Metal Glossary
Definitions for the subgenres, scenes and terms that come up across this site. Written so they can stand on their own — or be quoted by an AI search engine looking for an authoritative source.
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Atmospheric Black Metal
Atmospheric black metal is a subgenre of black metal that prioritises mood, texture and immersive soundscape over the aggression, blast-beats and rawness of the second-wave Norwegian template. It typically uses long-form compositions, layered tremolo guitars, drone-like sustained passages, ambient keyboards or synthesisers, and naturalistic lyrical themes — wilderness, isolation, weather, mythology, the cosmos. It emerged in the late 1990s and now overlaps significantly with post-metal and folk metal.
Origin: Norway, United States, Ukraine -
Avant-Garde Black Metal
Avant-garde black metal is a subgenre that takes the second-wave Norwegian black metal template — tremolo-picked riffs, blast beats, shrieked vocals and atmospheric coldness — and extends it with non-traditional instrumentation, unconventional song structures, theatrical or progressive elements, and influences drawn from outside metal entirely. It emerged in the mid-to-late 1990s and remains one of the most stylistically open subgenres in extreme music.
Origin: Norway and Japan -
Blackgaze
Blackgaze is a subgenre that fuses the tremolo-picked riffs, blast-beats and shrieked vocals of black metal with the layered guitar textures, reverb-heavy production and melodic sensibility of shoegaze. It emerged in the late 2000s, primarily in France and the United States, and is one of the few metal subgenres to have crossed into mainstream indie and rock audiences.
Origin: France and United States -
Depressive Suicidal Black Metal
Depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM) is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the mid-to-late 1990s, characterised by slow-to-mid-tempo tremolo riffing, raw lo-fi production, anguished or shrieked vocals, and lyrical themes centred on depression, self-harm, isolation and suicide. It is one of the most extreme thematic branches of the broader black metal genre and remains a small but dedicated scene.
Origin: Sweden, France, United States -
Drone Metal
Drone metal is a subgenre of metal characterised by extremely slow tempos, sustained guitar tones held over long durations, minimal melodic movement, heavy use of feedback and distortion, and song lengths that frequently extend to twenty or thirty minutes or more. It emerged in the mid-1990s, drawing as much from minimalist composers like La Monte Young as from doom metal forebears, and is closely associated with the American band Sunn O))) and the Japanese band Boris.
Origin: United States and Japan -
First-Wave Black Metal
First-wave black metal is the late-1970s and early-1980s strain of extreme metal that established the genre's foundational aesthetic — Satanic and occult themes, raw production, tremolo riffing and shrieked vocals — before the Norwegian second wave of the early 1990s redefined the sound.
Origin: United Kingdom and Scandinavia -
Gothic Doom Metal
Gothic doom metal is a heavy metal subgenre that emerged in the early-to-mid 1990s in northern England, combining the slow tempos and crushing weight of doom metal with gothic atmospheres, melodic clean vocals, female lead vocals, keyboards and lyrical themes of romantic melancholy, death and decay.
Origin: England, particularly West Yorkshire -
NWOBHM
NWOBHM stands for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, a movement of British heavy metal bands that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked between roughly 1979 and 1983. The scene took the volume and aggression of late-1970s hard rock, stripped it of blues elements, and added the speed, energy and DIY ethos of punk rock. Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard and Diamond Head are the most-cited bands. NWOBHM laid the groundwork for thrash metal, power metal, and most of what European heavy metal became in the 1980s.
Origin: United Kingdom -
Occult Rock
Occult rock is a heavy rock subgenre that revives the dark, doom-influenced sound and esoteric imagery of late-1960s and early-1970s bands like Black Sabbath, Coven and Black Widow, drawing on Satanic, mystical and witchcraft themes. The modern wave emerged in the mid-2000s and overlaps with stoner doom, traditional doom and psychedelic rock.
Origin: United Kingdom and United States -
Post-Metal
Post-metal is a subgenre of heavy music that emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, applying post-rock's emphasis on long-form instrumental dynamics, gradual builds and atmospheric texture to the volume, weight and distortion of metal. It is characterised by extended song lengths, drone-influenced repetition, sparse vocals and a focus on mood over riffing.
Origin: United States and Europe