1998 in heavy metal music

Newly Formed bands

• 8 Foot Sativa
• 40 Below Summer
• Arma Angelus
• Atreyu
• Betzefer
• Bullet for My Valentine
• Chimaira
• Cog
• Crucified Barbara
• Freedom Call
• From Zero
• Odd Crew
• Peccatum
• Pressure 4-5
• Ram-Zet
• Rebaelliun
• Reveille
• Rob Zombie
• Skindred
• The Project Hate MCMXCIX
• Týr
• Underoath
• Unearth
• Winds

  Reformed bands

• Metal Church

  Albums

• Alabama Thunderpussy – Rise Again
• Altar - Provoke
• Amon Amarth - Once Sent from the Golden Hall
• Anathema – Alternative 4
• Angelcorpse - Exterminate
• Angra – Fireworks
• Apocalyptica – Inquisition Symphony
• Arch Enemy – Stigmata
• Atreyu – Visions
• Ayreon – Into the Electric Castle
• Behemoth - Pandemonic Incantations
• Benediction - Grind Bastard
• Bestial Warlust - Satan's Fist
• Black Label Society – Sonic Brew
• Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle-Earth
• Bolt Thrower – Mercenary
• Borknagar – The Archaic Course
• Botch – American Nervoso
• Bruce Dickinson – The Chemical Wedding
• Cannibal Corpse – Gallery of Suicide
• Cathedral - Caravan Beyond Redemption
• Catch 22 – Keasbey Nights
• Children of Bodom – Something Wild
• Converge – When Forever Comes Crashing
• Cradle of Filth – Cruelty and the Beast
• Crowbar – Odd Fellows Rest
• Cryptopsy - Whisper Supremacy
• Dark Funeral - Vobiscum Satanas
• Dawn - Slaughtersun
• Death – The Sound of Perseverance
• Deep Purple – Abandon
• Destruction – The Least Successful Human Cannonball
• Devin Townsend – Christeen + 4 Demos
• Devin Townsend – Infinity
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – Under the Running Board
• Dimmu Borgir – Godless Savage Garden
• Dream Theater – Once in a LIVEtime
• Dying Fetus - Killing on Adrenaline
• Earth Crisis – Breed the Killers
• Edguy – Vain Glory Opera
• Enslaved - Blodhemn
• Eldritch – El Niño
• Exhumed - Gore Metal
• Far – Water & Solutions
• Fear Factory – Obsolete
• Freak Kitchen – Freak Kitchen
• The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?
• Genitorturers - Sin City
• Godsmack – Godsmack
• Gorgoroth - Destroyer – or About How to Philosophize with the Hammer
• Gorguts - Obscura
• HammerFall – Legacy of Kings
• Helloween – Better Than Raw
• Iced Earth – Something Wicked This Way Comes
• Incantation - Diabolical Conquest
• Iron Maiden – Virtual XI
• Jag Panzer – The Age of Mastery
• Kamelot – Siége Perilous
• Kataklysm - Victims of this Fallen World
• Katatonia – Discouraged Ones
• Kid Rock – Devil Without a Cause
• KISS – Psycho Circus
• Korn – Follow the Leader
• Krabathor - Orthodox
• Krisiun – Apocalyptic Revelation
• Madball – Look My Way
• Malevolent Creation - The Fine Art of Murder
• Yngwie Malmsteen – Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Em, Opus 1
• Yngwie Malmsteen – Double Live!
• Marduk – Nightwing
• Mercenary – First Breath
• Meshuggah – Chaosphere
• Metal Church – Live
• Metallica – Garage Inc.
• Mindrot - Soul
• Marilyn Manson – Mechanical Animals
• Monster Magnet – Powertrip
• Moonspell – Sin/Pecado
• Morbid Angel – Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
• Mortician - Zombie Apocalypse
• Mortification - Triumph of Mercy
• Mötley Crüe – Greatest Hits
• Motörhead – Snake Bite Love
• My Dying Bride – 34.788%... Complete
• Napalm Death - Words from the Exit Wound
• Nembrionic - Incomplete
• Nightwish – Oceanborn
• Night in Gales - Thunderbeast
• Nile – Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
• Nothingface – An Audio Guide to Everyday Atrocity
• Old Man's Child – Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion
• One Minute Silence – Available in All Colours
• Oomph! – Unrein
• Opeth – My Arms, Your Hearse
• Orgy – Candyass
• Pig Destroyer – Explosions in Ward 6
• Pitchshifter – www.pitchshifter.com
• Primal Fear – Primal Fear
• Pro-Pain – Pro-Pain
• Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
• Rage – XIII
• Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come
• Rhapsody – Symphony of Enchanted Lands
• Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe
• Rotting - Crushed
• Rush – Different Stages
• Samael - Exodus
• Savatage – The Wake of Magellan
• Sentenced – Frozen
• Septicflesh - A Fallen Temple
• Sepultura – Against
• Sinister - Aggressive Measures
• Skepticism - Lead and Aether
• Skid Row –
• Slayer – Diabolus in Musica
• Soilent Green - A String of Lies
• Soilent Green - Sewn Mouth Secrets
• Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide
• Soulburn - Feeding on Angels
• Soulfly – Soulfly
• Strapping Young Lad – No Sleep 'till Bedtime: Live in Australia
• Stratovarius – Visions of Europe
• Stratovarius – Destiny
• Stuck Mojo – Rising
• Dan Swanö - Moontower
• Symphony X – Twilight in Olympus
• System of a Down – System of a Down
• Tankard – Disco Destroyer
• The Sins of Thy Beloved – Lake of Sorrow
• Theatre of Tragedy – Aégis
• Therapy? – Semi-Detached
• Therion - Vovin
• Trail of Tears – Disclosure in Red
• Tristania – Widow's Weeds
• Turbonegro – Apocalypse Dudes
• 2wo – Voyeurs
• Unsane – Occupational Hazard
• Vader – Kingdom
• Van Halen – Van Halen III
• Vintersorg – Hedniskhjärtad
• Vintersorg – Till fjälls
• Virgin Black – Trance
• Virgin Steele – Invictus
• Vision of Disorder – Imprint

  Disbandments

• 24-7 Spyz
• Destruction
• Faith No More
• Helmet
• Snot
• Vulcain

  Events

• Aerosmith becomes the first rock band to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
• Mustis joins Dimmu Borgir on keyboards.
• Rob Halford of Judas Priest announces his homosexuality in an MTV interview.
• Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, guitarist of the Japanese heavy metal band X Japan, dies at an age of 33 years on May 2, 1998.
• Poison singer Bret Michaels directs and stars in the film A Letter from Death Row.