The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Arts => Sound Off! => Topic started by: Littlefoot Fan on April 02, 2006, 11:49:49 AM
-
CAUTION{Some songs included in this post start with high volume. Consult your volume meter before playing, thank you :lol:}
I dunno but I've noticed that most metal music sucks (Well in my opinion) and it's all mainly the way they sing it. Now I suppose maybe metal just isn't my type of genre...however there are a few songs that are sung in that *crazy* way that I like. Take Otherworld (http://h1.ripway.com/Guilmon/ffx_otherworld.mp3) for example. Now there are songs like this AsILayDying (http://h1.ripway.com/Guilmon/AsILayDying-Elegy.mp3) where the singing sort of *kills* what was a good song. I just really think most metal songs suck because the singing just sort of dominates it. But I guess like I said before, maybe metal just isn't my type of music.
Now take this song Stricken (http://h1.ripway.com/Guilmon/Disturbed-Stricken.mp3) for example. This is a heavy metal song and I love it! The singing is perfect for the song and it just works. I guess the point I'm tryin to make is, the way most of them heavy metal bands sing, why even have lyrics to the songs? Whenever they start singing, it just sounds like a really bad instrument is comin in and being played.
This is just my opinion though, I'm sure there are many out there who like that *crazy, can't understand* type of singing.
-
I absolutely agree with you on this. This is why I don't tend to enjoy most North American metal. It all seems based on screaming and shouting, which takes away any musicality from the song. The only metal I have ever enjoyed, is that from Europe, namely from the bands Nightwish, Kamelot, and Sonata Arctica. The reason? Their music actually has some real Value to it, and the vocalists can actually Sing their song, as opposed to getting mad at it :lol
Most North American metal seems to be written for more "hardcore" fans than us. We don't like our music to sound like junk, while some metal fans apparently do. They believe that's what metal is all about, and they wouldn't necessarily call Nightwish or Kamelot a metal band.
I'm sure Europe has its share of bad metal, too. I have just heard much less of it, and I can't relate to any, specifically, aside from the occasional song by the above bands which is a little "harder" than I would like. One example of this, is "One of the Hunted" by Kamelot. It's an ugly song, with some of the Worst singing I think I've ever heard (even worse than mine :lol). However, "Karma" by Kamelot is a wicked song, very creative, enjoyable to listen to (if you like rock, anyway).
The only North American metal song I can remember that I actually like, is "Now or Never" by Dope. It's actually a good song :p Though maybe it isn't hard enough to be considered Metal. It's sometimes hard to differentiate between hard rock, and metal, but I think I've figured out some general rules:
1) Metal music usually has a drummer with 2 bass drums, so he can smack them with both feet, at twice the speed of most other music styles. This technique is normally associated with a sub-genre of metal, known as "Power Metal".
2) Metal music usually has some sort of crazy guitar solo in it somewhere. Rock often has shorter, or no, guitar solo.
3) Metal music seems to have a bigger presence of drums. They seem louder and a bit more reckless.
4) Metal tends to have more shouting or screaming in it.
(I'd upload links to download some songs, but I'm out of space and I don't want angelfire shutting me down AGAIN for uploading copyrighted files :p). They've already shut me down twice for uploading music :mad
"True" metal music reminds me of Goth music. It's rugged and loud, for the purpose of being rugged and loud. You either love it or hate it. Personally, I hate "true" metal.
LF Fan, perhaps Metal isn't your genre, like you mentioned. Maybe you prefer hard rock to Metal.
Another possibility is that you may prefer what is called "Symphonic metal", like me. Symphonic metal is like some of the Nightwish songs I sent you; consisting of many melodic sounds and instruments, alongside the rock style. Some great examples of this are "Ghost Love Score", "Dark Chest of Wonders" or "Nemo" by Nightwish.
-
I HATE metal music, I also hate rap, pop and rock. I love electronic music, I especially like the subgenres Techno and Ambient.
-
I prefer the kinds of music that have a kind of melody I could hum or whistle if I wanted to. Very often I need to associate something with a song to really appreciate it.
Metal or most very noisy kinds of music are not my cup of tea (each to his or her own; this is just my opinion).
-
The types of rock and metal that I enjoy are just that. The actually contain a generally distinct melody, and possess some sort of musical value to them. I've heard my share of noisy rock and metal, and I can't enjoy it, either.
The type of music I like to listen to depends on my mood and what I'm doing. I will listen to almost any genre of music, including pop, instrumental, techno, rock, you name it (well, I do have a 13 GB music collection on my computer. There's a little bit of variety here :lol ). The only genre I have no value for is gangster Rap or "bad" rap / hip-hop. I can't appreciate it for a number of reasons, including the images it has in urban culture. I don't have close relations with anyone who likes this genre, and I think that's more than co-indicence :P:
-
I prefer the kinds of music that have a kind of melody I could hum or whistle if I wanted to.
The types of rock and metal that I enjoy are just that. The actually contain a generally distinct melody, and possess some sort of musical value to them.
Exactly! There has to be some sort of tune to it or it's like a chalkboard goin through a paper shredder :lol:
-
I also like lisenting to movie and video game soundtracks. Halo is my most favorite.
-
Haha definitely! I have both the halo theme (Well it's some kind of remix. I wish I could find the original) and the doom 3 theme :D. And that Otherworld song if from Final Fantasy X hehe :P:
-
I have the whole Halo soundtrack with background music from the levels and everything. I also have the first volume of the Halo 2 soundtrack. Volume 2 is supposed to come out the 25th with all of the background music from the levels.
-
About 90% of my music are movie soundtracks. Most of it are melodies only without any lyrics. There are some lyrics I really like though. Recently I got the CD with the soundtrack of Watership Down and I really like the lyrics of track 13. "Winter song".
-
I rarely listen to music with lyrics either. LF Fan, I strongly reccomend you get the whole Halo sound track, the composer Marty O' Donnel is amazing! :DD :DD :DD
-
No comment since I don't listen to metal music. Music is like movies and religion--watch what you say and where....
-
I'm an oldies guy myself. Don't listen to metal, and don't care to. Give me the greats of Motown, and I'm a happy guy.
-
I'm a more rounded guy when it comes to music. I actually have some favorite metal bands, but I'm mostly around dance, techno, electronic, deep salsa, and anything else I can dance to or cardio-train.
-
Sometimes I listen everything, sometimes nothing. I dont know what kind of music I like. It depends how I feel. I begain to listen metal music before one year.
-
YAYYYYY! I just preordered Volume 2 of the Halo 2 soundtrack, I should get it in a couple weeks. :DD :DD :DD
-
On the topic of video game soundtracks, I'm going to point out a site you may or may not know of: the Video Game Music Archive (http://www.vgmusic.com). This site has a number of video game and video game music enthusiasts, and a huge (21,000+) database of video game MIDIs, created by fans (I've uploaded a few to this site) organized by game system and game title.
(and as a side note that I just have to add: A lot of the MIDI creators there are Pretty dang good at what they do. Lots of high-quality work on there!)
They have an active forum (http://www.vgmusic.com/phpBB/), for anyone interested. I'm a member, but I actually never post there for some reason :blink:
This site is Very active. New midi uploads can be found in the new files section of the site. The link is on the left-hand side of the home page. Here's another link:
http://www.vgmusic.com/new-files/ (http://www.vgmusic.com/new-files/)
-
I'll be checking that place out for sure. :D
-
Action, I wouldn't say that. I agree that metal is junk. I am also informed in the music community, and most metal bands have the "I'm going to mosh the crap out of that little 10 year old " style, but not all. Don't listen to Slipknot or Job for a Cowboy if you hate the screaming to the point where you can't understand it.
Some good bands from the metal genre are:
Hatebreed (not as hard as it sounds)
Metallica ( I personally don't like them, but they are ok)
Disturbed ( You can understand them perfectly)
I think part of our mis-aligned view on the subject is the fact that there are sooo many Sub-genres of Metal out there. Metal is the overall genre of music, which is normally defined as 2 or 3 distorted electric guitars, A LOT of drum work and energetic, or even harsh-sounding vocals. Metallica tends to be a little more mature about their metal, which is partly why they're able to reach a larger audience than many Metal bands.
What I meant by Most North American metal seems to be written for more "hardcore" fans than us. We don't like our music to sound like junk, while some metal fans apparently do
is that it is very difficult to find a Good metal band in North America that a person who is relatively new to Metal music can enjoy. I remember really disliking metal until a friend of mine sent me a song by Nightwish. It was then that I learned that metal can actually sound good. I never would have learned that if I wouldn't have been exposed to "imported" metal music. As a result, I can distinctly hear a difference in sound from North American metal to European metal. In general, I feel that North American metal sounds more like a rock/punk fusion than what metal can really be. Even the band Disturbed, that you mentioned above, feels more like a punk band than the metal bands that I'm used to.
It is sometimes hard to define Metal from say, Hard Rock. This is why there are sub-genres of Metal, to help define this difference. All of these genres contain the basic elements of Metal/Rock, with differences. Metal music tends to have big-burly cymbal hits and crashes (hence the name, "metal") throughout.
Power Metal: High-energy, high-speed, Lots of drums, usually lots of guitars, and a vocal that can be either fast or slow, expressive or high-energy.
Examples:
Sonata Arctica - Don't Say a Word (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJmw1ehePHY&mode=related&search=arctica) (this vid isn't very good, but it gets the point across. This song sounds much better on their CD)
Kamelot - Soul Society (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjjoLb6Ff9g&search=kamelot) (a fusion of power metal and melodic/symphonic metal)
Kamelot - Centre of the Universe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3udtBhvgwk&search=robotech)
Avantasia - Chalice of Agony
Symphonic Metal: Containing elements of a symphony orchestra fused with the essence of Metal music. It actually makes for a very interesting mix, in my mind.
Examples:
Nightwish - Beauty of the Beast (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=OhVLDn-uzHM)
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EK4X8Qmmo) (give this one a chance to load. It's long, but amazing!)
Nightwish - Planet Hell (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WPtVAAxUE)
Melodic Metal: Mainly Rock with some enhanced effects and more action. Similar to Symphonic Metal but generally less complex orchestration. Many slower Metal songs fall in this category.
Examples:
Kamelot - Abandoned (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=YDuyiBLuxGw)
Sonata Arctica - Last Drop Falls (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=BTY5c8-8V58)
Avantasia - Sign of the Cross
Death Metal: The most aggressive, harsh-sounding form of metal that I know of. The vocals tend to be 'growled' to the listener. The rhythm and lead guitars control most of the song with powerful. This can be classified as the most aggressive form of Power Metal.
Examples:
Nightwish - The Pharoh Sails to Orion (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=D0FDbsLpdyQ) (fusion of death metal, power metal, and melodic metal)
Nightwish - Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=hQpfbUtMFew) (fusion of power metal, death metal, and symphonic metal)
Goth Metal: A difficult genre to describe, but it seems to consist of elements of melodic metal, death metal, and anything else they want to throw into their music. I can't think of any examples off-hand. Goth metal tends to be a bit slower than their power metal counterparts.
(I am tempted to put Evanescence - Going Under (Goth/Tech/Melodic Metal) as an example, but I'll probably get that thrown back in my face, as Evanescence is not true metal. They're classed closer to rock/pop. Even so, I'm going to use this song as my example).
Noise Metal: Metal that is specifically designed to be LOUD. This music is built to throw the listener out of their seat. This is one of the least-organized-sounding styles of metal, normally referred to as chaotic. It is rarely used on its own (well, at least), as it creates a rather painful listening experience.
I can't think of any true examples, as I avoid this genre on purpose.
Tech Metal: A genre of metal that includes techno-like instruments as important elements or driving forces to their music.
Disturbed - The Game (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=EcUE2BxXQ4g)
Rammstein - Engel (http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=u3jl7d6faiY)
Many metal songs are fusions of the above, and other, genres. There are probably other subgenres which I can't think of right now. There is a lot of metal which actually contains clear elements of real music within it. Most of the songs listed above do not contain excessive screaming, and some of them are very clean, well-done pieces of music. Metal does have a place, the hard part is finding good metal in North America. :P: I only mentioned a North American band (Disturbed and Evanescence) twice on this entire list.
-
my cousin jokes when he hears an all screaming song...
"STOPSIGN!!!!" "GLASSES!!!" "MY HELMET IS STUCK! MY HELMET IS STUCK!!!"
-
Hate to pull a joke at the expense of the genre but I'd actually like to listen to music where I can understand what the musician is saying. :P:
-
Hate to pull a joke at the expense of the genre but I'd actually like to listen to music where I can understand what the musician is saying.
Heh no worries Petrie. You've seen my Stepmania collection and the number of songs that would fall into a metal subgenre within that collection. :p I like some, but mainly those songs with strong musical backing to them.
I'm not a fan of the screaming at all, either. I find some melodic or symphonic metal songs can be quite well-done, overall.
-
Sorry dudes, but Nightwish isn't metal. It's more on the takes of Evanescence and Within Temptation, those are more "pseudo-goth wannabe's" =P
I mock them, but I like a couple of the songs from these band's, although they're nowhere near metal.
-
I find it hard to imagine Evanescence as anything close to goth...
-
I find it hard to imagine Evanescence as anything close to goth...
They're the closest thing to Goth that I've heard much of. I don't like "real" goth; it's too dirty.
Sorry dudes, but Nightwish isn't metal.
Metal is a larger genre than you may think. If they're not in various subgenres of metal, where are they?
"pseudo-goth wannabe's" =P
I mock them, but I like a couple of the songs from these band's, although they're nowhere near metal.
Who do you consider metal then? I'm not a proud Metal fan so I don't care. I'm just curious.
-
Neither am I, but probably something like Ramstein or Katatonia.
Evanescence aren't goth, I don't know what to call them but they're certainly not metal =P
Just because a band some times has some obscure references, and plays with hard voices, from the minute they're commercial and the lead singer has a soft voice, like HIM or Nightwish, it's not considered metal. I can tell you what isn't metal but don't ask me what is. Looks like a paradox doesn't it?
-
Maybe...if you can't name what is metal, how can you name what isn't? :P:
-
True :D
Do we have a metalhead or metal expert in the house?
-
Is this good enough? B)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonic_metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonic_metal)
List of symphonic metal bands
...Nightwish...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightwish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightwish)
Nightwish are a Finnish symphonic metal band formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee. Nightwish is considered one of the bands responsible for the rise in popularity of symphonic metal at the end of the 1990s.[
Symphonic Power Metal
...Kamelot...
"Metal" itself doesn't really exist. Every Metal song/band seems to fall within some subgenre of Metal.
It sounds to me that Heavy Metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal) or Power Metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_metal) or maybe even Death Metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_metal) is what you're referring to.
-
Hmm.. I don't really believe in labeling bands by genre. Each band has its own unique sound, sure some sound a like and come from similar backgrounds, but I can't say Joy Division are goth or indie, they're Joy Division, and that's it -_-
-
Hmm.. I don't really believe in labeling bands by genre.
I think it *can* be done but it really doesn't have to be....unless you're in a band, trying to promote yourself. How do you say you sound like yourself if you're trying to promote yourself? Nobody knows what to compare you to! If you say you sound like "something unique" people will expect you to play notes and sing words that have never been sung before (including sung in other languages, other cultures, etc. etc). If you say "Everything", people will expect a hiphop beat with rock and techno, along with jazz, classical and east-indian. Be careful what you say you play. :lol:
The word "unique" is a paradox in a way, when it comes to music. There are distinct cultures of music around the world. While there are Definitely differences from band to band, the sound, to a casual listener, from one band to another, isn't always very different. If a band can decribe what they sound like, I think it is beneficial for them, and it helps the general public (which has an IQ of 100 according to what is "average") understand just what you sound like, before they even hear you.
But before this gets too off-topic, I'm starting a new thread for this discussion. This topic should ideally focus on metal music.
-
I guess you have a point there action9000. Still, that's mostly a pratical use. For example when I go to Fnac and I find Joy Division albuns in the goth section, I'm like :blink:
It's a bit understandable, since they did start a goth wave, but not the type of goth people now know.
-
For example when I go to Fnac and I find Joy Division albuns in the goth section, I'm like :blink:
I don't think I have as strong feelings about music genres as you do then. It would take something *really* odd (like Garth Brooks in the Metal section) for me to go :blink:.
If I saw Evanescence in Goth, I basically say "whatever". If I saw Nightwish in the Rock section, I'd say "whatever". If I saw Disturbed in Rock..."whatever". I'm not picky for my own sake. You'd never catch me saying something like: "OMG! Nightwish isn't Rock, it's Metal! I wanna speak to your manager!" :lol
Honestly, it's close enough. :P:
I mainly like to learn the use of categories for the sake of understanding music in general and to help me explain my style of music to others (in case this ever proves to be useful).
-
Lol, of course I'm not going to make a fuss over it =P But it's weird, mostly because JD is one of my favourite bands, but lately I found it in the Indie section, so I guess the guys at Fnac have learned a thing or two :D
-
Hmmm, I probably shouldn't have said that I didn't like most metal music, because I do actually. At the time of making this topic, I was very limited to the number of *metal* songs I've listened to, but over the year, I've discovered just how many different kinds of metal there are out there.
I have to say, I'm drifting more towards metal rather than away from it. Alot of my music folder consists of mostly heavy or speed metal. I'm not sure, maybe it's just a teenage thing? :p :DD
But yea, alot of what I said in this topic actually is the other way around now. As I explored more music, I found more different types of metal that I loved, as well as different bands, so my outlook on metal music isn't really nearly as bad as I originally put it.
-
I can't say that I'm majorly into metal although there are a good few bands and songs that I like. Killswitch, Silverchair, System of a Down and good ol' Metallica! :^.^: I like metal because I reckon that there is a lot of truth behind the lyrics (provided you can hear what the hell they're saying! :lol ). Certain songs click with me more than others but I can't say I'm an avid metaller. My little bro is and he gets me into all the latest stuff but once I've heard it, it only stays logged upstairs for a while before I forget about it.
One thing I find a bit disconcerting with metal music is the reams and reams of sub genres. Death, Thrash and I think someone mentioned Viking Metal to me at one point :huh: That was bizarre! It basically sounded like warcries and army chants to a lead solo! When a genre is broken down into so many different sub-genres, I tend to get lost in it all and I then find I lose interest. I can't say I'd've ever delved into metal music if it hadn't been for my bro...but there are some wickid bands out there that really do kick it some! ;)