Someone explain this... "metal"... to me?

[Bryan]

I've had numerous classmates approach me with the ideology of listening to metal.

I just don't understand what's so good about it. I'm one who can enjoy all types of music... really. One friend played this song for me on his iPod



It just sounds like a mash-up of fast-spoken lyrics and guitar spam.

So, OnRPG. Explain why metal is so good.

[Magato]

hmm inb4 war anyways its all about personal taste and metal kinda gets you pumped if ya ask meh =/

[Popsai]

Well, Slayer rules, and that's all there is to it.
I like it because its agressive, fast and heavy.

[TheJESTERJ]

You either like it or you don't. Most metal songs I listen to I do so because they pump me up and make me want to smash shit with a mallet.

[Norrin Radd]

Either you like it or you don't, really.

I don't inherently like any genre, so I couldn't explain why metal as a genre is good. I could only say "Here are metal bands I like, here's why.".

Love or hate metal, there's an ignorance about saying "It's just noise.". Unless you're used to it, obviously it's going to seem jarring. That argument only becomes true, in my opinion, with bands like Mortician. Tuning down to the point that it just becomes incomprehensible.

[zamwini]

I'll tell ya, I hated metal when I was frist introduced to it. But I let it stick around in my Ipod and I guess it kinda grew on me and I started to understand it better. Now I love metal. There are many different kinds of metal, you just have to find your taste (or maybe your just not a fan of metal).

[Elegance]

I'll listen to anything aside from Gospel and Country. When something like this is playing, I just hope I'm doing something competitive at the time or I would end up changing it. >_<

[power_gamer_6]

All I'm gonna say, and heed my words:

**** YEAH SLAYER!

[†Ð£MØц]

You just dissed hell awaits man...>

But seriously there are a bunch of sub genres in metal so search until you find something you like.

[shadowsworn]

That's an awesome song

As I said in the other thread though, if you're interested in metal (at least, heavy metal, the kind you normally associate with metal (ie. Slayer), rather than say doom, drone or some folk metal, which often sound completely different) the first album you should check out should be Powerslave by Iron Maiden, certainly not anything by Slayer for instance (which I can see being a bit more of an acquired taste). Powerslave is the heavy metal metal album.



Aces High

So, in conclusion, listen to this song. If you don't like it, I don't think metal (normal heavy metal anyway) is your thing. Nothing wrong with that.

[Xenonight2]

I don't like Metal very much, but that is an awesome song!

[DivineRevival]

Because a lot of metal songs actually have some meaning besides, rap ( Which died with Tupac) which the meaning is to "**** bitches, get money, **** bitches, get drunk at some party, **** bitches, get money" A couple rap artists are sane and can actually create good rap, but most of it is just crap.

[ChickenDewd21]

All 12 year olds are immature and lame.

;o I can generalize, too.

[Bryan]

See, this one wasn't that bad.

[power_gamer_6]

Metal isn't diverse just because bands in it decide to add elements from everywhere else. That proves that metal is the exact opposite.

That's exactly WHY it's diverse.
How the **** do you figure it's the exact opposite? Shit man.

[darknight55]

I can generalize hip hop too, always singing about sexual organs.

[Norrin Radd]

That's exactly WHY it's diverse.
How the **** do you figure it's the exact opposite? Shit man.

Because then that's not metal being diverse on its own merit, it's metal bands being too talented or too ambitious for metal restrictions and expanding.

Example: Emperor, Opeth, Between the Buried & Me, System of a Down, Ulver.

They are all metal bands to one degree or another, but what makes them different? It's not the metal elements of their music, that's what ties them together. Metal is very restrictive and straight forward. If you look at pure metal bands; Slayer, Pantera, any of the big four, Testament etc. It's all very simplistically creative music, and that's because they incorporate hardly anything from anywhere else. It's easy to clone, and thus many have.

Emperor's early work was purely black metal, now if you listen to their later stuff it incorporates rock, orchestral etc.

That is Ihsahn making himself diverse, not metal. If you want to say metal contains some very diverse musicians and bands, then yeah, it does, but that's not credit to metal, it's credit to those bands for being able to extend beyond metal. Key words; beyond metal.

Opeth, Emperor etc, these bands are head and shoulders above the rest because they're simply better, more ambitious and more widely talented musicians than to be focusing solely on metal.

If you make pure metal, chances are it's because that's all you can make. So whilst metal has some diverse musicians, it's not fundamentally a diverse genre.

In rock, you can sound like a million different things and still fundamentally be rock, because rock compositions can come about in way more ways, technically, than metal composition.

The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Tool, Faith No More.

All of those bands are rock bands, and they are all different musically, but they don't all incorporate 90 different genres to be different. Rock is more versatile. Any metal bands that happen to be truly diverse are arguably even metal anymore. Why? Because metal is restrictive.

Opeth have always been more of a rock guitar based metal band, Ihsahn has always leaned more toward classical instrumentation, structure and vocal style, Between the Buried & Me borrow from progressive rock, jazz and alternative rock, whilst focusing on a largely metal style guitar/drums combination.

That's why all the most diverse metal bands are highly contested as to whether or not they are metal anymore. There's a reason; metal only lasts so long, it's a nihilistic and very young-minded appeal. That's why people like Slayer, Testament, Megadeth...all they can do is metal. That's all they've ever been able to do, and because they do it well, they've stuck.

Most musicians nowadays who have any recognisable musical talent at ALL, almost always end up branching away from being purely metal simply because they grow up. It happened to Metallica, happened to Ihsahn, happened to Opeth.

When you look at metal like Black Sabbath, Maiden, Priest...there really was a thin line between them being metal bands, and rock bands. Black Sabbath not so much because even then they still had the heaviest and most evil sounding songs/guitars/rhythm section.

Why do you think all modern metal bands are essentially sound alikes? Because that's the music of youthful rebellion, and eventually most advanced musicians grow out of it.

That's precisely why people who never needed metal as a means for an outlet, but became successful ANYWAY, don't go back and do metal albums, cos it's...like it or not, a very youthful concept. Prince, Sufjan Stevens, Mike Patton, these people didn't start out playing metal. Patton was influenced by it, but he didn't start out playing it. The reason for that is because they wanted to express more than anger or frustration. They, as youngsters, had much more talent and much bigger ideas than your average metalhead.

It's just fact, it's historical fact and it's proven time and time again. There aren't loads of Prince or Mike Patton esque youngsters out there forming clone FNM bands, because they can't.

There's a lot of elitism in metal because so much of it is surplus to requirements. I listen to a handful of metal bands because after Emperor, Opeth, Slayer, Metallica etc, maybe Between the Buried & Me, what's the point? All you're gonna get is rip-offs of those bands to varying degrees. That's what metal is; a few bands get massive, then the following ten years is a million bands ripping one of them off. I mean Jesus Christ, Kerrang! magazine said Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium were the future of metal, as did a few critics in Metal Hammer. Bands today are still ripping off Metallica, and that's what metal is.

Just like the metal bands of the future will be blatant rip offs of whoever is big in these years.

You couldn't say "I listen to Prince, so rock music is pointless.", because there really is about a million fresh variations. Metal wouldn't exist were it not for rock.

Any metal that's diverse is made by musicians who are too diverse for metal. It may still be metal at heart, but that's because they wish to incorporate it. Not because it's that diverse. For example, Damnation by Opeth is not a metal album. It's a rock album by a "metal" band, it also contains some of their most ambitious and beautiful, technically and creatively, music. As *****-inducing as it is to hear the staccato battery that is Deliverance, or Master's Apprentices, or the face-peeler that is Heir Apparant, it'll never match up to the sheer musicality of Closure or Windowpane.

Why? Because metal is a small pond for big fish musicians. It's just true.

[Xente]

Slayer is like beer.

You pretty much have to aquire a taste for them.

[SgtGrimmVegas]

Or be a man.

or that.
/filler

[Jakuza]

I walk into a Metal topic and I see people are insulting Rap, once again.

Thanks guys. >_>

[xXTraitorXx]

Slayer is like beer.

You pretty much have to acquire a taste for them.

I hate Slayer
I put them in the overrated metal bands with Slipknot << god they suck
Anyways there is alot of diversity
stole from wiki I'm sure there are more sub genres but yeah lol find one you like. I personally like metalcore the most.

Black metal
Death metal
Doom metal
Drone metal
Folk metal
Gothic metal
Groove metal
Industrial metal
Metalcore
Neo-classical metal
Nu metal
Post-metal
Power metal
Progressive metal
Sludge metal
Speed metal
Stoner metal
Thrash metal
Alternative metal
Avant-garde metal
Christian metal
Extreme metal
Rap metal
Viking metal

[vimick]

all rap is nowadays is shitty lyrics that talk about stupid shit (one of the top 5 on mtv was a rap song about ****ING PIZZA BOXES!!11!!1one) with dinky little chimes in the back that sound like the old rugrats cartoons.


****ing weirdos lol

on another note: **** YEA SLAYER!!!

THANK YOU. the only reason why people listen to rap , in my opinion is because they think is sounds "good" nothing to do with the lyrics. one of my roommates loved this one rap song and it was about a ****ing brown paper bag. and all they do is repeat 1 line OVER AND OVER AND OVER like 5 million times.

I only listen to music that actually have lyrics that are meaningful. i do like hard rock but again metal is moving into the same territory as rap where people only listen to it because it sounds cool, not for the lyrics.

this is why disturbed in the perfect band for me. they have a hard quality but you can actually hear their lyrics and they actually have a story they are just spewing random words to make the song.

[Manic]

Can we get opinions on metal that don't come from uninformed, ignorant people?
Yes I can prove 40% or and even greater number just look at the school around America.

i c whut u did there.

u didnt do it very gud.

[Chaotix]

all rap is nowadays is shitty lyrics that talk about stupid shit (one of the top 5 on mtv was a rap song about ****ING PIZZA BOXES!!11!!1one) with dinky little chimes in the back that sound like the old rugrats cartoons.


****ing weirdos lol

on another note: **** YEA SLAYER!!!

oh man that would have made total sense
...if he actually said rap was better than metal

i dont think he even said the word rap
*checks*
nope, not there
i guess this proves you jus wanna bash on rap without actually reading anything huh

[Chaotix]

your post implied that

to you maybe, its all about perspective
which is the answer to this whole topic

its all about how people see things
some ppl think rap is good
some ppl think metal is good
some like both
some dislike both
thats it.

/thread