-- the metal guide --

As probably all of you know, there are many different styles in the metal scene, and sometimes it can be pretty hard to know what band playing what kind of metal....
In the beginning there was only one kind of hard music, which was given the name Hardrock. Very simple. Today the word hardrock, or Metal, describes a giant scene, and one word is not enough anymore......

And note that some of the bands below are playing in the twilightzone between many different styles, but I tried my best to put'em in the right style.

There are off course more different styles: newer and experimental ones like industrial, grind and rap metal, but since most of the bands in these styles sucks, I don't add them here......

BLACK METAL

Description:
For more than 10 years ago this was more than music: it was a lifestyle. And it was dangerous. The music has it roots in the occult parts of Black Sabbath, and later on Venom took those parts and mixed it with more evil lyrics and music. They also made the name Black Metal up. When this kind of music crossed the Northern Atlantic and landed in Norway something happened. The music became a brotherhood and a lifestyle for some people. Their goals was to crush the Christendom in Norway and live by the sword! More and more people did take part in church burning and things like that. But it all ended up with a murder. Media and the "real" world did hear about this, and the black metal scene was no longer underground.

Today there is no black metal scene, in my point of view. Some "old" band (Darkthrone, Mayhem etc.) are still playing, but it´s not the same thing any more. You can read about those bands in any magazine today and even in some ordinary papers. The underground is gone.......
The music used to be fast and brutal with satanic lyrics, but at the same time beautiful. Today´s most famous bands (Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir) uses often keyboards and choirs to add some more feeling into the music. Some like it, some hate it.....

Cult bands:
Mayhem, Darkthrone, Bathory, Celtic Frost.

Big bands today:
Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, Mayhem, Darkthrone.

My recommendation:

BATHORY - "Under the sign of the Black Mark"

MAYHEM - "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas"

All DARKTHONE albums

DEATH METAL

Description:
A wide, big and brutal style. As the name tells, there is no happy music.....Death metal can be played slow, fast, melodic etc. There are no rules to follow. This style might even be departed in several different death metal styles. It sounds different all over the world: We have the Florida scene (brutal, fast), The Swedish scene (more soft and slower), the Eastern Europe scene. (brutal, primitive) and there are off course much, much more death metal out there.....At the moment I listen to many bands from the US, and mostly from Florida.

Cult bands:
Death, Morbid Angles and in some ways Sepultura.

Big bands today:
Krisiun, Nile, Morbid Angels, Cannibal Corpse, Obscenity.

My recommendation:

NILE - "Black Seeds of Vengeance"

DOOM METAL

Description:
Slow and heavy, with dark and "doomy" riffs. This is a style that not many bands are performing nowadays. The step from doom to death metal is not far and sometimes it´s pretty hard to hear the difference.....

Cult bands:
The only one worth mention is the almighty Candlemass from Sweden. They sat the standard at the doom metal scene, and only few bands were able to follow....

Big bands today:
Novembers doom, Opeth.

My recommendation:

CANDLEMASS - "Nightfall"

OPETH - "Deliverance"

GOTHIC METAL

Description:
This is probably the newest metal style, developed for real in the 90´s. Everybody knows about the strong English bands Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. These two are the main source of today's Gothic scene. Paradise Lost started as a not so good Death metal band in the 80´s and ended up as a synth/goth band. But in between they played some really great and painful Gothic metal. The characteristic Gothic metal band plays a slow and sorrowful music with some painful romantic feeling. The Gothic scene in the middle/end of the 90´s was great: bands like Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania ruled the earth, spreading there love and sorrow, all dressed in velvet..... Today the scene is like water: no taste, no feeling, just a product with no spark. Theatre of Tragedy have gone techno, but there is some bands, mostly more or less demo bands that keeps the flame burning.

Cult bands:
Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania

Big bands today:
Tristania, Trail of Tears, Ashes you leave.

My recommendation:

THEATRE OF TRAGEDY - "Velvet darkness they fear"

TRISTANIA - "Widow´s weeds"

PARADISE LOST - "Gothic"

PARADISE LOST - "Draconian Times"

HEAVY METAL

Description:
The most popular style and most common metal style, at least for 10 years ago. Heavy metal was the first given name to the metal scene, and the style are still going strong! It´s very hard to say which band that sat the standard for Heavy metal, it has been growing from the very beginning (since Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy and the punk era etc.) But one can not forget such band as Black Sabbath, Rainbow and Deep Purple. In the beginning of the 80`s the heavy metal scene exploded. Bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest (who´s been playing since the middle of the 70´s) started the second wave of heavy metal and since then, the scene haven´t changed in style for a while.
Today there is a new explosion of heavy metal bands, and I think that Bruce Dickinson have much to do with that (when he returned to Iron Maiden after a his solo albums).
The bands from the US have there hands in the development of heavy metal as well. One of them is Motley Crue who released their killer album 1981. At that time the style changed from a pretty soft music to a more brutal and heavy sound, and very often with satanic lyrics, which is the trademark for the metal scene (at least back in the 80´s). We should not forget Motörhead who delivered a mighty and brutal sound to the Heavy metal scene.

Cult bands:
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar, Mötley Crue, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, WASP.

Big bands today:
Iron Maiden, Manowar, Motörhead, Hammerfall.

My recommendation:

BLACK SABBATH - "Black Sabbath"

MOTÖRHEAD - "Ace of spades"

MÖTLEY CRÜE - "Too fast for love"

All IRON MAIDEN albums

POWER METAL

Description:
Like Thrash metal, Power metal did take it´s form in the 80`s, developed from the Heavy metal scene. As the name tells you, the music is filled with power, often in forms like very powerful guitar melodies and a clear and high voice. I must admit that I am not a very huge fan of this style, but bands like Helloween and Blind Guardian still fits in my stereo. In the beginning of 2000 the Power metal scene was going through a huge breakthrough again. New bands popped up everywhere, specially from Germany. The music is almost the same as it were in the 80´s, or maybe worse......Sweden are, as in every metal style, a big producer of Power metal.

Cult bands:
Blind Guardian, Helloween.

Big bands today:
Lost Horizon, The Storyteller, Wolf, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Nightwish.

My recommendation:

HELLOWEEN - "Keeper of the seventh key part. II"

BLIND GUARDIAN - "Nightfall in the middle earth"

THRASH METAL

Description:
The step after Heavy metal was naturally Thrash metal. This was the style that the boys who were a little bit angrier than rest was playing. The music is much more harder, rawer and uglier than Heavy metal, or just trashier, simply.
Thrash metal pioneers are off course Slayer. But don't forget Metallica who back in 1983 played music that actually was sounding very good.....Today the Thrash scene have been mixed up with many other metal styles, like Death and Black, and even if we are heading for a new wave of Thrash metal: It was better back then!

Cult bands:
Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax (early)

Big bands today:
Slayer, The Haunted, Carnal Forge, The Crown

My recommendation:

SLAYER - "Reign in blood"

METALLICA - "Kill ´em all"

METALLCIA - "Master of Puppets"

MEGADETH - "Killing is My Business (and Business is Good)"

MEGADETH - "Peace Sells. But Who´s Buying"