Metal (particularly Death Metal) is probably the most mis-understood popular music genre I can think of, and has been since I was a kid in the 80s jumping up and down on my bed to Obituary and Slayer.
The biggest misconception people seem to have is that this musical style somehow makes people feel angry and violent... and hey, that's ok. I can understand why people would think so - on the surface it does sound noisy and angry and the imagery often focuses on dark themes that can seem angsty or childish.
Even the most devoted Slayer fans can't deny the crap-tasticness of their early album covers....
But.... this couldn't be further from the truth. It's all about release, catharsis and a joyfully primal expression of the chaos and aggression in us as humans, refined into something wholly positive and beautiful that, while it sounds like angry noise to most, makes us feel really, really good.
Anytime I've been to a metal gig the atmosphere has been thoroughly joyful and everyone is best buddies with total strangers for an hour or two.
Remember - the fat hairy dude in the Cannibal Corpse t-shirt who just knocked you over meant it in a manly bonding way.
Is moshing unsophisticated behaviour? Damn right it is. That's why it is great. Thinking we are sophisticated creatures is arrogant. We are primal, tribal, instinctive beings. We have not yet evolved past our fundamental primal nature. Sometimes it is a good thing to remember that and embrace it for a while, beat our chests and howl and let all of life's frustrations out through beautiful music and noise.
Though to most peoples' ears, it is but a raging cacophony, if you were fortunate enough to be born with ears that enjoy this kind of music, there literally is no other musical style that can give you the same joyful adrenalin filled primal rush. I'm 30 now and a fan of all kinds of music from cheesy pop to classical, but it's always metal I go back to because it is the one genre that consistently excites me.
As someone on this forum once pointed out: 'Metal is an expression of chaos through order (i.e.. structured notes) and it is beautiful and it is Zen.'
My questions to you are:
Do you 'get' metal and/or extreme metal?
Are you a fan? Are you indifferent? or does it make want to scream 'ARGH TURN IT OFF!'?
If you are a fan, tell us why and how it makes you feel to throw on some good old blast beats and death growls
To finish, I shall leave you with some sexy melodic death metal to make your eardrums happy
The biggest misconception people seem to have is that this musical style somehow makes people feel angry and violent... and hey, that's ok. I can understand why people would think so - on the surface it does sound noisy and angry and the imagery often focuses on dark themes that can seem angsty or childish.
Even the most devoted Slayer fans can't deny the crap-tasticness of their early album covers....
But.... this couldn't be further from the truth. It's all about release, catharsis and a joyfully primal expression of the chaos and aggression in us as humans, refined into something wholly positive and beautiful that, while it sounds like angry noise to most, makes us feel really, really good.
Anytime I've been to a metal gig the atmosphere has been thoroughly joyful and everyone is best buddies with total strangers for an hour or two.
Remember - the fat hairy dude in the Cannibal Corpse t-shirt who just knocked you over meant it in a manly bonding way.
Is moshing unsophisticated behaviour? Damn right it is. That's why it is great. Thinking we are sophisticated creatures is arrogant. We are primal, tribal, instinctive beings. We have not yet evolved past our fundamental primal nature. Sometimes it is a good thing to remember that and embrace it for a while, beat our chests and howl and let all of life's frustrations out through beautiful music and noise.
Though to most peoples' ears, it is but a raging cacophony, if you were fortunate enough to be born with ears that enjoy this kind of music, there literally is no other musical style that can give you the same joyful adrenalin filled primal rush. I'm 30 now and a fan of all kinds of music from cheesy pop to classical, but it's always metal I go back to because it is the one genre that consistently excites me.
As someone on this forum once pointed out: 'Metal is an expression of chaos through order (i.e.. structured notes) and it is beautiful and it is Zen.'
My questions to you are:
Do you 'get' metal and/or extreme metal?
Are you a fan? Are you indifferent? or does it make want to scream 'ARGH TURN IT OFF!'?
If you are a fan, tell us why and how it makes you feel to throw on some good old blast beats and death growls
To finish, I shall leave you with some sexy melodic death metal to make your eardrums happy
