Heavy metal really falls into two camps. Those who like the "power" aspect of it treat it as basically a "purification" of Rock's original ideals (before "those damn Brits ruined it all"), where it has the same general tone but a much harder edge than, say, The Rolling Stones. Often overlaps with the "hard rock" genre. Regular heavy metal and glam metal fall under this. But then you get into the "extreme" forms of metal, which tend more towards "darker" themes and more distorted sounds. The latter camp is especially popular in the portrayal of Darker and Edgier, where it is a popular genre for vampires, demons and other Ax-Crazy character types to enjoy. It's tendency towards Heavy Mithril and growling vocals often make it the target of parody, though.
Examples:
Live-Action TV- Scrubs frequently has gags involving "speed metal". One episode had a delivery driver who likes "speed metal" (the song played is "Driving Down the Darkness" by Devil Driver, which is metalcore, or groove metal, depending on how picky you are) helps J.D. get to work. It then shows J.D. acting demon possessed while listening to it as the character riding with him tries to ignore it.
Video Games
- Brütal Legend is a tribute to the metal genre made into a Fantasy RTS/Brawler video game. Each of the three armies in multiplayer is associated with a specific genre: Ironheade with Heavy Metal, The Drowning Pool with Goth Metal and The Tainted Coil with Industrial Rock.
- The Guilty Gear series is entirely built around various metal themes and concepts, with a completely metal soundtrack, characters made in the image of various genres, and non-stop Shout-Out's to various metal artists and groups.
- Vikke from Lollipop Chainsaw is a Dark Purveyor who represents Viking Metal; he dresses like a viking (including a living bear-pelt for a pet/cape), he has a drum-set that shoots lightning, he rides a flying boat and wears corpse-paint.
Western Animation
- Metalocalypse basically has extreme metal as one of its core themes. Whether it's mocking the genre (with it's gorn and over-the top fantasy/action bent) or paying a tribute to it (with songs that some viewers see as Awesome Music) is rather up-in-the-air.
