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Fifty-two albums and forty-seven videos from the year Blind Guardian went to Middle-earth, Nightwish and Therion brought in the orchestra, Death made their last album and nu metal reached No. 1. Open any record for its story, the facts, the best tracks and a video.
The full 1998 Vault – every album with its story, facts, best tracks and official video – is part of Premium Membership. €44.99 one-time, no subscription.
Become a Premium MemberAlready a member? Log inIn 1998 power metal grew from a revival into a market: Blind Guardian told Tolkien's Silmarillion on the album of the year, and Stratovarius, HammerFall and a crowd of new bands followed. Real choirs and strings gave symphonic metal a sound of its own, from Therion and Rhapsody to Nightwish's Oceanborn. In America, Korn and Marilyn Manson took nu metal to No. 1, death metal made some of its most daring records, and Black Sabbath's original four were back on record.
Facts checked against at least two independent sources. Videos are official uploads from the bands' and labels' channels and load only when you press play.
Every metalhead has a year that changed everything. Tell us what 1998 meant to you – three quick questions about the year and two about this journey. One tap each, and you see the results straight away.
Researched, compiled and written by Erki Laurits for WeMetalheads, with help and suggestions from WeMetalheads members. AI tools were used to assist with research, drafting and fact-checking; every fact was checked against at least two independent sources and reviewed by the author.
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Wikipedia, Discogs, Spirit of Metal, Metal Music Archives, Louder (Metal Hammer, Classic Rock), Loudwire, Metal Injection, Prog Archives, Metal Storm, Metal Reviews, Peaceville Records, Ghost Cult, Riffology, Ultimate Classic Rock, Tuonela Magazine, Decibel, Kerrang!, Diffuser, and other music publications, label and band websites.
Album, demo and EP covers: artwork © the respective artists, labels and designers, shown for identification and commentary (images via Spotify and Discogs).
Band photos: Wikimedia Commons, used under the licence named in each caption (Creative Commons or public domain), with the photographer credited.
Videos: official uploads by the artists, their labels or YouTube's auto-generated artist channels, embedded in YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode and loaded only when you press play.
© 2026 Erki Laurits / WeMetalheads. Text may not be republished without permission.