MAJOR SUB-GENRES

Thrash Metal (approx. 1983)

Fast, riff-focused songs, punk attitude, yelled/snarled vocals, fun rythms.

Death Metal (approx. 1987)

Aggressive, gutteral vocals, downtuned distorted guitars, fast leads, gory/evil imagery.

Black Metal (approx. 1990)

Shrieked vocals, tremelo-picked guitars, corpse paint, lo-fi recording, evil imagery.

ORIGINS

Heavy metal began around 1968 in Birmingham, England with the emergence of Black Sabbath, fronted by the infamous Ozzy Osbourne.

Their distorted sound, tri-tonal melodies, and occult-like lyrical content sparked a rebellion within the previous state of “family friendly” music.

Since then, their distorted sound and sinister attitude have permeated into a litany of sub-genres, each one being different from the other. From heavy metal to thrash metal, death metal to black metal, grindcore to metalcore, and prog metal to djent, each of these sub-genres all share a similar forefather: Black Sabbath.

PIONEERING BANDS

Heavy Metal:

  • Black Sabbath
  • Iron Maiden
  • Dio

Thrash Metal:

  • Metallica
  • Slayer
  • Anthrax

Death Metal:

  • Death
  • Cannibal Corpse
  • Morbid Angel

Black Metal:

  • Mayhem
  • Darkthrone
  • Burzum