1) An umbrella term for three heaviest genres of metal
music (along with their subgenres): thrash metal, black metal and death metal
2) A convenient term to label the
music of bands who tend to incorporate all three of the above influences into their sound
2) A politically correct term/euphemism used to label black metal which happens not to be "black" enough for the trve kvlt people to acknowledge it as such. Hence, some formerly black metal bands who later shifted towards a more mainstream sound have adopted this term to label their own
music, which later carried over to reviewers and
music press.
1) Understood as an umbrella term, "extreme metal" can be used to describe such different bands as
Slayer, Cannibal Corpse or Emperor.
2) Torchbearer can be considered the consummate extreme metal
band, as their
music is a well-balanced mix of thrash, death and black metal.
3) Dimmu Borgir started out as a melodic black metal
band, but later incorporated
heavy symphonic and industrial influences into their sound while noticeably reducing explicit Satanic references in their lyrics. This lead to considerable mainstream success for the
band, which coupled with its lyrical blandness has called into question the continued status of the band as a "black metal" band. Hence the band's sound is often referred to as "extreme metal", presumably not to upset black metal purists, even though the sound is still predominantly rooted in black metal and lacks thrash or death characteristics.