The Heavy Metal Law!!

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Strapping Young Lad said:
Metal is for true lovers of music, the sort of people who appreciate the abilities and talents and hard work that goes into music.
Metal is for people who understand the hours of practice it takes to master an instrument and then play it to an extreme level.
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Can you tell me more about why people are drawn to heavy metal?

I appreciate the talents and hard work that goes in to music. I don't play the guitar well and I know how long it has taken me to be able to play it poorly, therefore when I see or hear someone play an amazing guitar riff, I am in awe. However, I still can't get around *most* heavy metal.

Metal is for intelligent people who want to see passed the commercial lust for feel-good music.
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"In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force ". Contrary to your statement, perhaps acts of showmanship and brute force as seen in heavy metal are not qualities that people want to support, consciously or subconsciously.

Would you care to help me understand the draw to heavy metal more? While I don't think I'll be a convert any time soon, I am only looking to understand its allure so that I can respect it more fully.
 
rjslcM said:
Can you tell me more about why people are drawn to heavy metal?

I appreciate the talents and hard work that goes in to music. I don't play the guitar well and I know how long it has taken me to be able to play it poorly, therefore when I see or hear someone play an amazing guitar riff, I am in awe. However, I still can't get around *most* heavy metal.



"In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force ". Contrary to your statement, perhaps acts of showmanship and brute force as seen in heavy metal are not qualities that people want to support, consciously or subconsciously.

Would you care to help me understand the draw to heavy metal more? While I don't think I'll be a convert any time soon, I am only looking to understand its allure so that I can respect it more fully.
Click to expand...
Whoever wrote that has no clue. Heavy music is actually highly syncopated, highly nuanced as well as ridiculously technically skilled. Here are a few examples to check out, revealing the extremes, the musicianship, the compositional skills and a far from comprehensive cross-section of what it can be. You may not actually enjoy some or any of it, it may not be to your specific tastes, and that's of course completely fine. But to dismiss it as purely about showmanship and brute force, or thinking it's just all noise, is just pure ignorance.







ANIMALS AS LEADERS - Physical Education (Live in Anaheim 2020) - YouTube

Dream Theater Instrumedley multi display full version - "The Dance of Instrumentals" - YouTube
 
rjslcM said:
Can you tell me more about why people are drawn to heavy metal?

I appreciate the talents and hard work that goes in to music. I don't play the guitar well and I know how long it has taken me to be able to play it poorly, therefore when I see or hear someone play an amazing guitar riff, I am in awe. However, I still can't get around *most* heavy metal.



"In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force ". Contrary to your statement, perhaps acts of showmanship and brute force as seen in heavy metal are not qualities that people want to support, consciously or subconsciously.

Would you care to help me understand the draw to heavy metal more? While I don't think I'll be a convert any time soon, I am only looking to understand its allure so that I can respect it more fully.
Click to expand...

Not sure how this can be answered. I mean, why are people drawn to jazz? Or EDM? Or football? I presume people have all sorts of reasons, learned and inherited, for why they might choose one thing and ignore another.

For me, I learned early in life that I want to hear things that are new (even if just to me), different or intellectually challenging. Metal, jazz and the more progressive leanings of rock are where I have most easily filled those needs, though I listen to a lot of other stuff too. Those broad genres also appeal to what I personally find appealing in music, in terms of aesthetics and sound, more than say straight up classical music or choir music does, for example.

What I will say about metal is this. Whatever you think it is, even as a regular listener, it's a lot more. It absorbs and reinvents a wider range of ideas and influences than just about any other genre, IMO.

And as a community, metal can have a bit of a chip on its shoulder, because I think there is a perception/stereotype that metal is stupid music for stupid people, when even the most cursory effort to listen critically will show that to be untrue.
 
Yeah, I think I was angry and drunk when I wrote that post way back in 2006.


If you don’t get why people like metal, bad luck. 😂
 
rjslcM said:
Can you tell me more about why people are drawn to heavy metal?

I appreciate the talents and hard work that goes in to music. I don't play the guitar well and I know how long it has taken me to be able to play it poorly, therefore when I see or hear someone play an amazing guitar riff, I am in awe. However, I still can't get around *most* heavy metal.



"In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force ". Contrary to your statement, perhaps acts of showmanship and brute force as seen in heavy metal are not qualities that people want to support, consciously or subconsciously.

Would you care to help me understand the draw to heavy metal more? While I don't think I'll be a convert any time soon, I am only looking to understand its allure so that I can respect it more fully.
Click to expand...
Also watch this breakdown of an amazing track by aussie band Karnivool:
 
Roddy said:
Whoever wrote that has no clue. Heavy music is actually highly syncopated, highly nuanced as well as ridiculously technically skilled. Here are a few examples to check out, revealing the extremes, the musicianship, the compositional skills and a far from comprehensive cross-section of what it can be. You may not actually enjoy some or any of it, it may not be to your specific tastes, and that's of course completely fine. But to dismiss it as purely about showmanship and brute force, or thinking it's just all noise, is just pure ignorance.







ANIMALS AS LEADERS - Physical Education (Live in Anaheim 2020) - YouTube

Dream Theater Instrumedley multi display full version - "The Dance of Instrumentals" - YouTube
Click to expand...


Thanks for the response everyone.

I actually enjoyed the first two videos. Unsurprisingly, they had more conventional vocals. The latter one: 'Desecravity - Bloody Terpsichorean Art' - insanely amazing skill by the musicians. I am wondering what the idea is behind the vocals in that one though? To what effect does growling have? After a quick Google search, I found this answer: "What's the point to howl in blues? What's the point to vibrato in jazz? What's the point to jam in funk, or to screech in rock? Delivery of emotions derived from the artist under the rhythm/melody/mood. Music isn't just heard, it's felt."
If this is the case, what is the mood, feeling or 'vibe' that most heavy metal is meant to impart onto its listeners via the growl? Anger? Intensity? An unwillingness to back down? I'm not sure what the song is trying to convey to me, other than "look at how ****ing awesome we are at the guitar and drums." It doesn't fire me up, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know what the song's message is. What does it make you feel?
 

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Rhayader said:
Not sure how this can be answered. I mean, why are people drawn to jazz? Or EDM? Or football? I presume people have all sorts of reasons, learned and inherited, for why they might choose one thing and ignore another.

For me, I learned early in life that I want to hear things that are new (even if just to me), different or intellectually challenging. Metal, jazz and the more progressive leanings of rock are where I have most easily filled those needs, though I listen to a lot of other stuff too. Those broad genres also appeal to what I personally find appealing in music, in terms of aesthetics and sound, more than say straight up classical music or choir music does, for example.

What I will say about metal is this. Whatever you think it is, even as a regular listener, it's a lot more. It absorbs and reinvents a wider range of ideas and influences than just about any other genre, IMO.

And as a community, metal can have a bit of a chip on its shoulder, because I think there is a perception/stereotype that metal is stupid music for stupid people, when even the most cursory effort to listen critically will show that to be untrue.
Click to expand...

How do they intellectually challenge you? To understand what the songs mean, because they aren't as easily interpreted as conventional Top 40 songs about hoes, cars, money or love? To think about the number of layers in the piece and the extraordinary amount of skill? Or do you try and play them? What is it that you find stimulating intellectually?

I'm not sure what metal is to me other than I know that it is a genre that contains a number of songs that I like and many, many more that just don't agree with me, despite acknowledging how much skill they require from the musicians to play. For instance, Tool - Right in Two is one of my most played songs yet I hardly listen to anything else from the genre (not sure if its considered heavy metal at all though). There are some aspects of heavy metal songs that I struggle to understand why they are enjoyable to others but not to me. As for it's listeners, I have friends from very different walks of life who all enjoy it, I have no perception or stereotype about its listeners.
 
rjslcM said:
Thanks for the response everyone.

I actually enjoyed the first two videos. Unsurprisingly, they had more conventional vocals. The latter one: 'Desecravity - Bloody Terpsichorean Art' - insanely amazing skill by the musicians. I am wondering what the idea is behind the vocals in that one though? To what effect does growling have? After a quick Google search, I found this answer: "What's the point to howl in blues? What's the point to vibrato in jazz? What's the point to jam in funk, or to screech in rock? Delivery of emotions derived from the artist under the rhythm/melody/mood. Music isn't just heard, it's felt."
If this is the case, what is the mood, feeling or 'vibe' that most heavy metal is meant to impart onto its listeners via the growl? Anger? Intensity? An unwillingness to back down? I'm not sure what the song is trying to convey to me, other than "look at how ****ing awesome we are at the guitar and drums." It doesn't fire me up, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know what the song's message is. What does it make you feel?
Click to expand...

I'm probably not the best person to respond because I almost never pay attention to lyrics, so the "message" of a song is largely irrelevant to me., which matbe makes it easier to deal with unintelligible vocals (or vocals in foreign, or even made up, languages). Most of favourite records, I can anticipate the exact the sound the singer is about to make, but haven't put a lot of thought into what he/she is saying or why. I guess if I wanted poetry, I'd read poems?

A lot of actual metal fans don't like the "growl" vocals either. It's just a matter taste. But I think if it this way: Carcass wouldn't be the Carcass I love if they had clean vocals. Would it be bad? Probably not. But it wouldn't be the same. The choice of vocal style is a actually key defining feature for a lot of the more extreme forms of metal. So it is what it is, as it was intended by the creators at that moment. That's art, I guess 🤷‍♂️

Maybe give the Googling away and just listen to some stuff, and see if you like any of it? If not, it's all good. It's just not for you!
 
Rhayader said:
I'm probably not the best person to respond because I almost never pay attention to lyrics, so the "message" of a song is largely irrelevant to me., which matbe makes it easier to deal with unintelligible vocals (or vocals in foreign, or even made up, languages). Most of favourite records, I can anticipate the exact the sound the singer is about to make, but haven't put a lot of thought into what he/she is saying or why. I guess if I wanted poetry, I'd read poems?

A lot of actual metal fans don't like the "growl" vocals either. It's just a matter taste. But I think if it this way: Carcass wouldn't be the Carcass I love if they had clean vocals. Would it be bad? Probably not. But it wouldn't be the same. The choice of vocal style is a actually key defining feature for a lot of the more extreme forms of metal. So it is what it is, as it was intended by the creators at that moment. That's art, I guess 🤷‍♂️

Maybe give the Googling away and just listen to some stuff, and see if you like any of it? If not, it's all good. It's just not for you!
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I wonder how many of us actually do this, unconsciously.

Thanks for your responses, I really appreciate it. I can respect it all as art, I don't necessarily need to hang the piece on my wall, its okay to go on someone else's though. I'll keep digging, hopefully finding some more stuff I enjoy.
 
rjslcM said:
How do they intellectually challenge you? To understand what the songs mean, because they aren't as easily interpreted as conventional Top 40 songs about hoes, cars, money or love? To think about the number of layers in the piece and the extraordinary amount of skill? Or do you try and play them? What is it that you find stimulating intellectually?

I'm not sure what metal is to me other than I know that it is a genre that contains a number of songs that I like and many, many more that just don't agree with me, despite acknowledging how much skill they require from the musicians to play. For instance, Tool - Right in Two is one of my most played songs yet I hardly listen to anything else from the genre (not sure if its considered heavy metal at all though). There are some aspects of heavy metal songs that I struggle to understand why they are enjoyable to others but not to me. As for it's listeners, I have friends from very different walks of life who all enjoy it, I have no perception or stereotype about its listeners.
Click to expand...

If a piece of music makes me stop and take notice, if a sound grabs me, or a melody or rhythm or a hook or a shift, if there some kind of sense of "how did they do that", then I'll probably feel intellectually challenged enough to pay closer attention and listen to more. Sometimes it's skill, sometimes it's music, sometimes it's my mood.

Metal isn't a monolith. No one likes it all, and everyone would probably find something that appeals to them if they get an opportunity to hear it.

I feel like you are asking honest questions here, but I am just not sure what answers you are expecting. People like different stuff 🤷‍♂️
 
rjslcM said:
Thanks for the response everyone.

I actually enjoyed the first two videos. Unsurprisingly, they had more conventional vocals. The latter one: 'Desecravity - Bloody Terpsichorean Art' - insanely amazing skill by the musicians. I am wondering what the idea is behind the vocals in that one though? To what effect does growling have? After a quick Google search, I found this answer: "What's the point to howl in blues? What's the point to vibrato in jazz? What's the point to jam in funk, or to screech in rock? Delivery of emotions derived from the artist under the rhythm/melody/mood. Music isn't just heard, it's felt."
If this is the case, what is the mood, feeling or 'vibe' that most heavy metal is meant to impart onto its listeners via the growl? Anger? Intensity? An unwillingness to back down? I'm not sure what the song is trying to convey to me, other than "look at how ****ing awesome we are at the guitar and drums." It doesn't fire me up, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know what the song's message is. What does it make you feel?
Click to expand...
Vocal wise, the vocals have to match the music. Hyper intense and aggressive music needs vocals and lyrics to match.
Metal is loud and aggressive and all that, sure, but it’s also about energy and catharsis and release. If I’ve had a shitty day, I put some of my favourite metal on really loud, and I instantly feel better.
Lyrically, lots of heavy bands tackle some pretty deep, dark and meaningful topics, war, violence, politics, death, oppression, mental health, serial killers etc etc etc…..
 
rjslcM said:
How do they intellectually challenge you? To understand what the songs mean, because they aren't as easily interpreted as conventional Top 40 songs about hoes, cars, money or love? To think about the number of layers in the piece and the extraordinary amount of skill? Or do you try and play them? What is it that you find stimulating intellectually?

I'm not sure what metal is to me other than I know that it is a genre that contains a number of songs that I like and many, many more that just don't agree with me, despite acknowledging how much skill they require from the musicians to play. For instance, Tool - Right in Two is one of my most played songs yet I hardly listen to anything else from the genre (not sure if its considered heavy metal at all though). There are some aspects of heavy metal songs that I struggle to understand why they are enjoyable to others but not to me. As for it's listeners, I have friends from very different walks of life who all enjoy it, I have no perception or stereotype about its listeners.
Click to expand...

If you like Tool, maybe try some stuff like later Katatonia or Soen, see if there is anything you enjoy, or even Opeth (Blackwater Park is a decent place to start if you can stomach the growling sections). If you use Spotify, their algos/playlists are pretty good at making recommendations based on what you are playing now, so just jump into the rabbit hole and see where you land. The worst thing that can happen is you have to hit pause or skip to the next song.
 
Roddy said:
Vocal wise, the vocals have to match the music. Hyper intense and aggressive music needs vocals and lyrics to match.
Metal is loud and aggressive and all that, sure, but it’s also about energy and catharsis and release. If I’ve had a shitty day, I put some of my favourite metal on really loud, and I instantly feel better.
Lyrically, lots of heavy bands tackle some pretty deep, dark and meaningful topics, war, violence, politics, death, oppression, mental health, serial killers etc etc etc…..
Click to expand...

Yes, one of the great myths is that metal makes you feel bad/angry. In my experience, it's the opposite.
 
Rhayader said:
If a piece of music makes me stop and take notice, if a sound grabs me, or a melody or rhythm or a hook or a shift, if there some kind of sense of "how did they do that", then I'll probably feel intellectually challenged enough to pay closer attention and listen to more. Sometimes it's skill, sometimes it's music, sometimes it's my mood.

Metal isn't a monolith. No one likes it all, and everyone would probably find something that appeals to them if they get an opportunity to hear it.

I feel like you are asking honest questions here, but I am just not sure what answers you are expecting. People like different stuff 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...

Nah, I think you've given me the answers I was looking for, particularly this last bolded point. I think I have viewed metal as a bit of a monolith in the past and when you do that about anything, you limit yourself to shallow opinions about that field. I do also understand the purpose of the growl as an artform more than I did one hour ago. Great news - perhaps remaining open has allowed me to enjoy some flavours from cuisines that I am less accustomed to and therefore given me the chance to share a meal with more people from other walks of life in the future. Hooray. Cheers.
 
Roddy said:
...Metal is loud and aggressive and all that, sure, but it’s also about energy and catharsis and release. If I’ve had a shitty day, I put some of my favourite metal on really loud, and I instantly feel better.
Click to expand...
Rhayader said:
Yes, one of the great myths is that metal makes you feel bad/angry. In my experience, it's the opposite.
Click to expand...

So interesting!
 
Rhayader said:
Listened to this album this morning. Opeth is probably my favourite band, but BWP is one of their albums I listen to least (even though it's great).
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I haven’t listened to Opeth for sometime. I lost track of them when they went full clean prog.
 
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