1998 in heavy metal music explained

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1998.

Newly formed bands

Reformed bands

Metal Church

Albums

Agathodaimon- Blacken The Angel
Alabama Thunderpussy – Rise Again
Altar – Provoke
Amon Amarth – Once Sent from the Golden Hall
Arghoslent – Galloping Through The Battle Ruins
Anathema – Alternative 4
Angelcorpse – Exterminate
Angra – Fireworks
Anthrax –
Apocalyptica – Inquisition Symphony
Arch Enemy – Stigmata
Atreyu – Visions (EP)
Ayreon – Into the Electric Castle
Sebastian Bach – Bring em Bach Alive
Backyard Babies – Total 13
Behemoth – Pandemonic Incantations
Benediction – Grind Bastard
Bestial Warlust – Satan's Fist
Black Label Society – Sonic Brew
Black Sabbath – Reunion (live)
Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Bolt Thrower – Mercenary
Borknagar – The Archaic Course
Botch – American Nervoso
Bruce Dickinson – The Chemical Wedding
Cannibal Corpse – Gallery of Suicide
Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot
Candlemass – Dactylis Glomerata
Cathedral – Caravan Beyond Redemption
Catch 22 – Keasbey Nights
Children of Bodom – Something Wild (Worldwide release)
Clutch – The Elephant Riders
Cold - Cold
Converge – When Forever Comes Crashing
Covenant – Nexus Polaris
Cradle of Filth – Cruelty and the Beast
Crowbar – Odd Fellows Rest
Cryptopsy – Whisper Supremacy
Dark Funeral – Vobiscum Satanas
Dawn – Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)
Death – The Sound of Perseverance
Deep Purple – Abandon
Destruction – The Least Successful Human Cannonball
Devin Townsend – Christeen + 4 Demos (EP)
Devin Townsend – Infinity
Diecast – Undo the Wicked
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Under the Running Board (EP)
Dimmu Borgir – Godless Savage Garden (compilation)
Dream Theater – Once in a LIVEtime (live)
Dying Fetus – Killing on Adrenaline
Earth Crisis – Breed the Killers
Edguy – Vain Glory Opera
Enslaved – Blodhemn
Eldritch – El Niño
Exhumed – Gore Metal
Fall of the Leafe – Evanescent, Everfading
Far – Water & Solutions
Fear Factory – Obsolete
Firehouse – Category 5
Freak Kitchen – Freak Kitchen
The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?
Genitorturers – Sin City
Godsmack – Godsmack
Gorgoroth – Destroyer – or About How to Philosophize with the Hammer
Gorguts – Obscura
Grave Digger – Knights of the Cross
HammerFall – Legacy of Kings
Helloween – Better Than Raw
Iced Earth – Something Wicked This Way Comes
Incantation – Diabolical Conquest
Inquisition - Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult
Iron Maiden – Virtual XI
Jag Panzer – The Age of Mastery
Kamelot – Siége Perilous
Kataklysm – Victims of this Fallen World
Katatonia – Discouraged Ones
Kid Rock – Devil Without a Cause
King Diamond – Voodoo
KISS – Psycho Circus
Korn – Follow the Leader
Krabathor – Orthodox
Krisiun – Apocalyptic Revelation
L.A. Guns – Wasted
David Lee Roth – DLR Band
Leprosy – Llora Chiapas
Madball – Look My Way
Malevolent Creation – The Fine Art of Murder
Yngwie Malmsteen – Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Em, Opus 1
Yngwie Malmsteen – Double Live! (live)
Marduk – Nightwing
Mercenary – First Breath
Mercyful Fate – Dead Again
Meshuggah – Chaosphere
Metal Church – Live (live)
Metallica – Garage Inc. (compilation)
Mindrot – Soul
Marilyn Manson – Mechanical Animals
Monster Magnet – Powertrip
Moonspell – Sin/Pecado
Morbid Angel – Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
Mortician – Zombie Apocalypse (EP)
Mortification – Triumph of Mercy
Mötley Crüe – Greatest Hits (compilation)
Motörhead – Snake Bite Love
My Dying Bride – 34.788%... Complete
Napalm Death – Words from the Exit Wound
Nembrionic – Incomplete
Nightwish – Oceanborn
Night in Gales – Thunderbeast
Nile – Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Nothingface – An Audio Guide to Everyday Atrocity
Old Man's Child – Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion
One Minute Silence – Available in All Colours
Oomph! – Unrein
Opeth – My Arms, Your Hearse
Orange Goblin – Time Travelling Blues
Orgy – Candyass
Pig Destroyer – Explosions in Ward 6
Pitchshifter – www.pitchshifter.com
Pretty Boy Floyd – A Tale of Sex, Designer Drugs and The Death of Rock N Roll
Primal Fear – Primal Fear
Pro-Pain – Pro-Pain
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Rage – XIII
RAMP - Evolution, Devolution, Revolution
Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come
Rhapsody – Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe
Rotting – Crushed
Running Wild – The Rivalry
Rush – Different Stages (live)
Samael – Exodus (EP)
Savatage – The Wake of Magellan (in United States)
Sentenced – Frozen
Septicflesh – A Fallen Temple
Sepultura – Against
Sinister – Aggressive Measures
Skepticism – Lead and Aether
Skid Row – (compilation)
Slayer – Diabolus in Musica
Soilent Green – A String of Lies (EP)
Soilent Green – Sewn Mouth Secrets
Soilwork – Steelbath Suicide
Soulburn – Feeding on Angels
Soulfly – Soulfly
Strapping Young Lad – No Sleep 'till Bedtime: Live in Australia (live)
Stratovarius – Visions of Europe (live)
Stratovarius – Destiny
Stuck Mojo – Rising
Dan Swanö – Moontower
Symphony X – Twilight in Olympus
System of a Down – System of a Down
Tankard – Disco Destroyer
The Sins of Thy Beloved – Lake of Sorrow
Theatre of Tragedy – Aégis
Therapy? – Semi-Detached
Therion – Vovin
Trail of Tears – Disclosure in Red
Tristania – Widow's Weeds
Turbonegro – Apocalypse Dudes
2wo – Voyeurs
Umbra et Imago – Machina Mundi
Union – Union
Ugly Kid Joe – The Very Best-As Ugly As It Gets
Unsane – Occupational Hazard
Vader – Kingdom (EP)
Van Halen – Van Halen III
Vintersorg – Hedniskhjärtad (EP)
Vintersorg – Till fjälls
Virgin Black – Trance (EP)
Virgin Steele – Invictus
Vision of Disorder – Imprint

Disbandments

24-7 Spyz
Destruction (reformed in 1999)
Faith No More (reformed in 2009)
Handsome
Helmet (reformed in 2004)
Snot (reformed in 2008)
Vulcain

Events

Aerosmith becomes the first rock band to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Mustis joins Dimmu Borgir on keyboards.
Rob Halford of Judas Priest announces his homosexuality in an MTV interview.
Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, guitarist of the Japanese band X Japan, commits suicide at the age of 33.
Poison singer Bret Michaels directs and stars in the film A Letter from Death Row.

Notes and References

Web site: 8 Foot Sativa: Switched on to Heavy metal . Thorne . Richard . January 2005 . ZMusician.com . February 4, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060427233412/http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/articledetail/pi_articleid/509 . 27 April 2006. "