1997 in heavy metal music

Newly formed bands

• Aletheian
• Akercocke
• Brougham
• The Dillinger Escape Plan
• Droid
• Elvenking
• Factory 81
• Finntroll
• Five Foot Thick
• Halestorm
• Isis
• Lostprophets
• Onesidezero
• Pig Destroyer
• Pleymo
• Primal Fear
• Primer 55
• Pulse Ultra
• Skrape
• Shuvel
• Spawn of Possession
• Taproot
• Throwdown
• Turisas
• uneXpect
• Vintersorg
• Xasthur

  Reformed Bands

• The original Black Sabbath line up
• Jane's Addiction
• Ratt
• Suicidal Tendencies

  Albums

• 20 Dead Flower Children – Candy Toy Guns and Television
• Acid Queen – Down with the Crown
• Aerosmith – Nine Lives
• Alice Cooper – A Fistful of Alice
• Arcturus – La Masquerade Infernale
• Assück - Misery Index
• Black Sabbath – Reunion
• Blackstar - Barbed Wire Soul
• Blood of Christ - ...A Dream to Remember
• Body Count – '
• Borknagar – The Olden Domain
• Bruce Dickinson – Accident of Birth
• Brutal Truth - Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
• Children of Bodom – Something Wild
• Clawfinger – Clawfinger
• Coal Chamber – Coal Chamber
• Conception – Flow
• The Crown - Eternal Death
• Damaged - Token Remedies Research
• Dark Tranquillity – The Mind's I
• Deceased - Fearless Undead Machines
• Deftones – Around the Fur
• Deicide – Serpents of the Light
• Devin Townsend – '
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – The Dillinger Escape Plan
• Dimmu Borgir – Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
• Dismember - Death Metal
• Dokken – Shadowlife
• Dream Theater – Falling into Infinity
• Ebony Tears – Tortura Insomniae
• Edguy – Kingdom of Madness
• Edge of Sanity - Infernal
• Edge of Sanity - Cryptic
• Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics...
• Emperor – Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
• Enslaved - Eld
• Entombed – '
• Europe – Definitive Collection
• Faith No More – Album of the Year
• Fates Warning – A Pleasant Shade of Gray
• Freak Kitchen – Junk Tooth
• Gamma Ray – Somewhere Out in Space
• The Gathering - Nighttime Birds
• Geezer – Black Science
• Godflesh – Love and Hate in Dub
• Gorgoroth - Under the Sign of Hell
• Graveworm – When Daylight's Gone
• Grip Inc. – Nemesis
• Gwar – Carnival of Chaos
• HammerFall – Glory to the Brave
• Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire
• Hed PE – ^pe
• Helmet – Aftertaste
• HIM – Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666
• Hypocrisy – The Final Chapter
• Iced Earth – Days of Purgatory
• Illdisposed – There's Something Rotten... In the State of Denmark
• Immortal – Blizzard Beasts
• In Flames – Whoracle
• Incantation - The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish
• Incantation – Tribute to the Goat
• Incubus – Enjoy Incubus
• Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
• Integrity – Seasons in the Size of Days
• Iron Savior – Iron Savior
• Jag Panzer – The Fourth Judgement
• Jane's Addiction – Kettle Whistle
• Judas Priest – Jugulator
• Kamelot – Dominion
• Kiss – '
• Konkhra - Weed Out the Weak
• Krabathor - Mortal Memories
• Kreator – Outcast
• Lacrimosa – Stille
• Limp Bizkit – Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$
• Yngwie Malmsteen – Facing the Animal
• Machine Head – The More Things Change...
• Malevolent Creation - In Cold Blood
• Marilyn Manson – Remix & Repent
• Megadeth – Cryptic Writings
• Memento Mori – Songs for the Apocalypse, Vol. 4
• Metallica – ReLoad
• Morgion - Among Majestic Ruin
• Mötley Crüe – Generation Swine
• Mudvayne – Kill, I Oughtta
• Napalm Death - Inside the Torn Apart
• Necrophobic - Darkside
• Nembrionic - Bloodcult
• Neuraxis - Imagery
• Night in Gales - Towards the Twilight
• Nightwish – Angels Fall First
• Nothingface – Pacifier
• No-Big-Silence – 99
• Novembers Doom - For Every Leaf That Falls
• Obituary - Back from the Dead
• Old Man's Child – The Pagan Prosperity
• Orange Goblin – Frequencies from Planet Ten
• Overkill – From the Underground and Below
• Pain - Pain
• Pessimist - Cult of the Initiated
• Pig Destroyer – Demo
• Pig Destroyer – Pig Destroyer / Orchid
• Primus – Brown Album
• Queensrÿche – Hear in the Now Frontier
• Rammstein – Sehnsucht
• Razor – Decibels
• Rhapsody – Legendary Tales
• Rollins Band – Come in and Burn
• Rotting Christ – A Dead Poem
• Savatage – The Wake of Magellan
• Septicflesh - The Ophidian Wheel
• Sevendust – Sevendust
• Shadows Fall – Somber Eyes to the Sky
• Six Feet Under - Warpath
• Skinlab – Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded
• Slaves on Dope – One Good Turn Deserves Another
• Snot – Get Some
• Sodom – 'Til Death Do Us Unite
• Solefald – The Linear Scaffold
• Strapping Young Lad – City
• Stratovarius – Visions
• Stratovarius – The Past and Now
• Symphony X – The Divine Wings of Tragedy
• Tad Morose – A Mended Rhyme
• The 3rd and the Mortal – In This Room
• Therion - A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming
• U.D.O. – Solid
• Unleashed - Warrior
• Vader – Black to the Blind
• Vital Remains – Forever Underground
• Warrant – Warrant Live 86–97
• Whitesnake – Restless Heart
• Within Temptation – Enter
• W.A.S.P. – K.F.D.
• Y&T – Endangered Species
• Zimmers Hole - Bound by Fire

  Disbandments

• Acid Bath
• Jane's Addiction
• Rollins Band
• Soundgarden
• X Japan

  Events

• Mötley Crüe and former vocalist Vince Neil reconcile their differences, and Neil rejoins the band.
• Black Sabbath reunites with the original line-up between Black Sabbath and Never Say Die!.
• Bassist Mooseman leaves Body Count and is replaced by Griz. Meanwhile, the late drummer Beatmaster V is replaced by O.T.
• After a two-year hiatus, vocalist Mike Muir and rhythm guitarist Mike Clark reform Suicidal Tendencies. Rocky George and Robert Trujillo are replaced by Dean Pleasants and Josh Paul on guitar and bass respectively, and future Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman also joins.
• The Mentors frontman, El Duce, is killed when hit by a train.
• Former Slipknot vocalist, Anders Colsefni, is replaced with current lead singer of Slipknot, Corey Taylor.