This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in 2002.
Newly formed bands
3,14... Adrift All Ends All Shall Perish Alltheniko Angtoria Arkona Asesino Astral Doors Audrey Horne Augury Avian Bilocate Bleed the Sky Bloodsimple Brand New Sin Brides of Destruction Code Crazy Lixx Delain Despised Icon DevilDriver Drudkh Eluveitie Epica Exmortus Flyleaf Gama Bomb Giant Squid God Is an Astronaut Heidevolk In Solitude Iron Mask Kivimetsän Druidi Krux Lethian Dreams Midnattsol Minsk Misery Signals Nemesea Obscura OSI Psyopus Red The Saddest Landscape Sonic Syndicate Star One Sturmgeist Suicide Silence Symphony in Peril Teräsbetoni The Absence Theocracy Torture Killer Vektor Velvet Revolver Winds of Plague Violator Woods of Ypres Zonaria