Heavy Metal is a huge topic to talk about. We know it started as a sub-genre of rock but over the years it has become so huge that calling it a sub-genre is considered a huge understatement. A lot of us metal fans or "metalheads" as we love to call ourselves know how big metal is and how many sub-genres have spawned from it. This division into sub-genres is quite controversial among the fandom because some people deem it "too excessive" and "unnecessary". Love it or hate it, the division has become a huge part of metal. Then there's the "fandom progression" as some would call it. This means that the majority of us fans never start as fans to the harshest sub-genres, we start from the bottom and slowly start liking more aggressive, faster, and harsher forms of music. Keeping this in mind, people ask me: "what do you think the order of harshest sub-genres is?" Today I've come here with that answer. Here's what in my opinion is the progression from least to most harsh forms of metal music. Before we start, I won't be talking about punk in here. That's another topic entirely. I'll refer to each entry as steps as in a staircase. Now without further ado, let's do this.
1st step: Rock, Hard Rock and Glam Metal:
We start with the more mainstream and light-hearted bands and musicians. AC/DC, Guns 'n Roses, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake, Primus, Pink Floyd, Twisted Sister, Scorpions etc. Those are some bands from the first step of the progression. Here are some examples:
2nd step: Heavy metal, New Wave of british heavy metal, Mainstream Thrash metal, Power metal:
Here we get a tad faster, however not a lot of harsh traits show up in this step yet. Bands like Black Sabbath, Mötorhead, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Anthrax, Metallica, Disturbed, Judas Priest, Helloween, Dragonforce, HIM, SOAD, RATM, Van Halen, Stratovarius, Angra, etc. are a part of this step. Examples:
3rd Step: Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal, Doom Metal:
Here, music starts being a tad harder to understand. Either harsh sounds or unconventional time signatures start appearing. Bands like Slayer, Tool, Dream Theater, St. Vitus, Type O-negative, Overkill, Testament, Slipknot, etc. are among the bands that I consider fit in this step.
4th step: Extreme Metal, Technical Metal, Melodic Death Metal:
This is where the most harsh traits start appearing. Guttural vocals, harsher guitar distortions and blast beats. Bands like Venom, Celtic Frost, Children of Bodom, Cradle of Filth, Death, Sepultura, Gojira, Lamb of God, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Killswitch Engage, etc. are among the many bands that make up this step in our ladder of metal.
Here's where us as fans can take 2 different ways: Death metal or Black Metal. This doesn't mean that you can only choose one path. It just means that both paths have equally harsh sub-genres but aren't similar enough to be associated with on the ladder. There's only one sub-genre that fuses both genres in the 5th step. That's why people call it Blackened Death Metal.
Path 1: Death Metal
5th Step: Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Sludge:
The harsh deep growls and the toned down guitars along with a certain style of guitar solos and blast beats make up one of the greatest sub-genres that metal has ever had. Bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated, Kataklysm, Dying Fetus, Rwake, Deicide, Necrophagist, Necrophagia, The Faceless, Obituary, Job For A Cowboy etc. Are part of this sub-genre.
6th Step: Grindcore, Deathgrind, Goregrind:
Harsher than death metal and taking in some traits from punk rock, grindcore rises one step above regular death metal. Deathgrind is a variant of grindcore that includes more traditional death metal features. Goregrind mixes even harsher sounds and more graphic lyrics with the previous sub-genre. Napalm Death, Carcass, Pig Destroyer, Rotten Sound, Cephalic Carnage, Exhumed, Brutal Truth, etc. are some examples of bands from this step.
7th Step: Slamming/Brutal Death Metal:
In this step the vocals are so deep and growled that they seem unintelligible. Also the drum beats are especially fast; I've jokingly said that they sound like a cellphone vibrating because of how fast they become. Bands like Disavowed, Aeon, Skinless, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Fuck... I'm Dead, Effigy of the Forgotten, 55Gore etc. are some bands that play this sub-genre.
Path 2: Black Metal:
5th Step: Black Metal:
The harsh vocals in this step are not that deep. They are more sandpaper sounding. This sub-genre also incorporates keyboards and sounds much more gothic than death metal. Themes that black metal talks about are 80% Satanism. Bands like the legendary Mayhem, Burzum, Behemoth, Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Darkthrone, Bathory's early work, etc. are examples.
6th Step: Depressive Suicidal Black Metal:
This sub-genre transmits feelings of anguish, sadness, loneliness and emptiness. It's something you shouldn't listen to if you are having a rough day. The instrumentation behind this sub-genre is much more repetitive but very straight forward. The vocal styles used range from sandpaper grows to high pitched screams. Most bands of this sub-genre are OMMs (one man metal), bands that consist of only one member who takes care of all instruments. Silencer, Xasthur, Leviathan, and Make a Change... Kill Yourself! are some examples.
7th Step: Drone doom metal:
Only one band lies in this step: Sunn O))). This music is much more dystopic than all of the bands in the previous steps. Droning rhythms and Attila Csihar's vocals make for one of the darkest listening experiences you can ever have.
Here's where the path separation ends.
8th Step: Pornogrind and Deathcore:
The vocals in pornogore sound straight up like pig grunts. Not a lot of people like this sub-genre just because of its album imagery. A lot of gore and pornography presented in an obscene and poorly executed way. The only bands I can name are Dislabia, C**k and Ball Torture, and Gut. Then there's Deathcore. It's a genre that exaggerates the use of the pig squeal technique and tries too hard to make complicated guitar riffs with overly down-tuned guitars. It's often made fun of by the metalhead community. Some bands are Waking the Cadaver, Cattle Decapitation and Suicide Silence's early work.
And here's an example of how people mock deathcore:
9th Step: Gorenoise:
You can't get any harsher than gorenoise. This sub-genre combines harsh noise with the harshest sub-genres of metal. The result is unintelligible cacophonies of sound that are able to give you massive headaches. Bodily Wastes, Omphalectoicxanthopsia, Arachnomoniasis and Epiploenterocele Pusliquid Wormchunk are the only examples I could find.
And that's it. I know steps 8 and 9 are really hard to get into. Still I hope you enjoyed reading this and found it informative.
