`  Popular Music - Term for the music which is recognized in making a cultural contribution at the broadest level, often called "Pop" in the diminutive.

`  Rock & Roll - Music with roots in the late 50's and early 60's that is generally upbeat in tempo and catchy. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis, Beatles, Stones were the greats.

`  Hard Rock - Features stronger guitar playing than Rock & Roll with an edgier sound that was generally blues-based and somewhat distorted. Rose to prominence in the 70's with Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, etc.

`  Heavy Metal - Music noted for a more massive sound, heavier use of power chords and distortion, aggressive rhythmic playing and generally darker lyrics and thematic elements than hard rock.



`  Aggro-Groove - Metal hybrid of power, thrash and hardcore punk. The guitar and supporting instrumentation generally have a slower tempo often with chunky lower sounds and bouncier rhythms. See: Pantera, Exhorder, Crowbar, Pro-Pain

`  Alternative Metal - Metal with a different approach than conventional or traditional heavy metal technique. Vocals, lyrics and rhythms can have experimental stylings. Also this is a good place to put stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

`  Black Metal - Evolved from thrash metal, punk and horror-film aesthetics. Evil, apocalyptic and brooding metal with high-pitched, screeching death vocals occasionally having clean or even female vocals. Spawning from early psudo-satanic bands like Venom and Bathory, this scene gained a notorious following in its second wave from church burnings and Norwegian black metal acts like Emperor and Mayhem. More emotive than Death Metal and commonly has a low fidelity production. Corpse paint is used often. Think shriek vocals & buzzsaw guitars & blast beats. See: Darkthrone, Enslaved, Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal, Ancient, and Emperor
Also includes:
--Scandinavian - BM from Norway and Sweden
--Atmospheric - BM with ambient guitar and keyboard passages such as organ sounds
--Symphonic - BM with orchestral arrangements
--Pagan - elements of home country roots
--National Socialist - employs the genre's typically Nordic, Pagan, and anti-Christian themes as an expression of racial/political ideology.

`  Death Metal - Extremely brutal mix of speed, thrash, and gore featuring cookie monster style vocals, excessive down tuning and pummeling double bass. Riffs range from slower, heavy as molasses type riffs to lightning speed fretwork with blast beats. Slayer and Death are forefathers of this post-thrash sound. Think Growls & Heavy Guitar & Blast beats, + Brutal Lyrics
Also includes:
--Atmospheric - DM with ambient guitar and keyboard passages such as organ sounds
--Britain--Carcass
--California--Possessed
--Floridian--Death, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Deicide, Obituary, Morbid Angel (direct and brutal)
--Melodic--Gothenburg, Swedish/Scandinavian - Death metal with Iron Maiden-styled melodic elements and often keyboards. See: At the Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Meshuggah (progressive death)
--New York - Suffocation (brutal)
--Symphonic - DM with orchestral arrangements

`  Doom - Early style of metal descending from Black Sabbath and NWOBHM. Bluesy, chunky guitars mixed with supernatural lyrics dominate this style's sound. Slow and depressing. Early influences are Sabbath, Candlemass, Trouble and Witchfinder General.

`  Glam - Also known as Glitter Rock. 1970-1975 hard rock bands that generally wore a lot of makeup with flashy, outrageous stage wear. T.Rex, Sweet, Slade, New York Dolls. Later adopted by 80's Hair bands.

`  Gothic - Influenced by doom metal, Gothic metal is softer and more dynamic than doom, but it has the same melancholic and sometimes even depressive touch. It's also very atmospheric and melodic, with the wide use of keyboards and female vocals

`  Grindcore - Ultra-punk music that took the open riffs of hardcore bands and sped them up with metal influences in rhythm and vocals, creating a roaring flood of negative and fractured emotion set by very short songs, ranging anywhere from 6 seconds to 2 minutes. Also, there tends to be sense of humor behind grindcore. Tends to be social/political.
Also includes:
--Goregrind - grindcore bands that talk about death and gore.

`  Grunge - hard rock style characterized by dirty-sounding guitar (less note/chord perfection), strong riffs, and heavy drumming. Grunge involves slower tempos and dissonant harmonies that are generally not found in punk. Grunge-chord rock lyrics usually exhibited nihilism, dissatisfaction, or apathy. Bands looked unkempt; antithesis of hair metal.
Also includes:
--Post Grunge - commercially accessible hard rock music with elements/aesthetics of the Grunge sound.

`  Hair Metal - Mid-late 80's hard rock bands that dressed similar to 70's Glam bands. Known for teased-up hair, makeup and fun party songs.

`  Hardcore - Descending from the instrumental boundaries of punk, hardcore's instrumentation is raw with vocals that are generally screamed. Musically, it's usually played with less metal elements as Metalcore.

`  Industrial – Techno-metal. Rhythmic-centered metal characterized by additional digital effects and noises. Se--Ministry, Rammstein, Rob Zombie / White Zombie

`  Metalcore - Close offshoot of hardcore punk with a guitar musicality closer to thrash metal, but with vocals shouted or sang softly like hardcore. Usually has a breakdown within songs.
Also includes:
--Mathcore - Style of hardcore/metalcore with highly technical musicianship. Discordant, somewhat technical riffing, complex time signatures and song structures, and usually indecipherable lyrics.
--Melodic Metalcore - More recent metalcore bands that fused Gothenburg death or thrash melodic leads like NWOAHM does. See: Killswitch Engage, Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Unearth

`  Nu Metal / Rapcore - Mid to late-90s metal known for beatbox style vocals with heavy down-tuned, groove-based, bouncy guitar work. Fuses influences from the grunge and alternative metal of the early 1990s with hip-hop and electronic music. Hip-hop fashion was typical. See: KoRn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Linkin
Park)

`  NWOBHM – (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) British metal from when Zeppelin was dying out in the late 70s. Bands expanded the Judas Priest power sound and exploded out all over the U.K metal scene with a fresh spirit and little marketing sleeze. Referred to as Traditional these days. Iron Maiden is considered the most successful. Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Raven, Anvil, Saxon

`  Power - Classic metal style featuring a twin guitar attack, soaring vocals, and anthem-styled lyrics. Judas Priest is a forefather
Also includes:
--Neoclassical - In popular music, originally meant guitar flourishes by "shredders" such as Yngwie Malmsteen, who borrowed technique and riff shaping from classical music to liven up intensely technical solos.
--Speed Metal - fast power metal with intense rhythmic emphasis usually supported by a rapid downstroke on the guitar, double bass drumming, fast snares; more controlled than thrash. The term has fallen out of favor.
--Teutonic – really aggressive German power metal
--Symphonic - power metal guitar work combined with highly operatic vocals keyboards - Nightwish
--Viking - themed around vikings
--Power-Progressive - power with prog elements
--Power-Thrash - power with thrash elements
--Folk Metal - power metal with elements of native culture and instruments mixed in. See: Skyclad, Cruachan

`  Progressive - Musically complex and highly technical, Prog players are known for their skills and like to show it in their music with complicated structures and perfectionist playing. It's beginnings are found in 70's prog rock bands like Yes and Rush. Bands include Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Tool and Labyrinth.

`  Thrash - Thrash is know for being fast, aggressive, less controlled and with the punk sensibilities power metal usually doesn't have. Fast rhythms are usually supported by a rapid, unchanging downbeat on drums. Motorhead, Venom and other NWOBHM bands are seen as influences. Vocals are generally higher-pithed rather than growling. Anthrax, Exodus, Megadeth and early-Metallica helped form Thrash.