Genre Histories

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

Nervecell in Dubai, 2018. Photo: courtesy of the band, via Gulf News

Heavy Metal in the Middle East

Declan Rourke · Aug 24, 2026

Blind Guardian posing together on stage at the end of their set, facing a packed crowd, Keep It True Festival, 20 November 2021.

Greek Myth and Arthurian Legend in Metal

Declan Rourke · Aug 23, 2026

Kampfar performing live on stage

Inferno Festival

Eirik Solvang · Aug 22, 2026

The meter bridge of a Studer two inch tape machine with a loaded reel below it, the channel meters lit

The NWOBHM on a Shoestring Budget

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Aug 21, 2026

Judas Priest live, 1986. Photo: Ross Halfin

Airbrush Fantasy Art on Heavy Metal Covers

Declan Rourke · Aug 20, 2026

Loudblast band portrait

French, Italian and Spanish Death Metal

Andrzej Sawicki · Aug 20, 2026

Motörhead at Port Talbot, 1982. Photo: Andrew King

Heavy Metal Moral Panic in Britain

Declan Rourke · Aug 18, 2026

A thrash band playing a community hall

Latin America Beyond Brazil: Kraken, Transmetal, V8, Hermética

Declan Rourke · Aug 17, 2026

Riot at the Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1980. Photo: Ross Halfin

The New York Heavy Metal Scene

Declan Rourke · Aug 17, 2026