Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s in England and the United States.
With roots in blues, rock and psychedelic rock, Heavy Metal has a loud aggressive style, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos and overall loudness. The lyrics and the performance are usually associated with masculinity and machismo.
The typical line-up includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer who might as well be an instrumentalist. Keyboards and synthesizers are also common.
Heavy Metal bands do not have a lead singer, as this genre of music demands the subordination of the voice to the overall sound of the band.
Metal drummers are usually particularly skilled, as the intricate patterns of metal sound requires considerable speed, coordination and dexterity. A typical drumming technique is the cymbal choke, which consists in striking a cymbal and silencing it immediately by grabbing it with the hand so as to produce a bursting sound.