Groove metal

Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. Heavily influenced by thrash metal, groove metal features raspy singing and screaming, down-tuned guitars, heavy guitar riffs, and syncopated rhythms. Groove metal is usually slower than thrash. Pantera are often considered the pioneers of groove metal, and the genre expanded in the 1990s with bands including White Zombie, Machine Head, and Sepultura. Successful groove metal acts of the 2000s include Lamb of God, DevilDriver, and Five Finger Death Punch.

Characteristics
Groove metal is heavily influenced by thrash metal, but is focused more on heaviness as opposed to speed, although fast songs are still common within the genre. The genre emphasises heavy guitar riffs, often accompanied by syncopated rhythms, and guitar solos are commonplace. Guitars are generally more down-tuned than in thrash, and vocals typically are yelling, growling, screaming, or very raspy singing.

History
Texas heavy metal band Pantera's 1990 album Cowboys from Hell is often considered the first groove metal album. With this release, Pantera moved away from the glam metal of their earlier work. They continued releasing influential albums through the 1990s; the 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power featured an even heavier sound than its predecessor, while its follow-up Far Beyond Driven (1994) peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 186,000 copies its first week of release.

New York band Prong's second album Beg to Differ, released four months before Cowboys from Hell, is also considered one of the first albums of the genre, with frontman Tommy Victor claiming it was the first groove metal album ever released.

Other early examples of groove metal include the Metallica songs "Harvester of Sorrow" (1988) and "Sad but True" (1991), both of which are notable for having a more mid-paced groove compared to the fast paced thrash sound that categorizes most of the band's other early works.

New York band White Zombie are also seen as early pioneers of the genre with their second album Make Them Die Slowly (1989), which saw the band transition away from their earlier noise rock sound in favor of a groovier sound that could be described as a "half-paced thrash". White Zombie themselves would become one of the bigger groove metal bands of the 1990s, with their third album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One peaking at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in 1993 and being certified double-platinum by the RIAA in July 1998. White Zombie's music videos were featured on Beavis and Butt-Head, helping to increase the band's sales. The 1995 follow-up Astro Creep: 2000 peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and sold 104,000 copies in its first week of release; it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA.

In 1993, the Brazilian band Sepultura released Chaos A.D., which saw the band developing their sound from thrash to groove metal. Sepultura released their most popular album Roots in 1996, which combined groove metal and nu metal; it received criticism from fans because it was very different from older Sepultura albums like Beneath the Remains.

In 1992, thrash band Exhorder moved to the groove metal genre with their album The Law. In the 1990s, several other groove metal bands appeared, including Skinlab, Pissing Razors, Machine Head, Grip Inc., and White Zombie. Several other veteran thrash bands also used elements of groove metal over the ensuing decade, including Anthrax, Testament, Annihilator, and Overkill (whose earlier works had pioneered the genre, including their 1989 album The Years of Decay).



Machine Head released their debut album Burn My Eyes in 1994. The album helped the band achieve underground success and sold over 145,000 copies.

In the 2000s, many more groove metal bands emerged, including Five Finger Death Punch, Damageplan, Lamb of God, Chimaira, Hellyeah, and DevilDriver. Damageplan was founded with former Pantera members Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott. They released one album, New Found Power, in 2004. The band broke up in December 2004, after guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot dead at a live performance. Lamb of God became popular among heavy metal fans in the mid-2000s along with the metalcore bands that were achieving success at the time. Five Finger Death Punch emerged in the 2000s and achieved moderate success in the 2010s.

Influence on other genres
Groove metal bands like Pantera, White Zombie, Prong, and Sepultura were all big influences on the nu metal genre. Nu metal began in the mid-1990s and became mainstream in the late 1990s and early 2000s; its most successful acts include Korn and Slipknot.

Groove metal bands like Pantera and Sepultura, along with crossover thrash bands such as Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front, helped to lay the groundwork for metalcore.