1996 in heavy metal music

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This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1996.

Newly formed bands

Albums

24-7 Spyz - 6 (alternate version released in America as Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound)
24-7 Spyz - Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound (alternate version released in Europe as 6)
Anal Cunt - 40 More Reasons To Hate Us
Accept - Predator
Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics
Alice in Chains - Unplugged (live)
Altar - Ego Art
Amon Amarth - Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds (EP)
Amorphis - Elegy
Anathema – Eternity
Angelcorpse - Hammer of Gods
Angra - Holy Land
Angra - Freedom Call (EP)
Antidote - Mind Alive
Anvil (band) – Plugged in Permanent
Apocalyptica - Plays Metallica by Four Cellos
Arch Enemy - Black Earth
Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia
Asphyx - God Cries
Asphyx - Embrace the Death (recorded in 1990)
Ayreon - Actual Fantasy
Bathory - Blood on Ice
Behemoth - Grom
Biohazard - Mata Leão
Borknagar - Borknagar
Bruce Dickinson - Skunkworks
Brutality - In Mourning
Brutal Truth - Kill Trend Suicide
Cannibal Corpse - Vile
Cathedral - Supernatural Birth Machine
Civil Defiance - The Fishers For Souls
Converge - Petitioning the Empty Sky
Corrosion of Conformity - Wiseblood
Cradle of Filth - V Empire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein (EP)
Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace
Crowbar - Broken Glass
Cryptopsy - None So Vile
The Cult – High Octane Cult
Danzig – Danzig 5: Blackacidevil
Dark Funeral - The Secrets of the Black Arts
Dawn - Sorgh på Svarte Vingar Fløgh
Deep Purple - Purpendicular
Def Leppard - Slang
Desultory - Swallow the Snake
Deeds Of Flesh - Trading Pieces
DGeneration – No Lunch
Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst
Dio - Angry Machines
Downset. - Do We Speak a Dead Language?
Drain STH – Horror Wrestling
Dying Fetus - Purification Through Violence
Earth Crisis - Gomorrah's Season Ends
Edge of Sanity - Crimson
Eyehategod - Dopesick
Far - Tin Cans with Strings to You
FireHouse – Good Acoustics
Forbidden - Green
Freak Kitchen - Spanking Hour
Fu Manchu - In Search of...
Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate
Gorefest - Soul Survivor
Gorgoroth - Antichrist
Grave - Hating Life
Grinspoon - Licker Bottle Cozy (EP)
Helloween - The Time of the Oath
Hypocrisy - Abducted
Hypocrisy - Maximum Abduction (EP)
Immolation - Here in After
In Flames - The Jester Race
Iced Earth - The Dark Saga
Integrity – Humanity is the Devil
King Diamond - The Graveyard
Kataklysm - Temple of Knowledge
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day
Korn - Life Is Peachy
Korpse - Revirgin
Kvist - For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike
L.A. Guns – American Hardcore
Tony MacAlpine - Violent Machine
Madball - Demonstrating My Style
Manowar - Louder Than Hell
Marduk - Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Mercyful Fate - Into the Unknown
Metallica - Load
Ministry - Filth Pig
Monstrosity - Millennium
Moonspell - Irreligious
Morgana Lefay - Maleficium
Morgoth - Feel Sorry for the Fanatic
Mortician - Hacked Up for Barbecue
Mortification - EnVision EvAngelene
Motörhead - Overnight Sensation
My Dying Bride - Like Gods of the Sun
Napalm Death - Diatribes
Necrophobic – Spawned by Evil (EP)
Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstasy
Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
Occult – The Enemy Within
Old Man's Child - Born of the Flickering
Orange 9mm - Tragic
Orphanage - By Time Alone
Oomph! - Wunschkind
Opeth - Morningrise
Overkill – The Killing Kind
Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill
Pan.Thy.Monium - Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion
Pitchshifter - Infotainment?
P.O.D. - Brown
Poison - Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986–1996 (compilation)
Iggy Pop – Nude & Rude: The Best of Iggy Pop
Pro-Pain – Contents Under Pressure
Prong - Rude Awakening
Quo Vadis - Forever...
Rage - Lingua Mortis (four re-recorded songs from the album Black in Mind, with arrangements for a classic orchestra)
Rage - End of All Days
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
Rotting Christ - Triarchy of the Lost Lovers
Rush - Test for Echo
Sacred Reich - Heal
Samael - Passage
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
Scorpions – Pure Instinct
Sepultura - Roots
Sentenced - Down
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
Slayer - Undisputed Attitude
Slipknot - Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (demo)
Staind - Tormented
Steelheart – Wait
Stone Temple Pilots – Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
Stratovarius - Episode
Stuck Mojo - Pigwalk
Summoning - Dol Guldur
Theatre of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear
The 3rd and the Mortal - Painting on Glass
The Hellacopters – Supershitty to the Max!
Therion - Theli
Thorr's Hammer - Dommedagsnatt (EP)
Tool - Ænima
Type O Negative - October Rust
Steve Vai - Fire Garden
Vader - Future of the Past
Van Halen - Best Of – Volume I (compilation)
Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II
Vision of Disorder - Vision of Disorder
Warrant - Belly to Belly
Warrant – The Best of Warrant
Xentrix - Scourge
Zakk Wylde – Book of Shadows

Disbandments

Events

Alice in Chains plays their last concert with Layne Staley on July 23, 1996. They later go on hiatus until April 20, 2002, in which Staley is found dead in his apartment after overdosing on a speedball.
Body Count drummer Beatmaster V dies of leukemia.
The first Ozzfest tour sets off, with headliners Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer and Danzig.
The original line-up of KISS (Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley) come back together.
Bassist Greg Christian of Testament left the band, leaving guitarist Eric Peterson as the sole ever-present in the line-up.
Slash leaves Guns N' Roses, citing differences with Axl Rose
Sammy Hagar departs Van Halen after a feud with Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen briefly reunites with David Lee Roth at a highly publicized event at the MTV Video Music Awards, but fires him shortly thereafter.
Tim 'Ripper' Owens fills the void left by Rob Halford in 1993 as lead singer of Judas Priest.

References

Preceded by 1995	Heavy Metal Timeline 1996	Succeeded by 1997