Groove metal

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Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, [1] is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. Heavily influenced by thrash metal, groove metal features raspy singing and screaming, down-tuned guitars, heavy guitar riffs, and syncopated rhythms. Groove metal is usually slower than thrash. Pantera are often considered the pioneers of groove metal, and the genre expanded in the 1990s with bands including White Zombie, Machine Head, and Sepultura. Successful groove metal acts of the 2000s include Lamb of God, DevilDriver, and Five Finger Death Punch.

Contents

Characteristics

Groove metal is heavily influenced by thrash metal, [2] [3] but is focused more on heaviness as opposed to speed, although fast songs are still common within the genre. The genre emphasises heavy guitar riffs, often accompanied by syncopated rhythms, and guitar solos are commonplace. Guitars are generally more down-tuned than in thrash, and vocals typically are yelling, growling, screaming, or very raspy singing.

History

Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, 1991. Pantera is credited with popularizing the groove metal genre. Dimebag Darrell with Pantera.jpg
Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, 1991. Pantera is credited with popularizing the groove metal genre.

Texas heavy metal band Pantera's 1990 album Cowboys from Hell is often considered the first groove metal album. [4] With this release, Pantera moved away from the glam metal of their earlier work. They continued releasing influential albums through the 1990s; the 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power featured an even heavier sound than its predecessor, while its follow-up Far Beyond Driven (1994) peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 186,000 copies its first week of release. [5] [6]

New York band Prong's second album Beg to Differ , released four months before Cowboys from Hell, is also considered one of the first albums of the genre, with frontman Tommy Victor claiming it was the first groove metal album ever released. [7]

In 1993, the Brazilian band Sepultura released Chaos A.D. , which saw the band developing their sound from thrash to groove metal. [8] Sepultura released their most popular album Roots in 1996, which combined groove metal and nu metal; it received criticism from fans because it was very different from older Sepultura albums like Beneath the Remains .

In 1992, thrash band Exhorder moved to the groove metal genre with their album The Law . In the 1990s, several other groove metal bands appeared, including Skinlab, Pissing Razors, Machine Head, Grip Inc., and White Zombie. [2] Several other veteran thrash bands also used elements of groove metal over the ensuing decade, including Anthrax, [9] Testament, [10] [11] Annihilator, [12] and Overkill (whose earlier works had pioneered the genre, including their 1989 album The Years of Decay ). [13] [14] [15] [16]

Machine Head performing in 2007 Machine Head Live Zurich.jpg
Machine Head performing in 2007

Machine Head released their debut album Burn My Eyes in 1994. The album helped the band achieve underground success and sold over 145,000 copies. [17]

White Zombie achieved mainstream success in the mid-1990s. The band's album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One peaked at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in 1993 [18] and was certified double-platinum by the RIAA in July 1998. [19] White Zombie's music videos were featured on Beavis and Butt-Head, helping to increase the band's sales. [20] Their 1995 follow-up Astro Creep: 2000 peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 [21] and sold 104,000 copies in its first week of release; [22] it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA. [23] White Zombie's song "More Human than Human" achieved mainstream success in 1995, peaking at number 53 on Billboard's Radio Songs chart, [24] number 7 on the Alternative Songs chart, [25] and number 10 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart. [26] The song was played frequently on MTV and won the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video award at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. [27]

In the 2000s, many more groove metal bands emerged, including Five Finger Death Punch, Damageplan, Lamb of God, Chimaira, Hellyeah, and DevilDriver. Damageplan was founded with former Pantera members Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott. They released one album, New Found Power, in 2004. The band broke up in December 2004, after guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot dead at a live performance. [28] Lamb of God became popular among heavy metal fans in the mid-2000s along with the metalcore bands that were achieving success at the time. Five Finger Death Punch emerged in the 2000s and achieved moderate success in the 2010s.

Influence on other genres

Groove metal bands like Pantera, [29] White Zombie, [30] Prong, [31] and Sepultura [32] were all big influences on the nu metal genre. Nu metal began in the mid-1990s and became mainstream in the late 1990s and early 2000s; its most successful acts include Korn and Slipknot.

Groove metal bands like Pantera and Sepultura, along with crossover thrash bands such as Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front, helped to lay the groundwork for metalcore. [33]

See also

Related Research Articles

Nu metal is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique; the genre is heavily syncopated and based on guitar riffs. Many nu metal guitarists use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to produce a heavier sound. DJs are occasionally featured in nu metal to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic background music. Vocal styles in nu metal include singing, rapping, screaming and growling. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Zombie (band)</span> American heavy metal band

White Zombie was an American heavy metal band that formed in 1985. Based in New York City, they started as a noise rock band, releasing three EPs and one studio album in that style before changing to a heavy metal-oriented sound that broke them into the mainstream. The albums La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One (1992) and Astro-Creep: 2000 (1995) established them as an influential act in groove metal and industrial metal, respectively. Their best-known songs include "Thunder Kiss '65", "Black Sunshine" and "More Human than Human". The group officially disbanded in 1998. In 2000, White Zombie was included on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, ranking at No. 56. As of October 2010, the band has sold six million albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work. The lyrical subject matter often includes criticism of The Establishment, opposition to armed conflicts, and at times shares a disdain for the Christian religion with that of black metal. The language is typically direct and denunciatory, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantera</span> American heavy metal band

Pantera is an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas, formed in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-known lineup consisted of the Abbott brothers along with Brown and Anselmo, who joined in 1982 and 1986 respectively. The band is credited for developing and popularizing the subgenre of groove metal in the 1990s. Regarded as one of the most successful and influential bands in heavy metal history, Pantera has sold around 20 million records worldwide and has received four Grammy nominations.

<i>Cowboys from Hell</i> 1990 studio album by Pantera

Cowboys from Hell is the fifth studio album and major label debut by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990, by Atco Records. It marked the first of many collaborations with producer Terry Date. This was also the album where Pantera fully abandoned the glam metal style of their previous albums in favor of a heavier sound. It has been recognized as one of the first ever groove metal albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prong (band)</span> American heavy metal band

Prong is an American heavy metal band formed in New York City in 1986. The band is fronted by guitarist/vocalist Tommy Victor, Prong's sole constant member. To date, they have released 13 studio albums, one live album, four EPs, one DVD and one remix album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepultura</span> Brazilian heavy metal band

Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera. The band was a major force in the groove metal, thrash metal and death metal genres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments drawing influence from alternative metal, world music, nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial metal. Sepultura has also been credited as one of the second wave of thrash metal acts from the late 1980s to early-to-mid-1990s.

<i>Vulgar Display of Power</i> 1992 studio album by Pantera

Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera. Released on February 25, 1992, through Atco Records, it was the band's second collaboration with producer Terry Date, after having worked with him on their breakthrough album Cowboys from Hell (1990).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimebag Darrell</span> American guitarist (1966–2004)

Darrell Lance Abbott, best known by his stage name Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time.

<i>Chaos A.D.</i> 1993 studio album by Sepultura

Chaos A.D. is the fifth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released in 1993 by Roadrunner Records. The album saw a stylistic departure from the band's earlier thrash metal style, by featuring a new groove metal sound. Chaos A.D. is also Sepultura's only album on Epic Records, who handled its release for North American distribution, as well as the first album to feature Paulo Jr. on bass after having played with the band in a live capacity since 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rap metal</span> Music genre that combines hip hop and metal

Rap metal is a fusion genre which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables.

Alternative metal is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by heavily downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes unconventional sounds within other heavy metal styles. The term has been in use since the 1980s, although it came into prominence in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damageplan</span> American metal band

Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The pair recruited former Diesel Machine and Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman on vocals, and later Bob Zilla on bass. Damageplan released New Found Power, their only album, on February 10, 2004. New Found Power debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200, selling 44,676 copies in its first week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonpoint</span> American nu metal band

Nonpoint is an American nu metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band currently consists of vocalist Elias Soriano, drummer Robb Rivera, rhythm guitarist Rasheed Thomas, bassist Adam Woloszyn, and lead guitarist Jaysin Zeilstra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinnie Paul</span> American drummer (1964–2018)

Vincent Paul Abbott was an American musician best known for being the drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Pantera. He also co-founded Damageplan in 2003 with his younger brother, 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott, and was a member of Hellyeah for 12 years from 2006 until his death in 2018.

<i>La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One</i> 1992 studio album by White Zombie

La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One is the third studio album by American heavy metal band White Zombie, released on March 31, 1992, through Geffen Records. The album marked a major artistic and commercial turning point for the band. After the recruitment of guitarist Jay Noel Yuenger, White Zombie was able to successfully embrace the metal sound they had pursued since Make Them Die Slowly (1989), while incorporating groove-based elements into their sound as they evolved away from their roots in punk rock and noise rock. The album was the band's last to feature drummer Ivan de Prume.

<i>The Years of Decay</i> 1989 studio album by Overkill

The Years of Decay is the fourth studio album by thrash metal band Overkill, released on October 13, 1989 through Atlantic and Megaforce Records. It is the last Overkill album to feature guitarist Bobby Gustafson, who either left or was fired by the band amid a feud between himself and its founding members Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (vocalist) and D. D. Verni (bassist). The Years of Decay was also the first of two Overkill albums produced by Terry Date, who took on the same role for their follow-up album Horrorscope (1991).

"In This River" is a song by American heavy metal band Black Label Society, a power ballad featured on their 2005 sixth studio album Mafia. Performed entirely by guitarist, vocalist and pianist Zakk Wylde, it was released as the third single from the album and reached number 32 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

The new wave of American heavy metal was a heavy metal music movement that originated in the United States during the early–mid 1990s and expanded most in the early to mid-2000s. Some of the bands considered part of the movement had formed as early as the late 1980s, but did not become influential or reach popular standing until the following decade. The term itself borrows from the new wave of British heavy metal dating to 1979. NWOAHM includes a wide variety of styles, including alternative metal, groove metal, industrial metal, nu metal and metalcore. The term was reportedly coined by Mark Hunter, vocalist of the American metalcore band Chimaira, in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extrema (band)</span> Italian thrash/groove metal band

Extrema is an Italian thrash metal/groove metal band from Milan. They sing in English.

References

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