Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums, sometimes accompanied with keyboards. It began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 1960s, bands such as the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf and Deep Purple also produced hard rock.
Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, with their cover of "Summertime Blues" sometimes cited as the first in the genre. They have also been noted as influential in the development of genres as disparate as punk rock, stoner rock, doom metal, experimental rock, and grunge.
The music of Japan includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 on (sound) with the kanji 楽 gaku. Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.
B'z are a Japanese rock duo, consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, known for their energetic hard rock tracks and pop rock ballads. B'z is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and the best-selling in their native Japan, having released 49 consecutive No. 1 singles, 25 No. 1 albums, 3 No. 1 EPs on the Oricon music charts and sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Black Sabbath is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 13 February 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States on 1 June 1970. The album is widely regarded as the first heavy metal album. Additionally, the opening track, "Black Sabbath", has been referred to as the first doom metal song.
Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, distorted guitars, lyrics with drug references, and long improvised jams. Much of the style overlaps with 1960s garage punk, proto-metal, and early heavy, blues-based hard rock.
Boris is a Japanese experimental music band formed in 1992 in Tokyo and composed of drummer Atsuo, guitarist/bassist Takeshi, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata. All three members contribute vocals. Boris has released more than twenty studio albums on various labels around the world, as well as a wide variety of live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. They have collaborated with acts such as Sunn O))), Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and guitarist Michio Kurihara.
Seikima-II is a Japanese heavy metal band, formed in 1982. Throughout their career they have had numerous lineups, with lead singer Demon Kakka the sole constant member. The group has sold over 10 million records in Japan alone.
"Endless Rain" is the fourth single released by Japanese heavy metal band X Japan on December 1, 1989. It is their second single on a major record label and reached number 3 on the Oricon chart.
見殺し塔からずっと: Live at Shimokitazawa Shelter is the first DVD release by Japanese band Boris. It was captured on their Black Summer tour on July 12, 2003. The first ten tracks are songs from the show, which are mostly from the Akuma no Uta and Heavy Rocks albums. Tracks 11-14 are music videos made by the band by Foodunited and Fangs Anal Satan. A loose translation of the first bit of the title is, "From The Tower That Turns A Blind Eye To Death".
Greenmachine was a Japanese stoner/doom metal band founded in 1995.
Eternal Elysium are a Japanese doom metal band founded in 1991.
Satori is the second album by Japanese rock band Flower Travellin' Band, and their first of original material. It was released in Japan by Atlantic Records in 1971 and in the US and Canada by GRT Records.
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep.
Boris Variations is a compilation of previously recorded and re-recorded audio music, as well as live video music by Japanese band, Boris. The CD comprises selections from six Boris full-length releases that generally keep to their 'heavy rock' style, as well as one single B-side. Five of the 13 songs have been re-recorded. Production credits on the CD are for Boris. Besides the three regular members of the band - Takeshi, Wata and Atsuo - Michio Kurihara also plays guitar on tracks 2, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12. All songs are composed by Boris, except for track 6, which is by Boris and Michio Kurihara.
Klatter is the third collaborative studio album and sixth release by the Japanese experimental rock band Boris and Japanese noise musician Merzbow. The album features re-recorded versions of "Akuma no Uta" and "Naki Kyoku" from Akuma no Uta, and a cover of the song "Jane" by the German progressive rock group of the same name. It was originally planned for release on Troubleman Unlimited in 2007 under the unconfirmed title Mellow Peak, but for unknown reasons, the release did not happen.
Japanese metal is heavy metal music from Japan.
Archive II is a three disc compilation of live and demo material by Japanese band, Boris. Volume 4 was recorded on 2003/5/15 in Tokyo and only contains songs from Heavy Rocks and Akuma no Uta, while volume 5 was recorded on 2006/5/31 in New York City and contains songs from Pink, Akuma no Uta, Dronevil, and Sound Track from Film "Mabuta no Ura".
Gensho is the fourth collaborative studio album and seventh release by the Japanese experimental band Boris and noise musician Merzbow. It is presented in two parts; the first disc features re-recordings of several Boris songs and a cover of the My Bloody Valentine song "Sometimes" in drone-based, drumless style, while the second disc consists of new compositions by Merzbow. They are intended to be played at the same time, much like the previous Boris double album Dronevil, or as separate works.
