2004 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2004.

List of years in heavy metal music (table)
… 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 …
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Newly formed bands

• A Dozen Furies
• A Hero A Fake
• Abigail Williams
• Adept
• After The Burial
• Age of Silence
• The Agonist (as The Tempest)
• Ahab
• Alestorm
• Alter Bridge
• Amaseffer
• Amesoeurs
• Architects
• Art of Dying
• Baptized In Blood
• Be'lakor
• Beneath The Massacre
• Beneath the Sky
• Big Business
• Binary Code
• Black Tide
• Black Mountain
• Blackthorn
• Blood Tsunami
• Bloodbound
• Bring Me the Horizon
• Catalepsy
• Celestiial
• Cellador
• Chrome Division
• Claim the Throne
• Coldseed
• Cor Scorpii
• Dark Empire
• Dead Congregation
• Devil Sold His Soul
• Enforcer
• Escape the Fate
• The Faceless
• Finsterforst
• Genghis Tron
• Gnaw Their Tongues
• Havok
• The Human Abstract
• Intronaut
• Kayser
• Lich King
• Massacration
• myGRAIN
• Royal Thunder
• Russian Circles
• Savage Circus
• Saving Abel
• Scale the Summit
• Scar Symmetry
• Skiltron
• Sturm und Drang
• To-Mera
• Torche
• Tribulation
• Triosphere
• Veil of Maya
• Vreid
• Warbringer
• Wolfmother

Reformed bands

• Extreme (for a few shows)
• Glyder
• Megadeth
• Mötley Crüe

Albums

• 3 Inches of Blood – Advance and Vanquish
• 36 Crazyfists – A Snow Capped Romance
• The Acacia Strain – 3750
• Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo
• After Forever – Invisible Circles
• Age of Silence – Acceleration
• Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
• All That Remains – This Darkened Heart
• Alter Bridge – One Day Remains
• Amon Amarth – Fate of Norns
• Angra – Temple of Shadows
• Annihilator – All for You
• Anvil – Back to Basics
• Atreyu – The Curse
• Ayreon – The Human Equation
• Behemoth – Demigod
• Beseech – Drama
• Black Label Society – Hangover Music Vol. VI
• Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (box set)
• Breaking Benjamin – We Are Not Alone
• Cannibal Corpse – The Wretched Spawn
• The Chariot – Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding
• Chevelle – This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
• Cradle of Filth – Nymphetamine
• Damageplan – New Found Power
• Danzig – Circle of Snakes
• Dead Poetic - New Medicines
• Decapitated – The Negation
• Def Leppard – Best of Def Leppard (compilation)
• Deicide – Scars of the Crucifix
• Demon Hunter – Summer of Darkness
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
• Dio – Master of the Moon
• Dokken – Hell to Pay
• Downset. – Universal
• DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm
• Dream Evil – The Book of Heavy Metal
• Dream Theater – Live at Budokan (live)
• Drowning Pool – Desensitized
• Edguy – Hellfire Club
• Electric Wizard – We Live
• Elis – Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky
• Enslaved – Isa
• Exodus – Tempo of the Damned
• Fall of the Leafe – Volvere
• Fates Warning – FWX
• Fear Factory – Archetype
• Finntroll – Nattfödd
• God Forbid – Gone Forever
• Grip Inc. – Incorporated
• Gwar – War Party
• Haste the Day - Burning Bridges (Haste the Day album)
• Heaven Shall Burn – Antigone
• Helmet – Size Matters
• Helmet – Unsung: The Best of Helmet (1991–1997) (compilation)
• Hirax – The New Age of Terror
• Hypocrisy – The Arrival
• Iced Earth – The Glorious Burden
• In Flames – Soundtrack to Your Escape
• Isis – Panopticon
• Jag Panzer – Casting the Stones
• Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
• Kittie – Until the End
• Kill the Noize – Play with the Devil
• Kronos – Colossal Titan Strife
• Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
• Lordi – The Monsterican Dream
• Leaves Eyes – Lovelorn
• Marilyn Manson – Lest We Forget: The Best Of (compilation)
• Marduk – Plague Angel
• Mastodon – Leviathan
• Mayhem – Chimera
• Megadeth – The System Has Failed
• Mercenary – 11 Dreams
• Meshuggah – I
• Metal Church – The Weight of the World
• Metalium – As One – Chapter Four
• Ministry – Houses of the Molé
• Misanthrope – Misanthro-Thérapie (15 Années d'Analyse) (compilation)
• Mnemic – The Audio Injected Soul
• Monster Magnet – Monolithic Baby!
• Motörhead – Inferno
• My Dying Bride – Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
• Necrophagist – Epitaph
• Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
• Nightwish – Once
• No-Big-Silence – Kuidas kuningas kuu peale kippus
• Oomph! – Wahrheit oder Pflicht
• Orange Goblin – Thieving from the House of God
• Otep – House of Secrets
• Papa Roach – Getting Away with Murder
• Pentagram – Show 'Em How
• Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls (compilation)
• Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
• Power Quest – Neverworld
• Primal Fear – Devil's Ground
• Pro-Pain – Fistful of Hate
• Probot – Probot
• Rammstein – Reise, Reise
• Raunchy – Confusion Bay
• Rhapsody – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret
• Rotting Christ – Sanctus Diavolos
• Saxon – Lionheart
• Senses Fail – Let It Enfold You
• Scarve – Irradiant
• Scorpions – Unbreakable
• Shadows Fall – The War Within
• Slipknot – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night
• Soulfly – Prophecy
• Static-X – Beneath... Between... Beyond... (compilation)
• Stryper – 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003 (live)
• Suffocation – Souls to Deny
• Terror – One with the Underdogs
• The Crest – Vain City Chronicles
• The Haunted – Revolver
• Therion – Lemuria
• Therion – Sirius B
• U.D.O. – Thunderball
• Underoath – They're Only Chasing Safety
• Unearth – The Oncoming Storm
• Vader – The Beast
• Van Halen – The Best of Both Worlds (compilation)
• Velvet Revolver – Contraband
• Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur
• Visions of Atlantis – Cast Away
• WarCry – Alea Jacta Est
• Winds – The Imaginary Direction of Time
• Wintersun – Wintersun
• Within Temptation – The Silent Force
• Xandria – Ravenheart

Bands disbanded

• Bathory
• Creed
• Damageplan
• Nothingface (reformed in 2005)
• Prayer for Cleansing
• SugarComa
• Windir

Events

• Brian "Head" Welch announced his departure from Korn after converting to Christianity.
• Bassist Tim Gaines announced his departure from Stryper after 10 complete years. He was replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
• Jason Jones was announced as Drowning Pool's new lead singer and joined them on the album Desensitized.
• Supergroup Velvet Revolver releases their debut album Contraband which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and goes double platinum.
• After an eight-year hiatus, Extreme briefly returns for a short tour and a few concerts in Japan.
• Van Halen reunites with Sammy Hagar for a summer tour.
• Anal Cunt vocalist Seth Putnam slips into a coma after consuming a large amount of drugs.
• Aerosmith returns to a raw hard rock sound with their blues cover album Honkin' on Bobo
• Terry Balsamo leaves Cold and joins Evanescence as their new guitarist.
• Guitarist Lisa Marx joins Kittie as a session member, replacing Jeff Phillips.
• Maniac leaves Mayhem and is replaced by the band's former singer, Attila Csihar.
• Dave Mustaine reforms Megadeth with 3 session musicians, former and original Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta to record The System Has Failed, then tour the album with full-time members Glen Drover on guitar, James MacDonough on bass and Shawn Drover on drums.
• Ex-Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland is sentenced to eight years in prison for attempted rape against a then 17-year-old boy.

Deaths

• January 14 – Terje "Valfar" Bakken, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Windir, died from hypothermia after being caught in a snow storm. He was 25.
• June 3 – Thomas Börje "Quorthon" Forsberg, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Bathory, died from heart failure at the age of 38.
• August 17 – Dennis "D-Roc" Miles, guitarist of Body Count, died from lymphoma complications at the age of 44.
• October 20 – Flowing Tears founding members, former drummer Cristian Zimmer and former guitarist Björn Lorson, died in a car accident.
• December 8 – "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott, founding member and former guitarist of Pantera and guitarist of Damageplan, was killed on stage, along with three other people, while performing with Damageplan at a nightclub in Ohio. He was 38.
• December 26 – Mieszko Andrzej Talarczyk, vocalist and guitarist of Nasum, died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake at the age of 30. His body was identified on February 16, 2005.
• Piero "Sanctis Ghoram" Gori, former Death SS vocalist, died from cancer.