Groove Metal

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Groove metal is also known as neo-thrash, post-thrash, or power groove, groove metal consists of slow or mid-tempo and down tuned thrash riffs, bluesy guitar solos, greatly emphasized drum work and harsh vocals. Pantera is considered the most important groove metal act and very much revolutionized the thrash metal genre, and were followed by other influential acts like Machine Head. So great was the impact on thrash metal by groove acts like Pantera and Machine Head that already established thrash metal acts changed their style in a more groovy direction. For example, speed metal veterans Overkill took a more groove metal oriented direction on "I Hear Black", as did Exodus on "Force of Habit" and Sacred Reich on "Independent". While these would quickly return to their roots, other bands, such as Anthrax, continued to explore groove metal to the extent that their music was not even considered as thrash metal anymore. In their exploration of groove metal on "Chaos A.D." and "Roots", Sepultura gave rise to the sub-subgenre of tribal metal, whose central feature is primitive and groovy riffage. Many alternative metal bands, especially those belonging to the nu metal wave, would draw on groove metal, and perhaps that is why many post-1993 releases by acts like Anthrax and Sepultura are considered alternative metal releases. Groove metal also found its way into death metal, giving birth to the subgenre of death 'n' roll, which is included under death metal on the MMA.

Sub-genre collaborators (shared with Speed Metal and Thrash Metal):

Vim Fuego (leader)
Nightfly

groove metal top albums

Showing only albums and EPs | Based on members ratings & MMA custom algorithm | 24 hours caching

War of Words
FIGHT
4.33 | 22 ratings

Cowboys From Hell
PANTERA
4.15 | 122 ratings

Machine Messiah
SEPULTURA
4.23 | 25 ratings

WHITE ZOMBIE La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Volume 1 Album Cover

La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Volume 1
WHITE ZOMBIE
4.20 | 25 ratings

PANTERA Vulgar Display of Power Album Cover

Vulgar Display of Power
PANTERA
4.06 | 90 ratings

CHIMAIRA The Impossibility Of Reason Album Cover

The Impossibility Of Reason
CHIMAIRA
4.22 | 12 ratings

Sacrament
LAMB OF GOD
4.09 | 27 ratings

MACHINE HEAD Bloodstone & Diamonds Album Cover

Bloodstone & Diamonds
MACHINE HEAD
4.15 | 15 ratings

Dark Ages
SOULFLY
4.12 | 17 ratings

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY Inflikted Album Cover

Inflikted
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
4.14 | 15 ratings

The Blackening
MACHINE HEAD
3.99 | 38 ratings

Prophecy
SOULFLY
4.08 | 15 ratings

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groove metal online videos

Hammerhedd - Tunnel (Official Music Video)
HAMMERHEDD
Bosh66

Thelonious Cronn - Con la misma moneda (VIDEO OFICIAL)
THELONIOUS CRONN
Bosh66

Thelonious Cronn - Almohada Paradójica (VIDEO OFICIAL)
THELONIOUS CRONN
Bosh66

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groove metal New Releases

groove metal Music Reviews

PANTERA The Great Southern Trendkill

Album · 1996 · Groove Metal

SilentScream213

The Great Southern Trendkill. What the heck does that even mean? Pantera had a penchant for album names that almost made sense, and this was the wackiest. Similarly, the music within is some of their most extreme and eclectic. It’s got easily their heaviest song ever in Suicide Note Pt. 2, whereas Pt. 1 is a calm, slow rocker. Floods is one of their longest songs, almost Progressive in nature and containing one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. The album is surprisingly consistent given the varying styles present here.

That being said, there is still a fair amount of “generic 90’s Groove Metal” here that doesn’t really stand out. Not exactly filler, but songs we’ve all heard many times that don’t offer much to people who aren’t die hard Pantera or Groove Metal fans.

The album has a dark, manic quality to it that probably mirrors the alleged turmoil within the band member’s lives at the time. It sounds like a death throe, and nothing against the underrated Reinventing the Steel, but it would have been a perfect swansong to end their career.

22 days ago
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Report #852721

SEPULTURA Nation

Album · 2001 · Groove Metal

UMUR

"Nation" is the 8th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in March 2001. It´s the successor to "Against" from 1998 and is the second Sepultura album to feature lead vocalist Derrick Green, after the departure of original lead vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera in 1996. "Nation" was the last Sepultura album released through Roadrunner Records, as the band didn´t feel the label gave them enough promotional support (a scheduled filming of a music video for "One Man Army" was for example cancelled).

Stylistically "Nation" is pretty much a continuation of the hardcore influenced groove/thrash metal style of "Against (1998)", featuring the occasional ethnic tribal rhythmic moment. Green expands on his already varied vocal arsenal, and in addition to delivering his aggressive raw snarling also sings some clean vocals. The album opens with the heavy groove laden "Sepulnation", and it´s a strong opening to the album. From then on Sepultura treat the listener to many different variations of their style and they can certainly not be accused of being one-dimensional in their songwriting approach. The songwriting is generally pretty creative, and in the end that turns out to be both a strength and a weakness. A strength because "Nation" is a varied and entertaining release throughout, and a weakness because it simply sticks in too many directions and ultimately leaves me wishing for a more stylistic consistent approach. Had that been the case, it´s my conviction that "Nation" would have been an overall stronger release.

The musicianship is strong on all posts, and "Nation" also features a powerful and well sounding production job, so upon conclusion it´s a relatively strong album release by Sepultura. It´s pretty similar in style to "Against (1998)" and I´ve always felt that the two were more or less sibling releases. Also in terms of quality and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is therefore deserved.

54 days ago
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Report #842043

SEPULTURA Against

Album · 1998 · Groove Metal

UMUR

"Against" is the 7th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in October 1998. It´s the successor to "Roots" from 1996 and features one lineup change as lead vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera left Sepultura after the last show on the tour supporting "Roots (1996)". Cavalera had a dispute with the other members of the band (including his brother Igor Cavalera) over the manager role of his wife Gloria Cavalera, and eventually he decided to leave. He is replaced here by American vocalist Derrick Green.

When "Roots" came out in 1996, Sepultura were commercially and popularity wise at the top of their game, and Max Cavalera was a well respected and influential frontman and guitarist, and therefore it would always be an extremely difficult task to replace him. To this day (the year 2022) many Sepultura fans still can´t accept Green as the vocalist of Sepultura, and it was even worse in 1998 when "Against" came out. The album didn´t sell well compared to "Roots (1996)" and generally received a bit of a lukewarm reception. If that reaction was based on Green´s voice and performance on "Against", it would have been understandable, but to my ears Green is a more than capable replacement for Cavalera, with a strong voice and a commanding delivery. Anyone who has seen him on a stage also knows that he has an almost intimidating physical presence (yes the man is huge), which brings a lot to Sepultura´s shows.

Stylistically Sepultura have opted for a more guitar, riff heavy, and raw (sometimes hardcore influenced) groove oriented metal style compared to the alternative/groove metal style of "Roots (1996)", where it sometimes felt like the riffs were an afterthought (and only very few were memorable) and all focus was on angsty aggressive vocals and groove (and the whole tribal ethnic lyric/image thing). The material on "Against" are generally more powerful, intense, and immediate. That doesn´t mean the tracks are simple in a primitive way, but they are more instantly catchy and aggression and groove go well hand and hand with powerful riffs and rhythms, but also with other creative songwriting ideas (for example the lead run on "Floaters in Mud" or the atmopsheric "Rumors"), which bring the right dose of variation to the album. This time around the ethnic influences are used as a spice and doesn´t end up taking too much focus from the basis of Sepultura metal sound, although the tribal/ethnic elements are still a big part of the band´s music.

"Against" features a powerful sounding production, which suits the material well and provides the music with the right amount of power to have as much impact as possible. When all the positive things about the album are said, Sepultura are maybe ultimately a bit too ambitious and unfocused as the album tends to point in a lot of different directions, going from groove metal, to hardcore punk, and then to tribal/ethnic music both within and between tracks. Sometimes it works wonders ("Choke" is an example of a combination of groove metal and a tribal/ethnic music influenced middle section, which works well), and sometimes the results are a bit less remarkable. In the end "Against" is a good quality release by Sepultura and also a step up in quality from "Roots (1996)". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

2 months ago
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Report #841383

EXODUS Force of Habit

Album · 1992 · Groove Metal

UMUR

"Force of Habit" is the 5th full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Exodus. The album was released through Capitol Records in August 1992. It´s the successor to "Impact Is Imminent" from 1990 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as bassist Rob McKillop has been replaced by Mike Butler. "Force of Habit" was the last studio album by Exodus for a number of years, as internal turmoil and the shifting musical climate of the 90s made the band consider their options and disband in 1994. Lead vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza had already left in 1992, but the band continued to play shows after he jumped ship. Exodus would reunite shortly in 1997 with original lead vocalist Paul Baloff to play some shows, which produced the "Another Lesson in Violence" live album in 1997, but they folded again in 1998. The untimely death of Baloff in 2002 paved the way for a reunion with Souza, which resulted in the band releasing their comeback album "Tempo of the Damned" in 2004.

Stylistically the material on "Force of Habit" is unmistakably the sound of Exodus. Raw, aggressive, and highly energetic thrash metal played by technically skilled musicians featuring Souza´s sandpaper raw vocals in front. So far so good. The material on the 13 track, 68:40 minutes long album are well written, relatively catchy, and well produced too. Compared to the raw and unpolished sound production on "Impact Is Imminent (1990)", this one is a much better produced album. While the material are well written and the band also make sure there are some variation on the album in the form of the more traditional heavy metal/hard rock styled track "Good Day to Die" and the covers of "Bitch" by The Rolling Stones, and "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello, almost 70 minutes of playing time is at least a couple of tracks too long.

In many ways though "Force of Habit" is Exodus back on track after the slightly disappointing "Impact Is Imminent (1990)". Unfortunately for Exodus it was pretty much released on deaf ears, as their brand of thrash metal had become out of fashion by 1992 faster than you could say death metal/alternative hard rock. The music industry and music consumers can sometimes be faithless/illoyal when bigger money/something new and more interesting appears. It´s a shame because although "Force of Habit" is not the most remarkable Exodus release, it´s still a good quality thrash metal album and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.

3 months ago
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LAMB OF GOD Omens

Album · 2022 · Groove Metal

Kingcrimsonprog

2022’s Omens is the Richmond Virginia Metal stars, Lamb Of God’s ninth full-length studio album (not counting releases under the Burn The Priest moniker). Much like their previous record, it was released on Nuclear Blast, Produced by Josh Wilbur and features Art Cruz on the drums.

Going into the album, a lot of fans online, on podcasts and in print seemed a bit disinterested in the band, and there was a bit of talk about how the band were past their best, which I didn’t personally get, because I felt their previous album was quite good, they’ve still been good live and they are mostly beloved personalities in the metal media. Anyway, many people are going to talk about going into this with low expectations and being pleasantly surprised… I just say its good, period, just like I expected.

The musical direction and the production style is quite similar to the previous album, sort of leaning into the more groovey and accessible parts of their sound, rather than being technical or angular or abrasive like the early days. If your favourite Lamb Of God song is “ODHGABFE” or “Blood Junkie” this album might be a bit tame for your tastes, but for everyone who fell in live with the band for the likes of “Redneck” and “Set To Fail” this will be right up your street.

Highlights include the catchy “To The Grave,” the speedy “Denial Mechanism” the memorable closer “September Song” and the grower of a title track, which I initially didn’t gel with the very first time I heard it, but you can’t deny that chorus and now its become one of my favourites upon repeat listening.

Is this the single greatest achievement Lamb Of God have ever made? Of course not, but is it some kind of lesser album or boring late career filler with only a few good songs? Not at all! This is a worthy edition to the LOG cannon, solid all the way through, nothing I’d skip, nothing I’d remove from a playlist and nothing I wouldn’t want to see live. Better even than the previous record, much better than the one before that, overall another enjoyable and entertaining southern groover made for big stages. Recommended.