By 1995, heavy metal had moved far beyond one dominant sound. The genre’s most important developments were taking place in different corners of the world: progressive death metal in Florida, melodic death metal in Gothenburg, polyrhythmic experimentation in Sweden, power metal in Germany and increasingly theatrical progressive metal in America. While alternative rock still controlled the mainstream, metal’s underground was quietly designing much of the next twenty years.

Death’s Symbolic stood at the centre of that evolution. Chuck Schuldiner continued moving away from the brutality of the band’s early work without losing its intensity. Alongside drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarist Bobby Koelble and bassist Kelly Conlon, Schuldiner combined complex arrangements, melodic guitar lines and thoughtful lyrics on “Symbolic,” “Zero Tolerance,” “Crystal Mountain” and “Perennial Quest.” The result became one of death metal’s most respected and accessible landmarks.

Sweden produced two albums that defined the Gothenburg melodic death-metal sound. At the Gates stripped its approach down on Slaughter of the Soul, creating a compact barrage of memorable riffs on “Blinded by Fear,” “Cold” and the title track. Its combination of aggression, melody and concise songwriting would deeply influence the metalcore movement. Dark Tranquillity’s The Gallery was more expansive and romantic, mixing twin-guitar harmonies, acoustic passages and Mikael Stanne’s first full-album performance as lead vocalist. “Punish My Heaven” and “Lethe” helped establish another enduring blueprint.

Meshuggah sounded as though it had arrived from a different decade on Destroy Erase Improve. “Future Breed Machine,” “Soul Burn” and “Vanished” used stuttering riffs, unusual time signatures and machine-like precision while still retaining traces of thrash. The record did not create an immediate commercial wave, but its influence steadily grew until Meshuggah’s rhythmic language became fundamental to progressive metal, mathcore and eventually djent.

Blind Guardian brought grandeur to power metal on Imaginations from the Other Side. Dense vocal arrangements, galloping guitars and ambitious storytelling made its title track, “Bright Eyes” and “The Script for My Requiem” career standards. Iced Earth returned after a four-year studio absence with Burnt Offerings, its darkest and heaviest album and the first to feature vocalist Matthew Barlow. The sixteen-minute “Dante’s Inferno” demonstrated the band’s growing epic ambitions.

Savatage’s Dead Winter Dead turned the Bosnian War into a dramatic rock opera. Its instrumental “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” would soon inspire producer Paul O’Neill and several Savatage members to form Trans-Siberian Orchestra. What began as one track on a metal concept album eventually became a seasonal institution.

Faith No More remained impossible to classify on King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime. With guitarist Trey Spruance replacing Jim Martin, the band jumped from the hardcore attack of “Get Out” and “Digging the Grave” to the smooth soul of “Evidence,” the country melancholy of “Take This Bottle” and the epic “Just a Man.” Its restless genre changes captured the adventurous spirit of 1995 better than almost anything else.

White Zombie’s final studio album, Astro-Creep: 2000, fused groove metal, horror imagery and industrial programming into the band’s biggest success. “More Human than Human” became unavoidable on MTV. Trouble travelled in the opposite direction on Plastic Green Head, surrounding Eric Wagner’s distinctive voice and enormous doom riffs with psychedelic colour. Beyond this Top 10, Fear Factory’s Demanufacture, Down’s NOLA, Dissection’s Storm of the Light’s Bane, Paradise Lost’s Draconian Times, Opeth’s Orchid and Morbid Angel’s Domination made 1995 remarkably deep. The mainstream may have moved on, but metal was busy building its future.