Encyclopaedia Metallum, the world's most comprehensive database of heavy metal bands and albums, has reached the milestone of 200,000 band entries, confirmed by the site's administrators on March 11 in a post on their official forum. The milestone — which was celebrated by the site's community with threads compiling statistics, historical curiosities, and reflections on the database's importance — marks a remarkable achievement for what began as a volunteer-operated fan project in 2002 and has become an indispensable resource for fans, journalists, researchers, and musicians worldwide.
The 200,000th band entry was reportedly a Norwegian funeral doom metal act called ASHEN VEIL, submitted by a Norwegian contributor who has cataloged over 300 bands on the site. The administrators noted in their announcement that the 200,000 figure represents bands that have been verified as meeting the site's criteria for inclusion — which requires that the act be identifiably heavy metal and have released at least a demo recording — and that tens of thousands of additional submissions are currently pending review.
Encyclopaedia Metallum has become one of the most visited metal websites in the world, serving millions of unique visitors per month and containing detailed information on albums, band lineups, production credits, lyrical themes, and recording labels for bands spanning every conceivable subgenre and geographical region. Its contribution to metal archiving and fan education has been compared by music scholars to the role of AllMusic in documenting mainstream popular music history, with the significant distinction that Metallum is entirely volunteer-operated and non-commercial. The site launched a fundraising campaign to cover server costs alongside the milestone announcement.