2004 in heavy metal music

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

Newly formed bands

• Abigail Williams
• Age of Silence
• The Agonist (as The Tempest)
• Alter Bridge
• Catherine
• Celestiial
• Chrome Division
• Demonoid
• Genghis Tron
• Job for a Cowboy
• Legion of the Damned
• myGrain
• Savage Circus
• Scale the Summit
• Scar Symmetry
• Sturm und Drang
• Threat Signal
• Vreid
• Wintersun

Reformed bands

• Extreme (for a few shows)
• Glyder
• Megadeth
• Mötley Crüe

Albums

• 3 Inches of Blood – Advance and Vanquish
• The Acacia Strain – 3750
• Aerosmith – Honkin' On Bobo
• After Forever – Invisible Circles
• Age of Silence – Acceleration
• Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
• Alter Bridge – One Day Remains
• Amon Amarth - Fate of Norns
• Angra – Temple of Shadows
• 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
• 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
• Def Leppard – Best of Def Leppard
• Demon Hunter – Summer of Darkness
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
• Dio – Master of the Moon
• Dokken – Hell to Pay
• DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm
• Dream Theater – Live at Budokan
• Drowning Pool – Desensitized
• Edguy – Hellfire Club
• El Tito Mc- La Raza v3
• Europe – Start from the Dark
• Exodus – Tempo of the Damned
• Fear Factory – Archetype
• Finntroll – Nattfödd
• God Forbid – Gone Forever.
• Grip Inc. - Incorporated.
• Iced Earth – The Glorious Burden
• In Flames – Soundtrack to Your Escape
• Isis - Panopticon
• Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
• Kittie – Until the End
• Kill The Noize – "Play With The Devil"
• Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
• Lordi – The Monsterican Dream
• Marilyn Manson – Lest We Forget: The Best of
• Mastodon – Leviathan
• Mayhem – Chimera
• Megadeth – The System Has Failed
• Mercenary – 11 Dreams
• Metal Church – The Weight of the World
• Metalium – As One - Chapter Four
• Monster Magnet – Monolithic Baby!
• Motörhead – Inferno
• My Dying Bride – Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
• Necrophagist – Epitaph
• Nightwish – Once
• No Big Silence – Kuidas kuningas kuu peale kippus
• Oomph! – Wahrheit oder Pflicht
• Otep – House of Secrets
• Pig Destroyer – Painter of Dead Girls
• Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
• Power Quest - Neverworld
• Probot – Probot
• Rammstein – Reise, Reise
• Raunchy – Confusion Bay
• Rhapsody of Fire – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret
• Rush – Feedback
• Saxon – Lionheart
• Scarve – Irradiant
• Scorpions - Unbreakable (Scorpions album)
• Shadows Fall – The War Within
• Slipknot – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night
• Static-X – Beneath, Between, Beyond
• Stryper – 7 Weeks: Live in America, 2003
• The Crest – Vain City Chronicles
• U.D.O. – Thunderball
• Van Halen – The Best of Both Worlds
• Velvet Revolver – Contraband
• Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur
• WarCry – Alea Jacta Est
• Winds – The Imaginary Direction of Time
• Wintersun – Wintersun

Disbandments

• Bathory
• Damageplan
• Nothingface (reformed in 2005)
• Windir

Events

• Terje Bakken of Windir dies from hypothermia on his way to his grandparents which resulted in Windir disbanding.
• Brian Welch leaves Korn after converting to Christianity.
• Damageplan and former Pantera lead guitarist Dimebag Darrell is murdered on 8 December by Nathan Gale while performing a concert in Ohio.
• Bassist Tim Gaines leaves Stryper after 10 complete years. He is replaced by Tracy Ferrie.
• Body Count rhythm guitarist D-Roc dies from lymphoma at the age of 45.
• Jason Jones, originally a tattoo artist from Los Angeles, California, was publicly 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
• Nasum guitarist/vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk dies as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (although his body was not identified until 17 February the following year). Consequently, Nasum would later disband.
• Maniac leaves Mayhem and is replaced by the band's former singer, Attila Csihar.
• After more than 10 years of long break, Europe release the new album titled Start from the Dark with their classic line up consist of Joey Tempest-Vocals, John Norum-Guitars, Mic Michaeli-Keyboards, John Levén-Bass, Ian Haugland-Drums. Guitarist Kee Marcello is back to his old band – Easy Action.
• Ace Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg, founder of the Black/Viking metal band Bathory dies, at the age of 38.
• 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.