alternative metal
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AI overview
Alternative metal is a music style that blends elements of heavy metal with alternative rock, creating a distinct sound that emerged from both genres. It matters because it represents an important crossover point in rock music history where the intensity of metal meets the experimental and unconventional approach of alternative rock.
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Key facts
- Stylistic origins
- Heavy metal alternative rock
- Cultural origins
- Mid-1980s, United States
- Derivative forms
- Soft grunge ( grungegaze )
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal and grunge metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by heavily downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes sounds that are unconventional within other heavy metal styles. The term has been in use since the 1980s, although it came into prominence in the 1990s.
Other genres considered part of the alternative metal movement included rap metal and funk metal, both of which influenced another prominent subgenre, nu metal. Nu metal expands the alternative metal sound, combining its vocal stylings and downtuned riffs with elements of other genres, such as hip hop, funk, thrash metal, hardcore punk and industrial metal.