The many misconceptions about Heavy Metal.
February 21st 2010 04:26
The many misconceptions about Heavy Metal.
Recently, I have had to encounter a lot of ignorant, hypocritical and biased views in regarding the music I enjoy listening to and love.
Some of the them, include, "all metal sounds like noise", "all metal singers cannot sing" "the lyrical content, a lot say, metal bands only write about death" "Metal is evil and all listeners, worship Satan" and lately "that go to these metal concerts lack intelligence" and that "Metal is mainly a male dominate domain and society".
Let me try and put an end to these misconceptions.
The Vocals:
A lot say that when they here a metal song and here a vocalist growl, they think it's screaming when in fact it isn't. The screaming vocals is mainly used in the Metalcore genre, which gets frowned upon widely in the metal genre. There is a difference between growling vocals which is often called "guttural" and screaming. Gutteral vocals is a lower pitched voice, where as, screaming is a high pitched tone of vocals. A lot of mainstream listeners have a hard time dealing with that concept.
Sure, there are a few metal singers that cannot sing, however, that is the case in mainstream music as well. Just look at the likes of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus for two examples, however, there are a lot of talented singers in the metal industry that the mainstream population, wouldn't even acknowledge or give a second thought too. One of them is Catherine Paulsen from the Gothic Metal band Trail of Tears who are a band from Norway. Paulsen, is actually a classically trained singer and as a Soprano voice and a voice of an angel in my opinon and can out-sing a lot of mainstream vocals. But because metal music isn't mainstream, she doesn't get the recognition she deserves. Here is an example of her voice - Really Long Link
Another singer is Italy's Cristina Scabbia. Here is another classically trained vocalist, but a totally different singer and has a totally different style of voice to Catheren Paulsen. Cristina is an actual contralto and has one of the strongest female clean vocals I have ever heard. She is regarded, as one of the best female singers in the metal industry and is a universally
respected female vocalist. In this video, the passion, the strength and the soul of her vocals comes out strong which only the likes of Miley Cyrus can dream about. It is one of the main reasons I love her and love Lacuna Coil Really Long Link
Another misconception is that the male singers that only use the growling vocals cannot sing, that isn't the case. One singer that comes to mind is Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity. I have heard people comment that don't know the band that, he cannot sing and can only scream. That isn't the case at all. Mikael Stanne, is a very accomplished singer who can not only use the growling vocals but uses clean vocals as well. Anyone who has heard Stanne perform they would know that he uses both clean and growling vocals. Really Long Link Misery's Crown is a good example of his wide range of voices.
One misconception, is that females cannot use the guttural vocals and that metal is a male dominate society. That isn't true, there are plenty of females that use those vocals.
Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy, Alissa White-Gluz from the Agonist (who actually uses both growling and clean vocals), and Sarah Jezebel Deva from Cradle of Filth, are
a couple of examples that uses the harsh vocals and do it well. Angela Gossow for example, blows away Arch Enemy's previous male singer in Johan Liva.
Angela, brings life and passion into their songs which I feel was lacking in their first 3 albums, even though, they are quite good albums, but Angela, I feel, was the missing link for Arch Enemy and now she complements them. There are more and more females each year becoming metal band members, not only as vocalist but instrumentalists as well.
The Lyrical Content:
I have had an experience with a few ignorant people out there, who say that metal bands only write about death. That isn't the case at all. One of these times, I brought a CD and brought it into work with me, I showed it to my female boss and she said to me "Why are you into that crap for?" "They only write about death". Funny thing was, it was a Nightwish CD, their Dark Passion Play album. Nightwish are a band that doesn't write about death. Nightwish actually writes about love, nature, astrology, fantasy and legends, I tried to explain this to her, but she wouldn't listen to me, she goes to me, musicians should sing about love not death. Other bands for example like Arch Enemy their topics are about anti-religion, rebellion, society and standing up for your rights. Amon Amarth topics are about Swedish mythology, history and vikings. Gojira who are a French Progressive Metal band, write about the enviroment and today's social issues, I can go on and on about my favourite bands and their topics, but I won't. Sure, there are a lot of bands that write about death. What is wrong with that? Are they only meant to write about love like all mainstream artists seem to do? Metal songwriters are the most versatile songwriters there is on the planet today. They are not stuck on one topic like a lot of other genres. It's why I love listening to metal music.
Heavy Metal is not evil, I do not worship satan and that's despite being an atheist, in fact, despite writing songs about Anti-Christianity and Satanism, Slayer's lead vocalist Tom Araya is a practicing Christian. Not many that listen to mainstream music knows this fact. Tom once said in an interview regarding Slayer's lyrical content and his views on Christianity - "Christ came and taught us about love, about doing unto others. That was his preach: Accept each other for who we are. Live peacefully, and love one another." When asked if he believed in God, Tom replied "I believe in a supreme being, yeah. But he's an all-loving God." Araya explained that he has a "really strong belief system," and that Slayer's words and images will "never interfere with what I believe and how I feel.... People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a Slayer song." Tom Araya also appeared in Sam Dunn's documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, and was asked about his religious background, to which he commented "Catholic." He was also asked "God Hates Us All, How does it fit in?" To which Araya replied "God doesn't hate. [But] it's a great fucking title." (Source - Wikipedia)
That is the beauty of Metal music...Musicians shouldn't be forced to write about love because that appeals to the mainstream dominion. They should be able to write about what they want to write about or how they feel at the time or anything they goddamn want to write about.
The mainstream's view of metal as always been to ignore it, it'll go away. But metal has been going strong for inexcess of 40 years now, it is a beast you cannot kill and when you think you've killed it, it comes back bigger, stronger and better. People always fear or easily write off what they don't understand and metal is one of those fears. Pop music is only popular because that music is short, easy to digest and undemanding. Metal music is none of those things.
What annoys me is when people say that they love all kinds of music. I ask them what kind of metal band are they into? They say, oh, I love all kinds of music, except for metal. That's sure is being open minded. They then expect me to be more open-minded and listen to other forms of music, when the same people won't even listen to metal music. With some people, ignorance is bliss.
One person at Bigfooty called Galon, who is a Hawthorn supporter said it best about Metal music:
Metal is for true lovers of music, the sort of people who appreciate the abilities and talents and the hard work that goes into music.
Metal is for people who understand the hours of practice it takes to master an instrument and then play it to an extreme level.
Metal is for the intelligent people who want to see passed the commercial lust for feel-good music.
We don't care about your love of P Diddy or any of that Aussie or American hip hop crap.
The beauty about metal music is the fact that whenever I go to metal gigs, I feel like I am apart of a brotherhood. A brotherhood where everyone is equal and you can easily have a chat to someone who you don't know and have a chat about metal music. I have done that a few times going to gigs and it's why I love going to them and socialising. It actually helps me feel better about myself as a person, meeting new people, making new friends and of course, listening to great music.
Metal music isn't just noise. It maybe noise to the untrained ear, but it's more than that. It is grace, beauty, power, speed, brutality, it's about writing lyrics that you want to write about, instead of conforming to the mainstream societies views, metal is therapy, when I am down, I put one of my favourite bands on and it cheers me up, when I am angry, I put something fast and thrashy on and it works 100% of the time, Metal is a genre of music which when 'done' right, resonates with the listeners at a subconsious level, it can cause the person to experience emotions in an all new amplified way and best of all, it is about thumbing your nose to the mainstream society and not giving a fuck about what they think about our music.
Recently, I have had to encounter a lot of ignorant, hypocritical and biased views in regarding the music I enjoy listening to and love.
Some of the them, include, "all metal sounds like noise", "all metal singers cannot sing" "the lyrical content, a lot say, metal bands only write about death" "Metal is evil and all listeners, worship Satan" and lately "that go to these metal concerts lack intelligence" and that "Metal is mainly a male dominate domain and society".
Let me try and put an end to these misconceptions.
The Vocals:
A lot say that when they here a metal song and here a vocalist growl, they think it's screaming when in fact it isn't. The screaming vocals is mainly used in the Metalcore genre, which gets frowned upon widely in the metal genre. There is a difference between growling vocals which is often called "guttural" and screaming. Gutteral vocals is a lower pitched voice, where as, screaming is a high pitched tone of vocals. A lot of mainstream listeners have a hard time dealing with that concept.
Sure, there are a few metal singers that cannot sing, however, that is the case in mainstream music as well. Just look at the likes of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus for two examples, however, there are a lot of talented singers in the metal industry that the mainstream population, wouldn't even acknowledge or give a second thought too. One of them is Catherine Paulsen from the Gothic Metal band Trail of Tears who are a band from Norway. Paulsen, is actually a classically trained singer and as a Soprano voice and a voice of an angel in my opinon and can out-sing a lot of mainstream vocals. But because metal music isn't mainstream, she doesn't get the recognition she deserves. Here is an example of her voice - Really Long Link
Another singer is Italy's Cristina Scabbia. Here is another classically trained vocalist, but a totally different singer and has a totally different style of voice to Catheren Paulsen. Cristina is an actual contralto and has one of the strongest female clean vocals I have ever heard. She is regarded, as one of the best female singers in the metal industry and is a universally
respected female vocalist. In this video, the passion, the strength and the soul of her vocals comes out strong which only the likes of Miley Cyrus can dream about. It is one of the main reasons I love her and love Lacuna Coil Really Long Link
Another misconception is that the male singers that only use the growling vocals cannot sing, that isn't the case. One singer that comes to mind is Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity. I have heard people comment that don't know the band that, he cannot sing and can only scream. That isn't the case at all. Mikael Stanne, is a very accomplished singer who can not only use the growling vocals but uses clean vocals as well. Anyone who has heard Stanne perform they would know that he uses both clean and growling vocals. Really Long Link Misery's Crown is a good example of his wide range of voices.
One misconception, is that females cannot use the guttural vocals and that metal is a male dominate society. That isn't true, there are plenty of females that use those vocals.
Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy, Alissa White-Gluz from the Agonist (who actually uses both growling and clean vocals), and Sarah Jezebel Deva from Cradle of Filth, are
a couple of examples that uses the harsh vocals and do it well. Angela Gossow for example, blows away Arch Enemy's previous male singer in Johan Liva.
Angela, brings life and passion into their songs which I feel was lacking in their first 3 albums, even though, they are quite good albums, but Angela, I feel, was the missing link for Arch Enemy and now she complements them. There are more and more females each year becoming metal band members, not only as vocalist but instrumentalists as well.
The Lyrical Content:
I have had an experience with a few ignorant people out there, who say that metal bands only write about death. That isn't the case at all. One of these times, I brought a CD and brought it into work with me, I showed it to my female boss and she said to me "Why are you into that crap for?" "They only write about death". Funny thing was, it was a Nightwish CD, their Dark Passion Play album. Nightwish are a band that doesn't write about death. Nightwish actually writes about love, nature, astrology, fantasy and legends, I tried to explain this to her, but she wouldn't listen to me, she goes to me, musicians should sing about love not death. Other bands for example like Arch Enemy their topics are about anti-religion, rebellion, society and standing up for your rights. Amon Amarth topics are about Swedish mythology, history and vikings. Gojira who are a French Progressive Metal band, write about the enviroment and today's social issues, I can go on and on about my favourite bands and their topics, but I won't. Sure, there are a lot of bands that write about death. What is wrong with that? Are they only meant to write about love like all mainstream artists seem to do? Metal songwriters are the most versatile songwriters there is on the planet today. They are not stuck on one topic like a lot of other genres. It's why I love listening to metal music.
Heavy Metal is not evil, I do not worship satan and that's despite being an atheist, in fact, despite writing songs about Anti-Christianity and Satanism, Slayer's lead vocalist Tom Araya is a practicing Christian. Not many that listen to mainstream music knows this fact. Tom once said in an interview regarding Slayer's lyrical content and his views on Christianity - "Christ came and taught us about love, about doing unto others. That was his preach: Accept each other for who we are. Live peacefully, and love one another." When asked if he believed in God, Tom replied "I believe in a supreme being, yeah. But he's an all-loving God." Araya explained that he has a "really strong belief system," and that Slayer's words and images will "never interfere with what I believe and how I feel.... People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a Slayer song." Tom Araya also appeared in Sam Dunn's documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, and was asked about his religious background, to which he commented "Catholic." He was also asked "God Hates Us All, How does it fit in?" To which Araya replied "God doesn't hate. [But] it's a great fucking title." (Source - Wikipedia)
That is the beauty of Metal music...Musicians shouldn't be forced to write about love because that appeals to the mainstream dominion. They should be able to write about what they want to write about or how they feel at the time or anything they goddamn want to write about.
The mainstream's view of metal as always been to ignore it, it'll go away. But metal has been going strong for inexcess of 40 years now, it is a beast you cannot kill and when you think you've killed it, it comes back bigger, stronger and better. People always fear or easily write off what they don't understand and metal is one of those fears. Pop music is only popular because that music is short, easy to digest and undemanding. Metal music is none of those things.
What annoys me is when people say that they love all kinds of music. I ask them what kind of metal band are they into? They say, oh, I love all kinds of music, except for metal. That's sure is being open minded. They then expect me to be more open-minded and listen to other forms of music, when the same people won't even listen to metal music. With some people, ignorance is bliss.
One person at Bigfooty called Galon, who is a Hawthorn supporter said it best about Metal music:
Metal is for true lovers of music, the sort of people who appreciate the abilities and talents and the hard work that goes into music.
Metal is for people who understand the hours of practice it takes to master an instrument and then play it to an extreme level.
Metal is for the intelligent people who want to see passed the commercial lust for feel-good music.
We don't care about your love of P Diddy or any of that Aussie or American hip hop crap.
The beauty about metal music is the fact that whenever I go to metal gigs, I feel like I am apart of a brotherhood. A brotherhood where everyone is equal and you can easily have a chat to someone who you don't know and have a chat about metal music. I have done that a few times going to gigs and it's why I love going to them and socialising. It actually helps me feel better about myself as a person, meeting new people, making new friends and of course, listening to great music.
Metal music isn't just noise. It maybe noise to the untrained ear, but it's more than that. It is grace, beauty, power, speed, brutality, it's about writing lyrics that you want to write about, instead of conforming to the mainstream societies views, metal is therapy, when I am down, I put one of my favourite bands on and it cheers me up, when I am angry, I put something fast and thrashy on and it works 100% of the time, Metal is a genre of music which when 'done' right, resonates with the listeners at a subconsious level, it can cause the person to experience emotions in an all new amplified way and best of all, it is about thumbing your nose to the mainstream society and not giving a fuck about what they think about our music.
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