"If it ain't HEAVY it ain't Metal.."

[DaN]

My fave Isten mag-quote among many, and it pinpoints the problem of the state of Metal today pretty fucking perfectly..

How often do you not run into people who proclaim their love for "METALLeeh.." yet have no concept what so ever about HEAVINESS?? 'Metal' without 'Heavy' seem to apply to anything from NIN to SLIPcunt to Crapsody these days

I'm hereby gonna stop referring to myself as a 'Metal'-fan, I'm a HEAVY Metal fan for doGssake! Your contrieved "Majestic Harmonies" or "Broootal riffi'n" don't mean crap if you don't know how to write a decent song you imbecille CUNT..

BRING BACK THE HEAVY in METAL I SAY!

(This thread was inspired by VULCAIN's "Les Damnés" btw..)

[Helm]

I've been doing this for a while. Although I don't listen to 'traditional heavy metal' mostly by anyone's standard, when asked what sort of music I listen to I say 'HEAVY METAL' not 'metal' not 'extreme music'.

[DaN]

when asked what sort of music I listen to I say 'HEAVY METAL' not 'metal' not 'extreme music'.

That's what I'm getting at.. the term 'Metal' music seem so diluted nowdays I rarely wanna use it without it's most important prefix:

[Helm]

'metal' IS diluted, and 'heavy metal' sounds archaic. So we must win back its good name in every-day conversation. There's no 'traditional' metal. Great Heavy Metal lives FOREVER.

[FuneralCircle]

I think the whole "BRING BACK THE HEAVY" mentality is the reason we have a myriad of terrible bands tuning their guitars to D and playing obnoxious riffs... Like LAMB OF GOD.

I say, bring back the METAL!! These bands don't know what Metal is... Probably because they never listened to CIRITH UNGOL in their youth. They listened to tons of SLIPKNOT and KORN, and their discovery of MEGADETH changed their life forever, thus provoking them to make a godawful Nu-Thrash band!! aha!

[metalmaster]

Well in my mind I know what I hear is Heavy Metal, but just for the rest of people I just mention "METAL" when asked what I listen. I dont give a shit if people think I listen to slipknot when I listen to Venom f. ex. I know what I am and what I listen to

[ION BRITTON]

Both are necessary. However, i prefer the METAL part a little bit more (you know, agressive, sharp riffs, piercing screams etc etc). Heaviness is always needed- no doubt about that. I guess the best combination would be ULTRA-HEAVY/FUCKIN' METAL.

You know. Like my beloved TYRANT (US).

[tomas]

I agree with the fact that the term 'metal' doesn't really indicate what someone listens to. I've heard self-proclaimed metalfans raving on about Nickelback for cryin' out loud !!!! So maybe, using an adjective like 'heavy' would be more appropriate. Although I think that every metalfan thinks the music he or she listens to is by definition 'heavy', be it Slipknot or Tyrant (US). I think everyone has a different individual interpretation of the word 'heavy'. For me personally, the word is all about crushing guitars with a bassy sound. For other people, it's all about tribal drumming, pseudo-grunting and wearing stupid masks.

People will always have the wrong idea about metal, whether you say you listen to 'heavy metal' ('aaah so your favourite band has got to be Maiden!!!') or '80s metal' ('so you're a van halen fan, am I right?')...
The best way to deal with this is just saying 'I listen to good metal', and when they ask for explanation, just mention a few good bands...

[Helm]

just mention a few good bands...

That's always the make or break regardless of how you introduce the music you're listening to anyway. That's when you realise that two people that are self-proclaimed metal fans really couldn't be hearing things that are more different from each other.

[King Zombie]

Metal is a term encompassing groups such us Lamb Of God and such NU Metal groups whether we like it or not. If we wanna create a clear definition of what a metal-head is, surely we should not let anyone outside the circle of people listening to it, interfere in it's conception and delimitation.

In the other hand, I do feel like I'm a metal-head, I adore metal above all regardless of any genre. I've been listening metal for almost 5 years now and I can honestly say the speed and aggressiveness metal has is unique, and no other musical styles has those two qualities mixed in such a sublime way.

Heavy, black, speed, death, thrash, doom, etc... whatever they all count as metal for me. I have a preference for hybrid genres, my favorite one being blackened speed thrash. When I listened to Sodom, I was blown away with their malevolent, fast and a bit raw sound, I had never heard anything like that... And I said "Fuck Metallica".

Are you all guys here "Old School" only?

[tomas]

I don't think metal is the only genre that combines speed and aggression in a successful way. Some old Scandinavian hardcore/punk bands (Mob47, Moderat Likvidation, ...) were alot faster than most speed metal bands and they sounded very very very raw and vicious.

You mentioned something interesting: defining what a metal-head is. What is a metal-head? Someone who just listens to metal? Or someone who lives and breathes metal and listens to it 90% of his/her time?
Is someone like me (who listens to as much psych, hardrock, folk, kraut and punk as metal) a metal-head? I have no idea... (I don't know if I care actually )

I don't know if everyone on this board is an 'oldschool only'-metalfan.
I'm a mixture, but I still prefer bands with an 80s sound.

[King Zombie]

Including hardcore punk, crust and Oi! real aggressive evil punk hahaha

[Noisenik]

Are you all guys here "Old School" only?

We consider 80's sound to be very precious and therefore worth defending. Early Death Metal and even early 90's Black Metal have firm roots in 80's, so they could be seen as decent prolongation of 80's. As mentioned elsewhere "Old School" definition is valid for new or newer bands following 80's premises and not original 80's bands.

Basically I want "my" Heavy, Epic, Power, Speed and Thrash as it sounded in the 80's. And that's a whole lotta ways. Death Metal as it sounded in early 90's (slightly less lot ways) and BM as done by Bathory - UTSOTBM and/or as done in early 90's again (even less diversity). That is I go for original sound(s). The "deviations" from that era much more welcomed than those of today however.

To stress tomas' words: I go for Psych from late 60's, Prog (sympho), Space, Kraut, Canterbury as done in 70's; RIO/experimental as done in late 70's/early 80's, etc. There too are always exceptions but these are scrutinized.

[King Zombie]

I have a high esteem for Old School bands too, many of my all time favorites play that type of music, however I do think many other new bands incorporating modern sounds and some being more technical are worth of being listen too, as long as they don't sound wussy.

I'm also downloading material of bands from countries other than the typical European and North American ones, such as bands from Turkey, they have a very very good metal; there are many noteworthy bands... Also Middle East guys have thunderous malevolent and fast sounding groups (Thanks to MySpace I could found 'em hehe) such as Syrian and Saudi Arabian bands.

If you wanna listen good old school brutality I suggest you try to get material from bands from my country too, Peru. Our metal is very raw and aggressive.

I think is always good to explore new bands no matter where they come from as long as they don't sell out. no offense for old school only dudes

[Crows In Black]

saying you listen to Heavy Metal is now the same as saying you listen to Rock and Roll....it could mean anything, especially here in USA 99% of people are going to assume you listen to either Marilyn Manson or Slipknot, a lot of people in USA call Slipknot "death metal" too which is funny. To make matters worse you have MTV playing Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir and now everyone thinks thats what black metal is. Not to mention the big fad with wearing 80's heavy metal shirts (you can even buy them at walmart now in the USA).

So when people ask me what I listen to, Im just really specific and say "I listen to Japanese Thrash Metal"....then whoever is asking me usualy thinks "ok, i have no idea what the hell Japanese thrash metal is"