Evolution of Heavy Metal

To start, it helps to understand that the origins of Metal Bands came from Rock and Roll that
evolved from the
Blues and Psychedelic sounds prominent in the sixties. As it took a heavier turn with the use of
distortion and power chords, there came the sound known as ard Rock, perpetuated most
significantly !y "ed #eppelin and $eep Purple who were verging on something yet to !e defined.
But as !ands like Black %a!!ath emerged with ground!reaking new al!ums such as their &'()
record Paranoid, it !ecame o!vious that the roots in !lues that other Rock !ands stuck to were
!eing shed, replacing the *swing* aspect with a *head!anger* vi!e, and where riffs used to center
around chord progressions, they could now !e descri!ed as standalone melodies.
+ther influences shaping the new sound were progressive rock
!ands like ,ethro Tull, and horror movie soundtracks like those of Boris -arloff*s films. .ollowing
with the theme of darkness and horror, another aspect that drew the divide !etween Rock and
eavy Metal was the difference in lyrical content. /n contrast to the romantic notions, peace0
promoting lines and happy sentiments that were the norm for rock music in the era, eavy Metal
explored the serious side of reality, life !eyond individual desires, mortality, and was heavily
influenced !y the work of occult writers such as $ennis 1heatley.
As the genre !ecame its own through the seventies, the lines
!etween ard Rock and Metal continued to !e !lurred 23an alen, A45$4, ,udas Priest, /ron
Maiden, Alice 4ooper, $ef "eppard, Budgie, -iss, Motorhead, Thin "i66y7, !ut !y &'(8 the
movement of pure Metal could !e confirmed, and su!genres !egan to emerge.
+f course, the sound was not the only thing that made the Metal
scene. Beginning with the introduction of leather and studs !y ,udas Priest, Metal fashion 9uickly
!ecame essential to !eing accepted as part of the Metal world. 4oming out from the "os
Angeles5%unset %trip scene in the late seventies and into the eighties, socalled :hair !ands; known
for their personal style < men with long, teased and a9uanetted locks, tight =eans and leather, and a
penchant for eyeliner < were the face of >lam Metal as the focus for some !ands 2Motley 4rue,
Poison, Ratt, ?uiet Riot7 transitioned to a :glamorous; lifestyle to !e emulated !y the fans.
%imultaneously evolving was the %peed Metal sound, which
focused primarily on melody and technical excellence, demonstrated !y !ands such as Anthrax,
Anvil and Pantera. ?uickly !orne from this sound was %peed Metal*s close relative, Thrash Metal.
By &'8& the :Big .our; !ands < Metallica, Megadeth, %layer and Anthrax < pioneered the Thrash
Metal front in complete contrast and perhaps as a reaction to the conventionality of the >lam
Metal scene. %peed Metal and Thrash Metal took elements from the @ew 1ave of British eavy
Metal and hardcore punk, focusing heavily on speed, aggression, and social issues such as
reproach for :The Asta!lishment.;
%temming from Thrash Metal, the &'8)s also saw the
!eginnings of Black Metal, $eath Metal, and >rindcore. More of an underground variety, Black
Metal, !eginning with !ands like 3enom, Bathory, ellhammer, and 4eltic .rost, differed in its
use of shrieking vocals and unconventional song structures that presented extremely dark su!=ect
matter such as %atanism. %imilarly misanthropic, !ands like 3enom, %layer, Possessed and $eath
which identified as $eath Metal !ands also used highly distorted guitars, tremolo picking and !last
!eat drumming, !ut replaced the shrieking vocals of Black Metal with deep growling. 1ith vocals
that range !etween the two extremities of shrieking and growling, >rindcore took on more
elements of the ardcore Punk, /ndustrial, and @oise Music that was coming out of >reat Britain.
/ts lyrics ranged from provocative to gory, and also addressed social and political concerns.
$espite the significant followings of these su!genres, those
longstanding !ands which were most closely related to the origins of eavy Metal < +66y
+s!ourne, Metallica, ,udas Priest, Megadeth, Pantera < continued to dominate the scene through
the late eighties and into the &'')s.
/n the early &'')s, yet another metal sound was emerging < the
&''B release of -orn*s de!ut al!um signified the !eginnings of @uMetal, a fusion of Thrash Metal
and Alternative Metal with a more ur!an persuasion using elements of iphop and /ndustrial.
+ther !ands like $eftones, %taind, "imp Bi6kit, and %lipknot followed in the same vein and @u0
metal gathered the masses through the late nineties and early C)))s. owever, as 9uickly as it
erupted, the mainstream popularity of numetal declined and a shift !ack toward traditional heavy
metal and alternative metal occurred.
Today fans exist for all su!genres descri!ed so far, and there
are so many more < Metalcore, Power Metal, /ndustrial Metal, Progressive Metal, Pop Metal, .olk
Metal, >oth Metal, the list goes on. The fact is, since its inception eavy Metal has proven to !e
an enduring and complicated !east < and through many more evolutions to !e sure, will continue
to thrive with legions of hardcore fans, young and old.
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with an extensive catalog of 8string metal. 4hrome has !een rocking since C))) and continues to
release hard hitting metal al!umsD To check out their music and find out more information, go to
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