1994 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1994.

Newly formed bands

 * 20 Dead Flower Children
 * 36 Crazyfists
 * Abaddon Incarnate
 * Abscess
 * Abstrakt Algebra
 * The Abyss
 * Agoraphobic Nosebleed
 * Amen
 * Antaeus
 * Aurora Borealis
 * Behexen
 * Blindside
 * Blut Aus Nord
 * Coalesce
 * Colour Haze
 * Corrupted
 * Craft
 * Creed
 * Dark Fortress
 * Deadguy
 * Deströyer 666
 * DGM
 * Disillusion
 * Dismal Euphony
 * Disturbed (as Brawl)
 * Dødheimsgard
 * Draconian
 * Edguy
 * Ektomorf
 * Empyrium
 * Epoch Of Unlight
 * Eternal Tears of Sorrow
 * Evoken
 * Flowing Tears
 * Gluecifer
 * Gov't Mule
 * Graveworm
 * Gravity Kills
 * Guano Apes
 * HammerFall
 * Hatebreed
 * Heavenly
 * Hed PE
 * The Hellacopters
 * Hollenthon
 * Horde
 * Iron Monkey
 * Kalisia
 * Kampfar
 * Knut
 * Kobong
 * Kronos
 * Lacuna Coil
 * Lake of Tears
 * Lamb of God (as Burn the Priest)
 * Limbonic Art
 * Limp Bizkit
 * Lost Horizon
 * Lux Occulta
 * Martyr
 * Melechesh
 * Mob Rules
 * Moonspell
 * Muse
 * Mushroomhead
 * Naer Mataron
 * Nailbomb
 * Necrophagist
 * Negură Bunget
 * Neuraxis
 * Nightingale
 * Nile
 * Nothingface
 * October Tide
 * Officium Triste
 * O.N.A.
 * Page and Plant
 * Portal
 * Primordial
 * Quo Vadis
 * Ragnarok
 * Rammstein
 * Scarve
 * Sevendust
 * Siebenbürgen
 * Six Feet Under
 * Skylark
 * Slash's Snakepit
 * Spiritual Beggars
 * Static-X
 * Strapping Young Lad
 * Stone Sour
 * Suidakra
 * Symphony X
 * System of a Down
 * Tenacious D
 * Theatres des Vampires
 * Throes of Dawn
 * Thyrane
 * Trail of Tears
 * Ulver
 * Vintersorg
 * Virgin Black
 * Windir

Albums

 * Accept – Death Row
 * Acid Bath – When the Kite String Pops
 * Acid King – Acid King (EP)
 * Alice Cooper – The Last Temptation
 * Alice in Chains – Jar of Flies
 * Aggressor – Of Long Duration Anguish
 * The Almighty – Crank
 * Altar - Youth Against Christ
 * Amorphis – Tales from the Thousand Lakes
 * Ancient – Svartalvheim
 * Annihilator – King of the Kill
 * Arcturus – Constellation (EP)
 * Asphyx - Asphyx
 * At the Gates - Terminal Spirit Disease
 * Bang Tango – Love After Death
 * Bathory – Requiem
 * Behemoth – And the Forests Dream Eternally (EP)
 * Benediction - The Grotesque / Ashen Epitaph (EP)
 * Bestial Warlust - Vengeance War Till Death
 * Biohazard – State of the World Address
 * Black Sabbath – Cross Purposes
 * The Black Crowes – Amorica
 * Body Count – Born Dead
 * Bolt Thrower – ...For Victory
 * Bon Jovi – Cross Road (comp.)
 * Bruce Dickinson – Balls to Picasso
 * Brutality - When the Sky Turns Black
 * Brutal Truth - Need to Control
 * Burzum – Hvis lyset tar oss
 * Cannibal Corpse – The Bleeding
 * Cathedral – Cosmic Requiem (EP)
 * Cathedral – In Memorium (EP)
 * Cathedral – Statik Majik (EP)
 * Cemetary – Black Vanity
 * Cinderella – Still Climbing
 * Converge – Halo in a Haystack
 * Corrosion of Conformity – Deliverance
 * Cradle of Filth – The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
 * Cryptopsy – Blasphemy Made Flesh
 * The Cult – The Cult
 * Dangerous Toys – Pissed
 * Danzig – Danzig 4
 * Dark Funeral – Dark Funeral (EP)
 * Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger
 * Deliverance – River Disturbance
 * Destruction – Destruction (EP)
 * Desultory - Bitterness
 * Dio – Strange Highways (US release)
 * DGeneration – DGeneration
 * Downset. – downset.
 * Dream Theater – Awake
 * Edge of Sanity – Purgatory Afterglow
 * Electric Wizard – Electric Wizard
 * Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse
 * Enslaved – Frost
 * Enslaved – Vikingligr Veldi
 * Fates Warning – Inside Out
 * Freak Kitchen – Appetizer
 * Forbidden – Distortion
 * Fu Manchu – No One Rides for Free
 * Gehenna – First Spell (EP)
 * Gilby Clarke – Pawnshop Guitars
 * Godflesh – Selfless
 * Gorefest – Erase
 * Gorgoroth – Pentagram
 * Gotthard – Dial Hard
 * Grave - Soulless
 * Gwar – This Toilet Earth
 * H-Blockx - Time to Move
 * Helloween – Master of the Rings
 * Helmet – Betty
 * Hypocrisy – The Fourth Dimension
 * Impaled Nazarene – Suomi Finland Perkele
 * In Flames – Lunar Strain
 * Incantation – Mortal Throne of Nazarene
 * Infectious Grooves – Groove Family Cyco
 * Killing Joke – Pandemonium
 * King's X – Dogman
 * Korn – Korn
 * Korpse - Pull the Flood
 * Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
 * L.A. Guns – Vicious Circle
 * Lake of Tears – Greater Art
 * Love/Hate – Lets Rumble
 * Luciferion - Demonication (The Manifest)
 * Tony MacAlpine – Premonition
 * Machine Head – Burn My Eyes
 * Madball – Set It Off
 * Magnum – Rock Art
 * Yngwie Malmsteen – The Seventh Sign
 * Manic Eden – Manic Eden
 * Marduk – Opus Nocturne
 * Marilyn Manson – Portrait of an American Family
 * Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
 * Megadeth – Youthanasia
 * Melvins – Stoner Witch
 * Memento Mori – Life, Death, and Other Morbid Tales
 * Mercyful Fate – Time
 * Meshuggah – None (EP)
 * Moonspell – Under the Moonspell (EP)
 * Mortification - Blood World
 * Mötley Crüe – Mötley Crüe
 * My Dying Bride - I Am the Bloody Earth (EP)
 * Nailbomb – Point Blank
 * Napalm Death – Fear, Emptiness, Despair
 * The New York Dolls – Rock'n Roll
 * Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
 * Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York
 * No One Is Innocent – No One Is Innocent
 * Occult – Prepare to Meet Thy Doom
 * Obituary – World Demise
 * The Obsessed – The Church Within
 * Oomph! – Sperm
 * Overkill – W.F.O.
 * Pantera – Far Beyond Driven
 * Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
 * Pentagram - Be Forewarned
 * Pitchshifter – The Remix War (remix)
 * Pride & Glory – Pride & Glory
 * Pro-Pain – The Truth Hurts
 * Prong – Cleansing
 * Pungent Stench - Club Mondo Bizarre – For Members Only
 * P.O.D. – Snuff the Punk
 * Queensrÿche – Promised Land
 * Rage – 10 Years in Rage (compilation)
 * Ram Jam – Nouvel Album (also released under the name Thank You Mam in 1995)
 * Rollins Band – Weight
 * Ron Wasserman – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Album: A Rock Adventure (soundtrack)
 * Rotting Christ – Non Serviam
 * Running Wild – Black Hand Inn
 * Samael – Ceremony of Opposites
 * Satyricon – The Shadowthrone
 * Savatage – Handful of Rain
 * Senser – Stacked Up
 * Sentenced - The Trooper (EP)
 * Septicflesh - Mystic Places of Dawn
 * Skyclad – Prince of the Poverty Line
 * Slayer – Divine Intervention
 * Sodom – Get What You Deserve
 * Solitude Aeturnus – Through the Darkest Hour
 * Solstice – Lamentations
 * Soundgarden – Superunknown
 * Stabbing Westward – Ungod
 * Stone Temple Pilots – Purple
 * Stratovarius – Dreamspace
 * Suicidal Tendencies – Suicidal for Life
 * Symphony X – Symphony X
 * Tankard – Two-Faced
 * Testament – Low
 * Therapy? – Troublegum
 * Threshold – Psychedelicatessen
 * The 3rd and the Mortal – Sorrow (EP)
 * The 3rd and the Mortal – Tears Laid in Earth
 * Tiamat – Wildhoney
 * Tuff – Fist First
 * Urban Dance Squad – Persona Non Grata
 * Vader – Sothis (EP)
 * Vanden Plas – Colour Temple
 * Various Artists – Nativity in Black (Black Sabbath tribute album)
 * Vicious Rumors – Word of Mouth
 * Whitesnake – Greatest Hits
 * Widowmaker – Stand By for Pain

Disbandments

 * Atheist (reformed in 2006)
 * Follow for Now
 * Lost Horizon (then known as Highlander) (reformed in 1999)
 * Metal Church (reformed in 1998)
 * Nirvana

Events

 * Korn release their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, which is generally considered the first ever "nu metal" album.
 * Divine Intervention by Slayer peaks at Number 8 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, with 93,000 copies sold in its first week, and later that year was certified gold in Canada and United States.
 * Nicholas Barker becomes the drummer for Cradle of Filth.
 * Longtime Extreme drummer Paul Geary leaves the band is replaced by Michael Mangini.
 * Testament release their sixth album Low. It is their first album recorded without original guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Louie Clemente, who both left the band a year before, and also their last with longtime bassist Greg Christian, who left two years later.
 * Metallica, Danzig and Suicidal Tendencies embark on a U.S. tour together.
 * Oomph! establish the rudiments of the Neue Deutsche Härte genre with their album Sperm.
 * Vocalist Ralf Scheepers leaves Gamma Ray. He would later go on to form Primal Fear.