Editing Speed metal (section)

==History==
The origin of the genre's name is the aptly named "[[Speed King]]" by [[Deep Purple]]. Recording on the song started in 1969 making it nearly a full decade ahead of the musical style being recognised. The song is not only very fast and technical but was also extremely loud creating noticeable distortion in the recording process. The [[Fireball (Deep Purple song)|title song]] for the band's next album, ''[[Fireball (album)|Fireball]]'', is a further refinement of the band's influence with drummer [[Ian Paice]]'s use of the [[double bass drum]]. The way the double bass drum is played in "Fireball"—uptempo "[[Four on the floor (music)|four on the floor]]"—became a mainstay in many heavy, speed and thrash metal songs in the years that followed.

This is the only Deep Purple song that employs the double bass drum, and the video from the band shows them actually bring out the second bass as needed to play the song. While speedy, technical playing did not dominate Deep Purple's music, they clearly were the inventors of [[Rock music|rock]] that was fast, technical and loud. Those characteristics would become the hallmarks of speed metal. The name of the origin song, "Speed King" would have also played a role in the genre's naming. At the very least, the band acknowledged what they were doing which was a radical departure from all prior rock music.

[[Black Sabbath]] are a British heavy metal band from [[Birmingham]], England, and are often cited as one of the grandfathers of the genre. Though usually known for playing a fairly slow, sludgy tempo, "[[After Forever (song)|After Forever]]" is a very up-tempo song with a much faster pace than other songs in their catalogue. Still in certain other songs such as "Electric Funeral", "[[Into the Void (Black Sabbath song)|Into the Void]]" and "Under the Sun (Every Day Comes and Goes)" there is a section in the middle of the song that shifts away from the core music and plays a much faster pace than in the rest of the song, then returns to the original melody. There are those who believe that their song "[[Symptom of the Universe]]" from their 1975 release ''[[Sabotage (Black Sabbath album)|Sabotage]]'' album is the first true example of a speed metal song.

[[Judas Priest]] are a British heavy metal band, also formed in Birmingham, England, that often played faster than most rock groups of the time and brought a more "metallic" sound to the guitars. Some songs, such as 1978's "[[Exciter (song)|Exciter]]", were groundbreaking for their sheer ferocity and speed; few, if any, bands exempting [[Motörhead]] played with the same tempo.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

[[Exciter (band)|Exciter]] (who took their name from the aforementioned Judas Priest song) is a Canadian speed metal band from [[Ottawa]], Ontario, which was formed in 1978. They are widely considered to be one of the first speed metal bands and a seminal influence of the thrash metal genre. [[Anvil (band)|Anvil]] are another Canadian speed metal band from [[Toronto]], Ontario, who also formed in 1978. To date, the band has released seventeen studio albums, and has been cited as having influenced many notable thrash metal groups, including [[Metallica]], [[Anthrax (American band)|Anthrax]], [[Slayer]] and [[Megadeth]].

[[Accept (band)|Accept]] is a German heavy metal band which played an important role in the development of speed and thrash metal, being part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s. Of particular importance was their 1982 track "[[Fast as a Shark]]".

Speed metal eventually evolved into [[thrash metal]].<ref name="allmusic"/> Although many tend to equate the two subgenres, others argue that there is a distinct difference between them. In his book ''[[Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal]]'', [[Ian Christe]] states that "...thrash metal relies more on long, wrenching rhythmic breaks, while speed metal... is a cleaner and more musically intricate subcategory, still loyal to the dueling melodies of classic metal."<ref>* {{cite book | last1 = Christe | first1 = Ian | author-link1 = Ian Christe | title = [[Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal]] | work = !t Books | publisher = [[HarperCollins]] | year = 2004 | location = New York City, New York | isbn = 978-0-380-81127-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/soundofbeastcomp0000chri/page/137 137] }}</ref> However, on the very next page, Christe calls speed metal a "subset of thrash metal" and argues that "There was little intrinsic difference between speed metal and thrash metal. With the sudden boom of fast, raging bands, however, it sometimes helped to distinguish between the throbbing, rhythm-heavy thrash metal and something a bit cleaner and more melodic--dubbed speed metal."<ref>Christe 2004, p. 138.</ref>
Some{{Who|date=April 2024}} may argue that [[first-wave black metal]] bands such as [[Venom (band)|Venom]], [[Sodom (band)|Sodom]], and [[Bathory (band)|Bathory]] were speed metal and that black metal evolved as an extreme form of speed metal.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Speed metal also played a major role in formation of [[power metal]], with [[Helloween]]'s, one of the "big four" of power metal, first two albums being speed metal, or speed metal adjacent, in the case of ''[[Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I]]''.