Various bands have played thrash metal at some point of their career. The genre evolved in the early 1980s from combining the drum beats of hardcore punk with the guitar style of the new wave of British heavy metal. It emerged partially as a reaction to the more conventional and widely acceptable glam metal, a less aggressive, pop music-infused heavy metal subgenre …

This is a list of power metal bands including notable bands that have at some point in their careers played power metal or heavily contributed to the genre's development.Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a more uplifting …