2004 in heavy metal music

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

Newly formed bands

Reformed bands

Albums

3 Inches of Blood – Advance and Vanquish
36 Crazyfists – A Snow Capped Romance
The Acacia Strain – 3750
Aerosmith – Honkin' on Bobo
After Forever – Invisible Circles
Age of Silence – Acceleration
Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
All That Remains – This Darkened Heart
Alter Bridge – One Day Remains
Amon Amarth – Fate of Norns
Angra – Temple of Shadows
Annihilator – All for You
Anvil – Back to Basics
Atreyu – The Curse
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
Breaking Benjamin – We Are Not Alone
Cannibal Corpse – The Wretched Spawn
The Chariot – Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding
Chevelle – This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
Cradle of Filth – Nymphetamine
Damageplan – New Found Power
Danzig – Circle of Snakes
Dead Poetic - New Medicines
Decapitated – The Negation
Def Leppard – Best of Def Leppard
Deicide – Scars of the Crucifix
Demon Hunter – Summer of Darkness
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
Dio – Master of the Moon
Dokken – Hell to Pay
Downset. – Universal
DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm
Dream Evil – The Book of Heavy Metal
Dream Theater – Live at Budokan
Drowning Pool – Desensitized
Edguy – Hellfire Club
Electric Wizard – We Live
Elis – Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky
Enslaved – Isa
Exodus – Tempo of the Damned
Fall of the Leafe – Volvere
Fates Warning – FWX
Fear Factory – Archetype
Finntroll – Nattfödd
God Forbid – Gone Forever
Grip Inc. – Incorporated
Gwar – War Party
Haste the Day - Burning Bridges (Haste the Day album)
Heaven Shall Burn – Antigone
Helmet – Size Matters
Helmet – Unsung: The Best of Helmet (1991–1997)
Hirax – The New Age of Terror
Hypocrisy – The Arrival
Iced Earth – The Glorious Burden
In Flames – Soundtrack to Your Escape
Isis – Panopticon
Jag Panzer – Casting the Stones
Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
Kittie – Until the End
Kill the Noize – Play with the Devil
Kronos – Colossal Titan Strife
Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
Lordi – The Monsterican Dream
Leaves' Eyes – Lovelorn
Marilyn Manson – Lest We Forget: The Best Of
Marduk – Plague Angel
Mastodon – Leviathan
Mayhem – Chimera
Megadeth – The System Has Failed
Mercenary – 11 Dreams
Meshuggah – I
Metal Church – The Weight of the World
Metalium – As One – Chapter Four
Ministry – Houses of the Molé
Misanthrope – Misanthro-Thérapie (15 Années d'Analyse)
Mnemic – The Audio Injected Soul
Monster Magnet – Monolithic Baby!
Motörhead – Inferno
My Dying Bride – Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
Necrophagist – Epitaph
Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
Nightwish – Once
No-Big-Silence – Kuidas kuningas kuu peale kippus
Oomph! – Wahrheit oder Pflicht
Orange Goblin – Thieving from the House of God
Otep – House of Secrets
Papa Roach – Getting Away with Murder
Pentagram – Show 'Em How
Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls
Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
Power Quest – Neverworld
Primal Fear – Devil's Ground
Pro-Pain – Fistful of Hate
Probot – Probot
Rammstein – Reise, Reise
Raunchy – Confusion Bay
Rhapsody – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret
Rotting Christ – Sanctus Diavolos
Saxon – Lionheart
Senses Fail – Let It Enfold You
Scarve – Irradiant
Scorpions – Unbreakable
Shadows Fall – The War Within
Slipknot – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night
Soulfly – Prophecy
Static-X – Beneath... Between... Beyond...
Stryper – 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003
Suffocation – Souls to Deny
Terror – One with the Underdogs
The Crest – Vain City Chronicles
The Haunted – Revolver
Therion – Lemuria
Therion – Sirius B
U.D.O. – Thunderball
Underoath – They're Only Chasing Safety
Unearth – The Oncoming Storm
Vader – The Beast
Van Halen – The Best of Both Worlds
Velvet Revolver – Contraband
Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur
Visions of Atlantis – Cast Away
WarCry – Alea Jacta Est
Winds – The Imaginary Direction of Time
Wintersun – Wintersun
Within Temptation – The Silent Force
Xandria – ''Ravenheart''

Bands disbanded

Events

Brian "Head" Welch announced his departure from Korn after converting to Christianity.
Bassist Tim Gaines announced his departure from Stryper after 10 complete years. He was replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
Jason Jones was 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.
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.
Maniac leaves Mayhem and is replaced by the band's former singer, Attila Csihar.
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.

Deaths

14 January – Terje "Valfar" Bakken, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Windir, died from hypothermia after being caught in a snow storm. He was 25.
3 June – Thomas Börje "Quorthon" Forsberg, founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Bathory, died from heart failure at the age of 38.
17 August – Dennis "D-Roc" Miles, guitarist of Body Count, died from lymphoma complications at the age of 44.
20 October – Flowing Tears founding members, former drummer Cristian Zimmer and former guitarist Björn Lorson, died in a car accident.
8 December – "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott, founding member and former guitarist of Pantera and guitarist of Damageplan, was killed on stage, along with three other people, while performing with Damageplan at a nightclub in Ohio. He was 38.
26 December – Mieszko Andrzej Talarczyk, vocalist and guitarist of Nasum, died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake at the age of 30. His body was identified on 16 February 2005.
Piero "Sanctis Ghoram" Gori, former Death SS vocalist, died from cancer.