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Genres Heavy Metal Alternative Metal

Alternative Metal

Metal that grew up beside indie rock and borrowed its openness. Less about the riff, more about texture, mood and songs.

Active years
1988 – present
Origin
USA
Family
Alt / Groove / Nu-Metal
Bands here
24

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Angel Dust Faith No More, 1992 The landmark

    The strangest record ever to sell a million copies. Mike Patton does about nine different things with his voice, the band play funk, lounge and thrash in the same song, and the whole thing sounds like it was made to annoy the label. It was.

    Listen to Angel Dust

  2. Dirt Alice in Chains, 1992

    Filed as grunge and heavier than most metal of its year. Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell's harmonies are the thing nobody else could copy.

    Listen to Dirt

  3. White Pony Deftones, 2000

    The most beautiful record on this site. Heavy in texture rather than in riff, and it barely resembles the nu-metal it was sold alongside.

    Listen to White Pony

  4. Toxicity System of a Down, 2001

    Armenian scales, lurching tempo changes and jokes, played at speed. There is still nothing else quite like it.

    Listen to Toxicity

What it sounds like

Metal that stopped caring about being metal. The riffs are still heavy but they are not the organising principle — texture, mood and songwriting come first, and a track is as likely to build quietly as to open with a riff. Vocals are sung, often with real range and frequently melancholy rather than angry. Detuned guitars, unusual chord voicings, and space in the arrangements where a metal band would put another guitar. It grew up alongside indie and grunge and shares their suspicion of anything that looks like posing, which is why it produced the most emotionally direct records in this collection and the ones that need least explaining to a non-metal listener.

  • Heaviness 3 out of 5
  • Speed 2 out of 5
  • Aggression 3 out of 5
  • Technicality 3 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 4 out of 5

Where the name came from

'Alternative' was borrowed from 'alternative rock' — music existing outside the mainstream, often on independent labels. Applied to metal bands blending heavy sounds with unconventional structures and indie-rock sensibilities, the term became prominent through early-1990s music press coverage.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Faith No More USA
  • Alice in Chains USA
  • Deftones USA
  • Tool USA
  • System of a Down USA

And 19 more

  • Soundgarden USA
  • Slipknot USA
  • Primus USA
  • Helmet USA
  • Rage Against the Machine USA
  • White Zombie USA
  • Danzig USA
  • Metal Church USA
  • Skin Yard USA
  • Burgerkill Indonesia
  • Koil Indonesia
  • Edane Indonesia
  • Seringai Indonesia
  • Superman is Dead Indonesia
  • Hamlet Spain
  • Sôber Spain
  • Mëtal Törture Spain
  • Mass Destruction Spain
  • Tarantist Iran

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

What it led to

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.