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
- Aerosmith - Honkin' On Bobo
- Age Of Silence - Acceleration
- Angra - Temple of Shadows
- Ayreon - The Human Equation
- Behemoth - Demigod
- Black Label Society - Hangover Music Vol. VI
- 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
- Demon Hunter - Summer of Darkness
- The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
- Dio - Master of the Moon
- Dokken - Hell to Pay
- DragonForce - Sonic Firestorm
- Drowning Pool - Desensitized
- Edguy - Hellfire Club
- Evanescence - Anywhere But Home
- Fear Factory - Archetype
- Finntroll - Nattfödd
- Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden
- In Flames - Soundtrack to Your Escape
- Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
- Korn - Greatest Hits Vol.1
- Lordi - The Monsterican Dream
- Machine Head - Through the Ashes of Empires
- Mastodon - Leviathan
- Megadeth - The System Has Failed
- Metal Church - The Weight of the World
- Monster Magnet - Monolithic Baby
- Motörhead - Inferno
- Necrophagist - Epitaph
- Nightwish - Once
- Pig Destroyer - Painter Of Dead Girls (Tracks from Gnob and Benumb split), Terrifyer
- Probot - Probot
- Rammstein - Reise, Reise
- Rhapsody of Fire - Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret
- Rush - Feedback
- Slipknot - Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
- Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night
- Static-X - Beneath, Between, Beyond
- Saxon - Lionheart
- Stryper - 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003
- Van Halen - The Best of Both Worlds
- Velvet Revolver - Contraband
- Vintersorg - The Focusing Blur
- Winds - The Imaginary Direction of Time
- Wintersun - Wintersun
Disbandments
Brian Welch leaves Korn after converting to Christianity.
Events
- Damageplan and former Pantera lead guitarist Dimebag Darrell is murdered on December 8 by Nathan Gale while performing a concert in Ohio.
- Bassist Tim Gaines leaves Stryper after 10 complete years. He is replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
- Jason Jones, originally a tattoo artist from Los Angeles, California, was publically 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 #1 on the Billboard 200 and goes double platinum.
- Van Halen reunites with Sammy Hagar for a summer tour.
- 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