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Speed metal is a loosely defined sub-genre of heavy metal. The music uses traditional heavy metal song structures with faster tempos and driving rhythms.

Many speed metal bands also fall under other heavy metal sub-genres, most often Thrash metal and Power metal. This is mainly due to the influence speed metal had on those genres. Although Speed metal was also used by some Glam metal and NWOBHM groups during the 1980s.

Alot of the Japanese Visual Kei bands from the 1990s to present are also described as Speed metal, this is largely due to a 1980s Speed metal band X-Japan who are very influential on the Visual Kei movement.

History

Origins

The origin of speed metal is hard to pinpoint due to the fact that it was never fully established as a sub-genre of heavy metal until the early 1980s. Many, however, consider the earliest speed metal song as being Deep Purple's "Highway Star" from their 1972 album Machine Head.

There were earlier efforts with a similar style including Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" from their 1970 album Paranoid and also Deep Purple's "Speed King" from their 1970 album In Rock and "Fireball" from their 1971 album Fireball.

However, it was "Highway Star" that introduced into heavy metal both the extreme speed of the single-note riffing and the complex guitar and keyboard solos (performed by Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord respectively) borrowed from progressive rock of the 1970s, but heavily influenced by classical music. These features commonly went on to be associated with more modern metal genres, but at the time, was typical of speed metal.

Evolution of speed metal

Although Judas Priest did not release a full on speed metal album until their 1990 album Painkiller, they contained many speed metal songs on their early material. One example of this is the song "Exciter" from their 1978 album Stained Class. These songs had great impact on the speed metal explosion in the 1980s.

Motörhead added primitive speed metal elements to their brand of heavy metal, while new bands emerged ready to focus in on the speed. The NWOBHM was in top gear at this stage and many embraced speed metal, such as Venom, who combined the style of Motörhead with a raw, harsh atmosphere. Iron Maiden even produced a number of speed metal songs such as "Aces High" and "Invaders". Raven, another NWOBHM band, used speed metal in their sound too.

The German heavy metal band Accept also introduced speed metal elements to their sound at the start of the decade. The song "Fast As A Shark" on their 1982 album Restless and Wild is an example of Accept's speed metal ideas. Accept's influence on the German heavy metal scene was huge. Bands such as Running Wild, Grave Digger, Helloween, Rage and Paradox built upon the fast tempos of Accept to form the foundations of German speed metal.

Bands, who would later develop into thrash metal, started off with speed metal in their sound. Slayer’s debut album Show No Mercy, Anthrax’s debut album Fistful of Metal and Overkill’s debut album Feel the Fire as well as many other early albums by thrash metal bands contained speed metal riffs (from the NWOBHM) with some thrash riffs buried inside. These bands would later let the thrash riffs dominate their music causing the thrash explosion of the mid 80s.

Other bands decided to refine their speed metal sound. Bands such as Agent Steel and Exciter decided not to dive into the thrash metal sound but instead to carry on producing speed metal albums.

After their speed metal debut Walls of Jericho, Helloween slowly paved the way for what power metal would become with their Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. The tempo became more varied throughout songs, alternating from fast sections to slower sections. Epic passages were added and the general intensity was toned down somewhat.

In 1990, Judas Priest released the album Painkiller, which was their first all out speed metal album. Instead of opting for a couple of fast paced numbers on an album, they decided to create a whole album full of them. Many people consider this album the best Judas Priest album as a result while others prefer their earlier "original" sound.

Speed metal today

Speed metal today is a vastly less popular art form than it was in the 80s. The most notable speed metal bands are those which have carried on producing speed metal to this day, and more modern bands who were influenced by Judas Priest’s Painkiller album.

Notable modern bands playing speed metal are Gamma Ray, releasing the consistently speedy Powerplant album in 1999, Iron Savior and Primal Fear.

Speed metal songs from non-speed metal bands and albums

Speed metal has also been used by other metal subgenres during the 1980s. A lot of these were Glam metal and NWOBHM bands. Notable speed metal songs from typically non-speed metal bands are;

• "Be Quick or Be Dead" by Iron Maiden
• "Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche
• "Slave to the Grind" by Skid Row
• "Body Talk" by Ratt
• "Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe
• "Kill the King" by Rainbow
• "Robotman" by Scorpions
• "Tear it Loose" by Twisted Sister
• "Hell to Eternity" by W.A.S.P.
• "Paris is Burning" by Dokken

Speed metal albums

Specific speed metal albums include the following:

• Judas Priest’s Painkiller
• Exciter’s Heavy Metal Maniac
• Rage’s Perfect Man
• Anthrax’s Fistful of Metal
• Gamma Ray’s Powerplant
• Helloween’s Walls Of Jericho
• Agent Steel’s Unstoppable Force
• X-Japan's Blue Blood
• Iron Savior’s Unification
• Venom’s Welcome To Hell
• Running Wild’s Gates To Purgatory
• Paradox’s Product Of Imagination
• Abattoir’s Vicious Attack
• Grave Digger’s Heavy Metal Breakdown
• Riot’s Thundersteel
• Blind Guardian’s Battalions of Fear

Current use

As speed metal helped in the creation of power metal and thrash metal, a lot of newer speed metal bands have elements of these sub-genres in their sound. This has caused confusion between what is speed metal and what is not for people who are new to heavy metal music. The most common mistake is mixing the terms speed metal and thrash metal. A common way to differentiate the two styles of metal is to listen to an album of each, which is most representative of their style. This is commonly Judas Priest’s Painkiller or Helloween’s Walls Of Jericho and Slayer’s Reign In Blood or Exodus’s Bonded By Blood.

See also

• List of speed metal bands

• Metal subgenres