[forsberg]

So lately I've been browsing this music forum to see what's good, and I see a lot of metal threads. Alright, thought I'd give it a shot. After all, Black Sabbath's Paranoid album is one of my favorites! Proceeded to copy and pasted some songs recommended by DarkAngel into youtube and expected something that will make me go

.

Instead, this was my reaction...

I thought, "OK, maybe it's just the first minute that the guy just growls and screams over and over again." So I fast forward to the middle of the song. Still growling. Fast forward to the end of the song. Still screaming. Maybe it's the intro? Fine, tried another song. More growling. More screaming. More noise. Non-stop. What's going on here?

I know everybody has different tastes for music. But I want to know what is it about metal that you guys like so much?

 

[scytheavatar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif So lately I've been browsing this music forum to see what's good, and I see a lot of metal threads. Alright, thought I'd give it a shot. After all, Black Sabbath's Paranoid album is one of my favorites! Proceeded to copy and pasted some songs recommended by DarkAngel into youtube and expected something that will make me go . Instead, this was my reaction... I thought, "OK, maybe it's just the first minute that the guy just growls and screams over and over again." So I fast forward to the middle of the song. Still growling. Fast forward to the end of the song. Still screaming. Maybe it's the intro? Fine, tried another song. More growling. More screaming. More noise. Non-stop. What's going on here? I know everybody has different tastes for music. But I want to know what is it about metal that you guys like so much?

So, what song was you watching anyway? Metal is like jazz, not all metal songs are easy to enjoy and as a beginner you should look for stuff that's more accessible. I'll recommend you to check out some Megadeth, they'll give you a good idea what metal is.

 

[forsberg]

I was watching Astarte - Rise From Within (1st song on the darkest desires thread).

I'll give Megadeth a try now... any particular song?

 

[Meliboeus]

Some metal, i mean good metal not the crap you hear on mtv, is pretty complex music to be understood, IMO it's not a suitable genre for casual listening, one have to be really interested in it to fully understand and appreciate the more extreme subgenres...however if i think of traditional heavy metal or power metal, this kind of music is far more accessible ( i'm not at all implying it's bad ) , so you might try some before listening to metal with extreme vocals... Have you listened to bands like Blind Guardian, Gamma ray, Iron Maiden, some Metallica or Megadeth...

 

[scytheavatar]

Check out the entire Rust in Peace. Holy Wars, Hangar 18 and Tornado of Souls are songs you should remember metal for.

Check out the entire Judas Priest - Painkiller too. 9 songs are pure perfection.

After that, check out some Symphony X. Get the album The Divine Wings of Tragedy. Or check out the songs Of Sins and Shadows and Sea of Lies.

 

[forsberg]

I just listened to Peace Sells and Symphony of Destruction. Not bad! That's what I was hoping for - songs with strong and low guitar riffs.

 

[scytheavatar]

A bit about Black and Death metal, I'll be surprised if you don't hate them at your first listen, it's normal as black and death metal is nothing but noise to most laypeople. Take you time to appreciate them, they'll grow on you. For black metal I recommend you to check out some Immortal, check out their later music from At the Heart of Winter and Sons of Northern Darkness.

 

[Sherwood]

Peace Sells is a damn fine song, whether you like metal or not.

 

[moogoob]

Metal is a broad genre. VERY broad.

Progressive metal is worth checking out. Bands like Tool and Opeth love trying out strange time signatures and contrasting light and heavy sounds.

Gothic Metal is interesting too, but you have to know what to look for to avoid the whole "Gothic Mallcore" stuff (angsty teen music). I recommend Type O Negative, After Forever and Nightwish- the older the album the better.

I'll see if I can come up with more suggestions when I get home from work.

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moogoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif Progressive metal is worth checking out. Bands like Tool and Opeth love trying out strange time signatures and contrasting light and heavy sounds.

Tool is one of the bands I cannot listen to. Their songs are too long and repetitive.

 

[ZenErik]

It takes time to work one's way into metal. My favorite bands in the genre are The Dillinger Escape Plan, Ion Dissonance, Misery Index, Nightwish, The Ocean, Opeth, and Sonata Arctica.

If you're not a fan of growly vocals, start off with bands with mostly (or all) clean singing.

I think Opeth may be a good starting point. It's a good mix of clean and death metal vocal stylings. And Mikael is the best of the best at both. Their songs are usually pretty long though...

 

[MaZa]

Extreme metal is an acquired taste. Once you get into it, you find so many good things about it, though aggression and brutality (or coldness and hate, depending on style) are driving forces behind it so if you are not into that, you probaply never will like extreme genres. In any case, there are more themes in metal than those too.
You've gotta remember that metal is often heavily melodrama driven, to the point of over-the-top sometimes, from beauty and beast, power and masculinity, and senseless violence and occult and dark side of man. (these latters being mostly used in extreme metal obviously)
I list some more accessible, not extreme metal for you. Perhaps you get a hunch what metal is like generally. Perhaps extreme genres open up later.

For heavy metal, Judas Priest - Painkiller is excellent example. Other than ANNOYING singer, this song is pretty much an epitome of basic heavy metal riffing and soloing.
Judas Priest on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads (obviously check the song painkiller first I recommend)

For power metal, there are a lot of examples. Some are just faster and more epic than normal heavy metal, some are so-called "flower-power" or euro-power metal with heavy fantasy themes.

Eidolon, good example of older style powermetal, not heavy metal but not thrash either.
Eidolon on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
Dark Moor is typical flowerpower metal. Very melodic. Check song Before The Duel.
DARK MOOR on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
Rhapsody. If you like Dungeons & Dragons, this band is for you. Over the top Fantasy, polish your sword and go kill dragons.

Any of their songs will do.
RHAPSODY OF FIRE on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads



Thrash, this is where that Megadeth song you listened belongs to.
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
YouTube - Metallica-Master of Puppets Studio version
Demolition Hammer - Omnivore (crappy sound quality in the video, couldnt find better version)
YouTube - Demolition Hammer - Omnivore


Gothic Metal. Who said that growling cant be beautiful? When I said melodrama earlier, this is prime example of it. "Beauty and the beast metal" as it is called, there is often a combination of demonish growling/screaming and angel voiced female vocalist. Clean male vocals are used too, there are choirs etc...
Tristania - Wormwood
YouTube - Tristania "Wormwood"
Tristania - Angina (this song has it all, screams, female vocs and monk choirs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLKG1uwWlPE
Trail Of Tears. Check song Fate Sealed In Red
http://www.myspace.com/trailoftearsmetal


I might add extreme metal examples later.

 

[forsberg]

cool. Thanks Maza. I will definitely check those out!

 

[acidbasement]

It took me awhile to get into metal. Having a crush on a metalhead (who is now my wife) certainly helped me work past my initial aversion to such aggressive sounds. I listened to a lot of Blind Guardian, Nightwish, and Apocalyptica at first, and found it very interesting if not 100% enjoyable (as a jazz-ish drummer I couldn't figure out why they all had to make every drum hit so damn hard). My 'gateway drug' of metal, so to speak, was Therion. I was listening to their album Secret of the Runes one day and suddenly realized that I was actually really enjoying it - not just listening to it for the sake of trying to figure out what made it good (because I knew it was good even if I had not previously liked it), but tapping my feet, drumming along with my fingers, and being very moved by it to the depths of my being.

So, if you don't really like metal but are curious about it, you are not alone - many of us have been there! Find some recordings that you think are musically interesting but not too extreme, and listen to them actively. Once you get used to the more aggressive style, you will perceive the intricate and multifaceted beauty, not to mention the self-mocking humour in a lot of cases.

I recommend starting with Gothic Kabbalah, by Therion. It is very accessible, very dramatic, musically over the top, but not too extreme, and I think (despite being corrected on this point occasionally) it's the best album released in this decade.

Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth, and Nightwish - Once are also classic starting points for a lot of people getting into contemporary metal.

 

[MaZa]

Damn, I completely forgot a Finnish celebrity, Nightwish. I'm pretty much boycotting this band nowadays cuz they have left Power Metal behind and turned to pop-band. But here are couple of good songs from them.

Nightwish - Sacrament Of Wilderness
YouTube - Nightwish-Sacrament Of Wilderness

Nightwish - Sleeping Sun. A non-metal ballad from them, but excellent song otherwise.
YouTube - Sleeping Sun