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 A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it

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Nick "SoaS" Morouney
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MetalHistorian

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Join date : 2010-06-04
Age : 33
Location : Oxford Nova Scotia

A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeTue Jun 08, 2010 9:10 am

Heavy Metal is more than just a style of music, its a way of life. It has been a large part of my life as far back as I can remember. In this page I am going to attempt to give a short history of metal as well as tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Trenton, NJ in March of 1967. I started listening to hard rock and what became known as metal as early as 5 years old because of a neighbors who turned me on to Aerosmith. Being born in NJ and living close to Philadelphia and New York City, I was in the heart of the NY metal movement in the 80's, but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start from the beginning...



Heavy metal derived from the loud blues-rock and psychedelia of the late '60s. For the most part, metal lost most of the blues influences and leaving the powerful, loud, guitar riffs. In the late 60's and early '70s, heavy metal began establishing itself as one of the most commercially successful forms of aggressive rock & roll. Guitarists like black sabbath the first original heavy metal band but was derived from other forms that had similar techniques using the blues scale bands like Jimi Hendrix and bands like Cream, The Who, Steppenwolf, Hawkwind, Alice Cooper, and Led Zeppelin fused heavy guitars with blues based rock 'n roll and began to put on outrageous live performances. These bands also began to gain dedicated and loyal followers, as opposed to most of the "here to today, gone tomorrow" pop stars that would attract instant popularity, only to lose it all within a few months.

Black Sabbath ('70)

While these albums are usually credited with being the start of metal, they were not for the start for me. It was actually the second wave of bands that caught my attention, mostly because this was about the time that I was old enough to start listening to music. I can remember listening to Aerosmith's "Toy in the Attic" for the first time when I was in grade school. I was mesmerized and from then until today have been a huge Aerosmith fan, as well as a big metal fanatic. (Since then, I have bought every Aerosmith album the day it was released. I actually hitch hiked to the mall to buy Aerosmith's "Done With Mirrors" when I was in college.)

Deep Purple-Machine Head ('72)

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)

By the mid-70's, the leaders of the new heavy metal movement were being established and beginning to influence a whole new school of metal fans. Bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Angel, and Judas Priest were beginning to gain large audiences. Of course KISS would be one of the biggest bands to emerge from the 70's. Their impact on the 80's metal explosion would be enormous; not just the music but also the gigantic, bigger than life, stage persona and show.


KISS (1976)

Below are some incredible albums that are usually credited with being the true beginning of HEAVY METAL!




Aerosmith (1976)

Even in grade school I would brag to friends that I had the new Aerosmith record. I even got into a playground fight because someone said that Led Zeppelin was a better band than Aerosmith. I can remember being mocked for listening to Rush, Ted Nugent, Queen, Mahogany Rush etc. when the "cool" bands were Bay City Rollers, the Jackson 5 and KC & the Sunshine Band. (GAK!!!) Disco was in; Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever were all the rage-but I was a metal addict. KISS was probably my biggest addiction of the time, as their posters and magazine photos took up every inch of wall space I had in my bedroom. While KISS did disappoint through the late 70's/early 80's, I remained a KISS fan and still am one to this very day. Aerosmith and KISS were actually the first two albums that I bought. (ok, actually my parents bought them for me.) Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" and KISS "Destroyer"

Two records that changed my life in the mid 70's:

Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic ('76)

Kiss-Destroyer ('76)



The late 70's disco was all but dead and albums like Thin Lizzy's "Live & Dangerous" and Boston's "Don't Look Back" were gracing my turntable. (and of course Aerosmith's "Night in the Ruts") This is also about the time I discovered, what is now refered to as "true metal" or "classic heavy metal"

Through the next decades, metal adapted itself to the times and it would never completely disappeared from the charts. Trends came and went, as did the trendy followers, but metal fans were devoted. In the early 80s, heavy metal exploded in popularity. Judas Priest, although they had been touring and recording albums since the early 70's, experienced a major popularity surge in '82 with the release of "Screaming for Vengeance." It was actually this band that pulled me deeper into the metal culture. Upon hearing the classic "Stained Class" I was convinced that Judas Priest was the ultimate heavy band. This is about the time I discovered bands like Iron Maiden, who had just released "Number of the Beast," Accept "Restless & Wild," Motorhead's classic "Ace of Spades," Raven "Rock til You Drop," Saxon "Wheels of Steel," Scorpions "Lonesome Crow" and "Fly to the Rainbow." Yup, I had discovered the incredible NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal.) This movement never did gain as much popularity in the States, but was an incredible influence on some of the early American Metal bands as well as some of today's popular bands.


Judas Priest (1991)

In high school I bought, as new releases by then unknown bands, Motley Crue's "Too Fast for Love" on Leather Records, Slayer's "Hell Awaits," Venom's "Black Metal," Metallica's "Kill 'em All," and Queensryche's debut EP. A few "local bands" were beginning to gain some popularity as well. Anthrax, from NY released a 45 single called "Soldiers of Metal"; from Long Island Twisted Sister were filling up the clubs and had finally signed a decent record contract; Heathen's Rage were filling local halls and opening for some major acts. We all know what happened with Anthrax and Twisted Sister, both went on to be huge successes. Heathen's Rage released a vinyl EP with a killer track called "City of Hell" and finally a four song demo in 1987 before disappearing off the face of the earth.

Below are some of the albums I discovered in the mid 80's:


Metallica - Kill 'Em All ('83)

Slayer - Show No Mercy ('83)

Iron Maiden - Killers ('81)

From the glam-hair bands like Stryper, Ratt, and Cinderella, to the intense thrash bands like Megadeth, Overkill, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Celtic Frost, to the more traditional bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween and Armored Saint to the hardrockers like Frehley's Comet to the incredible comeback of bands like Kiss, Deep Purple, and especially Aerosmith, the 80's were definitely a strong time for metal lovers. What was really great about this time was that there was a unity among metalheads. The same metalhead that liked Motley Crue and Accept also liked Slayer and Motorhead.

Hair Metal:
Hair metal was influenced by glam rock from the late '70s and early '80s, inspiring the over the top looks hair bands adopted, including big hair and makeup. Hard rock bands like Slade and Aerosmith helped shape their musical sound. In the U.S., hair metal was popularized on the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles beginning in the early '80s. At the height of its popularity in the '80s, hair bands had huge radio and MTV hits and were one of the most popular genres in all of music.

That spawned numerous copycat bands of lesser talents that diluted the genre, and the nail in the coffin was the rise of grunge music in the early '90s. Many hair bands broke up or went on hiatus during that era, but toward the end of the decade and into the 2000s, nostalgia helped propel hair metal back to life. Bands like Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt still are able to draw large crowds to their concerts, although their new musical material hasn't been as well received.
Musical Style:
Hair metal is very polished and accessible. Big hooks, melodic choruses, and the ever popular "monster ballad" typify the genre. Guitars are also very prominent, with nearly every song having at least one guitar solo. There's also an endless debate on who is and isn't a hair band. Some say Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses are hair bands. Guns N' Roses came from that L.A. scene, but to me don't fall under the hair metal banner because of the edginess of their earlier stuff.
Vocal Style:
Like the music, hair metal vocals are also accessible. They are melodic, and usually relatively high-pitched. Hair metal vocalists rarely get the respect that traditional metal singers do, in part because of the glam looks and accessible songs. But there have been some quality singers in the hair metal genre.
Hair Metal Pioneers:
Motley Crue
Bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee formed Motley Crue in 1981. They soon recruited guitarist Mick Mars, and eventually hired Vince Neil as their singer. The Crue quickly become of the most successful bands to emerge from the Sunset Strip. Their legendary partying drew almost as much as attention as their music. They had a string of successful albums, including Shout At The Devil, Theatre Of Pain, Girls Girls Girls and Dr. Feelgood. After turmoil and member changes in the '90 and early 2000s, the classic lineup is back together, touring and releasing new music.
They also started their own summer touring festival Crue Fest in 2008.

Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot formed in the late '70s, and their early lineup included guitarist Randy Rhoads, who ended up joining Ozzy Osbourne's band before his tragic death in a plane crash. The band's first two albums didn't do much, but their third release Metal Health hit number one on the Billboard album chart, the first heavy metal album to do so. That opened the floodgates, ending up in hair metal's massive commercial popularity.
Quiet Riot's reign of success only lasted a few years, and they had a lot of lineup changes and a couple of breakups. They still toured until recently, when vocalist Kevin DuBrow died of a drug overdose in 2007.

Hanoi Rocks
In Europe, Hanoi Rocks mixed glam rock, punk and the big hair and makeup of vocalist Michael Monroe. The Finnish band got their start in the late '70s and quickly rose through the ranks. They were on the verge of breaking through when tragedy struck. In 1984, drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley was killed in a car accident (the car was driven by Motley Crue's Vince Neil). The band was never the same. Their status as a true "hair band" is disputed by some, but there's no doubt they greatly influenced the genre, and should be considered pioneers.
Recommended Hair Metal Albums:
Poison - Look What The Cat Dragged In
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
Ratt - Out Of The Cellar
Quiet Riot - Metal Health
Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry
Dokken - Under Lock And Key
Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich
White Lion - Pride
Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps From The Move
Winger - Winger
Other Hair Metal Resources:
Best Hair Metal Bands
The top 10 hair metal bands, as selected by the About.com Guide To Heavy Metal.

Best Hair Metal Ballads
Get those lighters ready, because these are the top hair metal "monster ballads" from the late '80s and early '90s.
Other Heavy Metal Genre Profiles




Chad Bowar
Heavy Metal Guide

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Kiss in the 80's

Frehley's Comet in the mid-80's

The 80's for me was a time of many concerts. Some of the better remembered and highly cherished from that time were:

Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, which was an awesome experience. Quiet Riot opened that show. Black Sabbath was being chastized for doing "Smoke on the Water" live, which I thought was GREAT! ELO's drummer was filling in for the ailing Bill Ward. Many thought they would do a cover of ELO's "Evil Woman" but they did not.

Aerosmith on the "Rock in a Hard Place" tour and the incredible "Back in the Saddle" show with the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, both at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Pat Travers opened up the "R.I.A.H.P." show. He was on his "Black Pearl" tour and Ted Nugent co-headlined the "Back in the Saddle" show.

Dio and Twisted Sister at a small theatre in downtown Philly. The very next year they both returned together and sold out the Spectrum. The year after that Dio did a live video with us Philly maniacs.

Tony Lee
Tony Lee (Heathen's Rage)
Anthrax on the "Spread It" Tour with Heathen's Rage at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I was also privileged to see Anthrax at the infamous LaMore Club in NYC.

Judas Priest "Defenders" tour two times in one month-Spectrum, PA and the Meadowlands, NJ

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force at a little club in PA. I still have the t-shirt from that show.

Queensryche and headliners KISS in Philadelphia, PA and in Rochester, NY. The metal guard rail in front of the stage broke in Philly and we were able to sit on the edge of the stage for the entire KISS show. I got my picture in FACES Magazine. I have seen KISS several other times since then. The reunion and farwell tours have blown me away!

David Lee Roth with Steve Via and Billy Sheehan on the "Eat 'Em And Smile" tour at the War Memorial in Rochester.

TT Quick and Helstar at a little club in Rochester. After Helstar played, almost everyone left, so we watched TT Quick with about 20 other people, then they hung out with us and drank some beers and played pool. Cool show! Of course, later some of the TT Quick guys went on to be with Nuclear Assault.

Ted Nugent and Alcatrazz (with Yngwie Malmsteen) at Six Flags Great Adventure. Killer show, although my girlfiiend (now my wife) got violently sick from some laced alcohol she drank.! Also saw Petra, Molly Hatchet (on their reuion tour with Danny Joe Brown), and Charlie Daniels at Six Flags. Not a bad seat in the place.

In the mid-'80s thru the early 90's, speed metal and thrash became the most popular form of heavy metal in the American underground. Crossing the new wave of British heavy metal with hardcore punk, speed metal was extremely fast and more technically demanding. Tthe bands played fast, but their attack was precise and clean. In that sense, speed metal remained true to its metal roots. But what it borrowed from hardcore; the insanely fast tempos and a defiant, do-it-yourself attitude was just as important, and sometimes it was even more important. It gave the band not only a unique musical approach but also an attractive "anti-image" for legions fans, including myslef. Of course, Metallica became the leaders of the genre until their recent style changes. Other key bands were Megadeth, Dark Angel, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Testament, Slayer and Anthrax. Of course, this is only a small list of some of the better known. There were actually hundreds of bands of this style- Vengeance Rising, Powermad, Laaz Rockit, Flotsom & Jetsam, Hallow's Eve, Deliverance, Sepultura, Heathen, Kreator, Coroner, Destruction, Believer, Forbidden, Forced Entry, Mortification, Annihilator are some others that were riding the thrash wave while it was hot. This raw style stood in direct conflict to the chart topping, more commercial, and glammy bands of the 80's and early 90's (Guns n Roses, Ratt, Poison, Stryper, Kix, Dokken, and Motley Crue, among others), Many of the bands developed a dedicated cult following that would eventually allow them to go gold and for some, like Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns n Roses and especially Metallica, platinum+. What was so amazing about this was they they had little, if any, radio support. Unfortunately, this great art form began to fall apart and fracture into what is now either hardcore, grindcore, or black metal. In the 1990's, the few bands who do exist have changed styles. Metallica has gone for a more "alternative" radio friendly sound, while Megadeth have gone for a more melodic radio friendly sound. Anthrax parted ways with vocalist Joey Belladonna and their lead guitarist Dan Spitz and have stayed pretty true to their roots, although I prefer their older music to the newer releases. (Belladonna reunited with Anthrax in April 2005). Testament and Slayer are still together, albeit with some new faces, but are still pounding out some aggressive thrash that sometimes borders early death metal.

New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM started in the late '70s and early '80s after the initial wave of heavy metal bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. It was a purer form of heavy metal with fewer rock and blues influences than the first metal bands. It set the stage for the rise of heavy metal across the world. It also was the precursor and inspiration to thrash and speed metal.
Musical Style
NWOBHM didn't really have a signature style or sound. It was more a matter of location and time than specific style. Some bands were more progressive and epic sounding while others were straight ahead metal. One thing the NWOBHM bands did have in common was their sense of melody.
Pioneers
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are one of the most well known metal bands of all time, although they didn't have the commercial success as some of their counterparts. After recording a couple of albums in the early '80s the band recruited lead singer Bruce Dickinson, recorded the legendary Number Of The Beast and took off from there. Their mascot Eddie is also famous worldwide.

Def Leppard
Formed in the late '70s in Sheffield, Def Leppard were the definitive metal band of the '80s. They had multiple radio hits and their albums Pyromania and Hysteria are among the best selling albums ever. They brought metal to the mainstream. They experienced several tragedies, including the death of guitarist Steve Clark and the loss of drummer Rick Allen's arm in a car accident. But they persevered and continue filling arenas today.

Recommended Albums
Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Diamond Head - Am I Evil
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law
Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather
Girlschool - Take A Bite
Angel Witch -Angel Witch
Raven - Wiped Out
Samson - Shock Tactics
Grim Reaper - See You In Hell
Quartz - Stand Up And Fight
Metallica (1991)

Megadeth (1990)

Another form of metal that came out of the 80's is Progressive Metal. Bands like Fates Warning and Savatage, that started out as more traditional heavy metal bands, as well as Queensryche have lead the way for others. Watchtower, Dream Theatre, Veni Domine, Stratovarious, Angra, Viper, and hosts of others took the heaviness of metal and combined it with the progressive tendencies of Rush, Marillion, Pink Floyd, Yes, and early Genesis and even mixed in some classical elements.

Fates Warning (1999)

Savatage (1993)

There was one thing for sure, heavy metal was more than just a passing trend. Some critics, even today, continue to dismiss metal as over simplistic, primal pounding, with annoying screams. Certainly, there is some heavy metal that is nothing but three-chord riffing, but most metal bands place major importance on technical skill. Even those who play the simplistic forms of metal like AC/DC, do so with such skill and attitude, that it cannot be ignored. Metal guitarists have always been innovators in technique, speed, and skill. In every subgenre of heavy metal, the guitar is the center of the music. The songs are assembled around the riff, with the guitar solo taking prominence.

The 90's also ushered in a big change in my life. While I had always been somewhat "religious" it was during this time that I met some friends at a Motorhead/Raven concert in Rochester, NY that changed my life. These guys were in a metal band called Holy Saint and they were a Christian metal band. Through this band I became a Christian. I can honestly say the knowing Jesus really changed my life. While some of the story you are about to read has some regrets, I have never regretted my relationship with Him. Fortunately these guys also opened up a whole new world of Christian heavy metal to me.



Dig the poofy hair I was sporting and the blonde streak, inspired by Joe Perry and Gregg Giuffria.

Unfortunately, after graduating from college, I got involved in a church that condemned metal. I got deeply involved along with my new wife of only a few months. We conviced ourselves that "secular metal" was all evil and so we got rid of the, literally, thousands of albums, tapes and the beginnings of
Thank God for Stryper! I would have been without any music I liked if not for them.


Stryper (1990)

I began to discover that there was hundreds of Christian metal bands, ranging in style from thrash to classic rock. I bought up bands like Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Trouble, Sacred Warrior, Believer, Seventh Angel, Sardonyx, Whitecross, Bride, Haven, Bloodgood, Rez, Barren Cross. These bands got me through some tough times.






Vengeance Rising
Human Sacrifice

Deliverance
Weapons of Our Warfare

Believer
Extraction from Mortality

Eventually, we figured out that Christianity was not about having your life lived for you. We left the church we were in and got involved in a well balanced church. I discovered that a relationship with Jesus was what was important, not a list of man-made do's and dont's. In 1993 I joined a Christian heavy metal band myself, becoming the vocalist for Ultimatum.


A picture of a sweaty me singing for Ultimatum.

Eventually I began collecting some of my old favorites again. Once again, it was Aerosmith that brought me around. I was in my car, flipping through radio station, when I heard a block of songs off "Rocks," perhaps the greatest Aerosmith disc ever. It was a lunch hour album side and they played five songs off that disc. Man, it was like seeing an old friend again. I knew then, after enjoying those five songs, like having a cold Pepsi on a hot day, it was not the music I needed to change, it was me!

In the mid 90's, with the popularity of grunge, metal took a big dive in popularity. Some even went so far as to say metal was dead. This was, of course, untrue as it still had a huge underground following. While the magazine that we all grew to love began to cover trendy garbage, the metalheads began to put out their own zines. The 90's seemed to be a time of short lived trends. Grunge, Industrial, Alternative, Pop-Punk, Techno, Emo, and now Ska, Rapcore and Goth. Death Metal had its time in the spot light too, although never to the extent of grunge or alternative. I, honestly, am not a big death metal fan, as I feel the vocals all pretty much sound the same. That being said, there are some death bands I really enjoy that play their music with a skill not hear before. Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Extol, Metanoia, Death and a few other all mix elements of classic metal with death metal and in turn create some beautiful music.

Despite the trends, metal continued to stay strong. New blood began to emerge, as well as the reformation of such greats as Exodus, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I was even blessed with the opportunity to join the guys from the original Vengeance Rising as the new vocalist for their new project called Once Dead. The 90's came and went and despite the changes in music, there a host of new, killer bands: Nevermore, Iced Earth, Mortification, Hammerfall, Destiny’s End, Narnia, Extol, New Eden, Teramaze, Place of Skulls, and the list goes on and on.

The Nineties continued to see the expansion of alternative rock, both artistically and commercially. The general trend of the era was towards more and more abstract music, music that had lost its original label of dance/party music.
First and foremost, the Nineties were the decade of singer songwriters who play ever more intellectual compositions: female composers such as Robin Holcomb, Tori Amos, Lisa Germano and Juliana Hatfield, male composers such as Matthew Sweet, Magnetic Field, Smog, Beck. Canada had Jane Siberry and Loreena McKennitt, two of the most conceptual musicians of their time, until Alanis Morissette emerged as a leader of the female folksinger movement. Ireland had two of the most unique voices, Sinead O'Connor and Enya, soon joined by Iceland's Bjork. In England, only Polly Jean Harvey ranked with these masters.

"Foxcore" was a brief fad propelled by West Coast all-girl punk bands such as Hole, Babes In Toyland, L7 and Seven Year Bitch.

Industrial music staged a dramatic comeback in Chicago with two of the most visible acts of the decade: Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, inspired by older European bands like KMFDM. New York followed suit with Cop Shoot Cop and Type O Negative, San Francisco with Neurosis, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Thinking Fellers Union. Texas with a florid industrial/psychedelic school that included the Pain Teensm Bedhead, and the Vas Deferens Organization.

Gothic rock came from the sun belt (Lycia, Black Tape For A Blue Girl) and was never as popular as the northern variant of industrial music.

Hard sounds still ruled in the aftermath of grunge, and New York (Unsane, Helmet, Surgery, Monster Magnet) and Los Angeles (Tool, Stone Temple Pilots, Kyuss, Korn) had their share of the pie.

Techno was the new trend in dance music. Invented in the Eighties in Detroit by the triad of disc jockeys Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, techno crossed the Atlantic and established itself in England and in the continent (Front 242), marching hand in hand with the rave scene. America was left behind (Moby and not much else).

Britain was the place for psychedelic music. It started with the Liverpool revival of Echo And The Bunnymen and Julian Cope, then it picked up speed with dream-pop (Cocteau Twins, the Australian Dead Can Dance, the Norwegian Bel Canto, and later the formidable triad of Slowdive, Bark Psychosis and Tindersticks) and with the Scottish noise-pop bands (Jesus And Mary Chain and Primal Scream ) and finally reached a climax with the shoegazers (My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, Loop, Spiritualized, Catherine Wheel), before folding into a new form of ambient music.

By the end of the decade, Britain was awash in Brit-pop, a media-induced trance of super-melodic pop that spawned countless "next big things", from Verve to Oasis to Blur to Suede to Radiohead, the band that finally disposed of it. But the best in the melodic genre came from humbler groups, led by girls, like Primitives and Heavenly.

The 1990s were also the decade of heavy metal, that peaked in Los Angeles with Metallica, Jane's Addiction, Guns And Roses, and that soon split into a myriad subgenres (doom metal, grind-core, death metal, etc) and funk-metal (Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine in Los Angeles, Primus and Faith No More in San Francisco). Marilyn Manson was the late phenomenon that recharged the genre.

Details On The Golden Age Of Heavy Metal

Punk-pop was born in Los Angeles in the Eighties, but somehow peaked in the Nineties elsewhere (Green Day in San Francisco, Screeching Weasel and Pegboy in Chicago).

The Nineties were the decade of intellectual rock, when no song could be just a melody and a rhythm but had to be all twisted and deranged. New York leaned towards rhythm and blues (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Soul Coughing, Royal Trux) and psychedelia (Yo La Tengo ), Boston towards psychedelia (Galaxie 500, Morphine) and pop (Breeders, Belly), Seattle towards psychedelia (Sky Cries Mary, Built To Spill), Los Angeles towards psychedelia (Mazzy Star, Red Temple Spirits, Medicine, Grant Lee Buffalo), San Francisco towards folk and country (American Music Club, Red House Painters), Washington towards punk-rock (Unrest, Girls Against Boys), Chicago towards punk-rock (Jesus Lizard) psychedelia (Codeine, Eleventh Dream Day), pop (Green, Smashing Pumpkins) and country (Uncle Tupelo). All of them owed something to the humble school of Kentucky, led by Slint and peaked with Tortoise.

Remnants of punk-rock in Texas (Ed Hall), Minneapolis (Cows), Tennessee (Today Is The Day) kept sending shock-waves around the nation.

San Francisco started the vogue for lo-fi pop with Pavement, which then begat Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, etc.

The Southeastern states came up strong with more and more intelligent sounds (Bitch Magnet, Blind Idiot God, Don Caballero, Grifters) that eventually peaked in the North Carolina school (Polvo, Seam).

Analog synthesizers staged a comeback with Jessamine, Magnog, Labradford.

But new styles kept coming literally from everywhere: Rhode Island (Six Finger Satellite), Arizona ( Calexico), Ohio ( Brainiac), Montana (Silkworm), Michigan (Windy & Carl).

England kept mutating its variant of psychedelia, that now began bordering on dissonant avantgarde (Stereolab, Ozric Tentacles, Pram, Flying Saucer Attack, Porcupine Tree).

The Nineties were the age of electronic music, whether in dance, ambient or noise format. Electronic musicians and ensembles spread to Belgium (Vidna Obmana), France (Air, Deep Forest, Lightwave), Germany (Sven Vath, Mo Boma, Oval, Mouse On Mars, Air Liquide), Canada (Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Delerium, Vampire Rodents, Trance Mission), Scandinavia, and especially Japan (Zeni Geva, Boredoms, Merzbow, the triad of noise). Britain's revitalized ambient scene yielded Orb, Main, Rapoon, Autechre.

Britain's dance music was far more successful (creatively speaking) than its rock bands: Madchester (Stone Roses), rave (Saint Etienne), transglobal dance (Banco De Gaia, Loop Guru, Transglobal Underground, TUU) ambient house (Orbital, Future Sound Of London, Aphex Twins, Mu-ziq), jungle (Goldie, Squarepusher, Propellerheads), trip-hop (Portishead, Tricky), and plain techno (Meat Beat Manifesto, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers) artists redefined compositional processes and cross-bred countless genres.

Industrial music and grindcore somehow merged and spawned terrifying sounds in the albums of Techno Animal and Godflesh.

The Irish Cranberries and the Scottish Belle And Sebastian are among the revelations of the end of the decade.

Australia still boasts impressive ensembles, and in particular one of the most important instrumental bands, Dirty 3.

The 1990s' boom of singer songwriters will continue throughout the decade. Among the leaders of influential bands, several will continue offering serious music on their own: Natalie Merchant, Kristin Hersh, Bob Mould, Frank Black, Paul Westerberg, Mark Eitzel, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, and, greatest of them all, Mark Lanegan.

Freedy Johnston, Vic Chesnutt, Peter Himmelman, My Dad Is Dead, Mountain Goats are among the new voices of the decade, each eccentric in his own way.

Over the generations of metal a great evolution has occurred from the primitive origins of the sound in alienated mainstream music to its emergence into a neoclassical revival in underground death and black metal. Navigate the genres menu by selecting a type of music on the left based on its corresponding description, or use the methods at the bottom of the page to select a new way of viewing our review listings.

Death Metal
Demigod - Dead Soul Demigod - Dead Soul MP3 In a time when a neurotic obsession with moral conflict against communism gripped the West, this music preached total nihilism, or lack of preconceptions of belief, and a knowledge that death is more real than human political mechanations. Arguably for the most part rhythm music, this genre uses muffled picking and tremelo strumming of power chords or single-string playing to hammer out a machine code of intricate riff textures and the geometries of convergent sound. Its structuralism matches its grim but self-empowering worldview. Distinguished by bass-end tuning and guttural chanting vocals, death metal exists underground by deliberately disrupting consonant aesthetic and programming the human mind at the lowest levels with natural, intuitive rhythms.

Black Metal
Darkthrone - En Ã…s I Dype Skogen Darkthrone - En Ã…s I Dype Skogen In the time after the Cold War, an involution of "progressive" values caused the West to lose sight of natural values in a desire to outperform each other in a competition of egalitarian morals. Black metal rose above this normative impulse by aspiring to the highest realms of human conception and behavior, embracing intellectual elitism and the honorable warrior mentality of the medieval era. Where death metal broke music into raw rhythm and structure, black metal built upon that foundation in technique by exploring the use of melody as the central principle of songwriting. Long phrases harmonize internally and resolve in resounding tremelo, often creating from broken apart sound an organic torrent of tones that wrapped around each other and create a single, clear, evolving melodic line which forms the structure of each composition.

Grindcore
Napalm Death - The World Keeps Turning Napalm Death - The World Keeps Turning MP3 Made from the remnants of thrash and other crossover attempts, grindcore fused the death metal vocal style with high energy hardcore riffing using chromatic and counterpoint compositional techniques to create streams of tonal motion, or divisions of sound into abrupt striking strum, which "grind" against one another with a primal direction in phrasing based on the rhythm of a central pair of themes.

Thrash
Cryptic Slaughter - Nuclear Future Cryptic Slaughter - Nuclear Future MP3 When hardcore and metal collided thrash emerged as a fusion of punk song stylings and musical ethos with metal riff styles and topics. Apocalyptic and confrontational songs of often under a minute in duration battered the listener with one- and two-riff creations which slammed home a central idea in verse and chorus. Politics entered metal forever through this avenue, as did the desire to make simpler and more alarmingly basic music. Vocals were shouted in a high-speed diatribe resembling that of an auctioneer closing a bid. While musicianship was mostly of the lowest caliber, the speed and abrupt percussive guitar techniques of the genre required innovation of custom technique which is the foundation of death metal playing.

Speed Metal
Nuclear Assault - Nuclear War [Nuclear Assault - Nuclear War MP3] In the early days of the cold war, speed metal arose to reflect the apocalyptic consciousness gripping heavy metal after fusion with antisocial and anarchistic hardcore punk. Bands influenced by the progressive styles of the 1970s and the abrupt, droning, explosive style of hardcore began making a fast type of metal which used palm muting as a strumming technique to produce bursts of alternating rhythmic emphasis. Topics like war, pollution, nuclear weapons and corporate domination were sung of in either a male bass vocal or shouted in a riot style chorusing similar to that of Oi bands. While this music was highly complex and often inventive in structure, it remained roughly within the confines of rock-based mainstream music and passed its technique on to the underground death metal, thrash and grindcore to follow.

Black metal started in the early '80s. It drew influences from thrash metal, but took things to even more extremes. The Norwegian scene quickly grew and was plagued by church burnings and murders in the early '90s. The genre spread across Europe and into North America. Many black metal bands wear corpse paint and stage outfits that make them look evil or threatening.

Musical Style
Early black metal was raw and very poorly produced, with blast beat drumming and distorted guitars. The production value improved, but the rawness was still a hallmark of the first wave of black metal. Today's "second wave" bands are more melodic and symphonic with a lot of keyboards, but still very extreme and uncommercial. Image is just is important as musical style in this genre.

Black Metal Vocal Style
Mostly high pitched rasps and guttural growls that are completely intelligible. If you look at the lyrics sheets many have pagan or satanic themes. Many vocalist try to sound like a demon or something straight out of hell.

Pioneers
Venom
Venom formed in England in the late '70s and consisted of Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon. Their debut album Welcome To Hell was released in 1981 and followed a year later by the album that gave the genre its name, Black Metal.

What Is Progressive Metal?

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* progressive metal
* heavy metal 101
* dream theater
* fates warning
* queensryche

"Dream Theater"

Dream Theater
Roadrunner Records
Progressive metal has its roots in the progressive rock movement of the '70s. In the mid 1980s, bands began to take the basics of progressive rock and add in a heavy metal sound to the equation, forming a new style of progressive music. Progressive metal became huge in the early '90s, with Queensrÿche and Dream Theater having several hit singles that were played regularly on MTV. Since that time, the genre has expanded to include death metal, jazz, and classical elements. Bands have forged their own identities mixing these new elements with what the early pioneers of the genre brought to the table.
Musical Style:
Progressive metal is heavy on technically-sound guitar playing, frequent use of keyboards and complex signature time changes, especially in the drumming department. Bands tend to create a balance between melody and pure aggression. Many bands in the genre play longer songs, some extending over the half-hour mark.
Vocal Style:
Vocals are high-pitched and clearly recognizable. Falsettos, high notes, and operatic/theatrical singing are the norm. However, some bands, like Opeth and Cynic, use growls and screams, in the style of death metal.
Progressive Metal Pioneers:
Dream Theater
Dream Theater hit it big with 1992’s Images and Words, behind the single “Pull Me Under.” The band was highly skilled with their instruments, even in the early stages of their career, and their songwriting was top-notch. Fans enjoyed their modern twist on the classic progressive rock sound. Dream Theater would build up a large fan base and continue to grow off the success of Images and Words.

Fates Warning
The heaviest of the three pioneers of the genre, Fates Warning took a heavier approach to progressive rock, stripping it down to the bare essentials. 1988’s No Exit would be the album that showcased the band at their most progressive, with the 20-minute epic “The Ivory Gates Of Dreams” being the band’s magnum opus at the time of its release.

Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche’s third album, 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime, is considered one of the finest concept albums in progressive metal. Leaning towards the progressive side, Queensrÿche’s songs were catchy and upbeat, yet had an edge to them that gave them the extra kick to please fans of the metal side of the genre.
Recommended Progressive Metal CDs:
Dream Theater - Awake
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Fates Warning - No Exit
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pain Of Salvation - Entropia
King’s X - Faith, Hope, Love
Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Spock’s Beard - V
Tiamat - Wildhoney
Between the Buried and Me - Colors
Ocean Machine - Biotech

Mayhem
The Norwegian band is famous because of their music, and infamous because of everything else that went on around them. Vocalist Dead committed suicide and Euronymous was stabbed to death by fellow band member Count Grishnackh. Formed in 1984, they were at the forefront of the increasingly popularity of black metal in Norway.

Recommended Black Metal Albums
Venom - Black Metal
Mayhem - Grand Declaration Of War
Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk
Cradle Of Filth - Dusk And Her Embrace
Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Darkthrone - Soulside Journey
Immortal - Pure Holocaust
Burzum - Filosofem
Gorgoroth - Under The Sign Of Hell
Satyricon - Shadowthrone
Marduk - Heaven Shall Burn
Rotting Christ - A Dead Poem
Enslaved - Frost
Dark Funeral - Vobiscum Satanas
Other Heavy Metal Genre Profiles

What Is Power Metal?

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* power metal
* heavy metal 101
* helloween
* blind guardian
* gamma ray

"Helloween"

Helloween
SPV Records
Power Metal:
Power metal mixes heavy metal with thrash, speed and symphonic elements. European bands like Helloween and Gamma Ray started the power metal movement in the late ‘80s, with the genre exploding in the ‘90s with Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, and Stratovarius leading the way for future power metal bands. The main sound of the genre hasn’t changed much, with the vocals still soaring high and the guitar solos flying free. Nowadays, bands like Dragonforce and Theocracy are keeping power metal strong, engaging a new generation of metalheads.
Musical Style:
Most guitar work in power metal is played at a fast speed, with thrash-like riffing and wild solos that can go on for an extended period of time. The bassist usually just stays with the rhythm guitarist. The drummer relies heavily on double bass work, adding in some complex fills and cymbal work as well. The keyboard work ranges from band to band, with some bands using the keys for simple melodies, while others create an orchestration effect for the music.
Vocal Style:
Vocalists sing in a high register, quite similar to Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson and Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford. Their range is usually wide, with high notes being the norm.
Power Metal Pioneers:
Helloween
In 1987, the two-part epic concept album Keeper Of The Seven Keys put the German power metal band on the map. Both of these albums are really where the birth of power metal began. Taking NWOBHM and adding melodic elements to the sound is what led to Helloween’s early success, and the forward momentum of the power metal genre as a whole.

Blind Guardian
While forming around the same time as Helloween, it wouldn’t be until later releases where the band’s full potential would be unleashed. While they did play power metal in the early days, Blind Guardian tended to lean towards speed metal on 1988’s Battalions Of Fear and 1989’s Follow The Blind.

Gamma Ray
When Helloween guitarist and songwriter Kai Hansen left the band in 1988, he formed his own project, Gamma Ray. Hansen kept to his power metal roots in his new band, with Gamma Ray eventually becoming an underground hit for fans of the genre. The band is best known for their epic 1995 album Land Of The Free.
Recommended Power Metal Albums:
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1
Stratovarius - Dreamspace
Crimson Glory - Transcendence
Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free
Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth
Hammerfall - Glory To The Brave
Iced Earth - Horror Show
Dragonforce - Valley Of The Damned
Theocracy - Theocracy
Primal Fear - Jaws Of Death

What Is Metalcore?

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* metalcore
* heavy metal 101
* heavy metal genre profiles

Metalcore:
The origins of metalcore date back to the mid-1980s, where bands like Agnostic Front and Suicidal Tendencies were mixing thrash, punk, and hardcore together. The genre became huge in the late '90s, as a major wave of metalcore bands formed to tear up the metal landscape. Bands like Unearth, Killswitch Engage, and All That Remains have made names for themselves in the mainstream, headlining major festivals and achieving solid albums sales. Today, metalcore is still one of the most popular genres of metal, even with criticism from some in the underground metal community.
Musical Style:
Metalcore is structured linearly, with the songwriting consisting of aggressive verses and melodic choruses. Breakdowns are a vital part of the genre, usually used to invoke moshing at live shows. A good portion of the bands in the genre have recently added in solos and a greater emphasis on technical guitar playing, including a heavy use of palm muting. Double bass drumming is prevalent in the genre as well. The sound is polished and the lyrics range from personal to political issues.
Vocal Style:
Most vocalists scream and growl, with some saving the clean vocals for selected points in the song (chorus, bridge).
Metalcore Pioneers:
Earth Crisis
Formed in 1991, Earth Crisis made a splash in metalcore with their 1995 debut album Destroy The Machines. The album is considered one of the most influential albums towards garnishing mainstream recognition of the genre. Earth Crisis released a few more albums that showcased a cleaner and more refined approach to metalcore before dissolving in 2001.

Shai Hulud
While some today may consider the band to be closer to a hardcore/punk hybrid, Shai Hulud was considered a pioneer of metalcore back in the mid '90s. Their 1997 album Hearts Once Nourished With Hope And Compassion was an anger-fueled journey; however, Shai Hulud brought intelligent lyrics to the forefront of their music, helping them to achieve critical and commercial acclaim.
Recommended Metalcore Albums:
As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse
Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache
Shadows Fall - The Art Of Balance
Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison
Trivium - Ascendancy
Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen
Earth Crisis - Destroy The Machines
Shai Hulud - Hearts Once Nourished With Hope And Compassion
Converge - Jane Doe
Overcast - Reborn To Kill Again

What Is Doom Metal?

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* doom metal
* heavy metal 101
* heavy metal history

Doom metal has its origins in the early 70’s, with heavy metal band Black Sabbath playing songs with slow riffing and dark, foreboding lyrics. In the 80’s, bands like Saint Vitus, Trouble, and Candlemass took those elements and warped them into what became known as doom metal. The genre spanned out in the early 90’s to include other musical genres, including death, thrash, and black metal to form a multitude of subgenres. Out of these subgenres came successful doom metal acts such as My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. Today, the genre is still going strong, especially in the underground scene.
Musical Style:
Doom metal has slower melodies and dark lyrical themes, usually dealing with death, destruction, and feelings of despair and emptiness. The sound is heavy and thick, due in part to the guitar tone, with distortion and downtuning usually prevalent characteristics in the guitar work.
Vocal Style:
Most vocalists sing cleanly, save for some that use either growled or whispered vocals. The singer usually sounds depressed or moody, with a lot of pausing and a heavy-handed approach that emphasizes the gloomy lyrical content.
Pioneers of Doom Metal:
Pagan Altar
Pagan Altar One of the first true doom metal bands, Pagan Altar would quickly fade into obscurity in the early 80’s. Their debut album Volume 1 was not released until 1998, but was originally recorded in 1982, and showcased the early incarnation of doom metal. Along with fellow British band Witchcraft General, Pagan Altar left a lasting impression on the genre, even in their brief time together. The band reformed in 2004, and released two albums, 2004’s The Lords Of Hypocrisy and 2006’s Mythical and Magical.

Witchcraft General
While eventually following the same career path as Pagan Altar (breaking up early, re-forming about twenty years later), the band was able to release a few essential doom metal albums in their original lineup. 1982’s Death Penalty took many cues from Black Sabbath, but slowed down the tempo considerably, save for a few NWOBHM-influenced cuts, like “Free Country.” The band would release one more album, 1983’s Friends Of Hell before disbanding, only to bring the band back to life in late 2006.

Saint Vitus
Over in America, a metal band from California would make their mark in the genre with their self-titled debut in 1984. With epic numbers like “Zombie Hunger” and “Burial At Sea,” the five tracks on their first album would make the band a major underground hit. The band would go on for another decade, releasing quality material, before ending the band in the late '90s.
Recommended Doom Metal Albums:
Pagan Altar - Volume 1
Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus
Witchcraft General - Death Penalty
Trouble - Psalm 9
Candlemass - Ancient Dreams
My Dying Bride - The Angel And The Dark River
Pentagram - Day Of Reckoning
Solitude Aeturnus - Beyond The Crimson Horizon
Solstice - Lamentations
Novembers Doom - Amid Its Hallowed Mirth
What Is Progressive Metal?

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* progressive metal
* heavy metal 101
* dream theater
* fates warning
* queensryche

"Dream Theater"

Dream Theater
Roadrunner Records
Progressive metal has its roots in the progressive rock movement of the '70s. In the mid 1980s, bands began to take the basics of progressive rock and add in a heavy metal sound to the equation, forming a new style of progressive music. Progressive metal became huge in the early '90s, with Queensrÿche and Dream Theater having several hit singles that were played regularly on MTV. Since that time, the genre has expanded to include death metal, jazz, and classical elements. Bands have forged their own identities mixing these new elements with what the early pioneers of the genre brought to the table.
Musical Style:
Progressive metal is heavy on technically-sound guitar playing, frequent use of keyboards and complex signature time changes, especially in the drumming department. Bands tend to create a balance between melody and pure aggression. Many bands in the genre play longer songs, some extending over the half-hour mark.
Vocal Style:
Vocals are high-pitched and clearly recognizable. Falsettos, high notes, and operatic/theatrical singing are the norm. However, some bands, like Opeth and Cynic, use growls and screams, in the style of death metal.
Progressive Metal Pioneers:
Dream Theater
Dream Theater hit it big with 1992’s Images and Words, behind the single “Pull Me Under.” The band was highly skilled with their instruments, even in the early stages of their career, and their songwriting was top-notch. Fans enjoyed their modern twist on the classic progressive rock sound. Dream Theater would build up a large fan base and continue to grow off the success of Images and Words.

Fates Warning
The heaviest of the three pioneers of the genre, Fates Warning took a heavier approach to progressive rock, stripping it down to the bare essentials. 1988’s No Exit would be the album that showcased the band at their most progressive, with the 20-minute epic “The Ivory Gates Of Dreams” being the band’s magnum opus at the time of its release.

Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche’s third album, 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime, is considered one of the finest concept albums in progressive metal. Leaning towards the progressive side, Queensrÿche’s songs were catchy and upbeat, yet had an edge to them that gave them the extra kick to please fans of the metal side of the genre.
Recommended Progressive Metal CDs:
Dream Theater - Awake
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Fates Warning - No Exit
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pain Of Salvation - Entropia
King’s X - Faith, Hope, Love
Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Spock’s Beard - V
Tiamat - Wildhoney
Between the Buried and Me - Colors
Ocean Machine - Biotech
Melodic Death Metal

From Dan Marsicano
See More About:

* melodic death metal
* swedish metal
* in flames
* dark tranquillilty
* at the gates

"In Flames"

In Flames
Koch Records
Melodic Death Metal:
Melodic death metal became huge in the mid-1990s, with the releases of At The Gates’ Slaughter Of The Soul, Dark Traquillity’s The Gallery and In Flames’ The Jester Race. These three albums became the founding block for the sudden eruption of the Gothenburg metal scene. This helped melodic death metal to become internationally-known, with bands seemingly coming out of the woodwork. To this day, the genre is still an underground sensation, with bands like Scar Symmetry, Into Eternity, and Darkane revered by both critics and fans alike.
Musical Style:
Melodic death metal has characteristics of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), with fast riffing and harmonic guitar work. Death metal plays a big role in the sound as well, with fast double bass drum work and distorted guitars. However, melodic element also played a major part in the core sound, with clean vocals, acoustic guitars, and keyboards maintaining a strong presence.
Vocal Style:
The vocals are a mix of harsh screams and clean, tuneful harmonies. Death growls are also prevalent, usually blended in with the screams.
Melodic Death Metal Pioneers:
At The Gates
The band was already around for half-a-decade when they put out their masterpiece, 1995’s Slaughter Of The Soul. The band took the quick and simple approach, blasting out short bursts of melodic death metal. Experimentation was still a focus point of the band, with subtle acoustic work sprinkled throughout the album. A year after its release, the band would split up, re-uniting for a few shows in 2008.

Dark Tranquillity
1995’s The Gallery was their breakout album, the first with new vocalist Mikael Stanne, who replaced Anders Fridén, who went on to join In Flames. The Gallery is a strong album, one that wasn’t afraid to break the five-minute mark and add classical elements into their guitar work. Dark Tranquillity would go on to have a long-lasting career, carving out a legacy built on an aggressive metal sound, with subtle keyboard work present.

In Flames
The Jester Race is a fast-paced album, with the guitar duo of Jesper Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström tearing up the landscape, while Fridén’s barks are easily understandable. The band kept songs near the five-minute mark, with two instrumentals to showcase a progressive side of the quintet. The Jester Race would mark the beginning of a long and successful career for the Swedish band, even garnishing some commercial success for the band in their later years.
Recommended Melodic Death Metal Albums:
At The Gates- Slaughter Of The Soul
Dark Tranquillity- The Gallery
In Flames- The Jester Race
Scar Symmetry- Pitch Black Progress
Soilwork- Natural Born Chaos
Into Eternity- Buried In Oblivion
Hypocrisy- Virus
Edge Of Sanity- Purgatory Afterglow
Amon Amarth- Once Sent From The Golden Hall
Carcass- Heartwork

Nu metal, also known as aggro-metal [2][3] is a genre of music that blends heavy metal elements with other styles, such as hardcore punk, grunge and industrial rock.[4] The genre became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Bands associated with nu metal derive influence from a variety of diverse styles, including hardcore punk,[2][4] grunge,[2][5] hip hop,[2][4] industrial rock,[2][4] electronica,[4] funk,[4] glam rock,[4] gothic rock,[4] thrash metal,[2] and jazz.[4]

The lyrics of many nu metal bands focus on pain and personal alienation rather than traditional heavy metal themes.[4][5] Nu metal fashion can include baggy shorts, piercings and tattoos.[6][7]

Some nu metal bands use seven-string guitars over traditional six-string guitars.[4] 7-string guitars, which are sometimes downtuned to increase heaviness, resulted in bass guitarists using five-string and six-string instruments.[4] Some nu metal bands feature a DJ for additional rhythmic instrumentation (such as music sampling, scratching and electronic backgrounds). [4]

A common characteristic in Nu Metal guitar is unresolved Dissonance, this can be noticed in many popular Nu Metal songs.
[edit] History

In Nu-metal: The Next Generation of Rock & Punk, Joel McIver cites the bands Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Nirvana and Jane's Addiction as setting up various musical characteristics which are prominent in the genre.[8] Many of the first nu metal bands came from California.[9] In 1994, Korn became the first band to be labeled as "nu metal".[10] Producer Ross Robinson has been cited as a key figure in shaping the genre.[8]

In Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, Ian Christie wrote that the genre demonstrated that "pancultural metal could pay off."[11] However, some metal purists did not fully embrace the style.[11]

Established artists such as Sepultura,[12] Slayer,[13] Vanilla Ice[14] and Machine Head[15] released albums which critics felt drew from the styl




The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is a movement in that originated in the United States during the early to mid 1990s[1][2][3] and has expanded most in the recent 2000s. Some of the bands considered part of the movement had formed as early as the 1980s, but did not become influential or reach popular standing until the following decade[1][4][3] . The term NWOAHM is a later reference to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the very early 1980s.[1][4][3]

Although the term is used by the media with increasing frequency, the definition has not been finished completely. [4] This is due in part to the growing addition of bands that assimilate to common styles in NWOAHM (as defined below), yet have not differentiated greatly enough as to garner a new genre moniker.[5] One descriptor by longtime metal author Garry Sharpe-Young helps classify the NWOAHM as a "marriage of European-style riffing and throaty vocals".[6] Several of the bands within the NWOAHM are credited with bringing heavy metal back into the mainstream.[3][7]
The movement has its origins in a group of groove metal and hardcore acts from the 1990s such as Pantera, Biohazard and Machine Head that brought heavy metal "back to its core brutality and drawing not from the traditional blues formula but from NYHC, thrash metal and punk."[4] Garry Sharpe-Young wrote in his book Metal: A Definitive Guide that the NWOAHM saw a distinct uprising in the early 2000s following the over-saturation of nu-metal in the mainstream. He writes "a fresh audience was ushered in, who wanted the same degree of aggression but laced with more finesse. ... Breakdowns had been replaced by well-engineered riffs; where once there was an annoying turntable scratch, the space was filled by the long-overdue return of the guitar solo."[8]

Producers behind the 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey write of the NWOAHM: "In essence, NWOAHM can embody the seething aggression of the 'hardcore' hormone, but play a type of acrobatic, precise, technical thrash/death metal synthesis regularly touched by the melody of traditional metal, but often just briefly. Vocally, these bands huddle around Pantera-derived roar, leaning toward a death metal bark, but often with 'clean' or 'sung' vocals as ear candy, sometimes from a member of the band who is not the front man." [9] The producers also reference Unearth, Shadows Fall, and Lamb of God as "leaders of the pack". [10]

In the book New Wave of American Heavy Metal, when listing the wave most popular contributors, Garry Sharpe-Young "included some of the older bands that show the real roots of metalcore, like Agnostic Front and the whole NYHC, plus the groups that broke the metal scene into new territory after grunge — Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head. From there it gets really diverse, crossing the spectrum from melodic death metal to progressive metal and everything in between."[1] The movement encompasses a number of different styles including alternative metal, post-thrash, metalcore, hardcore punk, progressive metal, and melodic death metal.[1][4][7][11][12]
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Nick "SoaS" Morouney
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeTue Jun 08, 2010 10:00 am

You definitely didn't write this Razz lol but, it's really VERY extensive and I love reading every bit of it. Thanks for this. Metal m/
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http://www.myspace.com/sinsofasaintmusic
Korrupted660

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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeTue Jun 08, 2010 5:23 pm

I could read this.

Or I could watch A Headbanger's Journey.
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K1nG`0f`M3t4L
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PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeTue Jun 08, 2010 9:50 pm

Korrupted660 wrote:
I could read this.

Or I could watch A Headbanger's Journey.

yes but mike worked really really really hard to do this for us :O
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CorpseGrinder
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PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeTue Jun 08, 2010 11:23 pm

Some people are just ignorant/.
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Korrupted660

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PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 1:38 am

K1nG`0f`M3t4L wrote:
Korrupted660 wrote:
I could read this.

Or I could watch A Headbanger's Journey.

yes but mike worked really really really hard to do this for us :O

Yes, it's so hard to copy and paste everything into one mega-article.
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Kakko

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PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 4:23 am

You got the information didn't you? A headbangers Journey is a worth-while watch though.
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PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 8:45 am

Brandon, if you believe you have something better, feel free to post it. Don't need to be ignorant towards an admin.
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Nick "SoaS" Morouney
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 8:47 am

To be fair to Brandon, it is slightly misleading. The thread topic says Michael wrote it himself.
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CorpseGrinder
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 8:50 am

I know, but still, Mike is admin. So respect him regardless of his thread being misleading. Mike, I purpose you do it in your own words.
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Nick "SoaS" Morouney
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 8:52 am

It'd be a little hard to do. This particular article has a lot of the guy's first hand perspective on the metal world
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CorpseGrinder
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 8:54 am

Oh no, I agree, I just purpose he adds his own input. Perhaps just do some of YOUR own band bios or something..
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K1nG`0f`M3t4L
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeWed Jun 09, 2010 9:12 am

Hmm..yes be nice to your admins..they keep you safe on the forum
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abacacus
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeThu Jun 10, 2010 1:49 am

Who cares if he's an admin... he's just another poster on the board. If Brandon wants to call him out let him.
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Korrupted660

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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeThu Jun 10, 2010 3:55 am

This guy.. I dunno. He says he's in this band that's crazy and awesome, but nothing has really come out, and you go on the Myspace, and it's a bunch of bullshit about him.

Whatev though, he's an admin.
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K1nG`0f`M3t4L
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeMon Jun 14, 2010 4:37 am

The history of metal.. \m/ yeah..i made a post.. =D
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Nick "SoaS" Morouney
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeMon Jun 14, 2010 9:50 am

Too bad it doesn't count cause it was a pointless post Razz
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CorpseGrinder
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeMon Jun 14, 2010 5:36 pm

I don't know what happened to mike posting shit?
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K1nG`0f`M3t4L
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A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it Empty
PostSubject: Re: A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it   A brief history lesson by me kkep inmind this is not in order yet but i will go throuh all of it I_icon_minitimeMon Jun 14, 2010 7:08 pm

we need to get on him in the admins meeting tonight
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