[Music Alchemist]

Whoa, this is all going way over what I was originally talking about. To me the word "emotional" makes me primarily think about about deep, melancholic stuff. Just the word.

 
That may be one of the first things that comes to mind, but, as I covered, anger is an emotion too, and that's one of the more common emotions in metal.
 

That didn't mean I'm suddenly a sociopath who doesn't feel anything.

 
Don't worry, no one said you were.
 
By the way, since you're new to the thread, it would be cool if you could share your favorite metal bands and genres.
 

Oh I have emotions for sure. I just don't dwell on them too much. Imo our culture has become overly introspective, to the point of narcissism, regarding emotions.

 
Thinking about emotions and viscerally feeling them in the moment are totally different things.
 

Oh, good gawd, guys. Let's not argue over whether we feel (or don't feel) emotions. Or whether or not we're sociopaths. How stereotypical can we get?

Personally, I find that most of the metal I listen to is very calming. Almost meditative. Certainly doesn't measure me feel angry or aggressive. Same with the more experimental / extreme electronic music I listen to (like Pan Sonic).

 
I think those of us who are musicians are more into the "expressing emotions" thing.
 
Depending on my mood, I can actually feel calm and meditative when listening to the most extreme metal. But usually, I get more "into it" and correspond to what's going on in the music.
 
What are the most extreme metal genres you frequently listen to?
 
The vocals from 6:44 to 7:04 in this track are a good example of expressing grief, rage, and hopelessness.
 
 

 

[Selbi]

  By the way, since you're new to the thread, it would be cool if you could share your favorite metal bands and genres.

 
Dear god, where do I start? Give me a checklist with all the subgenres imaginable and I'd probably tick off 95%.
 
Power Metal is way up there, as said before. I do feel a little uncomfortable admitting it, but I got a thing for cheesy stuff (DragonForce). The reason for that is that, even if it may not seem like it, I'm not a native speaker at all (hello from Germany). My text skills are pretty dang fine (although I have a hang for word diarrhea, sorry for that...), but I've got trouble actually understanding English in spoken word, especially if it's in a metal song surrounded by a soundscape of a billion guitars, drums, and effects. I'm incapable of making out anything at all, so I just end up enjoying vocals as an instrument and not the lyrics they present (which in case of Power Metal is usually the same dragon/fantasy/epic crap every time).
 
Fave Power Metal bands right now: Twilight Force, DragonForce, Freedom Call, Rhapsody, Helloween
 
Progressive Metal is also there. Prog stuff as a whole, to be precise. I love it mostly for their long songs. It's a different experience to have a song that lasts you 15+ minutes than something that's over after one piss break. They give the time to explore different emotions (yes, just because we just talked about that word so long) that you simply cannot compress down to a simple three-and-a-half-minute song. It also just so happens that Prog tends to have, on average, the more musically complex song structures and thus more demanding attention from the listener.
 
Fave Prog Metal bands: Devin Townsend (Project), Dream Theater, Moonsorrow (more Pagan than Prog, but you get the idea), Finsterforst (like Moonsorrow, but German), Avenged Sevenfold (do they count as prog even?)
 
I could continue this list forever. You get the idea. To quickly toss it in, I also dig Pagan, Death, Black, Symphonic, MDM, and whatever the hell Fear Factory does.

 

[Zyklonius]

   
I meant listening to the music made you feel the strongest emotions, regardless of which emotions they are.
 
 

 
The most emotionally rousing record released in 2016
 
 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Dear god, where do I start? Give me a checklist with all the subgenres imaginable and I'd probably tick off 95%.

 
Cool. I pretty much like it all too, though I lean towards the extreme end of the spectrum.
 
In case you don't already know them, you'd probably like progressive/power metal band Evergrey. (Who was mentioned in that first post you replied to.)
 
And since you also mentioned atmospheric BM, I'm sure you're already familiar with my second favorite band Summoning.
 

  The most emotionally rousing record released in 2016

 
Now this is more to my liking! (But this sounds more like straight-up BM or maybe melodic BM than the atmospheric BM they're described as.) Sorta reminds me of Drudkh.
 
But still, have you heard the new Evergrey? That one overwhelms me with emotion. I don't feel much from this Forteresse album, though I like it.

 

[Selbi]

  And since you also mentioned atmospheric BM, I'm sure you're already familiar with my second favorite band Summoning.

To be honest, never heard that name before. I'm just lightly scraping the surface of that subgenre as of recently. Bands I've listened to so far are Eïs, Saor, Eldamar, Swallow the Sun and probably a few others I've heard one or two songs only from.
 
I'm gonna check your recommendations out. Thanks bro!

 

[Music Alchemist]

  To be honest, never heard that name before. I'm just lightly scraping the surface of that subgenre as of recently. Bands I've listened to so far are Eïs, Saor, Eldamar, Swallow the Sun and probably a few others I've heard one or two songs only from.
 
I'm gonna check your recommendations out. Thanks bro!

 
Okay, for Summoning, go here to hear my recommended tracks from various albums. (As well as tons of other black metal bands.)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/397407/lets-talk-metal/23325#post_12644193
 
For Evergrey, I would recommend listening to these albums first, in order. (You can click each to stream them.)
 
In Search Of Truth
The Inner Circle
Glorious Collision
The Storm Within

 

[Music Alchemist]

To those with NightHawks... (@bavinck, @nmatheis, @YtseJamer & whoever else)
 
Play this track for me and tell me if it's still bright enough to murder your ears near the end. (I love this song, but it gets so harsh!)
 

 

[bavinck]

  To those with NightHawks... (@bavinck, @nmatheis, @YtseJamer & whoever else)
 
Play this track for me and tell me if it's still bright enough to murder your ears near the end. (I love this song, but it gets so harsh!)
 

Nah man, the Nighthawk OWNS that track. I cranked it very loud (for me) and I did not get any harshness at all. Full sound. I can see why you would find it harsh - I was wondering if it was going to get harsh at the end but it never did.

 

[nmatheis]

Nah man, the Nighthawk OWNS that track. I cranked it very loud (for me) and I did not get any harshness at all. Full sound. I can see why you would find it harsh - I was wondering if it was going to get harsh at the end but it never did.

Whew, saved me the effort

 

[bavinck]

In comparision, my HD650s did not sound too harsh either, though they got closer. The 650s being more open sounding allow me to take notice of some of the record swiping (whatever that is called) that I didn't pick up with the Nighthawks. Probably was there with the NH, just didn't notice it like I did with the 650.

 

[nmatheis]

Um, scratching?

 

[Music Alchemist]

Free black/death metal album! This is some great, sick stuff.
 
(Dunno why it starts on track five. Just go back to the first track manually...or download it.)

Errata by Convulsing
 

  Nah man, the Nighthawk OWNS that track. I cranked it very loud (for me) and I did not get any harshness at all. Full sound. I can see why you would find it harsh - I was wondering if it was going to get harsh at the end but it never did.

  In comparision, my HD650s did not sound too harsh either, though they got closer. The 650s being more open sounding allow me to take notice of some of the record swiping (whatever that is called) that I didn't pick up with the Nighthawks. Probably was there with the NH, just didn't notice it like I did with the 650.

 
Sweet. The headphones I'm using right now are brighter than the 650 and are very harsh on that track...so it's nice the NH can make even that sound good. But it'd be bad if you can't even hear that record scratching sound. I've never not noticed it on any headphones.

 

[boomtube]

Anyone want to share Ozzy's 'Speak of the Devil' with me?

 

[Selbi]

  But it'd be bad if you can't even hear that record scratching sound. I've never not noticed it on any headphones.

 
Not that it matters a lot, but I'm currently over at my family's for Christmas and only got my old Sennheiser HD 518 with on-board sound. I'm not sure if you mean the sounds at roughly 0:45, but I could still clearly hear it. Could be because I was actively listening to it after reading your post, though.
 
----------
 
While I'm still listening to Evergrey's discography on Spotify – how the hell have I never heard about this glorious band before? – I hope I've already earned myself the privilege to ask for a listening impression as well. Over on the Nighthawk thread (just noticed that you're the same guy, bavnick, so hey there! ), I'm also discussing about dropping my imbalanced X2's in favor for Nighthawks.
 
Problem, music production can suck. And unfortunately an album I love otherwise has the most horrendous mixing I've ever heard. It's from the band I've talked about before. This one is a good example of what I mean, specifically the part where they say "Calling your name! Calling your name!". Can the Nighthawks hide its ugliness or does it surpass even them?

 

[Tom Yum Goong]

  Anyone want to share Ozzy's 'Speak of the Devil' with me?

You're welcome.