So I'm curious and don't want to pollute the metal thread with these questions. Seems like that thread has a lot of rules about what is not appropriate. Fair enough, anything goes in this thread.

One rule, please be respectful of people's music choices. I certainly respect anyone's choice in music so these questions are not for me to make fun of anyone...I'm genuinely curious.

Also, I svck at classifying music and I honestly think some people take it way too far where it seems like there are only 1 or 2 bands in a particular genre...that's silly to me. So forgive me if I don't get this right and/or classify some band as metal when they're not.

This thread is about music like in the Metal Thread - I already like different kinds of harder rock but Metal (Death, Speed, whatever other types there are I don't know) but I've never been able to get into it.

So how did you all get into metal? I mean did you hear it and instantly have a connection? or was it more of an acquired taste?

What is it about the music that you enjoy?


This next part might offend but that's not my intent - Honestly, to my ears it all just sounds like someone holding the mic way too close to their mouth and grunting into the microphone. Does it sound like that to you or do you actually try to work out what they're singing and sing along?


Thanks in advance for any replies. If you have some suggestions of really good metal, let me know and I'll be happy to give it a listen.

I used to think of it like that about 19 years ago as a technokid of the worst kind.

It is about how you listen to it. My "eyes opened" when I started listening past the screaming and paying attention to the whole, after that the screaming and growling felt just natural to what the music was trying to accomplish. Guess I had a little metalhead hiding inside me, since the transition from popmusic to death metal was so easy and immediate, and how the change in my opinion about these genres switched places. I don't really know how to put into words what I appreciate about metal, but it somehow feels more honest and invokes feelings no other style of music does.

I do sometimes humm along, but I don't start screaming in my house.

This thread is proof that the user appointed "rules" of the Metal Thread are a little absurd. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I can't get into most metal. I am into In Flames, but as a band, not as a fan of the genre. I listen to the actual words of In Flames though, not the grunting.

lol...hey I'm at peace with my love of 80s techno....and 90s and 00s....I love all kinds of music.

So that's getting to what I'm confused about. How does one really look past the screaming and growling? How were you able to do this because it's very difficult for me.

And how does one know what the music is trying to accomplish? I've heard this comment before in relation to other types of music and it's never really made sense to me. Can you explain further?


Perhaps it's the energy and attitude?

I do know that when I want to get pumped up, it's hard driving rock and roll that works, not pop.

lol...that would be funny.

the reason why I got into metal is because the guitar riffs and drumming are actually a bit complicated. I hate it when music is way too simple. Alternative is good at some points, but when I actually want something complicated, I go to metal, or hardcoe music.

Oh come on....let's not start that. They have their rules and I respect them.....don't turn this thread into some slam against them. Just let it go man.

What do you like about them?

I absolutely love their bass guitarist. I also love the melodic nature of In Flames. It's less 'AAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH DEATH FLAMES RAWR TEH YEAH" and actual..music. They have amazing breakdowns.
Listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08Qx4kThUI for an example of this. Notice the amazing rifts and breakdown. I just love that.

Funny... I outgrew death metal and got into techno.



It was an aquired taste. I only really listened to alternative rock as a teenager, which I eventually grew bored of and begain listening to slightly heavier stuff like thrash metal. Over time, clean vocals just didn't do anything for me anymore and I became interested in more extreme genres like Sludge Metal, Death Metal, and then eventually Black Metal. Harsh vocals just add so much more emotion and energy to that kind of music.

But i'm into all kinds of music now. Especially electronic music.

I gotta say though, after being a huge Tool head and a huge in flames guy, and other assorted rock bands that I liked, I've been drawn in by electronic music too. It's pretty much all I listen to now.
Dubstep
House
Electronica
You name it, I love it. Skrillex, Deadmau5, Mt Eden, Bassnectar, Optimus Grime, Above and Beyond, I just love electronic music now.

I mean, I used to listen to a lot of metal that the guys in the metal thread wouldn't consider metal back in 9th grade like The Devil Wears Prada, Job For A Cowboy, Arsonists Get All The Girls ( I still listen to this occasionally, they're a lot of fun) Despised Icon, etc. My tastes just kinda wandered off into different genre's, but I still listen to some metal here and there although its very rarely.

I'm not into the growling/screaming metal. I like Rhapsody of Fire, Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, etc. Sure, some of their songs have bits of screaming, but not the whole things.

:ahhh:

Same happened to me.

I listen to grass roots metal still (Blue Oyster Cult, Motorhead, Black Sabbath etc.) but none of the new stuff. Unless you count Tool, APC, Dream Theater and other bands of that ilk as prog metal.

But when I did listen to Black/Death Metal I was very, very angry. Not to say that you have to be angry to listen to it, but that was a contributing factor to my enjoyment of it. I still enjoy listening to some Graveworm (Hateful Design is an amazing song). You really have to just listen to metal all at once, if that makes sense. You have to give your attention to all parts of the song equally.

Not really. Just a lot of non-metal(often a non-metal genre with metal influences) stuff gets popularly tagged as metal and it isn't. It saves 20 posts a thread of us saying "That isn't what we discuss here, sorry"

To OP:
As for your point of too many genres..there aren't any non-made up genres that don't have a fairly large core of bands. There's often strong stylistic distinction between genres and sub genres.
And as a nitpick "speed" metal isn't a term that is used often. It's used to describe bands like Metallica, it's often not very heavy or abrasive.

As for recommendations for "really good metal"..tell us what genres you enjoy? Here's some random recommendations. I'll stay away from anything too abrasive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDMyIfuTpBc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEPxYFYD4o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZ0EoOuJi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6sBYuYMtjI Most of the songs on that album are long, I picked that one because it's short enough that you won't have to feel bad for cutting it off half way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1I2ho-ZKIc

If you're willing to sit through more abrasive/"heavy" music I can help, most of those are pretty laid back.

@Wind. I'd consider speed metal a legitimate term, it's just not used that much anymore. It's just basically a genre that bridges the gap between old school heavy metal and thrash metal. Kill 'Em All and Slayer's Show No Mercy are usually regarded as speed metal, for example.

It is. He just put it alongside DM and it kind of came off to me like he thought it was a term for any fast metal or something. It usually isn't very heavy and I figured naming Metallica as speed metal would help him understand that it wasn't the kind of metal he's talking about.

Ah, I see. Well on that note I'm going to throw the US http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0jBm3kszTI out here. Fantastic speed metal that made a very poor name choice.

Although they're incredibly cheesy, I heard Cradle of Filth at a young age (when I didn't have the internet to find better bands) and I fell in love with the dark atmospheres. That's why I listen to metal anyway. I'm starting to shift towards some modern classical and ambient stuff now, which can have atmospheres 20xs darker than black metal, but I still have love for it since I spent so much of my teen years obsessed with it. :rock:

For a start metal isn't all grunting and screaming

A few examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rbEzLTSQXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iTlu3STCdI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhEmAvZBFUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DyaQXeDq2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIjXYYixbgA (Seriously listen to this if you think all metal vocals are grunts)

I like metal because it to me can be anything, fast, slow, heavy, soft, simple and complex. I love metal for it's ability to capture any mood for it's intelligence and complexity and the atmospheres it can create, matched only by orchestral scores and classical music.

There are so many sub genres of metal there is probably something for everyone if they actually took the time to look. The lyrical subjects of the songs can be alot more meaningful and deeper than anything you find in popular music if you care for such emotion:

Example: The Nightwish song I linked is called Creek Mary's Blood. It is about the genocide of the native americans by the white settlers. It is symphonic metal, it includes a 100 piece orchestra and classical sung vocals. It has lyrics in both English and in the native American language.

I like some of the very heavy stuff and I like the screaming in some songs too but to say that's all it is, is wrong on so many levels.

That's the way it sounded to me a few years ago. It's definitely an acquired taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8V-ueepk9s&hd=1 is what changed my mind about that - Mikael Akerfeldt, the vocalist, switches back and forth between the usual death-growl and clean vocals. I started listening to the band because I liked Akerfeldt's regular voice (and the incredible guitar work) and slowly began to see the point of all the guttural growling: it's supposed to be unmelodious. Metal is pretty dissonant music, and the vocals can enhance that effect. It's not that I can't appreciate a good melody; it's just that sometimes I'm in the mood for something a little less palatable. Music doesn't have to be pretty to be good.

A few other good (probably better) gateway bands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfj_Hd2H1LU&hd=1 - One of my favorite bands. Basically just really loud southern rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72ryGpPsSc&hd=1 - A few people have mentioned them. They're weirder, but but no more abrasive, than Nirvana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiOnJQUevP0 - Very beautiful black metal

I got into metal about 14 years ago, I think. It happened simply enough; Metallica's Reload came out around then, and I really liked the singles that were airing from it, so I wound picking it up. From there, I was of course interested in hearing more of their stuff, so I checked out some of their older stuff, which is decidedly much more metal. I was really floored by it, and it appealed to my blinkered pubascent sense of anger and alienation. From there, I started listening to other big-name metal bands of the time: namely Pantera and some of the nu-metal stuff that was coming out around that time.

One day, I was reading my friend's Metallica bass tablature book (I had been playing guitar for 2 or 3 years at this point, if I recall correctly), and it included a song with a 7/8 time signature and gave a brief explanation of that meant. At the time, I totally didn't understand it, but the concept of "odd time signatures" stuck in my mind for a while as I tried to gain an understanding of this musical concept.

Well, the day came when I read about a band called Meshuggah, who is a metal band renowned for their mastery of rhythm and odd time signatures. I listened to them, and they pretty much completely shattered my perception of musical possibility. This led me down a very long path of getting into more "serious" and "difficult" music which has I guess put me where I am today. These days, I don't necessarily listen to things merely for complexity, nor do I think that metal has a monopoly on the most complex music, but I still enjoy a lot of metal for the sheer musical muscularity, discipline, and creativity often on display.

As far as growling vocals go, I appreciate them and can enjoy them, but I like it when a metal band has a good sense of melody, which is rare to be frank. There are genres of metal that feature exclusively "clean" vocals, but there's no guarantee that the melodies, songwriting, and playing will be any good, so it's best to just go forth and listen to tons of music with a discerning ear.

Happy listening!