1997 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1997.

Newly formed bands

 * 1349
 * Akercocke
 * Aletheian
 * The Amenta
 * American Head Charge
 * Amoral
 * Armageddon
 * Atargatis
 * Blackstar
 * Blood Has Been Shed
 * Born from Pain
 * Brougham
 * Caliban
 * Carnal Forge
 * Dagoba
 * Dark Lunacy
 * Dark Suns
 * Deadlock
 * Diecast
 * The Dillinger Escape Plan
 * Dir En Grey
 * Dolorian
 * Doomsword
 * Dope
 * Droid
 * Elvenking
 * Explorers Club
 * Factory 81
 * Finntroll
 * Five Foot Thick
 * Forefather
 * Goatwhore
 * Gorod
 * Halestorm
 * Halfcocked
 * Hardcore Superstar
 * Hate Eternal
 * Insomnium
 * Isis
 * Karma to Burn
 * Karnivool
 * Keelhaul
 * Liquid Tension Experiment
 * Lostprophets
 * Nebula
 * Nonpoint
 * Norma Jean
 * Onesidezero
 * Origin
 * Paysage d'Hiver
 * Persuader
 * Pig Destroyer
 * Pleymo
 * Poison the Well
 * Primal Fear
 * Primer 55
 * Pulse Ultra (As Headspace)
 * Rapture
 * Secret Sphere
 * Serial Joe
 * Severe Torture
 * Shuvel
 * Sick Puppies
 * Sinergy
 * Skrape (As JoJo)
 * Soil
 * Soulfly
 * Sunk Loto (As Messiah)
 * Spawn of Possession
 * Taproot
 * Three Days Grace
 * Throwdown
 * Thurisaz
 * Tierra Santa
 * Turisas
 * Underoath
 * U.P.O.
 * Vesania
 * Vintersorg
 * Witchery

Reformed Bands

 * The original Black Sabbath line up
 * Jane's Addiction (disbanded again later that year)
 * Ratt
 * Suicidal Tendencies

Albums

 * 20 Dead Flower Children – Candy Toy Guns and Television
 * Acid King – Down with the Crown (EP)
 * Aerosmith – Nine Lives
 * Alice Cooper – A Fistful of Alice (live)
 * Anvil - Absolutely No Alternative
 * Anal Cunt - I Like It When You Die
 * Arcturus – La Masquerade Infernale
 * Assück - Misery Index
 * Belphegor – Blutsabbath
 * Blackstar - Barbed Wire Soul
 * Blood of Christ - ...A Dream to Remember
 * Body Count – Violent Demise: The Last Days
 * Borknagar – The Olden Domain
 * Bruce Dickinson – Accident of Birth
 * Brutal Truth - Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
 * Children of Bodom – Something Wild (Finland release)
 * Cinderella – Once Upon A...
 * Clawfinger – Clawfinger
 * Coal Chamber – Coal Chamber
 * Conception – Flow
 * Creed – My Own Prison
 * The Crown - Eternal Death
 * D.A.D. – Simpatico
 * Damaged - Token Remedies Research
 * Dark Tranquillity – The Mind's I
 * Deceased - Fearless Undead Machines
 * Deftones – Around the Fur
 * Deicide – Serpents of the Light
 * Devin Townsend – Ocean Machine: Biomech
 * The Dillinger Escape Plan – The Dillinger Escape Plan (EP)
 * Dimmu Borgir – Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
 * Dismember - Death Metal
 * Dog Fashion Disco – Erotic Massage
 * Dokken – Shadowlife
 * Dream Theater – Falling into Infinity
 * Ebony Tears – Tortura Insomniae
 * Edguy – Kingdom of Madness
 * Edge of Sanity - Infernal
 * Edge of Sanity - Cryptic
 * Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics...
 * Emperor – Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
 * Enslaved - Eld
 * Entombed – To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
 * Europe – Definitive Collection (compilation)
 * Faith No More – Album of the Year
 * Fates Warning – A Pleasant Shade of Gray
 * Freak Kitchen – Junk Tooth (EP)
 * Gamma Ray – Somewhere Out in Space
 * The Gathering - Nighttime Birds
 * Geezer – Black Science
 * Gilby Clarke – The Hangover (Gilby Clarke album)
 * Godflesh – Love and Hate in Dub (remix)
 * Godsmack - All Wound Up...
 * Gorgoroth - Under the Sign of Hell
 * Graveworm – When Daylight's Gone
 * Grip Inc. – Nemesis
 * Grinspoon - Guide to Better Living
 * Grinspoon - Repeat (EP)
 * Gwar – Carnival of Chaos
 * HammerFall – Glory to the Brave
 * Handsome - Handsome
 * Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire
 * Hed PE – (həd)pe
 * Helmet – Aftertaste
 * HIM – Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666
 * Hypocrisy – The Final Chapter
 * Iced Earth – Days of Purgatory (remix)
 * Illdisposed – There's Something Rotten... In the State of Denmark
 * Immortal – Blizzard Beasts
 * In Flames – Whoracle
 * Incantation - The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish (EP)
 * Incantation – Tribute to the Goat (live)
 * Incubus – Enjoy Incubus (EP)
 * Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
 * Integrity – Seasons in the Size of Days
 * Iron Savior – Iron Savior
 * Jag Panzer – The Fourth Judgement
 * Jane's Addiction – Kettle Whistle (compilation)
 * Judas Priest – Jugulator
 * Kamelot – Dominion
 * Kiss – Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions
 * Konkhra - Weed Out the Weak
 * Krabathor - Mortal Memories (EP)
 * Kreator – Outcast
 * Lacrimosa – Stille
 * L7 – The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum
 * Limp Bizkit – Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$
 * Yngwie Malmsteen – Facing the Animal
 * Machine Head – The More Things Change...
 * Malevolent Creation - In Cold Blood
 * Marilyn Manson – Remix & Repent (EP)
 * Megadeth – Cryptic Writings
 * Memento Mori – Songs for the Apocalypse, Vol. 4
 * Metallica – ReLoad
 * Morgion - Among Majestic Ruin
 * Mötley Crüe – Generation Swine
 * Mudvayne – Kill, I Oughtta (EP)
 * Napalm Death - Inside the Torn Apart
 * Necrophobic - Darkside
 * Nembrionic - Bloodcult (EP)
 * Neuraxis - Imagery
 * Night in Gales - Towards the Twilight
 * Nightwish – Angels Fall First
 * Nothingface – Pacifier
 * No-Big-Silence – 99
 * Novembers Doom - For Every Leaf That Falls (EP)
 * Obituary - Back from the Dead
 * Old Man's Child – The Pagan Prosperity
 * On Thorns I Lay - Orama
 * Orange Goblin – Frequencies from Planet Ten
 * Overkill – From the Underground and Below
 * Ozzy Osbourne – The Ozzman Cometh
 * Pain - Pain
 * Pain of Salvation - Entropia
 * Pantera – Official Live: 101 Proof (live)
 * Pessimist - Cult of the Initiated
 * Pig Destroyer – Demo (EP)
 * Pig Destroyer – Pig Destroyer / Orchid (split EP)
 * Primus – Brown Album
 * Queensrÿche – Hear in the Now Frontier
 * Rammstein – Sehnsucht
 * Razor – Decibels
 * Rhapsody – Legendary Tales
 * Rollins Band – Come In and Burn
 * Rotting Christ – A Dead Poem
 * Roxx Gang – Love 'Em and Leave 'Em
 * Savatage – The Wake of Magellan
 * Saxon – Unleash the Beast
 * Scorpions – Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years
 * Septicflesh - The Ophidian Wheel
 * Sevendust – Sevendust
 * Shadows Fall – Somber Eyes to the Sky
 * Six Feet Under - Warpath
 * Skinlab – Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded
 * Slaughter – Revolution
 * Slaves on Dope – One Good Turn Deserves Another
 * Snot – Get Some
 * Sodom – 'Til Death Do Us Unite
 * Solefald – The Linear Scaffold
 * Soundgarden – A-Sides
 * Strapping Young Lad – City
 * Stratovarius – Visions
 * Stratovarius – The Past and Now (compilation)
 * Sugar Ray – Floored
 * Symphony X – The Divine Wings of Tragedy
 * Tad Morose – A Mended Rhyme
 * The 3rd and the Mortal – In This Room
 * The Newlydeads – The Newlydeads
 * Therion - A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming
 * U.D.O. – Solid
 * Unleashed - Warrior
 * Vader – Black to the Blind
 * Vital Remains – Forever Underground
 * Warrant – Warrant Live 86–97 (live)
 * Whitesnake – Restless Heart
 * Within Temptation – Enter
 * W.A.S.P. – Kill Fuck Die
 * Y&T – Endangered Species
 * Zimmers Hole - Bound by Fire

Disbandments

 * Acid Bath
 * Jane's Addiction (reformed in 2001)
 * Rollins Band (reformed in 1999)
 * Soundgarden (reformed in 2010)
 * X Japan (reformed in 2007)

Events

 * Mötley Crüe and former vocalist Vince Neil reconcile their differences, and Neil rejoins the band.
 * Black Sabbath reunites with the original line-up between Black Sabbath and Never Say Die!.
 * Bassist Mooseman leaves Body Count and is replaced by Griz. Meanwhile, the late drummer Beatmaster V is replaced by O.T.
 * After a two-year hiatus, vocalist Mike Muir and rhythm guitarist Mike Clark reform Suicidal Tendencies. Rocky George and Robert Trujillo are replaced by Dean Pleasants and Josh Paul on guitar and bass respectively, and future Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman also joins.
 * The Mentors frontman, El Duce, is killed when hit by a train.
 * Former Slipknot vocalist, Anders Colsefni, is replaced with current lead singer of Slipknot, Corey Taylor.