metalheads... I want your thoughts

as we get people into the site from the outer reaches of the internet after the initial land rush of posters from PA's have claimed all the prized land and hot women and set ourselves up as sheriffs and magistrates ahhah


for the pure  metalheads out there....  what are your thoughts on prog rock.... even prog metal.

are there any out there that believe metal is tits and ass, good times music.. dark 'dangerous' music with satanic (real or pseudo) musings..  if so.... how does attempts to intellectualize music sit with you.

Colt wrote: I was "lucky" enough to have experienced both prog rock and metal in their infancy.   I still listen to both (far too much my missus would say!) and maybe understandably, I prefer Prog Metal over most other musical forms.   Having said that I'm more of a traditionalist and therefore steers clear of the ultra extreme acts.   Do you think it will be more of an age thing?

I do....at the cost of having been often accused of being a bit too much condescending when I make such generalizations   I just think that younger listeners relate to... or simply understand that extreme sh*t.  I just think it sounds like f**king noise hahah. I've always been about melody and much like prog... enjoy metal most when attention is made to not shock/impress the listener... but catch the listener in a web of interesting music of which melody.... even in metal.. is so important.   I have often thought it .. not skills or virtuosity.. is what makes music so great.  It's when music 'grabs' you and won't let go.. that again is why I think it is a age thing..   if melody is what grabs me.. and others who grew up listening to absolute kings of melody.. the Beatles.. who is to say that rage and noise doesn't 'grab' others who might not have been exposed to such an emphasis on melody and the craft of songwriting.   I suppose I'm just old enough to have seen real rage in the world. and don't need it in music as well.  Not when it often an 'act'... take the rage of hard core rap.. for the most part.. that is REAL.  Not originally some ploy to sell records or be put into a musical nitche they enjoy playing.. but a real reflection of the lives they know made for those who live a life where they are targeted simply because of the color of their skin.

UMUR wrote: Well it�s been kind of different for me actually. I started out listening to the usual suspects like Iron Maiden and Metallica and then moved on to the more extreme stuff. Then I had a period where I found progressive metal and later power metal really interesting and now as I�ve growned older I�ve returned to extreme metal. Ususally the more extreme and aggressive the better. So no it�s not an age thing for me.

it's all about personal taste for the individual and really nothing matters past that..  however if talking generalizations.. the larger listening audience...there probably (obviously in my mind) is an age component to it.

Logan wrote: Prog -- to be honest, I'd rather not even hear that word here (at least for now),  Progressive metal is kind of a pseudo-intellectual b*****dization of pure metal.  Give me balls to the wall metal that appeals to my baser instincts and none of that aerie faerie crock rock nonsense.  -brootaLogan

Edited by CCVP - 27 Mar 2010 at 11:19am

micky wrote: I just think it sounds like f**king noise hahah.

dean wrote: I don't think it's an age thing in so much that it is an attitude thing. I'm rapidly approaching 53 and love extreme metal far more than I do extreme (avant) prog, in much the same way I prefer extreme Classical more than extreme Jazz ... hmm... perhaps I shouldn't write off extreme metal.  I've tried extreme 'avant' prog and it really isn't my cup of tea.   There is something more honest and tangible about pushing the limits of noise (for want of a better word) so that it becomes musical than pushing the limits of music so that it becomes noise.... much as as the polar opposite might. ..and I'm thinking of Battiato's Stockhausen inspired late 70's period...  lord have mercy it is difficult to listen to... but you can appreciate the honesty and artistic aspirations for pushing the limits of how little to play   the want of a better word - noise is the dissonance of sound that comes from taking something to the extreme of what could be considered melodic so that it becomes melodic by another process - for example there is a subsonic rhythmic pulse in blastbeats and trem-picking that cannot be achieved by any other means, whereas randomly plonking on a xylophone creates no discernible undertones, resonances or rhythms and is simply "noise" (and can be achieved just as easily by falling downstairs while carrying the instrument as by playing it).   That modulation between rhythmic motifs creates a slow melody of sorts that you feel more than hear - a few minutes at an extreme metal concert will demostrate this a lot easier than I can explain it in words and explains why you have to listen to it at high volumes. Of course with increased loudness it can be achieved with any music - try playing Tubular Bells or Hergest Ridge very (very) loud and feel the music rather than listen to it - the dimensional shift is quite startling once you recognise it is there - the same thing happens with extreme metal - the melody is there, it's just different (I wouldn't recomend that with Yes though - the higher freqencies of Howe's guitar just become painful when played too loud).   Of course metal can be (and is) melodic, for example there is a thin line between Symphonic Metal and Symphonic Rock that infers that some melodic metal (regardless of actual subgenre) can be just as uninspired and bland as the worse excesses (n�e laziness) of any other pseudo-classical rock form.

great post... and of course you are spot on.

I disagree, I am but one of a reasonable number of young (16- 26) people who are purely traditionalist in terms of metal music. The most extreme genre that I'm willing to recognise as 'true' metal is Thrash. Once you get heavier than that, I feel it destroys the real artistry behind metal whereupon everyone sees it as noise as opposed to just rock in a raw and high powered format. It saddens me to see a lack of interest in old greats like Saxon, Ozzy and Van Halen in the rest of young listeners because this was the metal that made me feel empowered and took me on a journey through all rock music. Many extreme metal fans I've met often appear closed minded (obviously not all of you, plenty great guys on PA were into it) Often it is as if the harshness of the music matters more than how musical it actually is. I just don't get it.

Well, it's all in the name 'music', isn't it? I don't see the the point in all the morbid vocals and crunching guitar in newer metal. Why do that when traditional metal has the ability to soar high and low and make the hair on the back of listeners necks stand on end? I mean, ask yourself this... Korn or Metallica?  Cradle Of Filth or Iron Maiden? I know who I'd go for if I were stuck on a deserted island with nothing but a record player and two albums...

Most metal fans who possess some measure of intelligence (and aren't just OMG MUST BE BR00TAL all the time) at least respect progressive rock, for what I have seen. Their deviation from the mainstream and technical ability are something that a metal fan could respect.

Balthamel wrote: I think the midle section on Dancing With the Moonlit of Night to be sort of heavy metal the guitar riff would not sound off on an Iron Maidon song