Explainers

Motörhead live, 1981. Photo: Graham Mitchell

Heavy Metal Live Sound

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Sep 12, 2026

Knocked Loose vocalist holding his microphone out to the crowd while a guitarist plays behind him on stage at The Pageant in St. Louis, 21 May 2024

Is Deathcore Metal? Deathcore Against Everything It Gets Confused With

Jonah Pike · Sep 10, 2026

Kiss in a Casablanca Records publicity portrait, 1976. Photo: Casablanca Records

Heavy Metal Myths

Declan Rourke · Sep 10, 2026

Tony Iommi playing his guitar live at the Gibson Garage, London, August 2025. Photo: Gibson

Heavy Metal Song Structure

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Sep 8, 2026

Two Khemmis guitarists leaning into their instruments on stage under warm amber light

What Doom Metal Actually Means

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

Decapitated's drummer behind a kit of Meinl cymbals at The Fleece in Bristol, stick raised, eyes up, with the band's logo banner behind him, 2023.

Blasts, Gravity Rolls and Triggers: How Deathcore Drums Work

Jonah Pike with Rafael Quintero · Sep 8, 2026

Alice in Chains playing a large outdoor stage under teal smoke and white beams, William DuVall at the centre microphone

Is Alice in Chains Sludge Metal?

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

A Bongripper guitarist holding his instrument aloft in red stage light above a crowd of raised hands

Instrumental Doom Metal

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

Saint Vitus guitarist Dave Chandler in a bandana playing under white stage lights, the drummer behind him

What the Doom Metal Genre Covers

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

Immortal posing together

Why Black Metal Musicians Use Pseudonyms

Eirik Solvang · Sep 8, 2026

Matt Pike of Sleep backlit on a smoky stage at Terminal 5 in New York, a drum kit and a projection screen beside him

The Doom Metal Fonts

Ilse Brandt · Sep 8, 2026

Amon Amarth band portrait

Viking, Folk and Everything Else Death Metal Absorbed

Andrzej Sawicki · Sep 8, 2026

Sleeves from the eight years in which each record had to go further than the last

Why Death Metal Became So Extreme

Rafael Quintero · Sep 8, 2026

Sleeves from records built around the high shriek, from the second wave through to the bands working now.

How Black Metal Vocals Got That Shape

Eirik Solvang · Sep 8, 2026

Bolt Thrower on stage at Tuska in 2013

Death Metal Meaning: What the Words Actually Describe

Rafael Quintero · Sep 7, 2026

Cannibal Corpse playing live, the five piece line-up on a dark stage under white light.

Is Cannibal Corpse Death Metal, or Something Else by Now?

Rafael Quintero · Sep 7, 2026

The sleeve of Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Bathory, 1987

Why Is It Called Black Metal?

Eirik Solvang · Sep 7, 2026

The five members of Ov Sulfur in black, with tattooed arms, standing in a row before a dark arched doorway, the tattooed singer at the centre and a masked member at the right.

Is Deathcore Satanic?

Jonah Pike · Sep 7, 2026