- Punk Rock (later metal bands especially), Proto Punk, Progressive Rock
Headbanger #2: It's a devil screaming!
Headbanger #3: It's an angel singing!
Headbanger #2: It is the pounding of Creation's Hammer upon the Anvil of Time!
[beat]
Headbanger #1: IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!
Eddie Riggs: It's called... Heavy Metal.
A musical genre originating in the 1960s and '70s, influenced by Blues and Psychedelic Rock, emphasizing heavy, powerful sound with distorted guitars, powerchords, riffs, thundering drums and (sometimes) extended, virtuoso guitar solos.
Famous for Heavy Metal Umlauts, Metal Screams, and metalheads having huge online arguments about which bands are and aren't metal, or music in general. The look varies by era, but long hair, leather, jeans, studded belts and boots are widely part of the metal look.
Not to be confused with Metallic Tropes (although this genre was named after the term for metallic elements with high proton counts).
Extreme Metal redirects here. The definition of this genre is hazy and controversial, but it's generally considered to be an umbrella term collecting Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, and any of their derivatives. Doom Metal is occasionally included in this, but sometimes only the heavier variants of that genre such as Sludge Metal and Death/Doom.
Heavy Metal Subgenres
- Alternative Metal
- Avant-Garde Metal
- Black Metal
- Christian Metal
- Death Metal
- Doom Metal
- Folk Metal
- Gothic Metal
- Grindcore
- Groove Metal
- Hair Metal
- Heavy Mithril
- Industrial Metal
- Metalcore
- Nature Metal
- New Wave of British Heavy Metal
- Power Metal
- Progressive Metal
- Rap Metal
- Speed Metal
- Symphonic Metal
- Thrash Metal
- Traditional Heavy Metal
For an in-depth look, see Useful Notes on Heavy Metal and the Mäp of Metal
.
