Atmospheric Metal

Atmospheric Metal or Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal, with roots in progressive rock, progressive metal, shoegazing, and industrial music. It is broadly characterized by distorted guitar, heavy atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure, and a minimal emphasis on vocals.

Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating the link with Avant-garde metal, by trying to move away from common metal conventions.