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Heavy Metal Thunder Groove Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Alternative Metal Groove Metal

Groove Metal

Thrash slowed to a swagger. The riff sits back and hits harder, and almost everything heavy after 1992 owes it something.

Peak years
1989 – 2012
Origin
USA (Texas)
Family
Alt / Groove / Nu-Metal
Bands here
22

Before you press play

Explicit content

Pantera's Phil Anselmo gave a Nazi salute on stage in 2016, apologised, and has been arguing about it ever since. Nobody in metal thinks this genre is a far-right project; plenty of people have stopped wearing the shirt.

Start here

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

  1. Vulgar Display of Power Pantera, 1992 The landmark

    Where groove metal starts and, arguably, where the nineties start. Dimebag Darrell's riffs are built around the space between the notes rather than the notes, and Phil Anselmo shouts rather than sings. The single most imitated guitar tone in metal.

    Listen to Vulgar Display of Power

  2. Chaos A.D. Sepultura, 1993

    A thrash band slowing down and adding Brazilian percussion. The record that proved groove metal was not just a Texan idea.

    Listen to Chaos A.D.

  3. Burn My Eyes Machine Head, 1994

    The Bay Area answer to Pantera, and arguably angrier. Robb Flynn had been in Vio-lence and it shows.

    Listen to Burn My Eyes

  4. Ashes of the Wake Lamb of God, 2004

    The next generation doing it with better musicianship and worse manners. Chris Adler's drumming is the reason to hear it.

    Listen to Ashes of the Wake

What it sounds like

The riff sits back and hits harder. Groove metal takes thrash apart and slows it to a mid-tempo swagger, so the guitar lands squarely on the beat with a gap after it — that gap is the whole trick, and it is why this is the most physically satisfying metal to move to. Guitars are detuned and scooped in the mids, drums are tight and syncopated, and the vocal is a shout rather than a growl or a scream. Words are usually audible. Southern blues phrasing runs through a lot of it. Almost everything heavy made after 1992 has some of this in it, whether or not the band would admit as much.

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

Where the name came from

A descriptive term emphasising the syncopated, mid-paced rhythmic 'groove' — a concept borrowed from funk and blues — that defines the style. Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power (1992) is the genre's landmark record.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Pantera USA
  • Machine Head USA
  • Sepultura Brazil
  • Lamb of God USA
  • Exhorder USA

And 17 more

  • White Zombie USA
  • Biohazard USA
  • Crowbar USA
  • Down USA
  • Body Count USA
  • Rigor Mortis USA
  • Hellyeah USA
  • Warbeast USA
  • Channel Zero Belgium
  • Ektomorf Hungary
  • A.N.I.M.A.L. Argentina
  • Alien Weaponry New Zealand
  • 8 Foot Sativa New Zealand
  • Undying Inc India
  • Sight of Emptiness Costa Rica
  • Confess Iran
  • Underside Nepal

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

If you liked this

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