Groove Metal

Welcome back, metalheads! It has been a long summer break, but now it is time to get back to business by discussing more subgenres of heavy metal music. For the next month or so, this blog is going to focus on mainstream heavy metal.  The first fairly mainstream subgenre that we must discuss is groove metal.

In the early to mid-1990s, the core thrash metal bands of 1980s mainstream heavy metal all took different turns. Their audience was shifting interests and they had to shift with them in order to maintain their popularity.

Some bands made the transition fairly well. Metallica released The Black Album in 1991, which would become their most financially successful album to date. Megadeth released Coutdown to Extinction, which also proved to be wildly successful. Even bands such as Anthrax and Testament managed to consistently keep a solid audience by slightly shifting their style. 

Other bands massively failed in their attempts to reinvent themselves, though. The quality of Slayer’s music declined sharply in quality, and bands such as Exodus, Sepultura and Kreator had a difficult time keeping up as well. 

The subgenre of heavy metal that essentially replaced thrash metal during this time was known as groove metal. This style of music was similar to thrash metal in many ways, but the noticeable difference between the subgenres was that groove metal relied on mid-paced rhythmic grooves instead of the relentless fast-paced riffing that characterized thrash metal. Groove metal was essentially pioneered by three bands: Pantera, Machine Head and Lamb of God.

Pantera was one of the first bands to really pioneer the subgenre and was definitely the first to give groove metal mainstream attention. Many critics accuse Pantera of copying the musical style of the rather unknown band Exhorder, but Pantera only acknowledges the group as an influence. Pantera entered the metal mainstream with their 1990 album Cowboys from Hell. It wasn’t until their follow-up record, Vulgar Display of Power, that they became known by every angst-ridden teenager in America. Pantera dominated mainstream heavy metal for many years until the band eventually broke up in the early 2000s. Since then, their guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, was murdered onstage by an insane fan, completely ruling out the idea of an eventual reunion.

Machine Head was another huge pioneer of groove metal. Machine Head released their debut album, Burn My Eyes, in 1994. Burn My Eyes soon became a heavy metal classic. From there the band slowly progressed into the nu metal subgenre, isolating most of their fan base. In 2004, after being turned down by almost every mainstream metal record label around the world, they somehow managed to get Through the Ashes of Empires released through Roadrunner Records. The album was viewed as a major return to form, and the band reached the peak of their success with their follow-up record, The Blackening. Last year they released Unto the Locust which was viewed by critics and fans alike as a very solid follow-up to the masterpiece that was The Blackening. 

Lamb of God took groove metal in a new and heavier direction in 1999 by releasing their debut, Burn the Priest. Since then, they've helped the subgenre make the transition into the 2000s with New American Gospel, As the Palace Burns and Ashes of the Wake. Lamb of God weren't inventors of groove metal, but they have managed to pioneer the subgenre in substantial ways, drastically aiding its development and allowing it to remain a popular style once Pantera and Machine Head began to disintegrate. Lamb of God continues to be one of the most successful and well-respected heavy metal bands around today. 

Groove metal isn’t a very large subgenre, but it’s a crucial one in the history of heavy metal music. Today, many bands still practice and contribute to the subgenre and groove metal remains alive and well.