2004 in heavy metal music

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

Newly formed bands

• Abigail Williams
• Age of Silence
• The Agonist (as The Tempest)
• Alter Bridge
• Catherine
• Celestiial
• Chrome Division
• Demonoid
• Genghis Tron
• Job for a Cowboy
• Legion of the Damned
• myGrain
• Savage Circus
• Scale the Summit
• Scar Symmetry
• Sturm und Drang
• Threat Signal
• Vreid
• Wintersun

Reformed bands

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

Albums

• 3 Inches of Blood – Advance and Vanquish
• The Acacia Strain – 3750
• Aerosmith – Honkin' On Bobo
• After Forever – Invisible Circles
• Age of Silence – Acceleration
• Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
• Alter Bridge – One Day Remains
• Amon Amarth - Fate of Norns
• Angra – Temple of Shadows
• 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
• Cannibal Corpse – The Wretched Spawn
• Chevelle – This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
• Cradle of Filth – Nymphetamine
• Damageplan – New Found Power
• Decapitated – The Negation
• Def Leppard – Best of Def Leppard
• Demon Hunter – Summer of Darkness
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
• Dio – Master of the Moon
• Dokken – Hell to Pay
• DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm
• Dream Theater – Live at Budokan
• Drowning Pool – Desensitized
• Edguy – Hellfire Club
• El Tito Mc- La Raza v3
• Europe – Start from the Dark
• Exodus – Tempo of the Damned
• Fear Factory – Archetype
• Finntroll – Nattfödd
• God Forbid – Gone Forever. * Grip Inc. - Incorporated. * Iced Earth – The Glorious Burden
• In Flames – Soundtrack to Your Escape
• Isis - Panopticon
• Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
• Kittie – Until the End
• Kill The Noise - "Play With The Devil"
• Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
• Lordi – The Monsterican Dream
• Marilyn Manson – Lest We Forget: The Best of
• Mastodon – Leviathan
• Mayhem – Chimera
• Megadeth – The System Has Failed
• Mercenary – 11 Dreams
• Metal Church – The Weight of the World
• Monster Magnet – Monolithic Baby!
• Motörhead – Inferno
• My Dying Bride – Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
• Necrophagist – Epitaph
• Nightwish – Once
• No Big Silence – Kuidas kuningas kuu peale kippus
• Oomph! – Wahrheit oder Pflicht
• Otep – House of Secrets
• Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls
• Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
• Probot – Probot
• Rammstein – Reise, Reise
• Raunchy – Confusion Bay
• Rhapsody of Fire – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret
• Rush – Feedback
• Saxon – Lionheart
• Scarve – Irradiant
• Scorpions - Unbreakable (Scorpions album)
• Shadows Fall – The War Within
• Slipknot – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night
• Static-X – Beneath, Between, Beyond
• Stryper – 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003
• The Crest – Vain City Chronicles
• U.D.O. – Thunderball
• Van Halen – The Best of Both Worlds
• Velvet Revolver – Contraband
• Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur
• WarCry – Alea Jacta Est
• Winds – The Imaginary Direction of Time
• Wintersun – Wintersun

Disbandments

• Bathory
• Damageplan
• Nothingface (reformed in 2005)
• Windir

Events

• Terje Bakken of Windir dies from hypothermia on his way to his grandparents which resulted in Windir disbanding.^[1]
• Brian Welch leaves Korn after converting to Christianity.^[2][3][4][5]
• Damageplan and former Pantera lead guitarist Dimebag Darrell is murdered on 8 December by Nathan Gale while performing a concert in Ohio.^[6][7][8]
• Bassist Tim Gaines leaves Stryper after 10 complete years. He is replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
• Body Count rhythm guitarist D-Roc dies from lymphoma at the age of 45.^[9]
• Jason Jones, originally a tattoo artist from Los Angeles, California, was publicly 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.^[10]
• 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
• Nasum guitarist/vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk dies as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (although his body was not identified until 17 February the following year). Consequently, Nasum would later disband.
• Maniac leaves Mayhem and is replaced by the band's former singer, Attila Csihar.
• After more than 10 years of long break, Europe release the new album titled Start from the Dark with their classic line up consist of Joey Tempest-Vocals, John Norum-Guitars, Mic Michaeli-Keyboards, John Levén-Bass, Ian Haugland-Drums. Guitarist Kee Marcello is back to his old band – Easy Action.
• Ace Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg, founder of the Black/Viking metal band Bathory dies, at the age of 38.
• 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.

References

1. http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=7250
2. Brian stated that he ended up walking away from a 23 million dollar recording contract which was a very difficult decision for him at the time. NewReleaseTuesday.com Interview with Brian
3. Brian 'Head' Welch Leaves Korn, Citing Moral Objections To Band's Music. mtv.com
4. Brian Welch Explains Why He Walked Away. cbn.com
5. "Audio Lounge – Live Radio Streaming, Internet Radio, Audio Downloads & Podcasting". Hope 103.2. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
6. "Former Friend: Gunman Obsessed With Pantera". Associated Press. 8 December 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
7. Ratliff, Ben (10 December 2004). "Darrell Abbott, 38, a Guitarist Featured in Heavy-Metal Bands, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
8. Chris Arnold; James Niggemeyer (15 March 2007). A Vulgar Display of Power: Courage and Carnage at the Alrosa Villa. MJS Music & Entertainment. pp. 244–. ISBN 978-0-9762917-7-0. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
9. Devenish, Colin (19 August 2004). "Body Count Guitarist Dead". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
10. "Velvet Revolver Album Charts". Allmusic. Retrieved 20 July 2010.