image
Genre
speed metal
Parent Genre: metal

Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized by fast and aggressive guitar riffs, high-pitched vocals, and fast-paced drumming. The genre emerged in the 1980s and is known for its intense energy and technical proficiency. Speed metal bands often incorporate elements of thrash metal and punk rock into their music. The lyrics typically deal with themes of violence, war, and social issues.


Top artists of speed metal genre

Megadeth
Slayer
Motörhead
Dio
Amon Amarth
Sepultura
DragonForce
Arch Enemy
Show More

speed metal music timeline

Explore speed metal history by listening to songs from every decade. Click on the decade to view songs.

2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 1930s

Similar Genres to speed metal

Discover more related genres to speed metal genre. This list is ordered by similarity from left to right.

metal thrash metal old school thrash hard rock neo-trad metal death metal power metal nwothm neo classical metal crossover thrash german metal us power metal melodic metal new wave of thrash metal technical thrash german power metal nwobhm rock groove metal canadian metal
Show More

speed metal playlist created by Chosic

Enjoy this playlist of popular speed metal music. We made this playlist using an algorithm created by our team.

Play on spotify

List of speed metal artists

Here is a list of speed metal artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the speed metal genre. You can find out what speed metal genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.

#namePopularity instrumentalnessdanceabilityenergyacousticnessHappinesstempofollowers
1
Megadeth
70 23 39 92 0 35 136 4703437
2
Slayer
67 21 32 96 0 19 116 3492803
3
Motörhead
66 13 36 92 5 31 135 3665133
4
Dio
62 11 41 79 3 44 120 2342263
5
Amon Amarth
61 35 41 96 0 26 146 1010937
6
Sepultura
60 17 38 92 2 23 123 1672029
7
DragonForce
59 1 29 94 1 26 156 955904
8
Arch Enemy
58 23 33 94 2 19 127 908837
9
Helloween
58 4 38 85 4 29 134 1107215
10
Manowar
57 16 42 75 3 25 126 900197
11
Accept
56 12 46 84 1 43 133 847416
12
Death
56 24 29 94 0 25 111 723361
13
Children Of Bodom
56 41 42 95 0 37 118 648007
14
Anthrax
56 9 37 93 1 31 127 1510896
15
HammerFall
56 6 46 82 3 29 128 589648
16
W.A.S.P.
55 15 29 84 2 28 132 873346
17
Queensrÿche
55 2 46 87 5 31 123 611413
18
Stratovarius
55 10 41 87 2 31 128 590784
19
Avantasia
54 1 44 80 4 28 125 414030
20
Blind Guardian
54 16 38 86 9 25 136 669078
21
Kreator
54 27 36 95 1 23 119 680479
22
Municipal Waste
53 8 32 98 0 40 121 248606
23
ANGRA
52 1 39 85 6 25 137 393830
24
Carcass
51 44 26 90 0 28 110 335423
25
Dimmu Borgir
51 40 22 86 4 18 121 465031
26
Kamelot
51 2 40 84 7 31 135 357858
27
Exodus
50 25 37 97 1 35 129 655749
28
Bloodbound
50 0 44 92 0 32 130 94421
29
Rob Halford
49 0 51 96 0 18 136 99306
30
Bruce Dickinson
49 1 46 77 5 36 123 563357
31
Rhapsody
48 4 34 80 8 28 126 180063
32
Overkill
47 36 33 90 0 36 121 518862
33
Iced Earth
47 16 43 91 0 31 133 344988
34
Sodom
47 43 35 94 0 28 128 400832
35
Edguy
47 1 47 84 4 31 131 262059
36
Morbid Angel
46 26 33 89 3 26 121 370885
37
Annihilator
45 16 46 91 4 33 131 348431
38
U.D.O.
44 11 49 85 5 37 120 190599
39
Dream Evil
44 5 42 91 0 29 126 140082
40
Gama Bomb
43 22 47 99 0 33 134 58518
41
Enforcer
43 16 38 93 2 31 144 52468
42
Vader
43 30 37 96 0 22 125 214499
43
Candlemass
43 12 24 80 1 25 111 199288
44
Venom
43 11 28 83 4 23 114 464617
45
Gamma Ray
43 4 32 90 2 25 133 256172
46
Doro
42 1 45 68 14 21 127 169429
47
Metal Church
42 11 43 95 0 33 128 195545
48
Anvil
42 14 34 93 0 44 127 112111
49
Jorn
41 1 42 90 0 35 121 81790
50
Warlock
41 20 48 75 6 29 123 180177
51
Havok
41 53 40 97 0 30 137 153348
52
Firewind
40 9 39 90 0 38 130 90735
53
Running Wild
40 17 35 93 0 33 136 156607
54
Primal Fear
39 2 45 91 1 27 134 144315
55
Toxic Holocaust
39 36 29 92 1 42 144 131796
56
Pretty Maids
39 4 48 84 2 40 118 80003
57
Cavalera Conspiracy
39 7 29 95 0 26 107 272381
58
Grave Digger
38 10 42 90 0 24 132 137108
59
Rage
37 1 43 90 1 32 129 101367
60
Diamond Head
37 24 29 90 0 41 144 164339
61
Heathen
37 10 37 95 0 23 135 70596
62
Evile
37 33 34 95 0 19 114 95988
63
Iron Savior
37 7 41 95 0 28 137 77235
64
Demons & Wizards
37 45 41 82 3 23 114 117655
65
Tygers Of Pan Tang
37 3 44 88 1 37 133 53944
66
Halford
36 2 44 95 0 22 118 243397
67
Warbringer
36 30 32 98 0 21 126 99601
68
Tankard
35 3 42 97 0 38 124 135352
69
Riot
35 9 29 91 2 37 129 54357
70
Possessed
35 20 26 94 2 12 118 160226
71
3 Inches Of Blood
35 8 38 98 0 37 113 59373
72
Flotsam & Jetsam
34 15 32 90 1 32 141 97539
73
Lich King
33 40 42 97 0 21 118 59185
74
Skull Fist
33 60 39 94 0 28 130 40791
75
Heaven & Hell
32 5 38 85 0 35 109 257268
76
Angel Witch
31 8 31 77 0 39 136 82109
77
Suicidal Angels
31 8 47 98 0 28 124 61188
78
Grim Reaper
30 14 31 92 0 36 128 77674
79
Blaze Bayley
30 1 40 91 0 41 134 46630
80
Nocturnal Rites
30 0 43 88 4 40 128 49611
81
Stormwarrior
30 32 26 95 0 18 136 35752
82
Crimson Glory
29 7 39 81 6 40 130 49215
83
Astral Doors
29 0 44 96 0 39 136 23186
84
Violator
29 7 42 99 0 27 113 82899
85
Artillery
29 24 38 94 0 31 128 73025
86
Exciter
28 38 27 89 0 31 125 57068
87
Fight
28 1 60 73 0 44 101 53623
88
Raven
27 33 33 85 9 43 129 62654
89
Evil Invaders
27 43 26 95 0 16 120 19207
90
Vicious Rumors
27 14 27 89 0 35 131 26825
91
Vision Divine
27 4 38 88 3 36 137 46137
92
Manilla Road
27 25 27 90 1 44 117 36277
93
Pink Cream 69
26 7 48 79 2 46 125 30573
94
Ambush
26 1 53 90 0 46 134 16347
95
Hirax
26 10 35 93 0 32 118 68090
96
Satan
26 11 32 90 0 39 130 36022
97
KK's Priest
26 12 44 96 0 33 164 20274
98
Lizzy Borden
26 1 39 92 0 48 144 45568
99
Cirith Ungol
25 36 32 89 1 43 131 36790
100
The Rods
25 40 44 92 0 37 129 16095
101
Picture
25 1 42 82 0 41 123 17949
102
Tokyo Blade
25 29 30 88 1 32 124 37537
103
Ross The Boss
24 0 40 97 0 38 119 11743
104
Exumer
24 2 39 97 0 48 139 43961
105
Jag Panzer
24 0 36 87 0 45 127 27745
106
Helstar
24 12 31 86 0 43 121 25207
107
HeXeN
23 9 31 97 0 31 101 30072
108
Lazarus A.D.
23 2 34 98 0 51 122 34089
109
Omen
22 0 35 87 0 49 126 26614
110
Ostrogoth
22 12 28 90 0 49 124 12399
111
Heavens Gate
22 2 48 88 2 41 138 17267
112
Iron Fire
22 13 40 97 0 32 135 26149
113
Sortilège
22 25 34 82 10 30 119 17636
114
Stormwitch
21 0 33 83 0 51 125 26906
115
Fueled By Fire
21 20 34 98 0 21 110 37450
116
Merciless Death
21 37 22 98 0 10 121 18076
117
Evildead
20 20 35 94 0 26 105 35039
118
Powermad
19 18 38 92 0 35 128 6291
119
OZ
18 5 34 97 0 45 118 11178
120
Thor
17 23 35 86 0 49 89 9275
121
Liege Lord
17 31 29 99 0 17 131 15488
122
Mindless Sinner
17 0 39 66 1 50 129 4847
123
Atrophy
17 45 34 90 0 28 117 16467
124
Malice
16 20 36 80 0 34 139 4793
125
SDI
15 20 29 92 0 30 125 11359
126
Gravestone
15 6 39 84 0 34 117 10418
127
Anacrusis
12 77 28 96 0 17 136 12141
128
Acid
12 0 0 0 0 0 0 7214
129
Warrant
9 85 36 88 0 27 142 1956
130
Tyrant
9 36 20 86 0 22 118 2672
131
Axewitch
8 0 17 83 0 37 155 4717
132
H-Bomb
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 2536
133
Tyrant
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 2186
134
Wild Dogs
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 2926
135
Destructor
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 4779
136
Damien Thorne
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 947
137
Steel Vengeance
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1610
138
Medieval Steel
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10633
139
Savage Grace
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4832
140
Hammerhawk
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 130