Bangladeshi rock music, or Bangla rock music, is a style of music in Bangladesh that is derived from British and American rock music, mixed with the Bengali classical and Adhunik musical styles from the 1960s. The genre was introduced in the 1960s by a few bands who began developing a distinctive rock sound. Bangladeshi rock is commonly divided into two categories: East Pakistan rock, and Bangladesh rock. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it was one of the nation's most popular musical genres.
Souls were the most successful pop rock band of the 1970s. From L-R: Sazedul Alam (bass guitar), Subrata Barua Ronny (drums), Tapan Chowdhury (lead vocals), Shahedul Alam (electric guitar) and Naquib Khan (keyboards and vocals).
Ayub Bachchu from Love Runs Blind, on stage in 2008
Warfaze is considered[by whom?] to be one of the most influential heavy metal bands in Bangladesh
Dalchhut performing at an AIUB concert in 2007
Bangladeshi heavy metal or Bangla heavy metal was originated from the evolution of British and American heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth have had the greatest influences on Bangladeshi heavy metal musicians. Other 1970s bands to influence are bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Motörhead. The first bands to play heavy metal in Bangladesh were bands like Warfaze and Rockstrata. The most prominent era for heavy metal movement was between the early 1990s to early 2000s. Warfaze, Rockstrata, Aces and in Dhaka are often considered as the "big four founders of heavy metal". Other 2000s metal bands are bands like Artcell, Aurthohin, Cryptic Fate, Powersurge, Mechanix, Metal Maze, Vibe and Stentorian. Alternative bands like Nemesis, Arbovirus and Black also played some alternative metal songs over the years. Warfaze, Artcell and Aurthohin together are the most popular rock/metal trio of Bangladesh.
Cryptic Fate was one of the leading metal bands to next-generation heavy metal of Bangladesh from the mid-1990s to early 2000s.
Artcell, a progressive metal band formed in 1999. They released their debut album Onno Shomoy in 2002 and Oniket Prantor in 2006. Both of their albums were big hits for their melodic vocals and acoustic riffs along with musical complexity.
Iqbal Asif Jewel has produced and composed several metal artists' albums including most of Aurthohin's albums and Artcell's second album, Oniket Prantor. He was a guitarist/vocalist for Warfaze on Oshamajik album.