<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=UnifrakturCook:400,700" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald" rel="stylesheet"> <h1>Metal Sub-Genres</h1> <div class="img-container text-center"> <img src="http://payload232.cargocollective.com/1/5/171440/6951425/BMM_LogoPentagram_1500.jpg"> </div> <h3>Metal has an incredibly diverse variety of sounds and sub-genres. Below are a few of the more common sub-genres:</h3> <br /> <br /> <ul> <li><span>Alternative Metal</span> - Alternative metal usually combines heavy metal with influences from genres like alternative rock, and in some cases other genres not normally associated with metal as well. One of the main characteristics of alternative metal and it's subgenres are heavily downtuned, mid-paced "chug"-like guitar riffs. Alternative metal bands are also often characterized by melodic vocals, unconventional sounds within other heavy metal genres, unconventional song structures and sometimes experimental approaches to heavy music.</li> <li><span>Avant-Garde Metal</span> - Avant-garde metal or avant-metal, also known as experimental metal, is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and characterized by the use of innovative, avant-garde elements, large-scale experimentation, and the use of non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. It evolved out of progressive rock, jazz fusion, and extreme metal, particularly death metal.</li> <li><span>Black Metal</span> - Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structures. Initially considered a synonym for "Satanic metal", black metal has often been met with hostility from mainstream culture, mainly due to the misanthropic and anti-Christian standpoint of many artists. Moreover, several of the genre's pioneers have been linked with church burnings and murder. Some have also been linked to neo-Nazism, however most black metal fans and most prominent black metal musicians reject Nazi ideology and oppose its influence on the black metal subculture.</li> <li><span>Christian Metal</span> - Christian metal, also known as white metal, is a form of heavy metal music usually defined by its message using song lyrics as well as the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal artists exist in all the subgenres of heavy metal music, and the only common link among most Christian metal artists are the lyrics.</li> <li><span>Crust Punk</span> - Crust punk, often simply called crust, is a form of music influenced by anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. Crust is partly defined by its "bassy" and "dirty" sound. It is often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually guttural and may be growled or screamed.</li> <li><span>Death Metal</span> - Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.</li> <li><span>Doom Metal</span> - Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal with songs such as "Black Sabbath", "Electric Funeral" and "Into the Void".</li> <li><span>Extreme Metal</span> - Extreme metal consists of a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s, usually characterized by a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal, death metal, doom metal, thrash metal, and sometimes speed metal.</li> <li><span>Folk Metal</span> - Folk metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music. This includes the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles. The music of folk metal is characterized by its diversity, with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music. A large variety of folk instruments are used in the genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line-ups. A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments. Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with mythology, history, and nature.</li> <li><span>Glam Metal</span> - Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is the visual style of certain heavy metal bands that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene. It was popular throughout the 1980s and briefly in the early 1990s, combining the flamboyant look of glam rock and playing a commercial hard rock/heavy metal musical style.</li> <li><span>Gothic Metal</span> - Gothic metal is characterized as a combination of the dark atmospheres of gothic rock and darkwave with the heaviness of doom metal. The genre originated during the mid-1990s in Europe as an outgrowth of doom-death, a fusion genre of doom metal and death metal.</li> <li><span>Grindcore</span> - Grindcore is a fusion of crust punk, hardcore punk and thrash metal or death metal. It is characterized by growling vocals, blast beats, and incredibly short songs with lyrics that are often focused on gore and violence, though sometimes the lyrics can be political. Grindcore, in contrast to death metal, is often very chaotic, and lacks the standard use of time signatures.</li> <li><span>Industrial Metal</span> - Industrial metal combines elements of industrial music and heavy metal. It is usually centered around repetitive metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals.</li> <li><span>Metalcore</span> - Metalcore combines heavy metal and hardcore punk. Generally, metalcore guitarists use heavy guitar riffs and solos, drummers frequently use hardcore Blast beats and double bass drums, and vocalists use a vocal style which includes death growls and shouting. A distinguishing characteristic is the "breakdown", whereby the song is slowed to half-time and the guitarists play open strings to achieve the lowest-pitched sound.</li> <li><span>Post-metal</span> - This heavy metal movement takes influences from post-rock. While it is in many ways similar to post-rock, post-metal tends to include lower-tuned guitars, distorted guitar(s), heavy atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure, and a minimal emphasis on vocals. Post-metal stresses emotion, contrasting the ambiance of post-rock with the weight and bombast of metal. Vocals are deemphasized or non-existent, and lyrics tend to be equally abstract: often thematic or philosophical in nature.</li> <li><span>Power Metal</span> - Power metal takes influence from heavy metal and speed metal, and often emphasizes clean, melodic, high-pitched vocals, and fast pacing that is mostly driven by double bass drumming and melodic lead guitar. The rhythm guitar is defined by straight power chord progressions. Sometimes, harsh vocals are used, but usually only as backing vocals. Power metal lyrics usually involve fantasy themes. The songs often have a theatrical, epic, and emotionally "powerful" sound. Power metal is generally more upbeat than other metal genres, seeking to empower the listener and inspire joy and courage.</li> <li><span>Progressive Metal</span> - Progressive metal is a fusion between progressive rock and heavy metal. It is one of heavy metal's more complex genres, due to its use of unusual and dynamic time signatures, long compositions, complex compositional structures, and skilled instrumental playing, where instrumental solos are detailed and extended. However, the latest age of progressive metal has favored rougher lyrics and lower-pitched riff sequences with high amounts of strumming. Vocals, if present, are melodic (though there are a few that utilise unclean vocals), and lyrics are often philosophical, spiritual, or political.</li> <li><span>Speed Metal</span> - Speed metal originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s out of the new wave of British heavy metal, and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal. When speed metal first emerged as a genre, it increased the tempos that had been used by early heavy metal bands, while retaining their melodic approaches. Influenced by hardcore punk, speed metal is very fast, abrasive, and technically demanding.</li> <li><span>Stoner Metal</span> - Stoner rock or stoner metal is typically slow-to-mid tempo, low-tuned, and bass-heavy. It combines elements of psychedelic rock, blues-rock and doom metal, often with melodic vocals and 'retro' production.</li> <li><span>Symphonic Metal</span> - Symphonic metal most commonly refers to metal bands that use orchestral elements in their music, either through having an actual orchestra, a few classical instruments, or keyboards that simulate the sounds of classical instruments.</li> <li><span>Thrash Metal</span> - Thrash metal is often regarded as the first form of extreme metal. It is generally characterized by its fast tempos, complexity and aggression. Thrash metal guitar playing is most notable for the "chugging" sound it creates through low-pitched palm muted riffs, and high-pitched shred guitar solos. Drummers often use double-kick and double-bass drumming. Vocals are most often shouted or sung in an aggressive manner.</li> <li><span>Traditional Heavy Metal</span> - Traditional heavy metal, also known as classic metal or often simply heavy metal, is the group of bands and artists who play a metal music style similar to the style heard before the genre evolved and splintered into many different styles and subgenres. It is characterized by mid-to-fast-tempo riffs, by thumping basslines, crunchy riffs, extended lead guitar solos, and clean, often high-pitched vocals and anthemic choruses. It is not generally categorized as a subgenre of metal, but the main genre of it.</li> </ul> <br /> <br /> <h2>For more information about metal's colorful history, as well as other sub-sub-genres and influential bands, click <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_genres" target="_blank">here</a> for wikipedia's extensive article on the subject.</h2> <hr /> <footer> <p>Coded by Andy Taber, with information sourced from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>.</p> </footer>

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