholic Satanist Men In Black]].

* IronMaiden loves this trope. Notable examples are "The Trooper" (about the Crimean War) and "Passchendaele" (about WorldWarOne).

So you want to write a HeavyMetal song. You've got a few good riffs and chord progressions down, but now you need lyrics. You don't want to write about [[RockMeAsmodeus Satan]], [[FilkSong existing works of fiction]], [[HeavyMithril elves and orcs]], or even about [[HeavyMeta metal itself]]... so what ''do'' you write about? Well, history, of course!

Horrible History Metal usually averts MadLibMetalLyrics - it's hard to write meaningless rambling and still maintain it's "about history"... although some bands certainly try their best.