Genre Histories

Watain frontman breathing fire during a live performance

Black Metal Album Art and the Artists Behind It

Eirik Solvang · Jun 19, 2026

Despised Icon on the stage of Club Soda in Montreal, five musicians across the stage, the vocalist at centre with a knee raised, crowd hands in the foreground Chapter 1

Before the Name: Where Deathcore Came From

Jonah Pike with Rafael Quintero · Jun 18, 2026

The sleeves of Death Magnetic, Endgame, World Painted Blood and Worship Music

The Big Four Concerts: Sofia 2010 to Yankee Stadium

Declan Rourke · Jun 17, 2026

A packed crowd at the Hollywood Palladium faces a smoke-lit stage with hands and phones raised, the band small in the distance Overview

Blast Beat Meets Breakdown: The History of Deathcore

Jonah Pike · Jun 15, 2026

Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads performing at Day on the Green, Oakland Stadium, 4 July 1981

Ozzy and the Suicide Solution Lawsuit

Declan Rourke · Jun 14, 2026

Aria, Moskoncert promotional card, 1986. Photo: courtesy of the band

Heavy Metal Behind the Iron Curtain

Declan Rourke · Jun 13, 2026

Amorphis performing live

Finnish Death Metal

Andrzej Sawicki · Jun 13, 2026

Testament on an open-air festival stage

What Happened to the Bay Area Scene

Declan Rourke · Jun 12, 2026

The bassist of Voivod on stage at the Thekla in Bristol in June 2026, the band logo lit behind him

Sci-Fi and Dystopia in Heavy Metal

Declan Rourke · Jun 12, 2026

Flotsam and Jetsam on stage at the Whisky a Go Go in 2019

How Thrash Bands Got Their Names

Declan Rourke · Jun 11, 2026

Mercyful Fate on stage in 2022, the Baphomet sigil behind them and the bone microphone stand in the singer hands

Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and the Theatrical Line

Eirik Solvang · Jun 11, 2026

Pestilence in a band portrait in front of a carved stone wall

Death Metal Bands That Started as Something Else

Rafael Quintero · Jun 11, 2026

Motorhead on stage at Wacken in August 2013, Lemmy beside his Marshall head marked Murder One above a wall of cabinets

The Marshall Stack

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Jun 10, 2026

Skeletonwitch on stage

Blackened Thrash: Aura Noir, Deströyer 666, Skeletonwitch

Declan Rourke · Jun 9, 2026

Massacre performing live on stage

The Demos That Built Death Metal Before the Albums Did

Rafael Quintero · Jun 9, 2026

Big Boss of Root singing live

Czech, Slovak and Hungarian Black Metal

Andrzej Sawicki · Jun 8, 2026

Chuck Schuldiner of Death crouching with his guitar on a cobbled street

Death Metal and Censorship: The PMRC Years

Rafael Quintero · Jun 6, 2026

The Grieghallen concert hall in Bergen seen from the hillside above the city

Grieghallen and the Bergen Sound

Eirik Solvang · Jun 6, 2026