Why Metal music makes us happy

[Irony's Acolyte]

Do you 'get' metal and/or extreme metal?
Yeah, I do 'get' extreme metal. Music is about making humans feel certain ways and extreme metal is able to touch on a certain part of the human psyche. A very primal and animalistic part that I figure is usually suppressed in modern society. Which is probably why its sort of a "counter-cultural" type of music.

Are you a fan? Are you indifferent? or does it make want to scream 'ARGH TURN IT OFF!'?
I'm definatly a fan of metal. While I'm sure there is metal songs that I won't like, there's a lot I've found that I like. And while I may find some of growls and screams of the harsher vocals to be difficult to understand, I've grown to like them just as much as the clearer stuff.

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
Well, considering that I haven't been into metal for too long and haven't heard what's out there its somewhat hard for me to know what exactly I like in Metal, but I do know that I like different types of metal. I do know that a big part of why I like Metal is the "volume" of sound in it (in both senses of the world). It really touchs a sort of primal part of me that other types of music have trouble reaching. It gets the blood pumping and your mind firing, which is quite different from my more sluggish feel in general life.

And because I can: some of my choice metal picks.

Spoiler: Herein lies Metal

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[Cobweb_Morphology]

CoF have NO business mentioning Lovecraft in their music, nor does any other band that composes coherent musical scores. The lovecraft mythos are about the terror experienced when confronted with absolute incomprehensibility. My Cthulhu bobble head bobbles his head only for AKLO:


and "CTHU-LHU" is TWO sylables.
and you know who really fails ME? Converge.
this is fun

 

[Berethond]

Do you 'get' metal and/or extreme metal? Yes, I 'get' metal. I understand why people like it, even though I don't like it myself.

Are you a fan? Are you indifferent? or does it make want to scream 'ARGH TURN IT OFF!'? I am definitely not a fan. The dirtiness of it makes me grind my teeth. I'm okay with some of the more harmonic-oriented stuff, like folk metal or whatnot, but it's really not my cup of tea at all.

What bothers me are when metal fans (or fans of anything, really) bash on / hate the stuff they don't like. But, of course, that's not going to change. Ever. So I might as well just go enjoy myself with people who aren't like that.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

Meshuggah!

Fuck yeah! Although I'll admit I only have two songs, I still think they're awesome. What their best album? cause I might buy it.

(OT): Anyway, I think I might put up my faves:

^This is the song that got me into harder music, at the time I was listening to Muse, Radiohead The Mars Volta and the like. For that reason I name this song my favourite of all time

^The song that got me into death metal. Opeth's best

 

[Cobweb_Morphology]

TOOL is that one thing that everyone had a shirt of after they stopped wearing their NIN shirts right? I didnt realize they made music as well, how interesting.

And that ONE song that disturbed plays over and over on ALL their albums is pretty catchy. I like it when he says OHH AH AH AH AH! like a funny little monkey ;P

And rammstein ALWAYS brings back fond memories of that WONDERFUL vin diesel movie xXx! What happened after that? i think there was a fur coat involved.

 

[WhamBamSam]

thread 1346433 on how great metal is

These sorts of threads pop up on here for every genre of music. They just aren't as common and don't last as long when the subject is a non-metal genre because, a)these boards just have more metal fans than punk fans, rap fans, jazz fans, or whatever, b)there really are several irritating and inaccurate stereotypes about metal (note that rap threads are the next most common after metal, usually centering on disproving the whole "guns and hoes" thing), and c)people show up in threads about how metal isn't just angry noise to say that it's just angry noise, or else to complain about how common the threads are, thus provoking arguments and extending the thread's lifespan.

 

[cookieXkiller]

well i love my death metal and recently i've been listening to some real old metal and death like the band Death, Orbituary , slayer and (old) Cannibal corpse
metal makes me happy cuz its fucking awesome
\m/ death metal pride

 

[Death_Korps_Kommissar]

I don't know I've never had to defend any music that I love. I could give a shit. That's why I find the plethora of whiny " why can't you adore metal like we do?????" threads so confusing.

I hope you're not including this thread in that.

This thread was meant to be a positive thing, to explain in simple terms the buzz that metalheads get from the music so it made more sense to those who don't enjoy it - to share and celebrate the love of something that brings people together all over the world.

Of course, there will always be those who it is not to their taste and that's perfectly fine. What I have a problem with is nasty condescending comments like the ones you made above. It's just not needed and stops people from paying attention to any valid point you might actually make.

Your comments about the average age of users here and their relationship with the music was very ignorant. It reminded me of Tyra Banks on that show laughing at the 25 year old gamer and implying he should be 13 to like gaming.

*yawn* I didn't make any correlation between age and liking metal, but insecurity and these spammy repost "in defense of metal threads". If you just wanna spam the forums with links to metal music you like at least be honest about it.


Look you post thread 1346433 on how great metal is and you're not looking for criticism? Start a blog.

But you did, you just assumed because we like metal were a bunch if angsty teenagers. And you know what, a lot of us are. I'm an angsty teenager and I'm proud. You just an asshole who likes to parade around the Internet thinking your better than us. There is a reason angsty teenagers like metal, because we attract the same kind of people, we can relate so well to each other. Some people might not like KoRn but I found them comforting when I was in pretty bad situations. We didnt want your shit post. If you had be nice and said "I don't are much for metal", that'd be fine. But no, you turned your nose at. Well fuck you dude. Why don't you build a bridge and get over it. Share you opinion with someone who gives a shit.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

TBH i dont 'get' metal, though some bands that I would consider fairly close to the genre are actually some of my faves.

Tool are definetely in my top 10 favourite bands, went to seem them on friday. Boy were they good. Also saw Rammstein - I can't really stand the music but my god do they play a good live show. You havent lived until youve seen a guy light the bands drum kit on fire, and the drummer continue until the drumset falls apart.

I saw these both at BDO and then Tool's standalone show: Both were the best show's I've ever seen, for different reasons. Rammstein are just epic, I love them

Spoiler: Opeth - Baying Of The Hounds

Great band, this album is by fair their weakest, i think the introduction of full-time keyboards let them down a lot.

 

[Hollock]

the very little amount of metal I like doesn't make me happy as much as it makes me "pumped". Actually I remember one metal song made by a user on the Escapist that I really liked, but I can't remember his name, or the name of his song.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

I don't know I've never had to defend any music that I love. I could give a shit. That's why I find the plethora of whiny " why can't you adore metal like we do?????" threads so confusing.

I hope you're not including this thread in that.

This thread was meant to be a positive thing, to explain in simple terms the buzz that metalheads get from the music so it made more sense to those who don't enjoy it - to share and celebrate the love of something that brings people together all over the world.

Of course, there will always be those who it is not to their taste and that's perfectly fine. What I have a problem with is nasty condescending comments like the ones you made above. It's just not needed and stops people from paying attention to any valid point you might actually make.

Your comments about the average age of users here and their relationship with the music was very ignorant. It reminded me of Tyra Banks on that show laughing at the 25 year old gamer and implying he should be 13 to like gaming.

*yawn* I didn't make any correlation between age and liking metal, but insecurity and these spammy repost "in defense of metal threads". If you just wanna spam the forums with links to metal music you like at least be honest about it.

Look you post thread 1346433 on how great metal is and you're not looking for criticism? Start a blog.

This thread is supposed to be a positive discussion among metal fans. If you want to join in and say you don't like metal that's fine. But if you're going to start criticising us and our discussions, you can just leave. We don't want anything to do with you in this thread if you are going to start a fight over it. Just don't come into these threads if you don't like them, because they won't bother you if you leave them alone

 

[Plurralbles]

It helps me do math. Anything with intelligible words messes with me so I need someone growling or screaming into my ear to concentrate. Paint it Black is an awesome song but its intelligible lyrics is making me forget math and look, I'm posting here.

Probably why I suck during midterms...

Kinda' ticks me off. So freakin' incapable when it actually matters.

 

[Fraught]

I love how justification is that we're "not sophisticated and are brutish, tribal beings". Not that I dislike metal, but it just makes me smirk every time, no matter the context.

Care to expand on that? Tell us why?

No real reason, really.
It's just a mixture of having a different opinion of the human race (partly due to a percent of the population, not it as a whole), but then agreeing with it at the same time. Kind of hard to explain why, but it just does.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

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*yawn* I didn't make any correlation between age and liking metal, but insecurity and these spammy repost "in defense of metal threads". If you just wanna spam the forums with links to metal music you like at least be honest about it.

Look you post thread 1346433 on how great metal is and you're not looking for criticism? Start a blog.

Lol... you are something else.

Nobody minds criticism once it's constructive, but you are clearly just attempting to be condescending and rude.

Everyone on this thread is contributing positively (including people who don't enjoy the music I mentioned) except for you. You just came in here and started throwing around bizarre criticisms that don't even ring true. At least everyone else had the common courtesy and manners to respect other people's tastes and that is what the thread is about.

What strange insecurities you must have if this is the method you use to give yourself some feeling of superiority over others. Think hard, does it really make you feel good to condescend other people?

At the end of the day you're only really hurting yourself. Everyone else in this thread is being civil and non-judgmental towards eachother... you couldn't even achieve that.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I love how justification is that we're "not sophisticated and are brutish, tribal beings". Not that I dislike metal, but it just makes me smirk every time, no matter the context.

Care to expand on that? Tell us why?

No real reason, really.
It's just a mixture of having a different opinion of the human race (partly due to a percent of the population, not it as a whole), but then agreeing with it at the same time. Kind of hard to explain why, but it just does.

I'd be of the opinion there's a time and a place for both. We do have sophisticated and complex minds that have evolved far beyond any other organism on the planet, and that's great. Without that we couldn't even make music in the first place. But at the same time there's no harm in embracing that crazy little ape inside you sometimes either. Helps keep some of us level headed!

Also the tribal, primal thing isn't really a 'justification' as I don't really feel any need to justify my musical tastes. Think of it more as an explanation of what I love about it, if you get me.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

I love metal. I'm also a fan of post-hardcore and deathcore and metalcore. I wish more shows would come near my town so I could go to them more often, but I go to Mayhem Fest every summer so it's all good .

As for some metal I like heregoes:


Okay this may not be completely metal, it's more metalcore, but I encourage everyone to listen to this song:

 

[Zyphonee]

I really dislike metal as a genre, although I agree that it's not like metal makes people angry or unhappy. I just find it to be not particularly the kind of music that I enjoy; I personally feel like it's over saturating every note relentlessly, while I prefer something that is more armonious or where the actual musical volumes can be appretiated (Notice, I'm actually a fan of Dio and Rammstein), I'm not saying metal requires any less of musical expertise to play properly, or that I don't find the musical value within an exceptionally good metal song, I just don't enjoy that particular kind of sound. Of course, then there's other kinds of metal which I just find terrible and cannot understand why anyone would like them, but the same applies to every other music genre.

On the other hand, although I am not one for judging musical movements for their aesthetics, I just find the whole carnage esque atmosphere surrounding metal annoying, I find it to be of terrible taste in the same way that I find punk to be counter-productive; it's just obscene imagery that depict nothing but vulgarity.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

On the other hand, although I am not one for judging musical movements for their aesthetics, I just find the whole carnage esque atmosphere surrounding metal annoying, I find it to be of terrible taste in the same way that I find punk to be counter-productive; it's just obscene imagery that depict nothing but vulgarity.

I think over time this is diminishing as a necessity in the genre. I'm not sure where it came form in the first place, I'd imagine it had something to do with the whole rebellious attitude that came with metal in the 80s... people saying 'let's shock people and push this as far into sub-culture as we can'.

Nowadays though, while a lot of the lyrical content does focus on anger and angst, I do think the genre is growing up a bit, with bands like Opeth, Tool, Strapping Young lad etc all making heavy music without the need for all that carnage in their lyrical or visual imagery.

 

[MisterGobbles]

Okay this may not be completely metal, it's more metalcore, but I encourage everyone to listen to this song:

I love you. It's more post-hardcore than metal, but these guys are great, saw them live a couple weeks ago after being introduced to them at Warped.

A lot of bands nowadays blur the line between metalcore and post-hardcore.