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Your definition of metal?

bassman1185

bassman1185

Sep 30, 2000
4,248
44
40
Des Moines, IA, USA
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#1
OK, first off, let's play nice, kiddies. We all have our opinions, and that's ok. Let's not insult our fellow TB'ers over something this silly, mmmkay?

Now that that is out of the way, I'll explain what I'm going for here.

I was reading in the Bassists section a thread about bassists in metal that you can actually hear. There was some discussion about that, but it was mostly guys saying that certain bands weren't metal.

That made me think "What really defines metal as a genre?" Here is a list I have come up with:

Loud, distorted guitars
Technicality! (If it's all power chords, it's not metal in my book)
Guitar SOLOS! (Personally, if there isn't a solo here and there, I don't consider it metal)
Aggressive vocals (Not necessarily screaming)
Heavy, driving drums (The more double kick, the better)
Relentless heavyness (Nothing against dynamics, but I don't think of bands that go "Soft verse, loud chorus, soft verse, loud courus, really loud break, loud chorus" as metal)

This is all my opinion. Let's hear yours.
 
#8
Metal is defined to me by a combination of musical AND visual charectoristics.

Musically (by instrument):

The Electric Guitar:The guitar has got to be distorted. Clean guitars cant dominate the song. You can have acoustic breaks and things of that nature, but the majority of the song neats overdriven guitar distorion.

The Bass Guitar: The bass guitar in metal can do a lot of diferent things. The gallop rhythm (think Steve Harris) is definitly a metal charectoristic. The other way to go is to distort the bass like Geezer Butler for example. Lastly if you have a really technical Bassist like Alex Webster you can pretty much do whatever you want lol.

Drums: Metal drumming is beligerent yet progressive. Thats the best description of metal drumming Ive heard.

The vocalist: You either get a fairly high operatic vocalist like Bruce Dickenson, or an unclean singer which could be anything from Chris Barnes to Devin Townsend.

The keyboard as a metal instrument?: I think it totally is, if its good enough for Dio its good enough for me. You can actually add anything you want but you got to have the those last 4 things first.

Note: If you have a very good bass player who uses a ton of distortion, you could possibly drop the electric guitar. Vice Versa if you have an extremely good guitarist, or 2 guitarists I think you could operate with out the bass. There is a lot of freedom in metal the way I see it. The above is the traditional set up though.

Visuals and Lyrics:

When I think metal I see inverted crosses, pentagrams, and hellfire. Sometimes dragons and wizards work well to lol. In heavy metal I still believe that the visual is extremely important. Metal should create an atmosphere. The best metal in my opinion is the sort of metal the scares people.

Lyrically I think metal should deal with controversial themes. Religion, violence, and sex. Good art excites people. Metal has always seemed more "real" lyrically than other forms of music. I think Sam Dunn (Metal:A Headbangers Journey) said something along the lines that Metal confronts topics most people would rather ignore. His actuall quote was better stated but that was the jest of it. I agree with it 100%. Other themes I like are songs about War, Metal itself, and lastly songs that are optimistic to the listener.

THE SOLO is it necessary?: Im going to make the old school people very mad and say that it is not. Im a big fan or Korn and Slipknot and they are in my opinion as metal as anything else out there. They rarely use solos. However a solo never hurts.

Thats about the best way I can paraphrase it for you. To really explain metal takes about 2 hours at least. It is probably my favorite thing to talk about and explore. So add me to your MSN if you like and Ill talk to you about anything metal you want. [email protected]

Ill conclude with a video that I think captures the essence of what a metal band looks and sounds like:

 
#10
The main thing that makes metal be metal and -core stuff, for example, not be is that metal has to go, go, go. It doesn't necessarily have to be as fast as possible or lack groove. Breakdowns -> not metal. Letting up in any way -> not metal. That isn't to say that metal can't have interludes, but it needs to pick its pace and stay there.
 
#12
lemur821 said:
The main thing that makes metal be metal and -core stuff, for example, not be is that metal has to go, go, go. It doesn't necessarily have to be as fast as possible or lack groove. Breakdowns -> not metal. Letting up in any way -> not metal. That isn't to say that metal can't have interludes, but it needs to pick its pace and stay there.
Click to expand...


:scowl:

Sleep-Dopesmoker.jpg
 
#13
bassman1185 said:
Technicality! (If it's all power chords, it's not metal in my book)
Guitar SOLOS! (Personally, if there isn't a solo here and there, I don't consider it metal)
Click to expand...

my only little gripe, listen to Necroshine by Overkill, is not technical and has no solo, yet it is made by one of the leading thrash acts ever and is DAMN heavy. That song IMO is the definition of metal when i listen too it. Hell For Whom the Bell Tolls doesn't have a solo, maybe a lead bass riff and a nice guitar riff but thats it.


Basically I agree with Lemmy, its all rock in roll, has the same ideal to be loud aggressive and to piss of your parents:cool:

Flexible genre, great songs with nothing more then power chords and simplicity.
 

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