Native American metal is a fusion of heavy metal and the musical, linguistic, and storytelling traditions of the Indigenous peoples of North America. It blends the sonic aggression of metal subgenres (thrash, death, black, doom, groove, metalcore, and nu metal) with Native vocal styles, drumming, and flutes, as well as themes centered on land, resistance, ceremony, and cultural survival.
Artists often incorporate hand drums and powwow-inspired rhythms, cedar or Native flutes, rattles, chants and vocables, and lyrics in Indigenous languages (e.g., Diné Bizaad/Navajo, Lakota, Cree, Ojibwe, Nahuatl), alongside distorted guitars, blast beats, and harsh or clean vocals. The result ranges from epic and atmospheric to raw and intense, while remaining grounded in Indigenous histories and contemporary struggles.
