Cyber metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 Then
Industrial metal 1988
Metal riffs over programmed drums, samples and synths. Mechanical by design.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Godflesh - Streetcleaner. It sounds like an industrial city collapsing, which is the subject.
Godflesh, Streetcleaner (1989) - 3 What you asked about
Cyber metal 1998
Mechanised death metal with cold digital production, dual vocals and science-fiction themes.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Fear Factory - Demanufacture. The kick drum sounds like a pneumatic hammer, deliberately.
Fear Factory, Demanufacture (1995) - 4 Where to go next
Atmospheric black metal 1994
Long songs, hypnotic repetition and synth textures. The landscape matters more than the riff.
Growled or shrieked. Unintelligible without a lyric sheet. The thing most newcomers bounce off.
Put on
Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters. Four tracks, close to an hour.
Wolves in the Throne Room, Two Hunters (2007)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Cyber metal descends from, in order. Cyber metal has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.