Explainers

Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath facing the crowd at the Waldbuhne, Berlin, on the band's farewell tour

When Did Heavy Metal Start?

Declan Rourke · Jan 13, 2026

Judas Priest silhouetted before the crowd at the Monsters of Rock festival, Donington Park, 16 August 1980

The Types of Heavy Metal Music, Mapped

Declan Rourke · Jan 12, 2026

D.R.I. posing together backstage

What Is Crossover Thrash?

Declan Rourke · Jan 11, 2026

Blue Oyster Cult performing on stage at Day on the Green, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, California, facing a packed stadium crowd

What the Heavy Metal Genre Actually Covers

Declan Rourke · Jan 11, 2026

A member of Black Sabbath backstage during the Mob Rules tour, 1981, in a fur-lined jacket beside a car

Is Black Sabbath Heavy Metal?

Declan Rourke · Jan 10, 2026

The sleeves of ...And Justice for All and Seasons in the Abyss

The Big Four of Thrash Explained: Who, Why and Who Got Left Out

Declan Rourke · Jan 6, 2026

Dying Fetus on stage on the From Womb to Waste tour in 2012

Brutal Death Metal Explained

Rafael Quintero · Jan 6, 2026

Diamond Head in a band portrait

Who Invented Thrash Metal?

Declan Rourke · Jan 3, 2026

The Black Sabbath debut album sleeve, a cloaked figure standing before an old mill house among red autumn trees

What Was the First Doom Metal Song?

Ilse Brandt · Jan 3, 2026

A crowd with raised fists in front of a lit stage

What Thrash Metal Sang About

Declan Rourke · Dec 28, 2025

Riley Gale and Power Trip on stage

Why Old Thrash Sounds Different

Declan Rourke · Dec 22, 2025

Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales beside Satyricon's The Shadowthrone

First Wave vs Second Wave: What Actually Changed

Eirik Solvang · Dec 16, 2025

A mixing desk and tape machines in a recording studio

How Thrash Records Were Made in the 1980s

Declan Rourke · Dec 15, 2025

Death's Scream Bloody Gore beside Massacre's From Beyond

Where Did Death Metal Originate?

Rafael Quintero · Dec 10, 2025

The Burning a Sinner single sleeve by Witchfinder General, the four band members drawn in black ink in front of flames

What Was the First Doom Metal Band?

Ilse Brandt · Nov 22, 2025

A hand picking the strings of an electric guitar

What Makes Thrash Metal Sound Different

Declan Rourke · Nov 19, 2025

Necrophagia on stage at Domination Fest in Chicago

Who Was the First Death Metal Band?

Rafael Quintero · Nov 10, 2025

Quorthon of Bathory between two burning torches

First Wave Black Metal Explained

Eirik Solvang · Oct 18, 2025