Genre Histories

Herman Li and Sam Totman of DragonForce playing guitars live at the Forum, London, November 2019

Guitar Hero and Power Metal: The Song That Crossed the Atlantic

Julien Vasseur · Sep 28, 2026

An Om musician seen from the side of an outdoor festival stage in blue light, facing a packed crowd under lit trees

The Doom Metal Festivals

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

The four members of Coffins in band shirts, arms crossed, in a black and white portrait

Doom Metal in Japan

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

Possessed early band portrait

A Death Metal Timeline: Every Year That Mattered

Rafael Quintero · Sep 8, 2026

Sadus on stage

California Death Metal

Rafael Quintero · Sep 7, 2026

Loits on stage, the singer reaching for the lights

Danish and Baltic Black Metal

Andrzej Sawicki · Sep 7, 2026

Arcturus on stage in blue light

Black Metal Bands That Changed Genre

Eirik Solvang · Sep 7, 2026

Till Lindemann of Rammstein on stage in Frankfurt in July 2024, jets of flame spreading from his back like wings

The Heavy Metal Stage Show

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Sep 7, 2026

A festival campsite at dusk

Thrash Metal in the 1980s, Year by Year

Declan Rourke · Sep 6, 2026

Judas Priest at the Eventim Apollo, London, 2026. Photo: Eric Duvet

Blamed on Heavy Metal

Declan Rourke · Sep 6, 2026

A TEAC 144 Portastudio, the four track cassette recorder of 1979, photographed against white

The Four-Track Demo

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Sep 2, 2026

Carach Angren members Seregor and Ardek in corpse paint, photographed by Stefan Heilemann for Season of Mist

How Black Metal Bands Got Their Names

Eirik Solvang · Sep 1, 2026

A grid of real death metal album sleeves from the bands whose names this article traces, including Death, Carcass, Obituary, Entombed, Sepultura, Bolt Thrower, Atheist, Deicide, Cryptopsy and Necrophagia.

How Death Metal Bands Got Their Names

Rafael Quintero · Aug 31, 2026

Skinflint, 2023. Photo: First Avenue

Heavy Metal in Africa

Declan Rourke · Aug 30, 2026

Hirax in a band portrait

Los Angeles Thrash Beyond Slayer: Dark Angel, Hirax, Abattoir

Declan Rourke · Aug 29, 2026

Ginger Baker behind his drum kit with Ginger Baker's Energy, Zemun, Yugoslavia, 1980. Photo: Zoran Veselinovic

Where Double Bass Drumming Came From

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Aug 28, 2026

The three members of Dopethrone in a graffiti-covered alley, one of them spraying a mouthful of beer

The Doom Metal Meme, and Why It Will Not Die

Ilse Brandt · Aug 28, 2026

An engineer watching a lacquer disc being cut on a Neumann lathe at a mastering room in Nashville

Vinyl, Cassette, CD: How Formats Changed Heavy Metal

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Aug 27, 2026