Music Sound

Speed metal is a cross-genre reference to bands, mainly from the thrash metal and power metal genres. The term is mainly used to differentiate between bands of either genre who use tempos or beats that are faster than is normal for either genre, but also tends to refer to bands that combine aspects of the two genres. Thundersteel by Riot (CBS/Sony 1988) is widely considered to be a seminal speed metal album. Bands such as Judas Priest and Accept, although not typically cited as speed metal bands, are usually considered to be the main developers of the faster tempos common amongst speed metal bands.

Speed metal does not belong only to a genre of bands that possess a typical style ;for instance, some glam metal bands' and heavy metal bands' songs can also be classified as speed metal. For example, titles like "Queen of the Reich" (Queensrÿche), "Slave to the Grind" (Skid Row), "Robotman" (Scorpions), "Paris is Burning" (Dokken), "Live Wire" (Mötley Crüe), "Tear it Loose" by (Twisted Sister), "Be Quick or Be Dead" (Iron Maiden), "Hell to Eternity" (W.A.S.P.), "Badboys" (Whitesnake), "Kill the King"' (Rainbow) and "Scream of Anger" (Europe) are speed metal songs.

Two of the earliest speed metal songs are Deep Purple's "Highway Star" from their 1972 album Machine Head and Black Sabbath's "Into the Void", from their 1972 album Master of Reality. Earlier efforts with a similar style include Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (from the album of that name, 1970) and also Deep Purple's "Speed King" (from the 1970 In Rock LP) and "Fireball" (From the 1970 Fireball LP). However, it was "Highway Star" that introduced into heavy metal both the extreme speed of the single-note riffing and also the complex guitar and keyboard solos (performed by Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, respectively), borrowed from progressive rock of the '70s, 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 characteristics.

Later speed metal includes X Japan's Ill Kill You (1985), Helloween's Walls of Jericho (1985), Motörhead's live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith (1981), and the band Megadeth, who consider themselves as the "World's State-of-the-Art Speed Metal Band". Prior to joining Megadeth, Marty Friedman colaborated with Jason Becker in the band Cacophony, who are often cited as speed metal.

The term "speed metal" is still used to glorify and differentiate bands with high-speed playing, though the term is branching out to include bands from both gothic metal and progressive metal as well. Some believe that Painkiller (1990), the last album Judas Priest released before the departure of singer Rob Halford (who would later return in 2004), has set a new standard for speed metal.