For The Hard Of Hearing (on the mortality of metal threads)

The "only metal-man in town" thread posted today brought something to my attention. Nothing too new or anything, but it's sad to see that the metal threads that are posted here, together with their replies, are very much lacking in depth. From my view you can roughly divide metal threads into two types:

A) the "Metal fan here" thread - one posts a thread proclaiming himself to like metal, and names a few of his favourite bands. The biggest part of the replies is limited to "hi, me too" and, again, lists of favourite bands. The lesser part is from non-metal fans who rant about the fact that they can't hear what the singers sing, or that it gives them a headache. The thread will die down after ten to fifteen replies.

B) the "this metal band is cool!" thread. One person writes a thread about a band he likes. The biggest part of the replies is limited to "yeah, I like them too", or "No, not my cuppa tea". The lesser part from non-metal fans who rant about that they can't hear what the singers sing, or that it gives them a headache. The thread will die down after five to ten replies.

What's missing here? Does anyone see it? That's right - a feeling of union, the will to discuss, a TRUE metal thread! A place to recommend bands to each other, share interesting facts and discuss our musical similarities and differences. We're a minority, we should discuss our beloved abnormality more. Some kind of an official metal thread, maybe even a sticky one? If you agree and think it's a good idea tell me, because I'm not going to start one if it's bound to wither away in solitude.

Peace ^_^ V,,

 

I think its a good idea. You're certainly correct in your analysis of the types of metal threads that commonly occur from time to time. There are also quite a few metal fans on the forum aswell so a true metal thread could well work.


peace and love
xxxxxxx

 

Well, most metalheads dont really examine the music. I would contribute to good discussion, but i dont come to the music forum that much, though.

 

Metalheads don't examine metal? Duuude... speak for yourself! I think liking underground music that's hard to come by, would stimulate examining the music, because a) if you don't examine the music you'll miss out on so much because there are thousands of bands yet to discover that you wouldn't ever get to know if you don't do "research" on the music and b) simply because examining the music, continuously trying to find more bands that rock your socks, on a later stage maybe trying to analyse the features of the music that appeal to you mostly so you can narrow down your search program, as it were, because the total offer on different bands and sounds is too grand to ever fully comprehend, (getting back to finish the "because examining the music" part, sorry for the long sentence) is worthwile and actually a fulfilling thing to do on its own.

 

I wasnt speaking about looking for underground music, i was talking about people dissecting songs. Like what the lyrics mean, different styles and sounds of guitar, and drums. Talking about ,"That voice doesnt fit over that guitar because blahty blahty blah" Some people think that it either rocks or it doesnt.

 

That's not true. Musicians will always look at music from a technical view. Some non-musicians will too. And those that write lyrics will look at lyrics from other bands in a more criticising way, more to find the real meaning, if there is one behind th lyrics itself. That's also what I meant with analysing the features you like most about the bands you like. Why do you like the bands you like? You've got to listen more closely to find that out.

But that's also the point of this thread. If it's just dropping a few favourite bands every time a metal thread appears and then leaving it to that there isn't going to be much song-dissection. That's why we should get together more and talk about it in a more involved way.

By the way - Alexi Laiho's voice doesn't fit at all over the power metal Children of Bodom play, though it's not disturbing, and to break away from tradition is rarely completely bad. Their keyboards are downright annoying. I detest keayboards, especially if they play quick, high-pitched melodies that dominate the sound, and even more especially if it sounds so blatantly KEYBOARDISH (slow background violin melodies are okay). Their lyrics are too modern-sounding, too much of a "fuck off" message, too much trying to be cool. The music in general sounds too modern for me. I prefer a more epic, timeless sound. The notes have to stretch on for a long time and/or melt together into a flowing melody for the best atmospheric results (often people think that for an atmosphere you need a keyboard, which can be an effective tool, but isn't by far a necessity - also, atmosphere can convey different emotions: misanthropy, despair, even joy... which one I like best depends on the moment - the lyrics should compliment the musical atmosphere). No fancy technical breaks or anything in between for me, let alone some digital-sounding keyboard solo. Repeating the same melody for several minutes is not a problem and often appreciated. Drums can vary, though extremes are preferred; raging blastbeats varied with grim, more mid-tempo drumming of black metal, or the dragging rhythm of the slothful, hollow TACK of a loose-skinned snare drum and crushing SMASH of the bass drum+crash cymbal of doom metal bands. Vocally I love powerful and raw but emotional clean vocals like those of Tom S. Englund (Evergrey) or Matt Barlow (ex-Iced Earth) over the typical power metal eunuch. Black metal vocals should sound grim but full, I prefer N. Culto (Darkthrone) over Abbath (Immortal) for instance. Doom metal should have grunts, I think they fit doom metal better than death metal, where they originally come from, because the syllables are stretched out over longer periods of time, which I think sounds better than the high-paced barfing of the lyrics and reveals more of the talent - or not - of the singer that way. Of course clean vocals are welcome too, emotional, pleading, hopeless, desolate vocals, not powerful and raw like I like them with traditional metal.

See, now you made me all defensive!

 

wow. you obviously gave this alot more thought than i have. youre right about COB's vocals not fitting, actually i think he sucks. but the keyboard/guitar sync solos are really unique and with your levels set the right way, you dont have to hear him that much.

Personally, I dont really like screaming or growling, but some can do it good. Dope does it good, Overkill is allright in that category, and of course the great Phil Anselmo (sp?) But i prefer a pure, clean voice like Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Chris cornell. Helloween has the perfectionism of all angles, i think. THe lyrics are easy to follow, and sometimes comical. His wail is just immaculate and maintains the same intensity, even after a 20 second note. I wont even go into how good the rest of the music is, because i cant find the words.

But you said you like powerful raw vocals in traditional metal. What exactly is traditional? is it stuff like metallica and slayer? i always considered them traditional, but i thought everything was grouped into a category.

 

When I talked about 'traditional metal' I kind of meant heavy and power metal. If you look at metal as some sort of musical tree of evolution, the old heavy metal would be the stem, and modern heavy and power metal, maybe together with thrash metal, would be a continuation of that stem. It has changed least from the original metal sound, in that way I meant 'traditional'. Death, doom, gothic, black etc. metal would be branches, and each would have more styles branching off. But there's so much interweaving of branches, also with other musical styles, it's actually just a complicated mess of twigs.

Helloween's wail is a perfect example of what I meant with power metal eunuchs. I think Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch is one of the few decent power metal singers. But of course when listening purely for leisure, annoying details won't matter that much if the music in its entirity is good.

Phil Anselmo is a good singer. I'm not much into Pantera or any of his projects, but he does a great job on Great Southern Trendkill. I'm not a thrash metal fan, it lacks the atmospheric intensity I love so much about doom and black metal.

This is the kind of discussion I meant, maybe we're on the right way and this will be the first in-depth metal thread I've seen on Hipforums so far.