Heavy Metal Subgenres
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States, with roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock[^c1]. Heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and loudness. Over the following decades, the genre fragmented into dozens of distinct subgenres, each with its own musical characteristics, lyrical themes, visual aesthetics, and regional scenes[^c2].
The first wave of heavy metal was defined by British pioneers Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, founded in 1968[^c3]. During the 1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence, while Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. The new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) of the late 1970s and early 1980s revitalized the genre and laid the groundwork for the extreme metal subgenres that followed.
The 1980s saw heavy metal splinter into commercial and underground streams. Glam metal became a mainstream phenomenon through MTV exposure, while thrash metal, death metal, and black metal developed in underground scenes, pushing the music toward greater speed, aggression, and technical complexity[^c4]. The 1990s and 2000s brought further diversification through fusion genres such as nu-metal, metalcore, folk metal, symphonic metal, and industrial metal, which incorporated elements from hip-hop, electronic music, classical music, and traditional folk music[^c5]. By the 2010s, heavy metal had expanded into a global musical language with hundreds of named subgenres, a dedicated international fan base, and a rich network of festivals, record labels, and media[^c6].