METAL GENRES AND CLASSIFICATION

 The metal world classified and several examples of bands that changed this universe.

Although metal music can simply be defined as heavy, hard and most of the time fast music, there are a variety of genres, styles and ways to classify it. Then the proposal of this article is to classify metal music and offer some examples of bands inserted in each genre with a general explanation of that. Actually it is impossible to fill in every blank completely, and in some situations there are several bands that could be classified in more than one genre. 

It is also important to salient that the idea is not classify every rock’n’roll genre but only heavy metal, with the exception of hard rock that influenced lots of metal styles and deserves a remark.

Last of all, it is important to remember that genre is only a human attempt to put some characteristics together, and actually the music is above every explanation and is better explained as listening to than putting ideas on paper.  

1- HEAVY METAL:

The term refers to a general definition of bands that play metal music. Despite every band has had another specific classification, in general it is possible to claim everyone to be called a heavy metal band.

BANDS: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Megadeth, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Steppenwolf, Def Leppard, Motorhead and more.

2- BLACK METAL:

One of most specific genres is black metal using satanic themes and dark forces to create extreme subjects. Vary on from bands using simple dark themes to more extreme bands such as some from Norway. The subjects, the themes and the vocals (cleaner) differ from death metal though sometimes some elements are almost equal.

BANDS: Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, Darkthrone, Burzum, Mercyful Fate, Emperor, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Ancient, Immortal, Marduk, Dimmu Borgir, Gehenna, Satyricon and others.

3- DEATH METAL:

With more extreme and darker themes, unintelligible and guttural vocals, it can be considered one of the dirtiest sounds. Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish clearly the blast beat drums in its lines. 

BANDS: Death, Obituary, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Possessed, Entombed, Morbid Angel, Sepultura, Kreator, Slayer, Immolation, Suffocation, Six Feet Under, and more.

4- THRASH METAL:

Coming from and changing hardcore completely, the genre put faster and “no-so-great” singing on hardcore and changed music literally with a thrash music (hard and memorable riffs), and a new style on clothes (wearing jeans and leather jackets).

BANDS: Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Testament, Metal Church, Sepultura, Death Angel, Celtic Frost, Overkill, Anvil, Exciter, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Voivod, Possessed, Mortal Sin and more.

5- NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL:

The most important UK movement that crucially contributed for spreading metal around the world is called NWOBHM. In general, formed by heavy metal bands and associated with the same definitions.

BANDS: Motorhead, Diamond Head, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Raven, Venom, Grim Reaper, Samson, Angel Witch, Fist and other more.

6- DOOM METAL:

The genre is characterised for having a sort of heavy sound however a little more slow. Moreover, the themes create a foreboding atmosphere in the metal sounds. Likewise, the riffs are crucial components.   

BANDS: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Necromandus, Cathedral, Pentagram, Lucifer’s Friend, Witchfinder General, Candlemass, Burning Witch, Yob, Windhand and others.

7- DRONE METAL:

A expressive kind of metal sound, however slowest and with less notes that sometimes receives a sort of prejudice in the metal world in function of some lack of heaviness. 

BANDS: Burning Witch, Black Bones Angel, Nadja, Khanate, Locrian, Earth, Boris, Melvins, Teeth of Lions Rule The Divine, Sun O))) and a little more.

8- SLUDGE METAL:

The main characteristics here are the imagery sounds associated with shocking contributions. Furthermore, the music is a kind of hardcore-punk sound with hard guitars and much expressiveness. 

BANDS: Crowbar, Mastodon, Down, Corrupted, Acid Bath, Grief, The Melvins, Buzzon-En, Neurosis, EyeHateGod and more.

9- STONER METAL:

If you join the Doom metal, the Drone metal and the Sludge metal, and add to everything a sort of psychedelic rock and roll, the aftermath of it all is the Stoner Metal.

BANDS: Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, Acid King, Goblin, Cannabis Corpse, Sleep, Belzebong, High On Fire, Bongripper, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Monster Magnet, Orange Goblin, Weedeater, Bongzilla, Goatsnake and more.

10- POWER METAL:

When you add to heavy metal a little more speed and new themes such as fantasy, epic stories and older adventures seeming classical fictional books, you have a new genre called Power Metal that was a little more popular among European bands. 

BANDS: Helloween, Manowar, Blind Guardian, Sabaton, Dio, Accept, Vicius Rumors, Kamelot, Stratovarius, Dragonland, DragonForce, Avantasia, Omen, Power Quest, Manilla Road, Rhapsody of Fire, Nocturnal Rites and others.

11- PROGRESSIVE METAL:

  Usually the music is very elaborate with complex structures and with technical musicians. The advanced themes is appreciated for whom admire outlier musicians, although the complexity is rejected for some people that only want music with more popular interaction.

BANDS: Dream Theater, Queensryche, Meshuggah, Opeth, Nevermore, Coheed and Cambria, Gojira, Symphony X, King Crimson, Porcupine, Tool, Tree, and Rush/Yes (from Progressive Rock).

12- ALTERNATIVE METAL:

Outside the mainstream there are some bands that are characterised for having a combination of sounds which are out of conventional metal genres and themes.

BANDS: Alice In Chains, System Of A Down, Tool, Voivod, Faith No More, Disturbed and more.

13- SYMPHONIC METAL:

In the recent years there are several bands that mixed up orchestral sounds with metal, and sometimes vary on different vocals from lyric ones until guttural. The orchestral music can be synthetic or seldom real but with precise and hard guitars.

BANDS: Epica, Nightwish, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, Therion, After Forever, Within Temptation, Delain, Xangria, Masterplan, Haggard, Endenbridge, Leaves’ Eyes and others.

14- SPEED METAL:

This genre is a little confuse but reflects a transition of bands from a raw thrash metal for a new cleaner sort of style. Likewise some people tend to classify it such as a new commercial kind of thrash metal with old bands turning into more popular.

 BANDS: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Exciter, Anvil, Metal Church, Raven, Slayer, Accept, Running Wild etc.

15- CROSSOVER THRASH:

What happens if punks try to go metal? It was what happened when it was combined metal with punk music and it was created the crossover thrash. Despise the past conflicts between them, the troubles turned in water under the bridge, and these two genres was blended together, and was born a new thrash music with punk attitude or the Crossover Thrash.

BANDS: Corrosion Of Conformity, Nuclear Assault, Iron Reagan, D.R.I., Agnostic Front, Discharge, Municipal Waste, Suicidal Tendencies, Stormtroopers Of Death, The Accused and a little more.

16- GROOVE METAL:

There is another kind of thrash music that is possible to locate between the aggressiveness of thrash and the shock rock that comes from nu metal. That is exactly what represents the Groove Metal, a shock music with a thrash style.

BANDS: Pantera, Sepultura, Lamb Of God, White Zombie, Machine Head, Down, Soulfly, DevilDriver, Fear Factory, Five Finger Death Punch, Chimaira,  Prong and more.

17- HARD ROCK:

Despise not being exactly a metal genre, it is important to consider this hard and extreme genre, because since 70’s has been influencing metal genres in general. Likewise, some of the bands from hard rock might even be considered heavy metal bands for funs.

BANDS: AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, Gun’s And Roses, Deep Purple, Van Halen, Cream, Rainbow, The Who, Rush and several more.

18- GLAM METAL:

There was a time when metal bands prioritised more the visual styles than the music itself. Perhaps the exactly word to use here could be glamour rock’n’roll. If there was, and really there was good music from Glam age, on the other hand, the scene was most remarkable for fancy costumes, makeup, rebellious behaviour than for having spectacular music construction.

BANDS: Kiss, Queen, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Poison, Skid Row, Cinderella, White Lion, Vixen, Winger, Extreme, Dokken, Lita Ford, Quiet Riot, Warrant, Autograph, etc.

19- NU METAL:

One of the most polemic metal sounds. If on the one hand the numbing rhythm is well-combined with a hardcore thrash sound, on the other the down-tuned music almost does not have guitar solos. Likewise, another important characteristic is the presence of a kind of shock rock and lots of synthesisers.

BANDS: Korn, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Deftones, Staind, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Coal Chamber and others.

20- INDUSTRIAL METAL:

Another polemical kind of metal music was created when electronic sounds were mixed with metal. Moreover several artificial songs brought by synthesisers were created and brought a sort of electronic metal music, what was vehemently rejected by traditional headbangers. 

BANDS: Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Fear Factory, Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, Godflesh, KMFDM, Die Krupps, Revolting Cocks and more.

21- NEW WAVE OF AMERICAN HEAVY METAL:

Some American bands brought a truly turmoil in America and other places during 2000’s mainly among young people. A new generation of headbangers not necessarily accepted entirely by the old generation was created, following a new generation of metal bands.  

BANDS: Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, As I Lay Dying, Korn, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lamb Of God and several others.

22- GOTH METAL:

A sort of specific metal music where the lyrics are dramatic and melancholic, and the ambience is crucial for the bands. Despite almost every metal genre is represented by black clothes, the gothic world is determined for a specific type of black clothe, accessories and black nails. 

BANDS: Anathema, Danzig, Cradle Of Filth, Lacuna Coil, Paradise Lost, HIM, Within Temptation, Sirenia, Type O Negative, My Dying Bride and others.

23- CHRISTIAN METAL:

This is the metal bands inside the Christian world, using mainly the gospels and the scriptures to come up with their lyrics. So, the genres here vary on a lot but with Christian music and religious themes in everyone of them.

BANDS: Stryper, Bride, Whitecross, Demon Hunter, Saint, Messiah Prophet, P.O.D., Underoath, Narnia, The Devil Wears Prada, Living Sacrifice, Eterna, August Burns Red and a little more.

24- RAP METAL:

This genre is simple a blend of Rap songs with metal music, and brings a queer type of new rhythm.

BANDS: Rage Against The Machine, Body Count, Biohazard, Limp Bizkit, Dog Eat Dog, POD, Linkin Park, Downiest, HED PE and a little more.

25- FUNK METAL:

This is another mixed type of music, crossing metal with funk. In fact, the genre was extremely important to later help the arising of nu metal in the world’s music scene. 

BANDS: Faith No More, Rage Against The Machine, Mr. Bungle, 24-7 SPYZ, Primus, Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infectious Grooves, Fishbone and more.

26- METALCORE:

Hardcore is an important genre in the rock and roll. What if we could do hardcore a little more heavy? Joining hardcore with metal, increasing the speed and adding some new elements, and it was created the Metalcore.

BANDS: As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Hatebreed, Atreyu, All That Remains, Avenged Sevenfold, Underoath, Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon etc.

27- FOLK METAL:

When it is possible to use cultural and eclectic elements from a culture, and add hard music to them, it is possible to develop a kind of music where you can include folk and local culture and ideas. Likewise, it is still possible to add some folk instruments to combine with hard guitars and innovate culturally. This new heavy sound is called Folk metal.

BANDS: Amorphis, Finntroll, Heidevolk, Chuachan, Eluveitie, Korpiklaani, Subway To Sally, Skyclad, Bridge City Sinners, Turisas, Elsiferum, Tyr, Alestorm and more.

28- EXPERIMENTAL METAL:

The most important characteristic here is the creativity or how it is possible to come up with new instrumental lines. Therefore, the important factors for these metal bands are try new sounds, experiment new combinations and use songs from new places. So experimentation is the key word inside this style of music.

BANDS: Neurosis, Meshuggah, Voivod, Fantomas, Agalloch, Boris, Kayo Dot, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mr. Bungle, Maudlin Of The Well, Arcturus, Gorguts etc.

29- MELODIC DEATH METAL:

It is a type of death metal, however with highly melodic guitar riffs, combining the traditional heavy metal (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) with the elements of death metal. Also more popular in Europe. 

BANDS: Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, At the Gates, Carcass, Children Of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Kalmah, Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Death,The Black Dahlia Murder and more.

30- GRINDCORE:

First of all, a blast beat type of music with an indistinguishable vocal. Secondly, an spontaneous sort of heavy music with a deep growling. Surelly, grindcore is not a kind of music for all tastes.

BANDS: Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Carcass, Extreme Noise Terror, Nasum, Repulsion, Pig Destroyer,  Agoraphobic Nosebleed, ZAO and a little more.

31- WAR METAL:

Do you want it heavy? Then take this chaotic, violent and blasphemous sound. To cut a long story short, the music really sounds like a war. A fast and raw music that generate a messy kind of metal.

BANDS: Conqueror, Behemoth, Belphegor, Goatwhore, Dissection, Naglfar, Akercocke, Death Worship, Revenge and more.

32- VIKING METAL:

This is a sort of black metal sound, however a little more polemical in function of the themes and lyrics. Actually, the Scandinavians that do it, show in their musics fixations on pre-Christian norse heritage, and create their musics focused in these themes, mainly talking about the Vikings conquests. 

BANDS: Amon Amarth, Enslaved, Bathory, Tyr, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing, Ensiferum and some others.

        Concluding, there are many genres inside the universe of Heavy Metal. Although sometimes the diversity can cause some misunderstandings and troubles among headbangers, the truth is that everyone can find a style to follow and appreciate. For what's worth, take your poisons inside this universe and enjoy it!

A mysterious short story

Follows a mysterious short story that I wrote.

TITLE: An uncanny series of events

Suddenly he woke up sweaty and gasping, looking at the filthy ceiling. The sensation was terrible with the sight blurred, feeling dazzling such as someone that had inhaled something so strong. There was also some kind of feeble pain, however it was not what was disturbing Daniel but the feeling of being tied tight in a chair where he almost could not move. While the chair was clung in him, he could sense that his weakness was caused by something unrecognisable. Step by step he was recovering from his floppy state and he could now recognise where he was. Daniel was inside his own wet and dim cabin, although he could not figure out what he was doing there, mainly tied up in a chair. He could feel the terrorising hush take possession of his mind, and tried to calm down and recover his reason.

While he was recovering his consciousness he started up wondering about the last time he remembered about something. Although struggling with his mind, he had remembered about his last moments before waking up tied inside his cabin. He was fishing in his favorite place. Vioga River was constantly used by him as a place to be in. That place was a paradisiac natural environment in the middle of a tropical jungle, with a diversity of trees, animals, waterfalls and big stones. Moreover, several species of fish had been making the bliss of Daniel for years before, and that was a place that he was also so acquainted that was like his own garden.

Everything that he could remember was that he was fishing in that summer delightful day, without anyone nearby, when out of the blue everything was darkness and he was suddenly inside his obscure cabin clung by a rope. 

Daniel was a simple bachelor guy that lived in a cabin in the middle of a beautiful place in the center of Alcoa Island. He was 40 years old when these facts took place, and he loved fishing and hunting small animals to have fun and to survive. Like a simple man that lived isolated, he had singular habits and did not have many friends. He usually had contact with many tourists that came to visit the island to enjoy the nature and the weather, but only on and off. His last relationship with a woman was a few months ago with one of these tourists, a gorgeous though dull woman. In fact, he always knew that if something happened with him in his paradise, someone rarely would notice. Although his odd habits, he always believed in God and supernatural creatures, what brings a little more sense now, hence the destiny of his life seems a little bit uncanny. Furthermore, he lived there because he always enjoyed the natural environment and did not like the bustling life of the big city. Alcoa Island was since the beginning the marvellous place for Daniel to live in.

Daniel was struggling to untie the rope when suddenly he perceived something or someone inside the cabin. In fact, the mysterious presence was completely icy and creepy. While his blurring sight was recovering, he began to see the eyes of the hideous creature, but a strange sensation seemed to prove him that the dark creature was faceless in a certain sense, though not without voice.

- “My name is Sinus, and I live in the dark. I am your fear and your worse nightmare. I am going to eat you inside out, and I am going to consume your soul. Although I don’t have origin, I really exist, and I can survive consuming the souls of people like you. Moreover you are just condemned, so you don’t have choices, and your world is upside down now.” - said the eerie creature.

That voice was awful and the fear took Daniel’s consciousness, nevertheless a sense of survivor replaced his feeble moment and he gained strength to fight. He could not say if it was his own ability or a miracle, however in a strong effort and jump, the rope loosened and untied. He could not believe in his instantaneous freedom. Desperately and afraid of the creature’s power, he hurried himself and in a strong strike against the door, finally he opened it and fell outside the cabin. 

Running desperately for survival, he could notice that something still more strange was happening outside. Instead of a beautiful day the weather was also totally dark, with a misty air and a horrific sensation. He could not realise if it was a howl or the sound of a strong wind, but his skin was shivering with the ghastly surroundings.

Daniel ran fastest as he could, stumbling several times and rolling on the ground. In fact he could feel someone tracking him down, such as he had done several times before like a skilled hunter in the place. Although every knowledge that he had about the area, it seemed useless against that situation. The dread seemed stronger than himself, and he was not fearless and brave anymore. Unfortunately seemed that every step was useless, and he realised that he was running in vain. It was like he was inside a horror movie, being manipulated by someone powerful, without the whole control of his situation. All of a sudden a loud voice from Sinus dominated the entire place yelling:

- “It’s useless to run, you can not avoid me and you are already condemned!”

A few seconds later and desperately struggling for his life, Daniel got in a graveyard full of sepulchres. Although the dim place blinding him almost completely, Daniel tried to move a little more. A few steps ahead, after the brightness of the moon was unveiled by some trees, he could recover his sight partially and recognised the tombs of his father and his mother. Struggling to conceal himself behind another grave, he could not believe his eyes when he read some words carved on that grave: “Daniel Jones, birth 13/09/1977, death 17/11/2017”. Realising the nonexistence of his heartbeat, he was suddenly blown off his feet. He was in fact dead. Everything turned still more ghastly and out of the blue the Sinus voice was echoing again:

- “I said to you. You can not run from me. I am your end, and after me there is not another end!”.

GLOSSARY:

gasping: breathe hard

feeble: weak

blurring: overshadowed, obscure

floppy: limp, flaccid

dim: dark, obscure

hideous: very ugly

bliss: happiness

dull: boring

bustling: agitated, crowded

ghastly: sinister, uncanny, eery

eerie: strange, uncanny

sepulchres: tombs