Glam Metal: Also known as Glam Rock. This kind of Metal began in 70's with New York Dolls and Cream. Glam usually involves large amounts of make up and costumes as well large stage props and pyrotechnics to create a more theatrical experience. KISS was one of the first Glam bands and one of the best known. Twisted Sister is one of the well known Glam bands but they still rocked! Dokken was another major Metal / Glam band throughout the 1980's. Cinderella came out in 1990 with their debut Night Songs. There music was often glittery and catchy. It was very popular in the 80's but ended around the time grunge began. They loved excess of everything. Other glam bands include Warrant, Poison, Ratt, and Motley Crue.
Power Metal: Power Metal began in the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) in the late 70's / early 80's whith bands like Angel Witch, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Diamond Head, and Tygers of Pan Tang were starting to come onto the music scene. The guitars were often played with quick power chords and fast guitar solos. Power Metal bands always have a good vocalist with a high vocal range. Most Power Metal bands have two Lead Guitar players. Helstar was one of the first Power Metal Bands. There is a fine line between Traditional Metal and Power Metal. The bands often cross this line. Iron Maiden can be traditional metal, like on Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind, the first albums featuring Bruce Dickinson. But they can be more of a Progressive, or Power Metal band as demonstrated on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son and Somewhere In Time. Other Power Metal bands include Primal Fear, Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Jag Panzer, Steel Prophet and Sacred Steel.
Death (Black) Metal: Some Metalheads either like this kind of music or hate it it all depends on the individual. Death Metal is the ultimate kind of Metal. In extreme form, it is very fast and mean. Brutality is often the main factor in good Death metal, which often has Demonic growls, and just as brutal lyrics. The first Death Metal band was Possessed which came out of San Francisco. Possessed released, what it is considered to be a Death Metal classic, their Seven Churches album in 1985. Malevolent Creation's Retribution is a great example of modern grinding brutal Death Metal. Obituary's Slowly We Rot was named the heaviest album of all time when it was released in 1989. Some other Death Metal bands and albums are Sepultura, on their song Mass Hypnosis from the album Beneath the Remains. Pestilence released some great Death Metal albums that include Spheres, and Consuming Impulse. There's Deicide if you want the Satanic stuff. Arch Enemy, Atrocity, Carcass, Cerebral Fix, Dismember, Entombed, Edge Of Sanity, God Dethroned, Morgoth, Napalm Death, Rotting Christ, Sadus, Monstrosity and Suffocation are other Death Metal bands. Black Metal started from most of the same roots that spawned Death Metal; Venom, Hellhammer, Possessed, and many more. Black metal is very heavy and sometimes has Satanic themes, where Death generally doesn't have as much. The term Black Metal was first used to describe Metal bands who had Satanic meanings in their look and lyrics. Venom released some of the first Black Metal albums, Welcome To Hell in 1981 and Black Metal in 1983. Their sound was similar to Thrash Metal , but the lyrics were much darker than those found in Thrash. Edge of Sanity are a mixture of Death and Black Metal. Other Black Metal bands are Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Marduk, Old Man's Child, Emperor, Mayhem and many more.
Thrash Metal: Thrash is one of the most popular forms of Metal and one of my favorite kinds. The main Thrash Metal bands were the big four: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. Dark Angel were from Los Angeles. They were originally viewed as a more aggressive Slayer, but they threw off all those tags by playing a heavy Thrash sound all their own on their Darkness Descends album. The most popular Thrash Metal band is Metallica, who came out of the Bay Area Thrash Scene. Their albums Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets along with And Justice For All remain pure Thrash Metal albums, but on the Load and Re-load albums Metallica started to play Hard Rock. Megadeth was formed by ex- Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine. Their first album Killing Is My Buisness...And Business Is Good was even heavier then Metallica's Kill Em All. The great Megadeth thrash albums include Peace Sells... but Who's Buying, So Far So Good So What, and Rust In Peace. Forbidden were also from San Francisco like many Thrash Metal bands at the time. In the late 80's Forbidden released two of the heaviest Thrash Metal albums ever. They are a huge favorite among many Thrash Metal fans. Slayer was one of the most influential and extreme thrash metal bands. Their best work is Reign In Blood which features some of the best Thrash ever. Germany also produced some powerful Thrash bands. Destruction is a great example of German Thrash Metal band. Other Thrash Metal bands are Anthrax, Exodus, Hallows Eve, Nuclear Assault, Razor, Vio-Lence, and some others.
Traditional Metal:This genre is the descendants of the original metal bands like Black Sabbath and any of the NWOBHM bands. The Traditional Metal bands also must feature a great vocalist. Most bands feature dueling guitars similar to Power Metal. Black Sabbath can be given credit for the rise of Traditional Metal, but can also be thanked for inspiring almost every type of rock/metal. Black Sabbath's music was darker than anything that ahd come before. Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Paranoid, and Electric Funeral are all respected Metal songs. Black Sabbath's second vocalist, Ronnie Dio went and formed his own band Dio. Dio is still one of the greatest Traditional Metal bands. Judas Priest is one of the most popular Traditional Metal bands. Many believe Judas Priest is Heavy Metal in it's purest form. Iced Earth chose not to follow the conformity of newer types of music and is considered one of the great Metal bands. With it's similarities to Power Metal, many Traditional Metal bands can be categorized as either one.
Hard Rock: Hard Rock is inspired by classical rock, but with a heavier sound. Some Hard rock bands like W.A.S.P. are a combination of Hard Rock and Metal. Montley Crue were another Hard Rock band, in the early days they seemed Glam but their music was far from Glam. The band first had a devilish image with their Shout at the Devil release, and became the bad boys of Rock. AC/DC played heavy Hard Rock riffs with harsh vocals. AC/DC mixed hellish and sleazy lyrics on all their albums and most of their songs contain sex themes. AC/DC have continued making great music throughout their career and have never played anything but their original style. Another great Hard Rock band is Van Halen. The music has a Pop / Classical Rock style to it but the guitar playing is very fast. Other Hard Rock and Roll bands included Guns 'N' Roses, Aerosmith, Slaughter and Def Leppard.
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