Hardcore techno has given us donk, electronica has skweee, and now heavy metal can boast the addition of its own onomatopoeic microgenre: djent. The sound of a heavily digitally processed power chord, djent is the name for the elastic, syncopated guitar riff beloved of a new breed of progressive metal musicians. So far, so muso – but the interesting thing about djent is that this scene doesn't exist in a traditional geographic sense. Although inspired by bands such as Sweden's tech-metal pioneers Meshuggah – who coined the term "djent" a decade ago – and the British band Sikth, the genre and its distinctive sound has been driven forward by bedroom guitarists using virtual amp setups and computer recording programmes, then trading songs, riffs and tips on online forums – a kind of Second Life for guitar geeks.

"Djent is really an online phenomenon," explains Sander Dieleman, webmaster of got-djent.com. "The internet gives young artists a way to easily share their music, and it's very easy to produce professional-sounding music in your bedroom. If you want to play djent, all you need is a guitar, a computer, a guitar interface and understanding neighbours."

While such home recording techniques have been the preserve of digital recording artists producing techno, dubstep and electronica for some years now, it took the perseverance of one guitarist, Misha Mansoor, to bring this 21st-century philosophy to the metal realm. It was his online sharing of solo compositions (and liberal use of the term "djent") over the past five years that kickstarted the movement, with a whole host of djent and djent-influenced bands springing up worldwide over the last year.

"I just saw it as the name for a palm-muted chord, but now it has popped up as a genre," Mansoor says. "It's kind of surprising." And the release of the debut album by his band Periphery has dragged djent from the virtual world into the real one. The Maryland group have just completed a successful European tour with like-minded UK acts TesseracT and Monuments (titled The League of Extraordinary Djentlemen tour, naturally), and this summer they will rub shoulders with the likes of Slayer, Metallica and Slipknot at the UK leg of the Sonisphere festival. But embarking on the traditional metal pursuit of hitting the road doesn't mean they've left their online roots behind. "I'd say that 95% of people who turn up to our shows are bedroom musicians or gear nerds like me," says Mansoor. "Other bands get groupies; we get guys who want to know what string gauges I use or what programmes I record with."

More than most genres, metal has a chequered history when it comes to the internet, not least Metallica's public spat with file-sharing website Napster. For the old guard, it has been something to fear; but for this new generation, it represents opportunity and a way to circumvent the established networks. "It's very hard for someone who has built their entire careers or empires on a certain way of life to accept something which transforms that as anything other than destructive," Mansoor says. "But people who are able to see opportunity in the new system are the ones that will survive. We are taking advantage of this uncertainty, this blank page, of how the music industry is going take shape over the next five or 10 years."

And despite its geeky roots and its occasionally dizzying technical nature, Mansoor is confident djent can make an impact on the mainstream. "It's not prog for the sake of prog, or just showing off and confusing people. There's stuff there that will appeal to the casual listener. It can be pretty radio-friendly," he argues. Dieleman, however, is more circumspect: "Outside the scene, I suspect djent may be looked down upon – it's not 'true metal' after all. But we don't really care. We keep to ourselves pretty much."

• This article was amended on 6 March 2011. The original used the spelling Sixth. This has been corrected.