Metal's mire and muck.

     It's been so long since I've posted a blog, and finally I am inspired to blog again! The subject that has lit my authorial fire is once again sub-genres. This time however, I am not starting with a question. I have long been an advocate of people expanding their musical horizons; in 10th grade English, when we where assigned the task of giving a how-to speech, my topic was how to find new music that you like that isn't played on the radio. I come to you, my dear readers, to define some sub-genres (of Metal, of course!) in hopes that you will find something that peeks your interest, and causes you to steer  your musical journey in a new and exciting direction. Now I must beg your patients here: the sub-genres here are closely related so I hope that I can clearly relate the differences thereof. If you are ready then, let us dive into the wild and wooly world of (predominantly) underground Metal!
     And as we take that dive, waiting for the initial splash, instead our ears are blasted with a *squish!* and we find ourselves stuck in the Heavy Metal mud that is the genre Sludge Metal. It's a term that is getting tossed around the internet more and more as the bands rise in popularity. Sludge Metal bands mix classic metal influences (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple) with Southern Rock and Blues into a thick molten mass of HEAVY Metal. Some of the most well known bands are High on Fire, Mastodon, and The Sword. Some of my other favorites are Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, who started out as Southern Metalcore, and Graveyard, who sound like (and dress like) they are straight out of the 70's.
   There is also a style called Sludge Doom Metal. It is not absolutely related to Sludge Metal, and both are often shortened to just Sludge, so you really have to know the bands to keep things straight. There's really no mistaking the sounds though: both are vastly different. Sludge/Doom is Doom Metal that uses hardcore punk vocals. Crowbar are one of the most well known artists in this genre, along with the massivley progressive band Rwake (pronounced "wake"). This genre can get to levels of punishingly slow from it's Doom and torturously harsh due to the hardcore vocals. Bands such as this are: Grief and Noothgrush; not everyone will find these bands listenable. The band Kingdom of Sorrow, a side project of Jamie Jasta (Hatebreed) and Kirk Weinstein (Crowbar, Down), are a unique case. Kirk brings his Sludge Doom influences, and Jamie his Metalcore influences, and they add in the Southern flair of Sludge Metal, essentially making them a Sludge/Sludge Doom band. Crazy.
     Since I brought it up, I want to take some time to define Doom Metal. It started in the early 80's when Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Grindcore, and Power Metal were garnering more and more attention. While these genres were not yet so clearly defined, it was obvious to the Metalheads of the era that it wasn't just Heavy Metal any more, but splitting into all the sub-genres we know and love today. Doom Metal started then as the bands that played traditional, 70's style Heavy Metal, influenced by Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Kiss, Judas Priest, Rainbow, UFO, etc. The name was gleaned after the inception of the genre in 1986, from Candlemass' debut album "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, " and when you listen to this album, you know why they called it DOOM Metal! Some other of the earliest bands were St. Vitus, The Obsessed, Trouble, Pentagram, and Witchfinder General.
     A funny thing happened though and I still do not really know why, but Doom Metal became a world unto itself, evolving in many directions, few having anything to do with the rest of Metal. My only guess is that Doom Metal has always been underground, thus it was free from the corporate influences that so affected Thrash and other styles of Metal. What happened was that Doom Metal split into many sub-genres too. Many other these genres hardly sound alike, but the thread that binds them all together is some influence of Black Sabbath, and every one is bleak and sloooooooow. It seems like many Doom Metal bands today are having a contest with each other to see who can be the slowest band in the world.
     There are now a myriad of Doom Metal sub-genres: Traditional, Epic, Stoner, Sludge, Death, and Drone are only some of them. Traditional Doom is any band that plays Doom similar to the original Doom Metal bands. Some examples: Goatsnake, Count Raven, The Last Chapter, and  Place of Skulls.  Epic Doom was created by Candlemass and can be described thusly: if Traditional Doom bands are based on the Ozzy era of Black Sabbath, then Epic Doom bands are based on the Dio era. Examples: Solitude Aeturnus, Memory Garden, Doomenicus. The other Doom genre of importance for this blog post is Stoner/Doom. It is a mix of Stoner Rock and Doom Metal. We are now starting to come around because the Stoner Rock element of Stoner/Doom gives it a psychedelic groove, and it can sound like Sludge Metal. The best Stoner/Doom bands in my opinion are: Sleep (one of the heaviest bands ever!), Cathedral, and Yob (also one of the heaviest bands ever).  
     The last style I will tackle today is Stoner Rock. Simply put Stoner Rock bands want to keep the ethos of "Sex, drugs, and Rock 'N' Roll" alive though heavy hard rock. If you don't listen closely, one can get Stoner Rock mixed up with Stoner/Doom and Sludge Metal because of the similar old school influences, but the main difference is that Stoner Rock is just that, Rock and not Metal. Still it's a KILLER genre and worth checking out. Some noteworthy bands are: Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Fu Machu, and Monster Magnet.
  It may not make sense if you just read my blog, you have to go online and listen to these styles. Then you will understand why I included all these styles in this one post. I should also mention that many of you have heard Doom Metal and may not have realized it. The song "Red Lottery" by Megasus is featured as one of the songs you unlock in Guitar Hero 2, and it's pure Doom. I would call it Traditional doom or Stoner/Doom. I must to mention some other bands for you to check out: Priestess, Witchcraft, and Grand Magus are some great Sludge Metal bands, and if you find that you like punishingly slow Metal, it doesn't get any slower than Drone Doom. Start with Earth and Sunn 0))) (pronounced "Sun"). Much of my info has been gathered from doom-metal.com, a great place to start to learn more about the genre. And may your Metal and Rock world ever expand!    

Befuddled by Sub-genres

Today I am pondering the deeply complex and hotly debate issue of sub-genres. My post today has me swimming through issues closely related to my last post. In further delving into Grindcore, Some questions crop up in my mind: I know that Grindcore mixes Metal and Punk elements, so is is a style of Metal influenced by Punk or a style of Punk influenced by Metal? Depending on who you ask, you might get either answer. In my search, I came across Grindcore.com, a website of forums exclusively discussing it. Surely someone there would have reasoned out this question and come up with a clear answer. While I respect those that took the time to answer my question, most weren't sure either. Is it possible to be neither, but truly Punk and Metal? One frequent writer on the aforementioned site would argue that Grindcore is Punk and will always be Punk, and that any band that mixed metal into it was a dirty poser band. I disagree with this because some of the members of Napalm Death, one of the founding Grindcore bands, said that their sound was a way to mix metal and punk. Consequently, when they first formed they were a hardcore punk band.
          This brings me to more issues that complicated the matter: Some from the band Extreme Noise Terror, another band generally credited with pioneering Grindcore, reject the whole idea of it and consider themselves a hardcore punk band. Who is right: is it how the band perceives itself or how the fans perceive them?  
         Also there is the sub-genres of Crust Punk and Powerviolence. As for Crust, honestly I cannot hear much of a difference between that and hardcore punk. As for Powerviolence, some bands I have listened to I would say the same thing, and others I would say sound to me no different than Grindcore. Although I'm sure if you met a die-hard fan of these genres they would argue strongly, even getting angry, at such generalizations. Also, I listened to the band Tragedy, labeled in multiple place as Crust, and I thought they sounded like Sludge/Doom Metal. (That sub-genre is a discussion in and of itself. But once again, that style has elements of Hardcore Punk.)
     Death Metal and Black Metal deserve a brief mention here too because many of these bands claim influence from all the previously mentioned styles, and vice versa. (And as a side note, Black Metal seems to have evolved out of Death Metal, but once again, a discussion of it's own.) It's to the point were many bands labeled Grindcore sound exactly like Death Metal, and have little in common with the originators of the genre.
     Leading music websites Allmusic.com, Last.fm, and Spotify have less of a clue than me. They put some bands in both Death Metal and Grindcore, and if you look up there related artists, you will find Crust bands, Powerviolence bands, and Hardcore bands. The same applies to any band of  these sub-genres: there labels differ according to whatever sight you're on, and all the artists are related to one another. They don't distinguish related artists by the suggested genre.  
         The principles in these questions and issues apply to many styles of music. Heavy Metal and Punk, along with Electronic among others have just as many sub-genres with just as muddled lines dividing them. I can only conclude that my best guesses for whether Grindcore falls on the Punk or Metal side is just as valid as anybody else's, and I believe the fan's perception of the genre wins over the bands. As for others sub-genres, my best guess will suffice.

Musical Mosaic Mess

I often wonder about my tastes in music. I love Heavy Metal - hence the title of this blog - but Metal is by no means the only style of music I listen to. I love classical, rock, blues, electronic, and many other styles. Today I thought I was going to go open Spotify and listen to some Grindcore, one of the most extreme metal styles in existence. Instead, I got joyfully sidetracked by the band Keane, a modern band that sounds just like a New Wave band straight out of the 80's. Back in the 80's, the listeners of Grindcore would beat up the New Wavers, so how does it fit together in my music pallet? Why is it that I so want to define myself and judge others by musical preferences? I have more questions than answers on this subject. Honestly my goal is to be at a place where I don't define myself by one style of music or another, and I want to judge others less by their tastes. It's tough though. When you see a guy who dresses in such a way that you can tell he listens to a lot of hardcore rap music (the filthy and violent stuff), it's hard not to stereotype him. On the other hand I know that when people see groups I have associated with, such as Metalheads, they have preconceived ideas about them too, but I also know that most of those ideas are wrong. I have never met a metalhead that didn't have at least one softer artist or style that they listened to, and 99% of them have no love of Satan whatsoever. Is this true about others whose music is their culture? I can't say from experience, but I bet more often than not the answer is yes. Sure there are some goths that are all gloomy and depressed, there are country fans that are racist hicks, and metalheads that are satanists, but the vast majority of them are much different. So, if I can't judge others by their music, then there is no point in doing so to myself. I just have to accept that Daniel David is a guy who loves Megadeth (Metal), Lecrae (Christian Rap), Bach (Classical), and Todd Agnew (Christian Rock). God made me, and He does not make mistakes.    

Worship through music

     I'm taking a detour from my initial idea for this blog to simply be a metal debate forum, so that I can write on a topic that has long been on my heart. I love music, I mean, I freakin' LOVE music. This is good and bad. It's good because God created music and we can use it to praise Him and show Him how much we love Him and are grateful for what He has done for us. It is a key component in worship. On the other hand, Music for me has often been and idol that I replace God with.
    So here is the core of my topic today: Every time I have begun to worship an artists and idolize them, it has been a secular artist. This fact has caused a great and terrible internal debate that I have struggled with and not yet gained peace about. On the one hand it seems like a simple fix. If secular music is the object of my idol worship, stop listening to it; instead only listen to Christian music. Then I think though, I know it isn't a sin in and of itself to listen to secular music, and most of my favorite artists are secular. The spiritual side of me then reminds me that this life is fleeting, and that I'm not going to take my music with me to heaven anyway, so I just need to steel myself and give it up even though I would rather not. OK, I can understand that it's God who fulfills me, not music, and I need to trust in Him that my innate desire for the music styles I like will be met if I only obey Him in giving up secular music. So I go ahead and "give it up," (although I've never actually gotten rid of every last bit of secular music I have, I usually just don't listen to it).
   Immediately I run into logistics problems: what do I mean when I say "secular music?" Do I include instrumental music? That has never been a problem for me, nor has most classical, most of which is instrument too, so do I include it? Should I just stop listening to the artists that I'm idolizing? And what about my two cover albums by Christian bands that cover secular songs. Do I count those albums as secular or Christian? It's a lot to iron out, so I come to some usually muddled conclusion on these questions and try to be obedient.
      My next thought is that it would be easier to listen exclusively to Christian music if I could find Christian alternatives to my favorite secular bands. A recent example would be the bands Slipknot and In Flames. My search for a Christian alternative lead me then to Demon Hunter; Demon Hunter has elements of both bands but they aren't exactly like either, and the truth is I've never been able to truly give myself to full fandom. As a replacement for the aforementioned bands they fall short, and even when I listen to them for their own sake I just don't care for them that much. And it goes that way anytime I try to find a Christian replacement for my secular favorites: they fall short for not being exactly the same, and often I realize that I'm forcing myself to listen to a band I don't like just because they're Christian. It just doesn't work.
     So then I've tried letting myself listen to some secular music, but make the majority of music I listen to be Christian. It work to a point, but as I said, most of my deepest favorites are secular, so even that little taste of secular music feels like temptation to just go back to listening to it fully. That  doesn't feel right.
     This is where I need you prayers, and advice. My goal in life is to serve the Lord and worship Him alone, so I want to serve Him in my love of music too. I don't want to worship any artists, Christian or secular. So what do I need to do to get peace on this matter? Maybe if I actually go to the extreme of getting rid of every bit of secular music I will find the peace I am looking for. Or maybe I am being way too tough on myself, and I don't need to stop listening to secular music. Instead maybe I just need to grow as a Christian and work with the Holy Spirit specifically so I don't worship any band, but my conscience just can't commit to that idea. I also have to remind myself that I already gave up listening to all secular rap and did get rid of it all, and I have done it successfully. But then rap is not my favorite style and I only had to give up one group that I really liked, so it was not too hard. Also, I have given up listening to certain artists that were in styles I like more just because I was idolizing them, and I have succeeded and had peace about those bands, with minimal temptation. If I step out in faith and actually get rid of it all, will God make it OK for me? I just want to be able to listen to the music I like without it being such a major issue in my life.
     So I ask you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, what are your thoughts on this struggle of mine?  Also, have any of you had any similar struggle, maybe not with music, but where it was an idol to you? How did you overcome it? All thoughts are desired.
   
   

Welcome and Slipknot

Welcome fellow Metal Heads and music lovers alike! I am starting this blog because I have yet to find the type of intellectual discussion of Metal on the internet I really want, so I hope this will fill that void. While my starting point will be my own thoughts and opinions, I don't simply want this to be my rant. I hope that you readers will be encouraged to get involved in the discussions no matter what your opinions on the subject. I want this to be an exchange of ideas on all things Heavy Metal and related.

That having been said I am going to start on my first topic, the very popular and controversial band Slipknot. I first heard about them when a lot of people did in 1999 after their first full length album came out. Seeing the creepy masks and bizarre jumpsuits, then hearing the viciously angry music, I (being a 15 year old freshman in high school) had to buy it. At this time in my life though I was very fickle about music and soon got tired of it and sold it. In the summer of 2001 I went to my first concert, Ozzfest. There I got to see Hatebreed for the first time, the original four members of Black Sabbath on their last tour together, Marilyn Manson back in Denver for the first time since Columbine, and of course Slipknot. At this time they decided to try to be more evil and were proudly playing their new song "Heretic Anthem." At the time I was very uncomfortable with the lyrics, so by the time their second album came out I was only mildly interested. I was also uncertain if it was even right for me as a Christian to be listening to them. A friend of mine from school gave me a burned copy; I listened to it for a while but eventually got tired of it and threw it away. I then decided that I was done with Slipknot and that they were poser sellouts and too mainstream anyway. Since then I cared little and paid even less attention to them and their side projects. I certainly wasn't going to listen to Stone Sour since Corey Taylor was the singer. (I did however get into the Murderdolls when their first album came out; I like that new gothic/glam metal sound bands have, but I don't really care for their new album.)

Fast forward to this year: now that I have satellite I have been watching That Metal Show. I bet you can see where this is going. Corey Taylor was the guest once, unmasked of course, and I was surprised how intelligent and interesting he was, so my curiosity was piqued to give Slipknot and Stone Sour another chance. I chose to listen to Slipknot's newest album, the morosely titled "All Hope is Gone." I was surprised at how evolved the band sounded and enjoyed the use of Taylor's singing ability. Still it was Slipknot: the lyrics are very dark, they curse, although not as much as on earlier albums, and the music is very angry, so I wasn't just going to jump back on the bandwagon. Then I listened to Stone Sour. I did so on the website Grooveshark. On each band's page they have a list of the top five songs in popularity at the top of the page for easy finding. I picked a couple from the list at random and gave them a whirl. Honestly I was amazed at how good they were. I listened to "Through the Glass," and "Say You'll Haunt Me." I realize now that they have more aggressive songs, but these were the ones that sold me. I have to admit that now I am a Stone Sour fan, and to a lesser degree a Slipknot fan. As for the issue of Slipknot's lyrics, they still aren't my favorite, but I realize that they could be much worse and they do make me think, so I will tolerate them, for good or ill.

So here are some issues for discussion: I do believe that Slipknot are a Metal band, but not Nu Metal; instead I think they are a part of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (e.g. Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, etc. See the film Metal: a Headbanger's Journey). Nu Metal has a lot of influences of Grunge and/or Hip-Hop, which Slipknot does not. Nu Metal bands also tend to have riffs that have a lot of pauses which Slipknot doesn't, and they are just plain heavier than most Nu Metal bands. What do you think? Also, what do you think of their lyrics? Plus, is there anyway to justify the comment someone in the band made that really their message is positive? Finally, what genre is Stone Sour? Nu Metal? Alternative (Like Alter Bridge)? Or Maybe Hard Rock? I'm not sure yet. Any and all thoughts on these questions are coveted.