I've only recently gotten into Heavy Metal music, or Metal as it is known, so I know what it looks like from the outside. When you picture Heavy Metal, you think of people wearing black and white paint, spiky black clothes, they hate religion and they love screaming into microphones and making as much noise as possible. However, as I found out, most, if not all of that, is simply not true.
Since Heavy Metal is an 'extreme' form of music, not much is known about it because it isn't played on the radio, and their is a social stigma attached to it, so there are a lot of misconceptions about it. For example, if you see people wearing those kind of clothes they probably listen to Gothic music (which isn't really metal) or Black Metal, which is one of the most extreme sub-genres. Most 'metalheads' wear normal clothing, or just a band shirt. Also, the whole anti-religion thing is almost completely made up. Many metal bands are Christian, or belong to any other religion, and the only bands that are openly anti-Christian are a few Black Metal bands.
I'll admit, when I first started listening to metal music, I hated the screaming. I loved the music, but the screaming seemed to get in the way. The Doom metal gutturals were incomprehensible, the Death metal growls were loud and scary and the Black Metal shrieks... don't even go there. However, once I listened to a few songs, I began to realise that the only reason I didn't like the sound was because I had never heard it before. Sure, it took some time, but the vocal style began to grow on me, and now I enjoy it as much, if not more than regular singing. Not all metal bands scream though, quite a few stick to 'clean' vocals, or just incorporate a growl every now and then. About the noise thing, yes metal music is known for being a wall of sound. However, if you actually listen to the music, and begin to understand and absorb all of the melodies and harmonies, you suddenly realise that you are listening to the sweetest music you've ever heard. Metal explores music in ways no one else does, constantly coming up with new instrument combinations, song structure, pitch, all of the components that goes into making a piece of music memorable. It takes some getting used to, after listening to more simplistic and repetitive beats and rhythms in more mainstream music, but once you train your ear to pick out all the notes you get a much greater appreciation for music.
So, enough with the anti-stereotyping, here are the reasons why I love metal music.
1. It sounds good.
Seems simple enough, but really if the music didn't good, then I wouldn't listen to it. I've already gone a bit into detail about it, but I'll add some stuff, In metal, all of the instruments play a part. Rather than the singer being the focus, the instruments all work together to create an even greater song. The vocals, guitars, bass, drums and whatever other instruments are thrown in all blend together to create a sound which is almost unearthly. The range of sounds is also amazing, with too many sub-genres to count, all different but with similarities.
2. The emotional effect.
When you listen to techno music, you want to get up and start dancing. When you listen to Blues music, you get sad, but you also feel hope. When you listen to classical music, your mind wanders and you ponder things which you never thought about before. Metal does all of this and more. From brutal Death Metal and Metalcore which gives you an energy rush and makes you want to get up and headbang as fast as possible, to Symphonic and Melodic Death Metal dripping in melancholy, to mind-opening Progressive Metal, the ability of Metal to inspire emotion and thought is unmatched. There are really no words to describe the feelings you get when listening to Metal music.
3. The skill.
What may seem like a wall of sound to someone who hasn't heard it before may actually be an extremely complicated piece of music which requires years of training and copious amounts of talent. I'm not saying that other forms of music don't take skill, but Metal requires the most amount of skill and dedication out of any genre, in my opinion. Not only this, but Metal bands are 'real'. They rarely alter their music through computers (and if they do it is usually only minor), they don't have rich families or massive sponsors behind their backs, they make their music because they love it, and they usually live off of it. I've never heard of a metal band that doesn't write all of their own songs, which brings me to another point. The lyrics in Metal are simply breathtaking. Compared to some of the garbage found in modern Pop music, Metal's lyrics are eye-opening, controversial, challenging, yet so emotional and fragile to the point that you just want to sit there and weep.
Overall, I like Metal because it is the music which I connect with the strongest. Once I started listening to Metal, there was no going back. What I had thought was amazing before became worse by comparison, and nothing seemed to bring me that same joy as Metal did. If you've made it this far, congratulation on making it through my ramblings, and I'll leave you with a quote from Sam Dunn.
Ever since I was 12 years old I had to defend my love for heavy metal against those who say it's a less valid form of music. My answer now is that you either feel it or you don't. If metal doesn't give that overwhelming surge of power that make the hair stand up at the back of your neck, you might never get it, and you know what? That's okay, because judging by the 40,000 metalheads around me we're doing just fine without you.
- fspsyco
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Member for 13 years, 5 months, and 15 days
Last active Mon, Mar, 2 2015 20:41:57
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BlairBros posted a message on Why do people like heavy metal?Posted in: Culture, Media & Arts -
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MineAndDine16 posted a message on 50,000,000$ in diamonds were stolen from an airport in Belgiumthat guys never gonna run out of pickaxesPosted in: Politics, Philosophy, News and Science -
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Pie_Slayer posted a message on Things that anger you in video gamesThe fact that people on the Xbox Live and PS3 Network decide my sexual orientation and who has intercourse with my mother.Posted in: General Gaming -
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Twosday posted a message on What is your favorite item right now?Posted in: General Off TopicQuote from fspsyco
for me right now its in a game its called "the high five taunt" +rep for the first person to guess what game it is
TF2? -
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Seradicus posted a message on Well, this is a weird problemHold on just a second... Your problem is that your family can't decide what exotic foreign land to visit this summer, and you go ever summer? I'm not even going to help. You have firstworldproblems to a level that I didn't even know existed!Posted in: General Off Topic
But hey, since you have money, mind sending some my way? Considering my household is jobless, I'd say we could probably use it. -
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98devin posted a message on Too many items problemYou should simply drag the class files into your minecraft.jar instead, or use a separate utility such as MC patcher or the Magic Launcher. Too many items does not require modloader or forge, and as such is not detected as a mod. Just apply it the same way you installed forge, it should work then. (also, by default it is turned on, so if you don't see it instantly, it's not working)Posted in: Mods Discussion -
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ChampTKE posted a message on do you like maps?Posted in: DiscussionQuote from Mantere
Meh, they are pretty fail at the moment. You have to keep it your hand to get it updated and if you keep it in your hand you can't see where you step -> Death in most painful and humiliating way possible. = falling down a whole in ground.
On top of this they are too small to be really practical.
i voted yes but i also agree with this post. the first time i used a map i walked right into a surface lava pit. the maps should update even if you're not holding them -
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GrammarPolice posted a message on Post your PictureThis thread is like Heaven for pedophiles.Posted in: General Off Topic - To post a comment, please login.
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hehehehe
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for me i was on a server and i saw a bit of diamond at the end of a lava lake at y:10 so i started to build across (keep in mind i had almost full iron armor and tools and like 30 gold and a stack of iron) it and all of a sudden a zombie snuck up behind me and knocked me in and i died it sucked. . .
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download link:http://www.mediafire.com/?l1gntltp3yua0gj
feed back is important so don't be afraid to post some improvements that need to be made.
the challenges are in the readme.
lastly if you have any questions they will be answered here.
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this first one i was building seance beta 1.4 and you can tell where i started then and did now btw i didnt really work on it much between 1.7 - 1.0.0
this next one i did in my spare time recently i finished before the other one lol
so this a fort i did awhile back and funny enough i named the map hope because i was hoping for a good idea
this is not my map btw its a youtuber by the name of antvenom if you get the chance check him out
this one is a minecraft replica of my real house needless to say i got really board
lastly i leave you guys with a house that i made because i liked the view i got off the cliff but i didnt want it too complex