1998 in heavy metal music

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

Newly formed bands

• 8 Foot Sativa
• 40 Below Summer
• Aarni
• Abdullah
• All That Remains
• Antagonist
• Arma Angelus
• Ásmegin
• At Vance
• Atreyu
• Axenstar
• Azarath
• Baptism
• Benighted
• Betzefer
• Black Label Society
• Blood Red Throne
• Bloodbath
• Bullet for My Valentine (as Jeff Killed John)
• Calico System
• Cataract
• Chimaira
• Circle of Dead Children
• CKY
• Clandestine Blaze
• Cog
• Crucified Barbara
• Cult of Luna
• Dalriada
• Darkane
• Deathspell Omega
• Demons & Wizards
• Edenbridge
• Ephel Duath
• Every Time I Die
• Fair to Midland
• Fairyland
• Fantômas
• Firewind
• Freedom Call
• From Zero
• Full Scale (as Full Scale Deflection)
• Gordian Knot
• High on Fire
• Hopesfall
• Horse the Band
• Ill Niño
• Leviathan
• Lock Up
• Lunatica
• Maximum the Hormone
• The Meads of Asphodel
• Mnemic
• Noumena
• Odd Crew (as Kaskadiori)
• Peccatum
• Pressure 4-5
• Ram-Zet
• Rebaelliun
• Ritual Carnage
• Rob Zombie
• Shape of Despair
• Skindred
• Stormwarrior
• Sunn O)))
• Susperia
• The Project MCMXCIX
• Thy Catafalque
• Twilightning
• Týr
• Underoath
• Unearth
• Unida
• Vision Divine
• Watain
• Weakling
• Winds
• Wormed
• Wyrd
• Zyklon

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
• 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
• 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
• David Lee Roth – DLR Band
• 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
• Solitude Aeturnus - Adagio
• 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
• Vomitorial Corpulence - Skin Stripper

Disbandments

• 24-7 Spyz (reformed in 2003)
• Count Raven (reformed in 2003)
• 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.

References