Post-metal

Post-metal is a mixture of post-rock and heavy metal, with elements of shoegaze, industrial metal and sludge. It is broadly characterized by distorted guitar, atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure and a minimal emphasis on vocals. Most songs follow the format of intense crescendos on simple chord sequences but may include sections of powerful riffing.

Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal"