The Metal Thread

[Big Ewis]

I figured, let's be 'democratic' and create our own thread here and stop over-crowding the poor non-metal people with our bullshyte in the regular tunes thread. Chances are newcomers will be metalheads anyways, that way they can just click here and post.

I open these ***anic metal gates up with a morbidly brutal track from some dudes from Poland:

 

[Rich Taff]

Bah! I thought this was going to be about the advantages of Iron over Tin, and how 'carbonised steel' can be beautiful.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Anyone for some Meshuggah?

 

[dasNdanger]

Hmmmm...I like metal, but I'm more of an old school (Metallica, et al) or nu-metal/industrial metal (Korn, Marlyn Manson, NIN) sort. And Tool...no idea how to even classify them. I like some melody and a bit less screaming, I suppose, more like melodic metal, though I hardly know any bands since most are from Europe. I think what bugs me most about pure metal is the continuous growl. I know, I know...it goes with the music. But other bands manage to pull off heavy music with less growl-y vocals, which is probably why I like Korn so much - they can be as heavy as metal/death metal, but with a wider range/variety of vocal work which, in turn, makes their music more interesting to listen to. But I suppose they wouldn't fit this thread.


das

 

[Big Ewis]

yeah das, nobody cares about your taste for some melody and vocal ranges and what not in metal, and Tool SUCK !!!! Sorry, I think we can agree we both got off on the wrong foot here...
KoRn, though nu-metal and a no-no for metal purists, is one of the greatest bands I've ever encountered in my life. Their 'Issues' and 'Untouchables' albums are masterpieces by any standard in music, the song-writing is just something else and especially on the latter they transcend nu-metal or alternative metal by miles. These guys are just something else.

I do notice girls who like heavy tunes usually prefer nu-metal or something that contains some form of melody. It makes a lot of sense to me. I don't think brutal death metal can really be appreciated by women unless they've simply got a lot of masculinity in them, it's just naturally incoherent to mix brutal and femininity. Brutal death metal can only be created and processed by 'manhood', as categorical as it sounds; it's like the rush of war movies, battle scenes, the feeling of overwhelming power and owning others through brute force and domination...those things are masculine and relatively benign to women.
But it's true nothing stimulates me the way metal can. It's just something else.

 

[dasNdanger]

blah, blah, blah...Tool SUCK !!!! blah, blah, blah...

Dem's fightin' words, son!!



I adore Tool - not so much for the songs themselves, but for the bass. Justin Chancellor is probably one of the greatest rock bassists of all time...just phenomenal!

I suppose I'm a bit of a 'soft metal' head...or, maybe just soft in the head. I suppose Rammstein doesn't rate with you, either.


das

 

[Big Ewis]

well whatever makes you feel something, heavy is just one of the paths in music...as long as it isn't rap or modern RnB...in which case you're officially retarded, at least partially. I've yet to understand how some intelligent ppl can actually be into rap. I do know some...very, very strange phenomenon. One in particular. Very intelligent guy, loves rap. Anyways...yes Rammstein sucks (sorry !! ), but I do appreciate they've at least got some industrial element to their music, as mainstream as it is.

But industrial should sound like this to me:

 

[ratsapprentice]

I like some melody and a bit less screaming, I suppose, more like melodic metal, though I hardly know any bands since most are from Europe. I think what bugs me most about pure metal is the continuous growl. I know, I know...it goes with the music. But other bands manage to pull off heavy music with less growl-y vocals, which is probably why I like Korn so much - they can be as heavy as metal/death metal, but with a wider range/variety of vocal work which, in turn, makes their music more interesting to listen to. But I suppose they wouldn't fit this thread.

Very, very few people like DM vocals instantly, particularly the more "liquid" variety.
I would guess that a large percentage of Brutal DM fans play an instrument - I know that playing helped me to understand it enormously.

The quality and style of production doesn't help either - part of that's inescapable due to the music itself (being very dense) but it's also done on purpose to an extent.
For example, listen to the first 30 seconds of this (song starts about 30 seconds in):



...Now - try to absorb what the guitars are playing.

Once you've done that listen to this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13342996/Consume The Forsaken - No Drums.mp3

That's what the guitars are playing in the youtube vid - easier to hear the second time around?

 

[Big Ewis]

death metal is definitely the one style, if we had to pick one, where the fans really do need to be instrumentalists and are instrumentalists the most frequently out of any style. Even freestyle jazz fusion and that sort of technical stuff, you can be a regular person and find a taste for it and understand it quite well.

The growl thing...brutal death metal in particular often has ridiculous vocals. I'd much rather have an articulate vocalist like Glen Benton or Corpsegrinder Fisher than any of those underground brutal death dudes. I'm a deathhead but I must say it as it is: they sound way ridiculous and exaggerated. I growl myself, and if it's not audible and articulate to some degree then it's just silly imo...

And yeah, the whole shiitty/sloppy production in general is absolutely intentional for all those brutal deathmetal bands. They look for the trash-can sound on the snares, that kind of mastering sound often with high bass, all that aggressive-to-the-ear stuff...

rats: I'm done listening to that kind of heads down brutal death metal stuff, but this song is pretty brutal. It directed me to Deeds of Flesh, the Mark of the Legion album. Been sooo long !!

 

[dasNdanger]

well whatever makes you feel something, heavy is just one of the paths in music...as long as it isn't rap or modern RnB...in which case you're officially retarded, at least partially. I've yet to understand how some intelligent ppl can actually be into rap. I do know some...very, very strange phenomenon. One in particular. Very intelligent guy, loves rap. Anyways...yes Rammstein sucks (sorry !! ), but I do appreciate they've at least got some industrial element to their music, as mainstream as it is.

No worries. I don't like Rammstein (well, I really don't listen to them to know whether or not I like them - they're okay, I suppose, but nothing I need to hear). And I'm not a fan of rap or modern r&b. Or modern country. Does that save me a little in your eyes?

But industrial should sound like this to me:
youtube;cixczzF0A10]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixczzF0A10

That's actually not too bad. Ireally like the industrial sound, but mostly with NIN-type stuff...and I even like DUBSTEP!! WOO! (That just ruined me in your eyes, no?)

Very, very few people like DM vocals instantly, particularly the more "liquid" variety.
I would guess that a large percentage of Brutal DM fans play an instrument - I know that playing helped me to understand it enormously.

The quality and style of production doesn't help either - part of that's inescapable due to the music itself (being very dense) but it's also done on purpose to an extent.
For example, listen to the first 30 seconds of this (song starts about 30 seconds in):



...Now - try to absorb what the guitars are playing.

Once you've done that listen to this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13342996/Consume The Forsaken - No Drums.mp3

That's what the guitars are playing in the youtube vid - easier to hear the second time around?

Yes, MUCH easier to hear the second time around. I think that's one problem I have with death metal - it sounds very 'muddy' to me (as opposed to dense - dense, to me, is a full, deep sound - not muddled). Probably why I like that bass-heavy band that I will not mention for fear Big E will implode - their sound is very full and dense - yet distinguishable.

I've listened to some 'melodic death metal', and while the music is a less muddled (and some quite excellent!), I still can't get into the vocals (I'd say - off the top of my head - the 'growliest' vocals I like would be something along the lines of Pantera - any metal out there like that, or does everyone sound like the spawn of Satan? ).


das

EDIT: had to share these links for your amusement:

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/1124/top-10-most-ridiculous-black-metal-pics-of-all-time-2/

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/1123/the-other-top-10-most-ridiculous-black-metal-pics-of-all-time/

 

[Rich Taff]

I like my metal (ex-fiancee really got me into it).
Korn's 'Evolution' has one of the greatest video's to it.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I've listened to some 'melodic death metal', and while the music is a less muddled (and some quite excellent!), I still can't get into the vocals (I'd say - off the top of my head - the 'growliest' vocals I like would be something along the lines of Pantera - any metal out there like that, or does everyone sound like the spawn of Satan? ).

Melodic Death metal (both the sub-genre and DM that is melodic) with less harsh vocals... hmm.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqbBZ4umzE8

Those are actually probably the songs that "got me into" death metal - because the melodies are so up-front they aren't obscured by the vocals at all.
I can guarantee you though - the vocals just take time to get used to - I used to hate DM vocals and now I love them.

Since you posted about BM, here's some stuff that you might like (mainly singing! ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AUqndI6_SQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzZN_izexss

 

[dasNdanger]

Melodic Death metal (both the sub-genre and DM that is melodic) with less harsh vocals... hmm.

youtube;iOsIXpDH_R0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsIXpDH_R0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqbBZ4umzE8

Those are actually probably the songs that "got me into" death metal - because the melodies are so up-front they aren't obscured by the vocals at all.
I can guarantee you though - the vocals just take time to get used to - I used to hate DM vocals and now I love them.

Since you posted about BM, here's some stuff that you might like (mainly singing! ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AUqndI6_SQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzZN_izexss

The first vids - great music...still struggling with the whole 'choking on a cat' thing.

Second batch of vids - would you still class Ulver as 'black metal'? They sound almost pretty. I actually like that quite a bit.

I like my metal (ex-fiancee really got me into it).
Korn's 'Evolution' has one of the greatest video's to it.
youtube;m8fm3Z7jgWM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8fm3Z7jgWM&feature=kp

What I like about Davis' vocals are that one minute he's guttural, next almost 'sweet', and then goes right into that creepy, quivering style he does. I think it adds to the music, instead of detracting from it. Also, Freak on a Leash is my cellphone ringtone...quite describes my relationship with my mobile.


das

 

[Big Ewis]

das: lol. Well I'm actually okay with dubstep because at least it attempts some form of musical variety, mostly with the rhythm. But I mean as tolerant as I want to be, there's just no excuse for listening to rap, is there ? It's not my trendy metalness that makes me like that, it's just...why would you listen to rap ? Why lose time listening to smt that primitive, that profoundly mainstream, substance-less...etc..etc...music, cinema, art in general is supposed to lift you and bring you places. Rap is the most down to Earth thing possible in our society right now. It's absolutely CASTRATED in artistic vision. I'm just speechless when ppl tell me they listen to rap. I just keep silent. Well, either that or pretend like I love it and play a role for a night when I feel motivated and in the mood.

I do think there's tremendous potential in electronic music though. I'll post my first synth-based composition some time later...

I have no problem with ppl who don't like metal, or certain more extreme branches of it. It's just those ppl are indeed missing out on something really very big and amazingly potent. Metal is like a treat, a sexy box of delicacy dark chocolates with fancy shapes and colors and flavors...there's so much in the music, I feel it'd be silly for a musician not to explore it at least a fair amount during an entire lifetime.

The growls for me are just pure power. It's a burst of seething, boiling energy and it complements the music perfectly. You've got a crunchy guitar riff installed in a killer drumbeat, full-on distortion and a nasty grin on your face already, you need that vocalist to step in and pour lava out of his lungs.

Taff: not bad, but I totally lost interest past Untouchables in regards to KoRn. Amazing a band could be that prolific and reach such a high level of song-writing consistently from song to song, like it's clearly not an accident, on Untouchables and then drop in level considerably like it never happened and release 'Take a Look in the Mirror'. They turn regular nu-metal in that all over again...

Some times musicians hit their peak in maturity and then don't understand it's their peak and drop in form dramatically. Too bad they couldn't recognize how great they'd become and didn't continue in that road.
A metal example of that is Decapitated: exponentially better from album to album until they produce "Organic Hallucinosis", a masterpiece of masterpieces by any standards, a trip deep into industrial post-apocalyptic riff-blasting chaos....and then they go all hardcore/mainstreamish on the next one.

EDIT: oh and rats, it's a bit wasteful to come back here and post this but I just listened to both tracks you posted from Death and I just needed to say: I just HATE that album so muuuch !!! Awful stuff imo...so tasteless...earlier Death, okay, but this uuuugggggghhh...

 

[Rich Taff]

After considering all the comments, and weighing up the pros and cons of each argument, I've come to a decision.

I still like the Korn video.

 

[Big Ewis]

After considering all the comments, and weighing up the pros and cons of each argument, I've come to a decision.

I still like the Korn video.

soooo....I see we've got a trouble maker on our hands here, eh ??

 

[Rich Taff]

soooo....I see we've got a trouble maker on our hands here, eh ??

You have to ask? I thought better of you Ewis. You're now just 'Medium Ewis' in my mind.



ARRRGHHH!!! I LET EWIS INTO MY MIND AND NOW HE WON'T LEAVE!!!!!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Second batch of vids - would you still class Ulver as 'black metal'? They sound almost pretty. I actually like that quite a bit.

Definitely - BM at it's best is beautiful - not pretty... ugly things can still be beautiful!
If you enjoy melancholy then BM is for you - I cannot imagine a more somber style of music.

some similar stuff to the Ulver songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XISWKO-xQM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-S7Q3il2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pUhBEomgFU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP9Ilpp5Fsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP9Ilpp5Fsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Kd_WtRhvU


Ewis: it's not my favorite Death record, by any means - but it's very accessible DM.

 

[Big Ewis]

You have to ask? I thought better of you Ewis. You're now just 'Medium Ewis' in my mind.



ARRRGHHH!!! I LET EWIS INTO MY MIND AND NOW HE WON'T LEAVE!!!!!

never a medium anything...and yeah, you probably don't want to let that happen. He came into my mind some time ago and it didn't really work out too well...

rats: I dunno about accessible, it's awful technical for a novice. And that's good to hear, that it's not amongst your favorite. Death has got to be the most overrated death metal band of all-time, quite possibly metal overall. They've got good shiit but that album is just.. anyways.

 

[Big Ewis]

hey rats, I've just listened to Deathpsell Omega. I'd come across the name before, but I'm anti-black metal. Anyways, just listened to the first two songs you posted, and to my surprise...you've actually got taste !! Nah kidding. But seriously "Second Prayer" is fuccking awesome man, thanks for posting !! So rare that I ever enjoy new stuff for me as I'm already set and know which bands I like, but this is GOOD. And again, to my great surprise, turns out they're French. That's cool to know, we don't produce that many really good bands.
This is very "me", the suspended arpeggiated pickings with the let-ring distortion, that alternative/depressive feeling, I do lots of that...awesome fkng stuff there. Huge rhythm sound in the back with the drums and bass, awesome raw setup, thick asz sound. Very mature atmosphere, very far from mainstream.
Love the chants in the background too, makes it pure and ambiguous at the same time as they're black metal and not exactly convinced Christians...
Interesting album cover too..

"Rhinocervs" is pretty good too. That first track reminded a bit (although quite different) of this "dark ambient space" track I doodled once: