To those who aren’t familiar with the genre, the sheer quantity of metal subgenres can seem intimidating. There can’t really be that many different ways to scream and shred, can there? Wrong. Despite unifying features such as “heavy” riffs, long guitar solos and generally dark lyrics, there is a huge variety. There are countless minute distinctions one could make, but I’m going to give you a sample of eight of the biggest metal genres.

Classic British Metal

I’m including in this umbrella the originals like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, as well as the “New Wave” of bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Motorhead. These bands all form the crossover between classic rock and modern metal, all coming to fame during the 70s and early 80s. They played heavier and faster than the bands before them, giving listeners a taste of the intensity that defines metal. Here is the genre-defining Judas Priest classic, “Painkiller.”

Glam

During the 80s, metal grew into two main subgenres. The first one was glam, which took the classic metal style and added elements of 80s pop. They valued their looks as well as their music, sporting interesting jumpsuits and gloriously permed hair. See the following example from Motley Crue.

Thrash

Thrash cropped up shortly after glam, as a reaction to its poppy sound and aesthetic. Bands focused on improving their technical skill and moved towards darker subject matter than the previous standard “sex, drugs, and rock n roll.” Thrash brought about some of the most commonly known metal bands to this day, the Big Four of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” seen below, is the source of one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time.

Doom

Another subgenre that came of age in the 80s was Doom. It never reached the same popularity as other 80s metal, perhaps because the slow-paced, somewhat discordant music and darkly poetic lyrics were generally intended to evoke a sense of dread. It did however give rise to a sizable number of later subgenres, like goth and sludge, and perhaps captures some of the dark emotions that attract people to the metal scene in the first place. Enjoy an example from the classic band Candlemass.

Power (and Symphonic)

By the mid 80s, some people were getting a little tired of how, well, depressing doom and (later) death metal were getting. Thus, power metal was born. It is an easily recognizable genre, characterized by clean, almost operatic vocals, usually fantasy-inspired lyrics, major keys, and extraordinarily fast guitar lines with intricate solos. Symphonic metal is an important subset of power, with the additions of orchestral instruments and use of mostly female vocalists. Below are songs that exemplify both standard power metal as well as symphonic.

Death

The mid-80s is also when the iconic subgenre of death metal came about. Made popular by aptly-named bands like Death, Obituary, and Morbid Angel, death pioneered many of the traits associated with the more extreme metal subgenres. Musically, death metal bands tend to downtune their guitars and often use tremolo picking and palm muting techniques. Dark, sometimes violent lyrics are performed with a in a deep growl or scream. Here is an example from Morbid Angel.

Black

Though there were some earlier hints at this genre, black metal truly began in Norway in the early 90s. The origin story is a fascinating one, and includes arson, suicide, and even murder (here is a documentary about it). Though many assume black metal is Satanic, given the use of inverted crosses and pentagrams in many band logos, the genre’s founders were mainly against religion in general. Black metal is not dissimilar to punk in concept, being about rebelling against the establishment of popular music and society. With their music, they expressed this with low quality recordings of strangely-structured songs making use of tremolo picking, high pitched screaming, and heavy distortion. The following song is a relatively recent one from one of the original black metal bands, Immortal.

Nu Metal

One of the more recent and varied metal subgenres is nu metal, originating mid-90s America and coming to popularity in the early 2000’s. It brought in influences from popular genres of the time like grunge and hip hop, and occasionally even used DJs and electronic samples. Unlike other metal genres that stick to a characteristic vocal style, nu metal utilizes the full range, from clean singing to rapping to death-esque screaming. Lyrically, nu metal tends to be more emotional and personal than other genres, discussing feelings of angst and isolation. The song below is an example of this:

Of course, because I’m not trying to write a book here, I left out many other subgenres. However, I hope that if you didn’t already know a lot about metal, my brief introduction to these eight subgenres has given you a peek into the variety of sounds this genre has to offer.