Key facts
- Stylistic origins
- Heavy metal classical speed metal
- Cultural origins
- Late 1970s and early 1980s, Europe and North America
- Derivative forms
- Power metal symphonic metal
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- music genre
- Country of origin
- United States
- Image
- Yngwie Malmsteen 5.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- influenced by
- classical music
- inception
- 1978-01-01
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Neoclassical metal is a style of heavy metal that is heavily influenced by classical music and usually features very technical playing, consisting of elements borrowed from both classical and speed metal music. Yngwie Malmsteen became one of the most notable musicians in the style, and contributed greatly to its development in the 1980s. Other notable players in the genre are Randy Rhoads, Luca Turilli, Michael Romeo, George Bellas, Luke Fortini, Jason Becker, Vinnie Moore, Alexi Laiho, Jani Liimatainen, Kiko Loureiro, Uli Jon Roth, Stéphan Forté, Wolf Hoffmann, Timo Tolkki, Syu and Marty Friedman.
Although the style is mainly associated with guitarists (especially lead guitarists), keyboardists like Jens Johansson, Vitalij Kuprij, Michael Pinnella, Alex Staropoli and Janne Wirman are also prominent figures in it.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “neo-classical metal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.