Metal Subgenres: From Heavy Metal to Doom
Metal's subgenres differ in tempo, guitar tuning, vocal style and production, even though they share common roots. How can you tell them apart, and where do they come from? This article places the main styles by the time and place they arose, from British heavy metal to doom with its slow, heavy sound. It offers a short look at how one sound grew into many styles.
Heavy Metal: Where the Scene Began
Heavy metal took shape in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Great Britain, especially around Birmingham. The debut album by Black Sabbath, released in 1970, is seen by many as a milestone of the genre. That is why the story of the later subgenres usually starts with this record, which is still a reference point today.
In the late 1970s came the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM for short. The abbreviation shows up often in accounts of the genre's history and marks another phase in the development of the sound that had first emerged in Birmingham.
Thrash Metal and the "Big Four"
Thrash metal appeared in the early 1980s in the United States. It is marked by a very high tempo and sharp riffs, meaning aggressively played guitar phrases. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax make up the so-called "Big Four" of thrash. That label is now widespread in descriptions of the scene.
Compared with earlier styles, thrash stands out mostly for its speed. That trait makes it the easiest yardstick for comparing subgenres with one another.
Death Metal and Black Metal: Growling versus Shrieking
Death metal developed in the late 1980s, in Florida among other places. Its signature is growling, a deep, guttural vocal style that clearly sets this subgenre apart from earlier ones. Today that voice is one of the first things people link with death metal.
The second wave of black metal in the early 1990s is closely tied to Norway. Its traits include shrieking vocals, fast tremolo picking and a raw production, meaning deliberately rough recordings. That rawness became a hallmark of the scene. Death and black metal thus use different means. Both count among the intense styles, yet they offer audiences very different ways into heavy sound.
Doom and Power Metal: Two Opposite Ideas
Doom metal relies on a slow tempo and low-tuned instruments with a heavy sound. That makes it the counterpart to thrash, where speed comes first. The contrast shows how wide the range is inside a single family of genres.
Power metal, by contrast, relies on melody and high vocals. It makes clear that metal does not have to consist only of aggression and low notes, and that melody can take center stage.
How to Tell Metal Subgenres Apart
Four traits do most of the work: tempo, guitar tuning, vocals and production. You recognize thrash by its very high tempo and sharp riffs. Death metal is shaped by growling, while black metal is shaped by shrieking vocals, fast tremolo picking and a raw sound. Doom stands for slow tempo and low tuning, power metal for melody and high vocals.
In practice the borders between styles are often fluid. Even so, this breakdown makes it easy to place the sound you are hearing right now. Each subgenre can be tied to a decade, a region and a typical playing style.
Summary
The history of metal is marked by a series of styles that developed from the end of the 1960s to the early 1990s. Heavy metal laid the foundation, thrash raised the tempo, death and black metal pushed the limits of vocals and sound, and doom and power metal showed two opposite ways of handling weight and melody. More articles in Kellerlärm look at the culture of the metal and hardcore scenes.