2004 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2004.

Newly formed bands

• A Dozen Furies
• A Hero A Fake
• Abigail Williams
• Adept
• After The Burial
• Age of Silence
• The Agonist (as The Tempest)
• Ahab
• Alestorm
• Alter Bridge
• Amaseffer
• Amesoeurs
• Architects
• Art of Dying
• Baptized In Blood
• Be'lakor
• Beneath The Massacre
• Beneath the Sky
• Big Business
• Binary Code
• Black Tide
• Black Mountain
• Blackthorn
• Blood Tsunami
• Bloodbound
• Bring Me the Horizon
• Catalepsy
• Celestiial
• Cellador
• Chrome Division
• Claim the Throne
• Coldseed
• Cor Scorpii
• Dark Empire
• Dead Congregation
• Devil Sold His Soul
• Enforcer
• Escape the Fate
• The Faceless
• Finsterforst
• Genghis Tron
• Gnaw Their Tongues
• Havok
• The Human Abstract
• Intronaut
• Kayser
• Lich King
• Massacration
• myGRAIN
• Royal Thunder
• Russian Circles
• Savage Circus
• Saving Abel
• Scale the Summit
• Scar Symmetry
• Skiltron
• Sturm und Drang
• To-Mera
• Torche
• Tribulation
• Triosphere
• Veil of Maya
• Vreid
• Warbringer
• Wolfmother

Reformed bands

• Extreme (for a few shows)
• Glyder
• Megadeth
• Mötley Crüe

Albums

• 3 Inches of Blood – Advance and Vanquish
• 36 Crazyfists – A Snow Capped Romance
• The Acacia Strain – 3750
• Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo
• After Forever – Invisible Circles
• Age of Silence – Acceleration
• Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
• All That Remains – This Darkened Heart
• Alter Bridge – One Day Remains
• Amon Amarth – Fate of Norns
• Angra – Temple of Shadows
• Annihilator – All for You
• Anvil – Back to Basics
• Atreyu – The Curse
• Ayreon – The Human Equation
• Behemoth – Demigod
• Beseech – Drama
• Black Label Society – Hangover Music Vol. VI
• Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (box set)
• Breaking Benjamin – We Are Not Alone
• Cannibal Corpse – The Wretched Spawn
• The Chariot – Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding
• Chevelle – This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
• Cradle of Filth – Nymphetamine
• Damageplan – New Found Power
• Danzig – Circle of Snakes
• Dead Poetic - New Medicines
• Decapitated – The Negation
• Def Leppard – Best of Def Leppard (compilation)
• Deicide – Scars of the Crucifix
• Demon Hunter – Summer of Darkness
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
• Dio – Master of the Moon
• Dokken – Hell to Pay
• Downset. – Universal
• DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm
• Dream Evil – The Book of Heavy Metal
• Dream Theater – Live at Budokan (live)
• Drowning Pool – Desensitized
• Edguy – Hellfire Club
• Electric Wizard – We Live
• Elis – Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky
• Enslaved – Isa
• Exodus – Tempo of the Damned
• Fall of the Leafe – Volvere
• Fates Warning – FWX
• Fear Factory – Archetype
• Finntroll – Nattfödd
• God Forbid – Gone Forever
• Grip Inc. – Incorporated
• Gwar – War Party
• Haste the Day - Burning Bridges (Haste the Day album)
• Heaven Shall Burn – Antigone
• Helmet – Size Matters
• Helmet – Unsung: The Best of Helmet (1991–1997) (compilation)
• Hirax – The New Age of Terror
• Hypocrisy – The Arrival
• Iced Earth – The Glorious Burden
• In Flames – Soundtrack to Your Escape
• Isis – Panopticon
• Jag Panzer – Casting the Stones
• Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
• Kittie – Until the End
• Kill the Noize – Play with the Devil
• Kronos – Colossal Titan Strife
• Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
• Lordi – The Monsterican Dream
• Leaves' Eyes – Lovelorn
• Marilyn Manson – Lest We Forget: The Best Of (compilation)
• Marduk – Plague Angel
• Mastodon – Leviathan
• Mayhem – Chimera
• Megadeth – The System Has Failed
• Mercenary – 11 Dreams
• Meshuggah – I
• Metal Church – The Weight of the World
• Metalium – As One – Chapter Four
• Ministry – Houses of the Molé
• Misanthrope – Misanthro-Thérapie (15 Années d'Analyse) (compilation)
• Mnemic – The Audio Injected Soul
• Monster Magnet – Monolithic Baby!
• Motörhead – Inferno
• My Dying Bride – Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
• Necrophagist – Epitaph
• Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
• Nightwish – Once
• No-Big-Silence – Kuidas kuningas kuu peale kippus
• Oomph! – Wahrheit oder Pflicht
• Orange Goblin – Thieving from the House of God
• Otep – House of Secrets
• Papa Roach – Getting Away with Murder
• Pentagram – Show 'Em How
• Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls (compilation)
• Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
• Power Quest – Neverworld
• Primal Fear – Devil's Ground
• Pro-Pain – Fistful of Hate
• Probot – Probot
• Rammstein – Reise, Reise
• Raunchy – Confusion Bay
• Rhapsody – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret
• Rotting Christ – Sanctus Diavolos
• Saxon – Lionheart
• Senses Fail – Let It Enfold You
• Scarve – Irradiant
• Scorpions – Unbreakable
• Shadows Fall – The War Within
• Slipknot – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night
• Soulfly – Prophecy
• Static-X – Beneath... Between... Beyond... (compilation)
• Stryper – 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003 (live)
• Suffocation – Souls to Deny
• Terror – One with the Underdogs
• The Crest – Vain City Chronicles
• The Haunted – Revolver
• Therion – Lemuria
• Therion – Sirius B
• U.D.O. – Thunderball
• Underoath – They're Only Chasing Safety
• Unearth – The Oncoming Storm
• Vader – The Beast
• Van Halen – The Best of Both Worlds (compilation)
• Velvet Revolver – Contraband
• Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur
• Visions of Atlantis – Cast Away
• WarCry – Alea Jacta Est
• Winds – The Imaginary Direction of Time
• Wintersun – Wintersun
• Within Temptation – The Silent Force
• Xandria – Ravenheart

Bands disbanded

• Bathory
• Creed
• Damageplan
• Nothingface (reformed in 2005)
• Prayer for Cleansing
• SugarComa
• Windir

Events

• Brian "Head" Welch announced his departure from Korn after converting to Christianity. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}
• Bassist Tim Gaines announced his departure from Stryper after 10 complete years. He was replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
• Jason Jones was announced as Drowning Pool's new lead singer and joined them on the album Desensitized.
• Supergroup Velvet Revolver releases their debut album Contraband which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and goes double platinum. ^[5]
• After an eight-year hiatus, Extreme briefly returns for a short tour and a few concerts in Japan.
• Van Halen reunites with Sammy Hagar for a summer tour.
• Anal Cunt vocalist Seth Putnam slips into a coma after consuming a large amount of drugs.
• Aerosmith returns to a raw hard rock sound with their blues cover album Honkin' on Bobo
• Terry Balsamo leaves Cold and joins Evanescence as their new guitarist.
• Guitarist Lisa Marx joins Kittie as a session member, replacing Jeff Phillips.
• Maniac leaves Mayhem and is replaced by the band's former singer, Attila Csihar.
• Dave Mustaine reforms Megadeth with 3 session musicians, former and original Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta to record The System Has Failed , then tour the album with full-time members Glen Drover on guitar, James MacDonough on bass and Shawn Drover on drums.
• Ex-Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland is sentenced to eight years in prison for attempted rape against a then 17-year-old boy.

Deaths

• January 14 – Terje "Valfar" Bakken, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Windir, died from hypothermia after being caught in a snow storm. He was 25.
• June 3 – Thomas Börje "Quorthon" Forsberg, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Bathory, died from heart failure at the age of 38. ^[6]
• August 17 – Dennis "D-Roc" Miles, guitarist of Body Count, died from lymphoma complications at the age of 44. ^[7]
• October 20 – Flowing Tears founding members, former drummer Cristian Zimmer and former guitarist Björn Lorson, died in a car accident. ^[8]
• December 8 – "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott, founding member and former guitarist of Pantera and guitarist of Damageplan, was killed on stage, along with three other people, while performing with Damageplan at a nightclub in Ohio. He was 38. ^[9]
• December 26 – Mieszko Andrzej Talarczyk, vocalist and guitarist of Nasum, died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake at the age of 30. His body was identified on February 16, 2005. ^[10]
• Piero "Sanctis Ghoram" Gori, former Death SS vocalist, died from cancer.

Preceded by 2003

Heavy Metal Timeline 2004

Succeeded by 2005

References

1. Brian stated that he ended up walking away from a 23 million dollar recording contract which was a very difficult decision for him at the time. NewReleaseTuesday.com Interview with Brian Archived 30 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2. Brian 'Head' Welch Leaves Korn, Citing Moral Objections To Band's Music Archived 8 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine . mtv.com
3. Brian Welch Explains Why He Walked Away Archived 16 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine . cbn.com
4. "Audio Lounge – Live Radio Streaming, Internet Radio, Audio Downloads & Podcasting". Hope 103.2. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
5. "Velvet Revolver Album Charts". Allmusic . Retrieved 20 July 2010.
6. Everleypublished, Dave (2 April 2022). "Bathory: the triumph and tragedy of the man who invented black metal". louder. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
7. Devenish, Colin (19 August 2004). "Body Count Guitarist Dead". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
8. Blabbermouth (3 November 2004). "FLOWING TEARS Founding Members Killed In Car Accident". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
9. Wilkinson, Peter (30 December 2004). "Behind the Murder of 'Dimebag' Darrell". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
10. BraveWords. "NASUM Vocalist Laid To Rest". bravewords.com. Retrieved 20 April 2024.