The Magazine

8 chapters

Black History

Black metal was named in 1982 by a band who could not play it, perfected alone in a Stockholm suburb, and then built in Norway by teenagers who burned down part of their own country's history on the way. This is the whole story: the first wave, the second wave, the fires and the court records, the Nordic and European s...

By Eirik Solvang · latest chapter Feb 14, 2026

1. Black Metal: The Complete History, the Bands and the Albums
2. The First Wave: Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and the Word Itself (1981-1987)
3. Norway: Helvete, the Inner Circle and the Second Wave (1991-1994)
4. The Churches, the Killings and the Press That Came With Them
5. Sweden, Finland and the Rest of the North
6. France, Poland, Greece, Iceland and the Scenes That Followed
7. America: USBM, Cascadia and a Long Argument About Authenticity
8. After the Second Wave: 2000 to Now

8 chapters

Death History

Death metal started as thrash metal with the melodies cut out and the tempo left running, and within six years the same word covered six different musics. This is the whole story, from a demo tape that named the genre by accident in 1984 to an album of the year in 2024: the break from thrash, Florida and Morrisound, th...

By Rafael Quintero · latest chapter Feb 7, 2026

1. Death Metal: The Complete History, the Bands and the Albums
2. Origins: Possessed, Death and the Break From Thrash (1983-1987)
3. Florida: Tampa, Morrisound and the Boom (1987-1993)
4. Sweden: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Two Different Sounds
5. New York, Brutality and the Rise of Slam
6. Britain, the Netherlands, Poland and the Rest of the World
7. The Nineties: The Peak, the Slump and What Survived
8. The Revival: Old School, Caverns and the Modern Underground

9 chapters

Thrash History

Thrash metal is the point at which heavy metal stopped being about power and started being about velocity. The whole story: a demo tape that crossed a continent, a mortgage that paid for the first album, four scenes, one impossible year, and a song that reached the charts thirty six years late.

By Declan Rourke with Bobby White · latest chapter Dec 13, 2025

1. Thrash Metal: The Complete History, the Bands and the Albums
2. Roots: NWOBHM, Motörhead, Venom, Hardcore and the Tape Traders (1979–1982)
3. The Bay Area: El Cerrito, Ruthie's Inn and the Birth of a Sound (1982–1986)
4. Los Angeles, New York and the Big Four (1983–1988)
5. Teutonic Thrash: Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and the Ruhr (1983–1990)
6. Brazil, Canada and the Rest of the World (1984–1991)
7. Crossover: Where Thrash Met Hardcore (1984–1990)
8. The Golden Years (1986–1990)
9. The Fall and the Revival (1991–Now)