do you like heavy metal music?
Metal is just music -- It doesn't really have a face, though it does have ideas expressed through lyric.
Last edited by kestrel on 20 Feb 2012, 2:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Lately, every Friday, I've been watching an hour-long program on MuchMusic (although I believe in the States it was produced for VH1) called Metal Evolution. I watched one episode and got hooked. It's something I feel was desperately needed in the heavy metal community, to dispel the negative myths-- an intelligent, scholastic documentary studying the origins of various subgenres of heavy metal, and how each one evolved from an earlier form of music. The very first episode of the 11-part series surprised me, because-- believe it or not, metal naysayers-- much of the episode was devoted to discussing how classical musicians like Paganini and Holst, and blues musicians like Howlin' Wolf, and jazz musicians like Buddy Rich, all profoundly influenced what became heavy metal. Watching Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson talk about how their vocal styles were largely based on Luciano Pavarotti's was quite an eye-opener.
Heavy metal is not ignorant-- just look at some of the progressive bands like Queensrÿche, Dream Theater and Tool, who produce very conceptual music. Musicians who play metal are often much more well-read than you might assume, with Tolkien and Lovecraft being standard sources of lyrical inspiration, and even Herman Melville's Moby Dick serving as the basis of one of Mastodon's albums, Leviathan. It's not amelodic-- I defy anyone to tell me Yngwie Malmsteen hasn't got a firm grasp on musical composition. In some cases-- Nightwish, for example-- metal is borderline operatic. And it doesn't all have to be angry, either-- there is a whole slew of 80s bands like Def Leppard, Motley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Poison who were more or less about having a good time. Of course, there's something to be said, even for the ones who are a bit harsher, like thrash and extreme metal. Even among those bands, there's often a great deal of instrumental virtuosity. I personally don't listen to Meshuggah, for example, because admittedly I'm not a fan of the vocal style-- but I still respect the band, because I realize their dabbling with odd time signatures has been immensely influential on today's metal scene.
^This. Absolutely spot on.
_________________
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time; like tears in rain. Time to die." Roy Batty
I mostly only like the more extreme, atmospheric, and progressive forms of metal; with a few exceptions only relatively obscure stuff, and nothing really happy-sounding or upbeat (most happy music irritates and bores me), also nothing that is ever played on the radio/tv (at least not any time in the recent past, and not counting internet radio), I cannot stand mainstream stuff (not for the fact that the bands are popular, but simply because I find it all to be far too bland, formulaic, and lacking in creativity). I like thousands of metal bands of a very wide range of sound, plenty of stuff that's outright brutal or evokes a dark and unsettling feel, depressive and/or romantic tones, as well as ones that incorporate classical music, European folk, jazz, and the more extreme forms of industrial (dark ambient, noise, martial, etc.). I only know one person in person that likes any of the same music I do (he is the guitarist of a Christian death/black/thrash band and a few other projects), and outside of any forums specifically for the more obscure metal out there, I find very few people online who like any of it as well. Also, I don't like deathcore, power metal, most prog metal, most metalcore (Converge, Coalesce, Gaza and the like being exceptions as they incorporate a lot of grindcore elements and are a good deal more complex), or the happier sounding melodeath-oriented folk metal bands like Finntroll (the only cheese I like is the kind you can eat ).
some more well-known bands I like (at least more well-known than most of what I like):
Immolation
Suffocation
Nile
Bathory
Incantation
Grave
Katatonia
Burzum
Nevermore
Cryptopsy (before they sold out and became some of the most horrible deathcore I've ever heard )
Dark Lunacy
Meshuggah
Alcest
Agalloch
Insomnium
Isis
Pestilence
Novembers Doom
Swallow the Sun
some lesser-known ones:
Urna (italy)
The Amenta
Esoteric
Evoken
Nortt
Black Breath
Circle of Dead Children
Putrevore
Defeated Sanity
Craft
Deathspell Omega
Funebrarum
Ulcerate
Oranssi Pazuzu
KYPCK
Sun O)))
Blut aus Nord
Kauan
Virgin Black
Negură Bunget
The Ruins of Beverast
Dolorian
Dead Congregation
Von
Suit yourself, more for us fans then
_________________
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time; like tears in rain. Time to die." Roy Batty
SanityTheorist
Veteran
Joined: 13 Feb 2012
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,105
Location: The Akuma Afterglow
I'm a very big metal fan and I think 80% of it sucks. However, the good bands are awesome, especially since metal often has the most mature lyrics on serious topics. Bands like Kingdom of Sorrow make excellent lyrics about grief, Machine Head covers a broad range, Metallica has had many styles for different moods, etc.
That being said death metal (although I enjoy dark tranquillity and In Flames) is crap. So is deathcore, screamo, black metal, etc. I really think they need at least occasional clean vocals and distinguishable lyrics at least 90% of the time.
So yes, it is a genre where the band either rocks or sucks generally. Oh well.
_________________
My music at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SanityTheorist5/videos
Currently working on getting in a studio to record my solo album 40+ tracks written.
Chatroom nicks: MetalFluttershy/MetalTwilight/SanityTheorist
SanityTheorist
Veteran
Joined: 13 Feb 2012
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,105
Location: The Akuma Afterglow
I'm a very big metal fan and I think 80% of it sucks. However, the good bands are awesome, especially since metal often has the most mature lyrics on serious topics. Bands like Kingdom of Sorrow make excellent lyrics about grief, Machine Head covers a broad range, Metallica has had many styles for different moods, etc.
That being said death metal (although I enjoy dark tranquillity and In Flames) is crap. So is deathcore, screamo, black metal, etc. I really think they need at least occasional clean vocals and distinguishable lyrics at least 90% of the time.
So yes, it is a genre where the band either rocks or sucks generally. Oh well.
_________________
My music at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SanityTheorist5/videos
Currently working on getting in a studio to record my solo album 40+ tracks written.
Chatroom nicks: MetalFluttershy/MetalTwilight/SanityTheorist
RushKing
Veteran
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,340
Location: Minnesota, United States
Why do the lyrics need to be distinguishable 90% of the time if you can look them up?
Sweetleaf
Veteran
Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 34,829
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
That being said death metal (although I enjoy dark tranquillity and In Flames) is crap. So is deathcore, screamo, black metal, etc. I really think they need at least occasional clean vocals and distinguishable lyrics at least 90% of the time.
So yes, it is a genre where the band either rocks or sucks generally. Oh well.
Deathcore and screamo are not even metal for one....and though Death Metal is not my favorite I hardly think it's crap, though I might agree most death metal bands are crap the genre itself isn't though because I've heard good death metal. As for Black Metal it is one of my favorite kinds of metal especially depressive black metal so I fail to see how it's crap.
_________________
We won't go back.
Similar Topics | |
---|---|
Halloween Music |
20 Oct 2024, 11:18 pm |
Any 70's and 80's music lovers here? |
15 minutes ago |
Songs, Anthems and Music for Men |
01 Sep 2024, 3:54 pm |
need advice on buying music online |
07 Oct 2024, 8:18 pm |