Heavy Metal MP3 Web Sites

Heavy Metal Sub-Genres

While heavy metal is an all-inclusive term for music featuring heavy guitar riffs and pounding drums, it actually includes several sub-genres. Fans looking for heavy metal MP3 web sites may want to narrow their search to:

• Black metal
• Christian metal
• Classic metal
• Death metal
• Doom metal
• Genre-bending combos like rap metal and punk metal
• Gothic metal
• Hair metal
• Progressive metal
• Scandinavian metal
• Speed metal
• Thrash metal

Available Heavy Metal MP3 Web Sites

MP3.com

MP3.com's combined hard rock/heavy metal genre can make it difficult to find the songs you want through browsing, but an A-Z artist listing and full-site search capabilities make it easy to find your favorite metal bands. Once you've found the song you want, MP3.com directs you to exactly which online music sites offer downloads.

Download.com

While MP3.com lumps heavy metal and hard rock, Download.com goes to great lengths to classify its metal selection into specific sub-genres, from British metal to sludge metal. The site as a whole offers over 75,000 free MP3s and even more opportunities to preview tracks. Try out the "Pick of the Day" to discover new music.

MySpace

Artists have recognized the power of social networking sites for connecting with long-time fans while also attracting new listeners. Browse through the metal and death metal listings or search for your favorite band. Even if a band doesn't offer downloads, the MySpace streaming player is a great way to sample new music.

eMusic

eMusic is a digital music retailer offering more than two million songs from independent labels. While it doesn't offer the focused heavy metal selection of some sites, eMusic can help you find great bands that haven't made it into the mainstream along with popular acts on smaller labels. With a 25 download free trial offer, it doesn't cost anything to give the site a try.

Other Sites

• Blistering, a heavy metal magazine, offers MP3 downloads and streaming music videos.
• Mother Metal focuses on the gothic metal scene. While the site mainly provides biographies and discographies of popular bands, it also includes links to band web sites and MySpace pages where downloads and streaming audio may be available. If you're looking to discover new talent, check out the unsigned artists page. Links to several songs are available directly from this page, and links to band sites offer more download possibilities. Some bands even offer to email copies of their songs to interested fans to help spread the word about their music.
• Look for individual band web sites. Bands on independent labels and unsigned bands are more likely to offer free MP3 downloads because they don't have to worry about corporate oversight of song distribution.
• Dive Bomber, a San Diego heavy metal band, has posted two MP3s to its web site and promises more on the Dive Bomber MySpace page.
• Rolen offers four MP3s from three different albums, and encourages listeners to spread the files to their heart's content.
• Urbansnake, a New York metal band, offers several of free song downloads. The files are available in lo-fi and hi-fi versions for easier downloading for dial-up users.
• Fans of the animated heavy metal band Dethklok can download tracks from the Adult Swim web site and the band's MySpace page.