I really can't blame anyone for hating metal when they get their exposure from headbanger's ball. Understand that true metalheads don't call most of that shit metal. Most of it's there just to sell an image. Most real metal is way underground. You really have to look around to find the good stuff since it's an extreme artform that most people can't appreciate. Chances are that the mall won't carry any good metal except for bay thrash (basically just metallica and megadeth, and even there you have to know what you're looking for.) Instead of giving you a rundown of all the awesome metal bands out there, I'll give you some reasons to be intrigued.
1.True metal is based around a philosophy that one should take action to remake the world as one sees fit. The best example the the phenomenon of black metal. At its beginnings, it was not so much a music genre as an underground social movement, that centered around several bands in Norway such as Mayhem and Burzum. The satanic imagery was used not so much as a litteral reference to Satan as a symbol of the counteraction to Christian culture. The goal of these bands was litterally to rid Norway of Christianity and return it to its pagan roots. People connected with the band did indeed burn churches, but it was not for shock value, it was what they believed in.
2.Much true metal is more technically involved than any other music except for classical and real jazz. Obviously the drums and guitars and very fast, but also death metal is strenuous for the left hand because of the number of diffent notes being played and the unusual orders they come in. Black metal is very layered and harmonic and requires a good understanding of scales and modes. Usually the keyboard parts are very complex. The drumming is also complex, and not just fast, especially with math metal, which is often very syncopated and some bands such as Meshuggah use polymetrics to create an extrordinarily disjointed sound which is difficult for almost anyone to follow. Also the melodic singing is more demanding than most types of music, and even the growling vocals and more difficult to do convincingly than you might imagine.
3.There is more diversity in metal than most genres, everything from the soaring symphonic arrangements of bands like Nightwish and Sonata Arctica to sheer noise and aggression to the barely controlled chaos of the Dillinger Escape Plan to the folk awesomeness of Finntroll and everything in between.
In short, true metal is not about pretense like most of the modrock and fashioncore popular today. Yes, there are some shitty metal bands out there, but if you can find the ones that are there because they believe in themselves and have real talent, you may really start to appreciate them.
1.True metal is based around a philosophy that one should take action to remake the world as one sees fit. The best example the the phenomenon of black metal. At its beginnings, it was not so much a music genre as an underground social movement, that centered around several bands in Norway such as Mayhem and Burzum. The satanic imagery was used not so much as a litteral reference to Satan as a symbol of the counteraction to Christian culture. The goal of these bands was litterally to rid Norway of Christianity and return it to its pagan roots. People connected with the band did indeed burn churches, but it was not for shock value, it was what they believed in.
2.Much true metal is more technically involved than any other music except for classical and real jazz. Obviously the drums and guitars and very fast, but also death metal is strenuous for the left hand because of the number of diffent notes being played and the unusual orders they come in. Black metal is very layered and harmonic and requires a good understanding of scales and modes. Usually the keyboard parts are very complex. The drumming is also complex, and not just fast, especially with math metal, which is often very syncopated and some bands such as Meshuggah use polymetrics to create an extrordinarily disjointed sound which is difficult for almost anyone to follow. Also the melodic singing is more demanding than most types of music, and even the growling vocals and more difficult to do convincingly than you might imagine.
3.There is more diversity in metal than most genres, everything from the soaring symphonic arrangements of bands like Nightwish and Sonata Arctica to sheer noise and aggression to the barely controlled chaos of the Dillinger Escape Plan to the folk awesomeness of Finntroll and everything in between.
In short, true metal is not about pretense like most of the modrock and fashioncore popular today. Yes, there are some shitty metal bands out there, but if you can find the ones that are there because they believe in themselves and have real talent, you may really start to appreciate them.
by Salient Alien July 08, 2005
A form of music that came about in the late 70's and reached its peak of success in the early 80's. It was the first form of "metal" music and it has roots in 70's hard rock. contrary to popular belief the term has nothing to do with newer metal genres as these genres should be referred to as simply "metal". The metal genres most similar to heavy metal are "speed metal" and "power metal". There are some heavy metal bands that started out as hard rock bands such as Judas Priest and Riot. These bands are sometimes referred to as "proto-metal".
by heavy metal machine September 11, 2009
Heavy Metal is a great Genre. It all started in the 60s where The Kinks "You really got me" showed a perfect example of a metal riff, And steppenwolf said the perfect name for the genre in the lyrics "Heavy Metal Thunder" in the song Born to be wild (though the word thunder never made it)It was created by the legendary greats Black Sabbath in 1970. When Tony lost his fingers tips he thought he would never play again but when you replace them with plastic covers he made monster riffs never imagined to be loved forever. Heavy Metal is characterize with Rock n Roll, BluesRock, Hard Rock, and Psychedelic rock. BANds like Judas Priest, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Dream Theater are really perfect examples of true heavy metal.
In the late 70s, Metal was losing populartiy cause of such "music" such as Punk which ran in the UK, and Disco, whci ran in the US. Punk was just banging motes and making all these noices, disco would just piss you off but it died out easily (waiting for hip hop to do the same). But in 1980, Metal was brought back to live and it's rescuer's were none other than 5 men with one name, Judas Priest.
In the late 70s, Metal was losing populartiy cause of such "music" such as Punk which ran in the UK, and Disco, whci ran in the US. Punk was just banging motes and making all these noices, disco would just piss you off but it died out easily (waiting for hip hop to do the same). But in 1980, Metal was brought back to live and it's rescuer's were none other than 5 men with one name, Judas Priest.
Heavy Metal
Judas Priest
Metallica
AC/DC (Mostly rock)
Led Zeppelin
Alice Cooper
Iron Maiden
Slayer
Arch Enemy
Judas Priest
Metallica
AC/DC (Mostly rock)
Led Zeppelin
Alice Cooper
Iron Maiden
Slayer
Arch Enemy
by Alan Massacre April 14, 2008
Heavy metal kicks absolute ass...
It always has...
It speaks for it'self..
The only place some faceless punk could ever say anything about metal is on a web site like this.
Metal has proven it'self and stands the test of time.
Unlike.
punk
emo
rap
etc..
Metal is in your heart.
To those who don't understand.... You never will..
And WE don't care..
Metal doesn't need you.
So go dis on punk or emo rap whatever.
WE will always be here.
We could care less what you listen to or how perfect you like your cords.
Wow I just made myself laugh...
It always has...
It speaks for it'self..
The only place some faceless punk could ever say anything about metal is on a web site like this.
Metal has proven it'self and stands the test of time.
Unlike.
punk
emo
rap
etc..
Metal is in your heart.
To those who don't understand.... You never will..
And WE don't care..
Metal doesn't need you.
So go dis on punk or emo rap whatever.
WE will always be here.
We could care less what you listen to or how perfect you like your cords.
Wow I just made myself laugh...
Dude metal rocks.
Yes Corrosion of conformity is the baddest band of all time.
What about people who dis Heavy Metal though?
They are probably dising all the new shit that by some accident got called metal.
Anyway they just don't understand and never will so FUCK THEM....
Yes Corrosion of conformity is the baddest band of all time.
What about people who dis Heavy Metal though?
They are probably dising all the new shit that by some accident got called metal.
Anyway they just don't understand and never will so FUCK THEM....
by jody young October 29, 2006
Contrary to mostly every-other definition of heavy metal here, it is a form of music, mainly instrumental; characterized by polyphonic, loud, skillful sounds. It is the most similar music in terms of composition to classical music. Also contrary to popular belief heavy metal is older than classic rock, and is still very much alive today
Guy 1: Hey I was in AP music today and we were discussing Vivaldi.
Guy 2: Cool, you know if you like Vivaldi you should check out Baroque Skins.
Guy 1: Sure what kind of band are they?
Guy 2: heavy Metal
Guy 2: Cool, you know if you like Vivaldi you should check out Baroque Skins.
Guy 1: Sure what kind of band are they?
Guy 2: heavy Metal
by ReTARDIS August 23, 2012
Well the original one was.
by Bluto May 08, 2005
A very misunderstood form of music that actually takes lots of talent! It originated as a mix between the blues and hard rock. While not all agree, Black Sabbath is often credited as being the 1st heavy metal band. However they were some bands before them who had songs that could be considered early examples as Blue Cheer, Cream, etc. The darker sound of metal came by accident actually. Black Sabbath's guitarist Tony Iommi had worked at a sheet metal factory and on his last day of the job he had a freak accident, severing 2 fingertips on his right hand. Feeling like his music career was over, he was inspired by a fellow jazz musician to keep going. He then went on to find different ways to make artificial fingertips and used lighter strings to ease the pain on his 2 fingers while playing the guitar. He also down tuned the guitar. With a down tuned guitar and lyric themes inspired by horror movies the music had a heavier and darker sound. Since then bands such as Judas Priest just ditched the bluesy sound and it has evolved to many sub-genres, each with a different sound.
All you people who say that it's for emos, goth vampires, satan worshippers and think it's all grunts and screams and guys dressed like women are ignorant! Do some damn research before you judge it. I used to love rap and and hated metal for those stereotypes. I was an ignorant prick like all of you. Then rap just got stupid with lyrics about meaningless crap so I decided to listen to rock which eventually lead me to metal then I realized there's more to it than grunts and screams and satanism. Those 3 stereotypes only make up a small portion of metal. Grunts and screams are mainly found in the thrash, death, and black metal sub-genres. Then again not all thrash is made up of screams either. Not all death metal bands have lyrics about murder, rape, satan, etc either. Some of them actually have meaningful lyrics like Death and Opeth (Progressive Death Metal). Even still just because a band has screams or grunts for vocals doesn't mean the band doesn't have talent, if you can simply get passed those vocals and just focus on the music itself you'd find out that they could still are very talented. Good examples would be Children of Bodom, Necrophagist, 80's Metallica (anything after '91 flat out sucks), Wintersun, etc. Even if you can't get passed those vocals you could still like metal but just ignore those extreme sub-genres! Like I said they only make a small portion. Under examples I'll list bands with clean vocals.
And the part about metal bands dressing like women, you guys are referring to 80's glam metal, which I'm glad to say is dead because I hate it to! And remember, lyrics that deal with satan, murder, gore, etc are only in good fun, they're just bands who like to have fun because let's face it. Music about GOD is boring!
Also just to show you how huge metal is here are some of the sub-genres, and I'm pretty sure I'm missing some
Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
Power Metal
Thrash Metal
Death Metal
Black Metal
Blackened Death Metal
Blackened Thrash Metal
Symphonic Black Metal
Melodic Black Metal
Neo Classical Metal
Symphonic Metal
Melodic Death Metal
Metalcore (false metal)
Nu Metal (false metal)
Progressive Metal
Progressive Death Metal
Technical Death Metal
Folk Metal
Viking Metal (though it's more of a theme really)
Alternative Metal
Glam Metal (gay and dead)
Groove Metal
Grindcore
I know there's more but i'm missing them! Seriously metal is so huge and diverse, open up your minds! All those sub-genres sound different from each other!
All you people who say that it's for emos, goth vampires, satan worshippers and think it's all grunts and screams and guys dressed like women are ignorant! Do some damn research before you judge it. I used to love rap and and hated metal for those stereotypes. I was an ignorant prick like all of you. Then rap just got stupid with lyrics about meaningless crap so I decided to listen to rock which eventually lead me to metal then I realized there's more to it than grunts and screams and satanism. Those 3 stereotypes only make up a small portion of metal. Grunts and screams are mainly found in the thrash, death, and black metal sub-genres. Then again not all thrash is made up of screams either. Not all death metal bands have lyrics about murder, rape, satan, etc either. Some of them actually have meaningful lyrics like Death and Opeth (Progressive Death Metal). Even still just because a band has screams or grunts for vocals doesn't mean the band doesn't have talent, if you can simply get passed those vocals and just focus on the music itself you'd find out that they could still are very talented. Good examples would be Children of Bodom, Necrophagist, 80's Metallica (anything after '91 flat out sucks), Wintersun, etc. Even if you can't get passed those vocals you could still like metal but just ignore those extreme sub-genres! Like I said they only make a small portion. Under examples I'll list bands with clean vocals.
And the part about metal bands dressing like women, you guys are referring to 80's glam metal, which I'm glad to say is dead because I hate it to! And remember, lyrics that deal with satan, murder, gore, etc are only in good fun, they're just bands who like to have fun because let's face it. Music about GOD is boring!
Also just to show you how huge metal is here are some of the sub-genres, and I'm pretty sure I'm missing some
Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
Power Metal
Thrash Metal
Death Metal
Black Metal
Blackened Death Metal
Blackened Thrash Metal
Symphonic Black Metal
Melodic Black Metal
Neo Classical Metal
Symphonic Metal
Melodic Death Metal
Metalcore (false metal)
Nu Metal (false metal)
Progressive Metal
Progressive Death Metal
Technical Death Metal
Folk Metal
Viking Metal (though it's more of a theme really)
Alternative Metal
Glam Metal (gay and dead)
Groove Metal
Grindcore
I know there's more but i'm missing them! Seriously metal is so huge and diverse, open up your minds! All those sub-genres sound different from each other!
Heavy Metal Bands with clean vocals: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Edguy, Nightwish, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Epica, Hammerfall, DragonForce, Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Opeth (a mix of both grunts and singing, a very talented band), the Scorpions, Deff Leppard, Van Halen
by Mexican Metalhead May 23, 2008