Metal 101Stuff I think you should care about

By Keidra

First off: I am not an expert

• Listened to metal for 20 years• Wrote about heavy music for beer money sometimes• Wrote an essay about listening to heavy metal that

people still seem to care about• Actually waited in line for Dave Mustaine’s autograph• I attempt to play it badly sometimes• Probably going to Maryland Deathfest next year• Go to metalhistory.com if you want it broken down

With that… what is metal?

• It starts with the blues, or at least blues rock, which the Brits did best:

Black Sabbath, essentially the heaviest blues band EVAR

What else?

• Riffs, not chords dominate• Rhythm and Precision• Distortion• Dissonant tonality “The Devil Chord/Interval”• Downtuned guitars

But…there’s more!

Punk and hardcore influence metal a lot, too! New Wave of British Heavy Metal

80’s Thrash Metal: The Big 4 and Friends

Subgenres

• Thrash metal (The Big 4 and friends)• Glam Metal (Motley Crue and such – is this

really metal? I am not going there)• Death Metal (Deicide, Morbid Angel, Cannibal

Corpse)• Prog/Power Metal (Dream Theatre,

Nightwish, DragonForce, Queensryche)

More Subgenres

• Black Metal** (Dimmu Borgir, Burzum, Gorgoroth, Skeletonwitch)

• Doom/Stoner Metal and friends (St. Vitus, Trouble, Eyehategod, Kyuss, Down)

• Metalcore (Converge, DEP, Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die)

• Grindcore and stuff (Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer)

• Tons of hybrid shit (symphonic metal, post-metal, viking metal, avant garde metal)

• Not all Black Metal is racistNational Socialist Black Metal is the subgenre thematically aligned with the Nazi party.

Though there is sometimes uncomfortable overlap with some subgenres.

**Important to Note

Also Important to Note

• EVERYONE WILL ARGUE ABOUT WHAT SUBGENRE THEIR FAVORITE BAND ACTUALLY IS AND WHY IT IS THE BEST

• Who’s right? YOU. Everyone else is totally wrong.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Diversity! There’s something for everyone! Kinda.• Cons: Way too much to keep up with if you have a job and other hobbies. Lots of bullshit posturing about “false metal”

Where to start? Your own tastes

• Do you like groove? Maybe Doom metal• Do you like melody? Maybe Symphonic metal• Fan of hardcore? Some non-sucky metalcore

bands may be for you• Fan of shit like Rush? You will love prog metal• Fan of shit like Frank Zappa ? Try avant garde

metal

Education!

Should you want to actually know more

Reading!

Sound of the Beast – Ian

Christe

Reading!

Heavy Metal: The Music and

Its Culture – Deena

Weinstein

Reading!

Decibel Magazine

Blogs!

Metal Injection.comBlabbermouth.netMetalSucks.com

InvisibleOranges.comReigninBlonde.com

And that’s it