Sam explains why he likes metal (****) (NON-ASSHOLE EDITION! Part I)
What kind of music do you like, and why? No, this isn't a set-up into a sweet burn or otherwise wittily sardonic remark. If you can't name any genres, describe the kind of music that appeals most to you. You know, the mood, the tempo, instrumentation, lyrical themes, etc. And of course, name the reasons why, if there are any.
...Well, since I doubt many people are reading this anyway, this question is just boomaranging into me. Which is too bad, because music is one of my biggest passions; get me talking about it just right and nothing short of painful repercussions will stop me. And in complete sincerity, I like hearing about the passions behind anyone else's musical tastes. You don't have to write a novelette or two, but I'd like you to seriously consider the above question, and answer as fully as you'd like.
...Oh right, no one is reading, and thus the boomerang returns and smacks me in the face. Well then, I'll answer the question for now. And no, I can't promise this won't be long, but if you've kept reading by this point I'm thinking you're in it for the long haul anyway.
So...man, where to begin...Oh yeah, I'm only talking about metal in this post, not about music in general. Alright, so since I'm assuming that the reader doesn't know anything about me...well I'll assume she/he/it knows nothing about the genre known as (heavy) metal as well, aaaaaand we'll go from there.
So if I just said I like metal, a wise metalhead would respond with "Which kinds?" For you see, many subgenres lie within. I'll simply list the major ones, the ones that other metal subgenres just kinda fall under in one and/or another. They are:
-Heavy Metal: Okay, let's get the complicated and vague stuff outta the way first. The term "heavy metal", at least to most metalheads, is used to describe the classic metal sound defined by say, Iron Maiden. I mean, it's kinda hard to explain this one, as I take for granted what I already know about it. I'll admit Josh helps me out here: "Rock music with more intensity and less of an emphasis on chords---more focus on riffs" "Like, not so much chord progressions leading songs, but repeated riff sections" "RIFFS ARE WHAT MAKE METAL DAMNIT" "RIFFSSSSSS" "*headbangs*" Thanks my metal brother. :D So here's an example, Manowar - "The Gods Made Heavy Metal"
Yeah, there aren't enough nachos in the world to dig up all the cheese that makes. I rarely listen to this, actually. Moving on!
-Thrash Metal: Heavy metal, but very inspired by punk music; it's several times faster, usually with less melody, but much more emphasis on palm-muting guitar techniques (pretty much any time you hear a guitar go "chugga chugga", that's palm-muting) and rhythm. Whereas heavy metal can easily be confused with hard rock with some songs, thrash metal is surprisingly easy to identify, for me at least. Think Metallica. For more extreme forms of thrash, think Slayer. Most likely you've heard these bands if you've listened to rock music most of your life. If not, here's a live rendition of the famous "Master of Puppets" by Metallica.
-Death Metal: Oh yes. YES. One of the two most controversial subgenres of metal. Death metal and actual singing (or "clean vocals") are pretty much mutually exclusive; you cannot play death metal if most of the vocals are sung. This is understandably a huge turn-off and a huge complaint about death metal. To focus only on the vocals, however, would be to miss out the genre's emphasis on the other instruments. Death metal is largely un-melodic and difficult to listen to. The earlier form of it was just thrash with less melody and harsh vocals, really. However, most of the time nowadays it's faster and more intense; the riffs are more technical, or are at least more dissonant. The drumming is also often much faster, and it tends to employ what are known as "blast beats", a series of fast alternating hits of the bass drum and snare. This is probably the most easily recognizable form of metal, just due to its sheer intensity. Here's one of my favorites, Suffocation's "Pierced from Within." I suggest you just listen and not look at the video if you're queasy about grossly drawn things...
-Black Metal: I don't know which genre is more controversial, this one or death metal. Black metal is characterized by the use of higher "shrieking" vocals rather than the lower "growls" death metal is known for. The guitar riffs are often very simple; most black metal riffs consists of few notes, but these notes are repeated rapidly in the course of the riff. The drumming can vary in technicality, but it may rely on blast beats even more than death metal. Much black metal is controversial because the genre's most famous bands are known for "Satanic" imagery and all that buggery. Trust me, that can take a whole 'nother post in itself, but by now I'm all by interested in the controversy. To the uninitiated black and death metal may sound alike, simply due to both being the most extreme forms of metal. Just remember though, low vocals and technicality for death metal, high vocals and simple structures for black metal. That's a general guideline though, not a rule. This is Darkthrone, "Unholy Black Metal." Again, please ignore the video itself and just listen to the music, for your own sake. Ironically, I hate this song, but I love the genre. But it's much easier to spot the differences between this and "Pierced from Within".
-Progressive Metal: Well, it's often very technical. Non-traditional song structures, riffs, and sometimes even vocals and instruments. If it's kinda "out there", yet it contains the same heavy guitar distortion and intensity associated with all forms of metal, then it's probably prog metal. This genre can blur the borders between metal and other major musical genres too, if it takes that much influence from non-metal genres. I'd hate to just shove complicated metal that doesn't fit in any other genre too well into its own category, but it's easiest this way. I only just remembered that I forgot this after my initial posting of this, so I got lazy and just searched for a compilation of prog metal songs. Here you go, 10 minutes of progressive metal. Knock yourself out (but not before listening to it. Okay that was lame).
-Power Metal: My least favorite genre :-/ Imagine normal heavy metal, but with more melody and ornamentation, and a more "grandiose" sound, for a lack of a better and more motivated description. And it has even more cheese. Sadly I don't like this as much as other subgenres, but I do love Blind Guardian's "Mirror Mirror."
-Doom Metal: Well this is easy. Doom metal is slow. And conveys a sense of doom. It often focuses on the volume of the riffs, which are simplistic, slow, and drawn out. This applies to drums, bass, and even sometimes vocals. Black Sabbath are actually seen as the pioneers of doom metal, due to the long, slow, drawn out structures of songs like "War Pigs". Doom metal may have clean or harsh vocals, by the way.This is "The Burning Man" by the underrated Mourning Beloveth. I quite enjoy the melodic main riff there. Note that this is 10 minutes long, but you'll get the gist of it in like a third of that time
And that's that. There are subgenres of these, like symphonic black metal, and hybrids, like melodic death metal (death metal + power metal - cheeeeese).
But uh, yeah, if I ever catch you saying that metal is all "just screaming and noise", then I'll kindly direct you here. :p
Okay, that REALLY tired me out. I think you won't mind if I actually write WHY I like this stuff tomorrow.
...Well, since I doubt many people are reading this anyway, this question is just boomaranging into me. Which is too bad, because music is one of my biggest passions; get me talking about it just right and nothing short of painful repercussions will stop me. And in complete sincerity, I like hearing about the passions behind anyone else's musical tastes. You don't have to write a novelette or two, but I'd like you to seriously consider the above question, and answer as fully as you'd like.
...Oh right, no one is reading, and thus the boomerang returns and smacks me in the face. Well then, I'll answer the question for now. And no, I can't promise this won't be long, but if you've kept reading by this point I'm thinking you're in it for the long haul anyway.
So...man, where to begin...Oh yeah, I'm only talking about metal in this post, not about music in general. Alright, so since I'm assuming that the reader doesn't know anything about me...well I'll assume she/he/it knows nothing about the genre known as (heavy) metal as well, aaaaaand we'll go from there.
So if I just said I like metal, a wise metalhead would respond with "Which kinds?" For you see, many subgenres lie within. I'll simply list the major ones, the ones that other metal subgenres just kinda fall under in one and/or another. They are:
-Heavy Metal: Okay, let's get the complicated and vague stuff outta the way first. The term "heavy metal", at least to most metalheads, is used to describe the classic metal sound defined by say, Iron Maiden. I mean, it's kinda hard to explain this one, as I take for granted what I already know about it. I'll admit Josh helps me out here: "Rock music with more intensity and less of an emphasis on chords---more focus on riffs" "Like, not so much chord progressions leading songs, but repeated riff sections" "RIFFS ARE WHAT MAKE METAL DAMNIT" "RIFFSSSSSS" "*headbangs*" Thanks my metal brother. :D So here's an example, Manowar - "The Gods Made Heavy Metal"
Yeah, there aren't enough nachos in the world to dig up all the cheese that makes. I rarely listen to this, actually. Moving on!
-Thrash Metal: Heavy metal, but very inspired by punk music; it's several times faster, usually with less melody, but much more emphasis on palm-muting guitar techniques (pretty much any time you hear a guitar go "chugga chugga", that's palm-muting) and rhythm. Whereas heavy metal can easily be confused with hard rock with some songs, thrash metal is surprisingly easy to identify, for me at least. Think Metallica. For more extreme forms of thrash, think Slayer. Most likely you've heard these bands if you've listened to rock music most of your life. If not, here's a live rendition of the famous "Master of Puppets" by Metallica.
-Death Metal: Oh yes. YES. One of the two most controversial subgenres of metal. Death metal and actual singing (or "clean vocals") are pretty much mutually exclusive; you cannot play death metal if most of the vocals are sung. This is understandably a huge turn-off and a huge complaint about death metal. To focus only on the vocals, however, would be to miss out the genre's emphasis on the other instruments. Death metal is largely un-melodic and difficult to listen to. The earlier form of it was just thrash with less melody and harsh vocals, really. However, most of the time nowadays it's faster and more intense; the riffs are more technical, or are at least more dissonant. The drumming is also often much faster, and it tends to employ what are known as "blast beats", a series of fast alternating hits of the bass drum and snare. This is probably the most easily recognizable form of metal, just due to its sheer intensity. Here's one of my favorites, Suffocation's "Pierced from Within." I suggest you just listen and not look at the video if you're queasy about grossly drawn things...
-Black Metal: I don't know which genre is more controversial, this one or death metal. Black metal is characterized by the use of higher "shrieking" vocals rather than the lower "growls" death metal is known for. The guitar riffs are often very simple; most black metal riffs consists of few notes, but these notes are repeated rapidly in the course of the riff. The drumming can vary in technicality, but it may rely on blast beats even more than death metal. Much black metal is controversial because the genre's most famous bands are known for "Satanic" imagery and all that buggery. Trust me, that can take a whole 'nother post in itself, but by now I'm all by interested in the controversy. To the uninitiated black and death metal may sound alike, simply due to both being the most extreme forms of metal. Just remember though, low vocals and technicality for death metal, high vocals and simple structures for black metal. That's a general guideline though, not a rule. This is Darkthrone, "Unholy Black Metal." Again, please ignore the video itself and just listen to the music, for your own sake. Ironically, I hate this song, but I love the genre. But it's much easier to spot the differences between this and "Pierced from Within".
-Progressive Metal: Well, it's often very technical. Non-traditional song structures, riffs, and sometimes even vocals and instruments. If it's kinda "out there", yet it contains the same heavy guitar distortion and intensity associated with all forms of metal, then it's probably prog metal. This genre can blur the borders between metal and other major musical genres too, if it takes that much influence from non-metal genres. I'd hate to just shove complicated metal that doesn't fit in any other genre too well into its own category, but it's easiest this way. I only just remembered that I forgot this after my initial posting of this, so I got lazy and just searched for a compilation of prog metal songs. Here you go, 10 minutes of progressive metal. Knock yourself out (but not before listening to it. Okay that was lame).
-Power Metal: My least favorite genre :-/ Imagine normal heavy metal, but with more melody and ornamentation, and a more "grandiose" sound, for a lack of a better and more motivated description. And it has even more cheese. Sadly I don't like this as much as other subgenres, but I do love Blind Guardian's "Mirror Mirror."
-Doom Metal: Well this is easy. Doom metal is slow. And conveys a sense of doom. It often focuses on the volume of the riffs, which are simplistic, slow, and drawn out. This applies to drums, bass, and even sometimes vocals. Black Sabbath are actually seen as the pioneers of doom metal, due to the long, slow, drawn out structures of songs like "War Pigs". Doom metal may have clean or harsh vocals, by the way.This is "The Burning Man" by the underrated Mourning Beloveth. I quite enjoy the melodic main riff there. Note that this is 10 minutes long, but you'll get the gist of it in like a third of that time
And that's that. There are subgenres of these, like symphonic black metal, and hybrids, like melodic death metal (death metal + power metal - cheeeeese).
But uh, yeah, if I ever catch you saying that metal is all "just screaming and noise", then I'll kindly direct you here. :p
Okay, that REALLY tired me out. I think you won't mind if I actually write WHY I like this stuff tomorrow.