A torture cabinet in a film, a Hawkwind B-side, a joke about a lead balloon and a spelling bent at a drummer's suggestion. How heavy metal bands got their names, and why none of the big ones ever changed.
By Declan Rourke
5 October · 8 min read
Genre Histories
Two albums, 1987 and 1988, one new tenor and two composers writing apart: Keeper of the Seven Keys set the running order, the harmonies, the long epic and the joke that European power metal...
By Julien Vasseur
Explainers
Sabaton is not a Christian band: its singer has said so, and the songs use faith as history and setting. Powerwolf stages the Mass as theatre, and the openly Christian bands sound exactly li...
By Julien Vasseur
Explainers
Heavy metal is rock by blood and by paperwork, and a separate nation by allegiance. Heavy metal vs rock, settled in the Hall of Fame, on the radio, on the festival posters and in the guitar...
By Declan Rourke
Eirik Solvang
Black Metal
The Black Metal Records Collectors Chase
Andrzej Sawicki
Blackened Death
Viking, Folk and Everything Else Death Metal Absorbed
Rafael Quintero
Death Metal
The Death Metal Records Collectors Chase
Gareth Llewellyn
Grindcore
The Underrated Sludge Metal Albums
Ilse Brandt
Doom Metal
The Doom Metal Fonts
Declan Rourke
Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal vs Rock
| Date | Band | Album | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct 2026 | Dominion | Mortification of Thy Flesh | Full-length |
| 14 Oct 2026 | Algor Mortis | The Art of Suffering | Full-length |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Carnal Desecration | Ancient Malediction | Full-length |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Sundowner | Cesspool | Full-length |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Gloryhammer | Space 1993: Wrath of Kor-Virliath | Full-length |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Insomnium | Netherworlds | Full-length |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Carnation | Symphony in Flesh | Full-length |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Shores Of Null | Homesick | Full-length |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Temperance | Arcani | Full-length |
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