Dislike of Metal

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Ok, I realize I am probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I want to get it out of the way. I wish to make this clear, I HATE metal and Screamo. Despise it, I don't like rap, opera gives me a headache, but metal is in my opinion the worst music to exist. Now allow me to explain. people say all the time that people hate metal because its all screamo and that they don't even listen to the lyrics. that's not why I hate metal. in fact, lyrics are pointless in a lot of songs to me, I love beat. my problem is with what the lyrics say, its true I have been forced to listen to a couple, and they have very deep lyrics. here is my problem, YOUR SCREAMING THEM AT ME. and a lot of lyrics I do hear are usually (not all the time but a lot) about being trapped somewhere, or feeling left out, or feeling sad, or just negative feelings in general. there are VERY few happy songs, and you being screamed at to either be happy or be told to be happy, hell if I told a happy story with no beat just screaming the entire time would you not get a headache? I would, of course they have beat, which annoys me even more. I like beats, beats are what I listen to, I love country beats, J-pop, Alternative. but I can't take the beats of metal its sadistic. now I am not saying metal is satans music, But I am saying that I Hate all screamo and metal.

Long story short?

The lyrics are deep but negative and make you feel sad making most people feel they can "relate"
the lyrics are almost all more or less SCREAMED, and those that aren't just sound either psychotic or sad
most of the music videos have these horrible things happening in them that are not at first apparant, things like singer waking up then realizing their in there own grave and try to scream to get out? I MEAN COME ON

I enjoy metal, but I draw the line when it sounds like the lead singer is uninteligibly screaming like a pig! When that happens, I like to think they're yelling out, "AAAAUUUUGHHHHH! I HIT MY HAND WITH A HAMMER, AND IT REALLY REALLY HURT!! !! !! !! !!"

do you know any metal that doesn't say sad things? literally every single Metal song I have heard has deep lyrics its true, but there huge debby downers.

Not off the top of my head. Best advice? If you don't like metal, don't listen to it.

I know that lol, I just tend to get a lot of hate from where I live because I don't like it.

Well yes, vocals in metal tend to be of a theatrical flair. I personally like most of the styles. Some people don't get it, I don't really care.

I personally don't really like plain happy music (and one could argue that a plain happy song would be devoid of emotional complexity), but there are rather upbeat tracks in the genre that I enjoy, and there is quite a bit of upbeat heavy, power, folk and symphonic metal out there.

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Everyone likes different stuff. We all have an opinion. But as someone who listens to almost exclusively music with screaming/growing vocals, I couldn't disagree with you more.

Everyone has different reasons why they like music. Not only genre, but just the fact you like music at all. Some people want escape, some people like hearing creative things, some want to just dance or have mood music, some appreciate the individuals technical skill etc. You seem to put a heavy emphasis on lyrics and vocals. As do I among other things.

What I don't get though, you say you like beats, yet mention Country and alternative music- not styles renowned for their rhythm. I mean to say you like beats, yet don't like rap (which I don't really too much either) or metal (which has about, I don't know 80% of the worlds finest drummers across various subgenres). I mean all country songs have basically the same beat, and alternative basically just shares that beat. It's rhythmically idiotic. Do you like jazz? Because that's where most of the other 20% come from.

If screaming isn't your thing, I can understand that to an extent. However it's a legitimately difficult vocal style to master that takes a lot of work and training for the good ones at least. Some subjects wouldn't not be emotionally authentic if not screamed. Do you typically whistle a pleasant tune when furious? Do you snap your fingers and tap your toes when life s**ts on you? I know I don't.

It's a music primarily focused on negativity, but the lyrical content could be anything. There are bands, mostly hardcore, that have lyrics about self-empowerment and clean living, there are Christian bands, there are bands that sign about witchcraft, some sing about personal disappointment, others disgust for the world we live in. And alot about death and dying. Which is a subject the most intellectual of thinker has wrestled with since the beginning of time. When all of this builds up inside, you scream it out. At least people into this style of music do. It's intense.

I also happen to understand most of the vocals without the benefit of looking them up, though I often do anyways. Most metal fans can understand alot of what's being said just by hearing it. You get acuumstomed to hearing the words. Sort of like understanding someone with a foreign accent. Listen to it long enough and you'll understand it.

Vocals in metal, and even rap, are more about their percussive value then their lyrical content. Which is why some rap music will seemingly throw in random lines that don't make topical sense. Because topical is not the goal. It's word flow. Same goes for some metal. Vocalizing doesn't need melody. Especially over alot of metal music it simply wouldn't fit.

There are also so many types of metal, it's hard to imagine it all being ruled out across the board. Sounds in metal can be so incredibly diverse, so much so that most metal fans can't even converse among themselves without an argument breaking out.

I love my metal though. At least the style of metal I enjoy, not all of it. Some I actually really dislike. The kind with too much clean singing actually.

It's ok you're a fellow INTP-T though, we're evidently only 3%..... It's ok your taste in music sucks

This ^^ (Aka, it's ear friendly as long as it doesn't thread over the line, unto that territory of posessed screaming/ border line talking in tongues.. That does not only hurt my ears, but makes me feel like my soul if i have one, is slowly being swallowed into an abyss of darkness. Once the boyfriend of my friend put on this type of music, and i ended up, 15 seconds into the song, running outside gasping for air, as the vibes of the song left me feeling nauseous and dizzy)

But i do though prefer metal of the type similar to Black Sabbath, Metallica, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden.. Yeah i think my point comes across

I enjoy all sorts of rock music, but I've never been a big fan of metal or metalcore. I like it a bit more than most chart pop, but it's still one of my least favourite genres. I don't enjoy the screaming or the growling. But even if some metal music doesn't have that, I don't like the roughness and overall aggressive sound of it; it's too much for me to take in.

I can think of a number of bands that have clean vocals...also they don't actually 'scream' the vocals, that would ruin their vocal cords the growling vocals actually take practice and aren't meant to be forced, even the more screechy vocals are that way. But to each their own, if you don't like that style of vocals your not going to...but there are metal bands that don't even have those vocal styles.

The lyrics and imagery are typically more dark, but yeah metal doesn't make me feel sad and I like the dark imagery especially when its more satanic but again its not for everyone, and I don't really hate people if they don't like metal though because of how much I listen to it I probably wouldn't have much in common with people who don't.

I hate country, modern pop music, popular rap/hip hop especially if it uses autotune(same with modern pop music), I also hate happy sounding electronic music and probably a couple other things I can't think of.

Korpiklaani

Metal's not my thing but I still appreciate the artistry and believe many metal musicians are very talented.

However, a lot of metal goes for the 'raw' style and a sound that isn't 'over-produced' because they don't want to sound like pop music.

I personally don't like this and prefer most professional music to be produced with a clear and pristine sound to it.

Barring the screaming and aggressive vocals, the quality of most heavy metal music is quite poor from an audio engineering perspective.

Guitars are amped into overdrive and distorted beyond quality sound, the bass is muffled and poorly EQed, the drums, especially the hi-hats and cymbals, are also poorly EQed and extremely messy within the mix. Some metal bands over-compress their sounds, killing all dynamic range that once existed in the song. Most of their music is recorded with low quality/cheap microphones and mixed and mastered with sub-par equipment and they use cheap speakers.

However, there are also plenty of metal bands with a clear, professional sound that I appreciate. Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Lamb of God being a few.

I listen to a bit of instrumental metal, specifically instrumental versions of music from the bands I listed above.

The vocals themselves are raw and natural, but I can understand if you wouldn't like them. I don't either.

I appreciate those who want to do things differently and the underground - those that use Lo-fi or just don't conform to audio engineering standards in general.

But like I said if you want to make professional music I believe clear and great quality is the way to go to get the best possible sound.

A lot of commercial music though doesn't care about quality and is over-compressed and poorly engineered. A lot of pop music and electronic of today especially.

But likewise, the underground also is far more apathetic to good sound quality, especially because they have less access to all the expensive equipment studio professionals use.

Basically, those that don't have the technology can't make good stuff, those that do use it wrong.

But there is a niche of audio engineers and audiophiles who do care about getting the best quality out of their music. Communities such as Gearslutz, the number one site for audiophiles and music producers who want the best quality music to be made.

I am a part of this crowd, a Trance producer who doesn't adhere to the current standards of modern electronic production. I don't overcompress my music as part of electronic music's current loudness war. Most electronic producers are making their music extremely loud to the point the actual quality of the sound is ruined.

Back to metal:

I just don't always think a more 'natural' and 'rough' way of producing music gives it 'character' or anything like that - usually it's just an excuse to make something that's purely bad.

What I mean is, know your audience, know your goals, and know your context. If you want the natural sound, use it right and appropriately, if you want the professional sound, again use it right and appropriately.


In short OP: Try listening to instrumental metal, but be aware a lot of it's poor quality sounds that were hidden behind the screaming vocals. So even if you seek instrumental metal, you'll have to go through a lot of bad sounding stuff first.

I'll get you started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNeg0wR1HA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAwkcBL-_mM

If you still want to experience the deep lyrics, just google them and read them. Music lyrics ARE a type of poetry anyway - reading the lyrics without the song is like reading regular poetry really.

Outrider the artists who don't over produce an album are pandering to their audience. If you have a black metal album that is very clean black metal fans dislike it. It's called black metal for a reason. Black metal would lose many more fans than they would gain if they got rid of the rawness. So keep black metal raw. If you want to listen to some clean metal find other forms.

Pretty much most power metal and progressive metal is not about "sad" things.

Power and progressive metal (although especially power metal) uses lyrical singing that isn't screamed. Power metal is more popular in Europe, so maybe you haven't encountered much of that.

Right, pretty much all metal before the late 80's used clean vocals, even thrash band singers sung recognizable pitches. It was after the advent of death metal that a lot of metal vocalists started screaming or growling.

But plenty of power metal bands took the speed and aggressiveness of thrash guitar playing and combined it with melodic vocals. Not to mention that most of the early prog metal bands use clean vocals as well (Fates Warning, Queensryche, Dream Theatre). Although more contemporary prog metal bands like to mix screaming vocals with melodic vocals, I think there are plenty of groups who just use clean vocals too.

I'm not sure what metal you've been listening to, as "metal" today spans SO many diverse sounds. The only constants more or less are guitars and drums or drum sounds.

As someone who appreciates both clarity and rawness I tend to disagree with many of your perspectives.

As you stated the vast majority of metal bands today (save for corporate, sh***y whores like Metallica) cannot afford most of the upper end recording equipment/studios. Nor would most of the studios know what to do with many of these styles of music to frame it in it's best form.

Rawness and good production can coexist, but it doesn't always give the music it's most fitting sound in my opinion. Clarity is a tricky issue. How clear do you expect distortion to be? Especially distortion today on 7, 8 and 9 string guitars. That and being riddled with double kick drums and often a bass player and deep growling can be a low end onslaught that, while I'm not experienced in the field, I'd imagine presents significant obstacles in presenting "clarity". I put that in quotes because is distortion not the opposite of clarity? Again, I'll respect you have a deeper knowledge in engineering, but this concept doesn't make sense to me.

Sure the guitars are loud. It's metal for crying out loud. Todays guitar players in many styles spend as much time on getting the right gear to achieve the tonality and crunch they are looking for as they do writing the music. That may not be your thing, but I'm sure many of the bands, even using smaller studios or even self-producing, are getting the guitar sound they want on the recording. What you is hear is what they want you to hear for the most part (equipment limitations aside). I think usually someone in the band is far more hands on and involved with the engineering part of the process.

Bass wise, again it's stylistic. I actually prefer very clear, bright bass. I love the pluck and clear bounce of a good bassline. I hate when it's buried. Some music calls for that though. Which is why many bands have started to even forgo bass players altogether. Meshuggah comes to mind. There isn't a lot of room for bass when you have two guitar players playing 8-strings.

Drums, again are going to often be focused on low end, as double kick is employed very often in many styles. That's what they want to come through more. It is what it is. You like it or don't.

I like a few bands where their recording is intentionally muddled. They, artistically, want to create an almost indistinguishable wall of sound. While I don't always prefer the outcome, it's a conscious artistic choice.

Now don't get me wrong, there are MANY badly recorded albums. Some of my favorites in fact. And it's a shame when that happens. But broke bands sometimes run into that. Especially 15-20 years ago or more.

But I don't think this is all an excuse to make something bad. It's just not your taste. Motivated, passionate musicians today, get out there what they intend to get out there 9 times out of 10. Maybe 8. But it's alot. Many albums are at least co-engineered by a band member.

And again, this is metal. You said it yourself, know your audience, know what you want to accomplish. The kind of clarity and perfection you seek is not really appropriate for most styles of metal. What, most often, a band wishes to accomplish is to adequately reflect what they sound like in person. In person, metal shows are rarely leveled properly, or even close to it. All but the elite of the elite metal bands don't make money off of selling their music today. Albums are now, for the most part promotional material that brings people out to shows buying tickets, and most importantly merchandise. So the album wants to capture this raw, unpolished element of the experience. Metal shows are often loud, sweaty, drunken and many times bloody experiences. That should be captured to some degree on what is put out.