Heavy metal music

Heavy metal Stylistic origins: Psychedelic rock, European classical music and British blues Late 1960s United Kingdom Guitar - Bass - Drums

Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Extensively followed by dedicated fans throughout the world.

Subgenres
Avant garde metal - Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Groove metal- Hair Metal - Neo-classical metal Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed Metal - Thrash metal

Fusion genres
Alternative metal - Christian metal - Funk metal Grindcore - Industrial metal - Metalcore - Nu metal Rapcore - Stoner metal - Symphonic metal - Vedic metal

Regional scenes
Gothenburg - Britain - Bay Area - Florida

Other topics
Fashion - History - Bands - Umlaut

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion. Out of heavy metal various subgenres later evolved, many of which are referred to simply as "metal". As

a result, "heavy metal" now has two distinct meanings: either the genre as a whole or traditional heavy metal in the 1970s style, as exemplified by the likes of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge and others. Heavy metal began gaining popularity in the 1970's and 80's, at which time many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Heavy metal has a large world-wide following of fans known by terms such as metalheads and headbangers.

Characteristics
Heavy metal is typically characterized by a distorted guitar-led sound, straightforward rhythms, and classical or symphonic styles. However, heavy metal subgenres have their own stylistic variations on the original form that often omit many of these characteristics. According to Allmusic.com, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality. There are numerous stylistic variations on heavy metal's sound, but they are all tied together by a reliance on loud, distorted guitars and simple, pounding rhythms."

Instrumentation
The most commonly used line-up for metal is a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer (who may or may not be an instrumentalist). Keyboards are used in some styles of heavy metal and shunned by others, although as different subgenres develop they have become increasingly popular. The guitar, however, is the key element in heavy metal. Distortion of the guitar sound is used to create a powerful, 'heavy' sound. Some of the original heavy metallers joke--much like punk rockers--that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation. Later, more intricate solos and riffs became a big part of heavy metal music. Guitarists use sweep-picking, tapping and other advanced techniques for rapid playing, and many sub-genres praise virtuosity over simplicity. Also, as technology has developed, new ways of altering the guitar's sound have been adopted. Metal vocals vary widely in style. Vocalists' abilities and styles range from the multioctave operatic vocals of Judas Priest's Rob Halford and the singing of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, to the intentionally gruff vocals of Lemmy Kilmister from the band Motrhead. In terms of the live sound, volume is often considered as important as anything. Following the lead set by The Who and Jimi Hendrix, early Heavy Metal bands set new benchmarks for sound volume during shows. Tony Iommi, guitarist in Heavy Metal pioneers Black Sabbath, is just one of the early Heavy Metal musicians to suffer considerable hearing loss due to their live volume. Detroit rocker Ted Nugent (who rejects the term "heavy metal" to describe his music) and The Who (who once held the distinction of "The World's Loudest Band" in the Guinness Book Of World Records) guitarist Pete Townshend are nearly deaf. Canada's Eudoxis are credited as having the longest and loudest bass drums (six feet long), which proves that size does matter. Heavy Metal's volume fixation was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is

Spinal Tap by guitarist "Nigel Tufnel", who revealed that his Marshall amplifiers had been modified to "go to eleven."

Themes
As with much popular music, visuals and images are integral to metal. Album covers and stage shows are almost as important to the presentation of the material as the music itself, although they seldom exceed the actual music in priority. Thus, through heavy metal, many artists collaborate to produce a menu of experiences in each piece offering a wider range of experiences to the audience. In this respect, heavy metal becomes perhaps more of a diverse art form than any single form dominated by one method of expression. Whereas a painting is experienced visually, a symphony experienced audibly, a heavy metal band's "image" and the common theme that binds all their music is expressed in the artwork on the album, the set of the stage, the tone of the lyrics, and the clothes of the band, in addition to the sound of the music. Rock historians tend to find that the influence of Western pop music gives heavy metal its escape-from-reality fantasy side, as an escape from reality through outlandish and fantastic lyricswhile African American blues gives heavy metal its naked reality side, focusing on loss, depression and loneliness. Heavy metal has a relationship with spiritual issues in both symbol and music theory, as heavy metal chords and harmonies emphasize the use of open fifthsdrawing ironic parallels to harmony changes in Christian Sacred Harp singing. If the audio and thematic components of heavy metal are predominantly bluesinfluenced reality, then the visual component is predominantly pop-influenced fantasy. The themes of darkness, evil, power and apocalypse are fantastic language components for addressing the reality of life's problems. In reaction to the "peace and love" hippie culture of the 1960s, heavy metal developed as a counterculture, where light is supplanted by darkness and the happy ending of pop is replaced by the naked reality that things do not always work out in this world. Whilst fans claim that the medium of darkness is not the message, critics have accused the genre of glorifying the negative aspects of reality.

Metallica's debut album Kill 'em All Heavy metal themes are typically more grave than the generally airy pop from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970sfocusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, and political or religious propaganda. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants",Metallica's "...And Justice for All (album)" (as well as

their "Disposable Heroes"), and Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight" are examples of serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of metal deals primarily with clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, or good and evil, which do not leave much room for complex shades of grey. Power metal bands, whose lyrical and musical tones are often bombastic and optimistic, are one exception to the dark stereotype. Many power metal fans and bands, most notably Manowar, believe metal should be inspiring and upbeat music, often resulting in comical bravado or jingoism.

Classical influence

Ozzy Osbourne The Blizzard of Ozz The appropriation of classical music by heavy metal typically includes the influence of Bach and Paganini, rather than Mozart or Franz Liszt. Though Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had been experimenting with musical figurations borrowed from classical music since the early 1970s, Edward Van Halen's solo cadenza "Eruption" (released on Van Halen's first album in 1978) marks an important moment in the development of virtuosity in metal. Following Van Halen, the "classical" influence in metal guitar during the 1980s actually looked to the early eigtheenth century for its model of speed and technique. Indeed, the late Baroque era of Western art music was also frequently interpreted through a gothic lens. For example, "Mr. Crowley," (1981) by Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Randy Rhoads, uses both a pipe organ-like synthesizer and Baroque-inspired guitar solos to create a particular mood for Osbourne's lyrics on the legendary occultist Aleister Crowley. For the introduction to 1982's "Diary of a Madman", Rhoads borrowed heavily from Cuban classical guitar composer Leo Brouwer's "Etude #6". Like many other metal guitarists in the 1980s, Rhoads quite earnestly took up the "learned" study of musical theory and helped to solidify the minor industry of guitar pedagogy magazines (such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician) that grew up during the decade. In most instances, however, metal musicians who borrowed the technique and rhetoric of art music were not attempting to be classical musicians. (An exception can arguably be found in Yngwie Malmsteen, though many argue that his music relies more on virtuosity and the use of classical-sounding elements such as the harmonic minor scale to appear classical without actually being classical).

Iron Maiden Powerslave The Encarta encyclopedia claims that "when a text was associated with the music, Bach could write musical equivalents of verbal ideas," Progressive rock bands such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Yes had already explored this relationship before heavy metal evolved. As heavy metal uses apocalyptic themes and images of power and darkness, the ability to translate verbal ideas into musical ideas that successfully convey the ideas of the words is critical to heavy metal authenticity and credibility. An excellent example of this is the theme album, Powerslave, by Iron Maiden. The cover is of a dramatic Egyptian pyramid scene and many of the songs on the album have subject matter that requires a sound suggestive of life and death, including a song entitled "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. However, the 1977 Rush album A Farewell to Kings features the twelve-minute "Xanadu," also inspired by Coleridge and predating the Iron Maiden composition by several years. Bassist Steve Harris has also cited progressive rock bands such as Rush and Yes as influences on his own considerable talents.

History
The term "heavy metal"

Cover from Led Zeppelin. The album greatly influenced many heavy metal musicians The origin of the term heavy metal in relation to a form of music is uncertain. The term had been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy and is listed as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. An early use of the term in modern popular culture was by counter-culture writer William S. Burroughs. In his 1962 novel, The Soft Machine, he introduces the character "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid". His next

novel in 1964, Nova Express, develops this theme further, heavy metal being a metaphor for addictive drugs. "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes And the Insect People of Minraud with metal music" Burroughs, William S, (1964). Nova Express. New York: Grove Press. p. 112 Given the publication dates of these works it is unlikely that Burroughs had any intent to relate the term to rock music; however, Burroughs' writing may have influenced later usage of the term. The first use of the term "heavy metal" in a song lyric is the words "heavy metal thunder" in the 1968 Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild" (Walser 1993, p. 8): "I like smoke and lightning Heavy metal thunder Racin' with the wind And the feelin' that I'm under" The book, "The History of Heavy Metal," states the name as a take from "hippiespeak," heavy meaning anything with a potent mood, and metal, more specifically designating what the mood would be, grinding and weighted as metal. The word "heavy" (meaning serious or profound) had entered beatnik/counterculture slang some time earlier and references to "heavy music"typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop farewere already common; indeed, Iron Butterfly first started playing Los Angeles in 1967, their name explained on an album cover, "Iron- symbolic of something heavy as in sound, Butterfly- light, appealing and versatile...an object that can be used freely in the imagination". Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album was entitled Heavy. The fact that Led Zeppelin (whose moniker came partly in reference to Keith Moon's jest that they would "go down like a lead balloon") incorporated a heavy metal into its name may have sealed the usage of the term. In the late 1960s, Birmingham, England was still a centre of industry and (given the many rock bands that evolved in and around the city, such as Led Zeppelin, The Move, and Black Sabbath), some people suggest that the term Heavy Metal may have some relation to such activity. Biographies of The Move have claimed that the sound came from their 'heavy' guitar riffs that were popular amongst the 'metal midlands'. Sandy Pearlman, original producer, manager and songwriter for Blue yster Cult, claims to have been the first person to apply the term "heavy metal" to rock music in 1970. A widespread but disputed hypothesis about the origin of the genre was brought forth by "Chas" Chandler, who was a manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, in an interview on the PBS TV programme "Rock and Roll" in 1995. He states that "...it [heavy metal] was a term originated in a New York Times article reviewing a Jimi

Hendrix performance," and claims the author described the Jimi Hendrix Experience "...like listening to heavy metal falling from the sky." The precise source of this claim, however, has not been found and its accuracy is disputed. The first well-documented usage of the term "heavy metal" referring to a style of music, appears to be the May 1971 issue of Creem, in a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come. In this review we are told that "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book". Creem critics David Marsh and Lester Bangs would subsequently use the term frequently in their writings in regards to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially by a number of music critics but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach.

Origins (1960s and early 1970s)

Deep Purple Machine Head. One of the first quintessential heavy metal albums American blues music was highly popular and influential among the early British rockers; bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds had recorded covers of many classic blues songs, sometimes speeding up the tempo and using electric guitar where the original used acoustic. (Similar adaptations of blues and other race music had formed the basis of the earliest rock and roll, notably that of Elvis Presley). Such powered-up blues music was encouraged by the intellectual and artistic experimentation that arose when musicians started to exploit the opportunities of the electrically amplified guitar to produce a louder and more dissonant sound. Where blues-rock drumming styles had been largely simple shuffle beats on small drum kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex, and amplified approach to match and be heard with the increasingly loud guitar sounds; similarly vocalists modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylised and dramatic in the process. Simultaneous advances in amplification and recording technology made it possible to successfully capture the power of this heavier approach on record.

Black Sabbath Paranoid The earliest music commonly identified as heavy metal came out of the Birmingham area of the United Kingdom in the late 1960s when bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath applied an overtly non-traditional approach to blues standards and created new music often based on blues scales and arrangements. These bands were highly influenced by American psychedelic rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, who had pioneered amplified and processed blues-rock guitar and acted as a bridge between black American music and white European rockers. Other oft-cited influences include Vanilla Fudge, who had slowed down and psychedelicised pop tunes, as well as earlier British rockers such as The Who and The Kinks, who had paved the way for heavy metal styles by introducing power chords and more aggressive percussion to the rock genre. Another key influence was Cream, who exemplified the power trio format that would become a staple of heavy metal. Perhaps the earliest song that is clearly identifiable as prototype heavy metal is "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1965). By late 1968, heavy blues sounds were becoming commonmany fans and scholars point to Blue Cheer's 1968 cover of Eddie Cochran's hit "Summertime Blues" as the first true heavy-metal song. Beatles scholars cite in particular the songs "Helter Skelter" from The White Album and the single version of "Revolution" (1968), which set new standards for distortion and aggressive sound on a pop album. Dave Edmunds' band Love Sculpture released an aggressive heavy guitar version of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance in November 1968. The Jeff Beck Group's album Truth (late 1968) was an important and influential rock album released just before Led Zeppelin's first album, leading some (especially British blues fans) to argue that Truth was the first heavy metal album. The Yardbirds' 1968 single, "Think About It," should also be mentioned, as that employed a similar sound to that which Jimmy Page would employ with Led Zeppelin. Also, progressive rock band King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" from their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), featured most of the thematic, compositional, and musical characteristics of heavy metala very heavily distorted guitar tone and discordant soloing by Robert Fripp with lyrics that focused on what is wrong about what the 21st century human would be, a dark mood and even Greg Lake's vocals were passed through a distortion box. However, it was the release of Led Zeppelin in 1969 that brought worldwide notice of the formation of a new genre. The first heavy metal bandsLed Zeppelin, Deep

Purple, Uriah Heep, UFO, and Black Sabbath, among a feware often now called hard rock bands by the modern metal community rather than heavy metal, especially those bands whose sound was more similar to traditional rock music. In general, the terms heavy metal and hard rock are often used interchangeably, in particular when discussing the 1970s. Indeed, many such bands are not considered "heavy metal bands" per se, but rather as having contributed individual songs or works that contributed to the genre. Few would consider Jethro Tull a heavy metal band in any real sense, for example, but few would dispute that their song Aqualung was a quintessential early Heavy Metal song.

Classic Heavy Metal (Late 1970s and early 1980s)

Album by Van Halen The late 1970s and early 1980s history of heavy metal music is highly debated among music historians. Bands like Blue yster Cult achieved moderate mainstream success and the Los Angeles glam metal scene began finding pop audiencesespecially in the 1980s. Others ignore or downplay the importance of these bands, instead focusing on the arrival of classical influenceswhich can be heard in the work of Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads and such like. Others still highlight the late-70s crossfertilization of heavy metal with fast-paced, youthful punk rock (e.g. Sex Pistols), culminating in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal around the year 1980, led by bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. These two in particular became very popular in the Heavy Metal movement. Some followers, including Heavy Metal musicians of prominent groups, believe that the foundations of the definite style and sound of pure heavy metal were laid down by NWOBHM band Judas Priest (another Birmingham band) with three of their early albums: Sad Wings Of Destiny (1976), Sin After Sin (1977), and Stained Class (1978). Rainbow are also sometimes cited as pioneering a sort of pure heavy metal and one could also make this claim about the later albums of Deep Purple such as Burn and Stormbringer, but these bands are generally considered to be hard rock bands. Beginning with Judas Priest, metal bands quickly began to look beyond the almost exclusive use of the blues scale to incorporate diatonic modes into their solos. This has since spread throughout virtually all sub-genres of metal (some doom metal, following in Black Sabbath's footsteps, being the main exception) and along with an overriding sense of musicianship are the main contributions classical and jazz (via progressive rock) have made to the genre.

The explosion of guitar virtuosity (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix a musical generation earlier) was brought to the fore by Eddie Van Halenmany consider his 1978 solo "Eruption" (Van Halen, 1978) a milestone. Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple), Randy Rhoads (with pioneers Ozzy Osbourne, and Quiet Riot) and Yngwie Malmsteen went on to solidify this explosion of virtuoso guitar work, and in some cases, classical guitars and nylon-stringed guitars were played at heavy metal concerts. Classical icons such as Liona Boyd also became associated with the heavy metal stars as peers in a newly diverse guitar fraternity where conservative and aggressive guitarists could come together to "trade licks." This explosion would cool down in the music of Ronnie James Dio (who himself had a tenure at lead vocals with the legendary Black Sabbath) and continue to settle towards Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, who may be the final and complete consummation of "pure" heavy metal in the lineage of the "grandfathers"Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath.

Mainstream Dominance (1980s)

Quiet Riot Metal Health The most popular subgenre of Metal emerged in the United States, coming from glam metal bands of the 1980s the epicentre for this explosion was mostly in Los Angeles. This scene was led by Van Halen, Mtley Cre and the first wave included groups such as Dokken, Ratt, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and others. At times even the likes of Dio and Judas Priest experimented with Glam Metal stylings in their music. 1984 was a big year for Heavy Metal as Van Halen's Jump and Prince's Let's Go Crazy hit number 1 on the charts that year. These two songs opened the flood gates for many more hit metal songs. The genres caused a divide in the metal community, mostly due to the glam metal bands image, which fans of thrash metal (a fellow subgenre) generally saw as negative compared to their less eccentric look, a common misconception was that glam metal bands were not technically proficient musicians; even though this movement included some of the most critically acclaimed musicians in hard rock of their era such as Steve Vai (David Lee Roth, Whitesnake), Michael Angelo Batio (Nitro), Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen),Richie Sambora, (Bon Jovi) and Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Mr. Big).

Underground Metal (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s)

Slayer Reign in Blood Many subgenres of heavy metal developed in the 1980s. In a shift away from metal's hard rock roots, a more underground (at first) genre that took influences from Hardcore punk emergedthrash metal. The genre's sound was far more aggressive, louder and faster than the original metal bands or their glam metal contempories of the time. This subgenre was pioneered by the 'Big Four Of Thrash', Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer, with bands like San Francisco's Testament, New Jersey's Overkill and Brazil's Sepultura also making an impact. Meanwhile an even harsher sound was coming from Europe, as Germany's Destruction, Kreator and Sodom used harsher vocals and a generally more aggressive sound in a style that would later influence black and death metal. In the early and mid 1980s, thrash began to split further into death metal (a term probably originating from Possessed's song "Death Metal", off their influential "Seven Churches" album), led by Possessed and Death, and black metal (a term coined by Venom, with an album called "Black Metal", who themselves lacked most integral characteristics of the genre, such as the buzz-saw vocals) and Denmark's Mercyful Fate who are often considered the originators of the Corpse Paint and Satanic and Pagan themes, in which Bathory (generally considered one of the first black metal acts although later deemed to be more in tune with Viking culture) and Mayhem were key players early on. From the 80s and into the 90s power metal, especially in Europe, evolved in an opposite direction from death metal and thrash. Keeping the anti-commercial mentality and intensity of heavy metal but focusing on upbeat and epic themes and catchy melodies. Power metal usually involves high pitched 'clean singing' as opposed to death grunts and often contains keyboards or orchestration. Progressive metal, a fusion of the progressive stylings of bands like Rush, King Crimson and traditional metal began in the '80s, too, behind innovators like Fates Warning and later Queensrche and Dream Theater, who enjoyed substantial mainstream acceptance and success in the glam metal era.

Alternative Metal/Nu Metal (1990s and 2000s)

Ozzfest poster (1998). Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, System of a Down, Tool, Motrhead appeared among others. The era of metal dominating the mainsteam came to an end with the emergence of Nirvana and other grunge bands that signaled the popular breakthrough of alternative rock. As the 1990s progressed metal began to make a comeback. This time around, the music had a much more aggressive feel than most of the mainstream metal of the 1980s. In some cases, bands also fused traditional elements with electronic beats and samples as well as the conventions and attitude of alternative rock. These newer bands are sometimes labeled alternative metal. Still more subgenres began to appear, such as funeral doom and brutal death metal, drawing on existing heavy metal subgenres. Heavy metal's comeback was solidified with the arrival of Ozzfest in 1996, a touring music festival hosted by heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne. Later, Osbourne grew even more famous when he and his family starred in a reality TV show called The Osbournes. Many well-known metal bands played at Ozzfest, including Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Disturbed, Godsmack, Tool, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot, Korn, Dimmu Borgir and many more. Some of these bands were grouped under the heading nu metal in order to signify a new wave of metal music. Much debate has arisen over the genre's massive success and whether or not it is metal in a conventional sense. Fans of extreme metal, which itself is debated by purists as to whether it is metal or not in the conventional sense, often levy these criticisms against nu metal. In recent years, Ozzfest has had many metalcore bands playing at the festival and has helped the genre gain much popularity. Some see this style as nu metal's successor, whilst others believe that it will become popular and fashionable in the same way as nu metal.

Cultural impact

The loud, confrontational aspects of heavy metal have led to friction between fans and mainstream society in many countries. Due to the hedonistic nature, public perception thinks of as being promoted by the music and its occasional anti-religious sentiments, some heavy metal as a sub-culture has come under attack in many Christian and Islamic countries where even wearing a black T-shirt can be an arrestable offense. In Jordan, for example, all Metallica albums, past, present and future were banned in 2001.[1] In Europe and America, the fan base for heavy metal consists primarily of white males in their teens and 20smany of whom are attracted to heavy metal's overtly anti-social yet fantastical lyrics and extreme volume and tempos. Hence, the stereotype of the adolescent headbanger venting his rebellious urges by listening to presposterously loud, morbid music emerged. This image has been highlighted in popular culture with such television shows and movies as "Beavis and Butt-head" and "Airheads." Heavy metal's bombastic excesses, exemplified by glam metal, have often been parodied, most famously in the film This Is Spinal Tap (see also the phenomenon of the heavy metal umlaut). Many heavy metal stylings have made their way into everyday (albeit ironic) use; for instance, the "devil horns" hand sign popularized by Ronnie James Dio and Gene Simmons has become a common sight at many rock concerts. During the 1970s and 1980s, flirtation with occult themes by artists such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, KISS, Mercyful Fate, Led Zeppelin, Mtley Cre, Ozzy Osbourne, and W.A.S.P., led to accusations of "Satanic" influences in heavy metal by fundamentalist Christians. One popular contention during that period was that heavy metal albums featured hidden messages urging listeners to worship the Devil or to commit suicide (see Judas Priest and backward message and Allegations of Satanism in popular culture).

Eurovision
On Eurovision 2006 a heavy metal band won the first place, for the first time in the contest's history. That band is Lordi with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland.

Related styles
Hard rock, mentioned earlier, is closely related to heavy metal (and often the terms overlap in usage), but it does not always match the description of what purists consider the definition of heavy metal. While still guitar-driven in nature and usually riff-based, its themes and execution differ from that of the major heavy metal bands listed earlier in this article. This is perhaps best examplified by The Who in the late1960s and early-1970s, as well as other 1970s and 1980s bands like Queen who have had a large influence on heavy metal music, AC/DC, Aerosmith, KISS, Thin Lizzy, and Scorpions. Glam rock, a short-lived era in the early 1970s, relied on heavy, crunchy guitars, anthemic songs, and a theatrical image. T. Rex, David Bowie, and Alice Cooper are among the more popular standard examples of this sub-genre. Some cross-influence has occurred between punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal. Punk rock was influential on the NWOBHM movement. Another example is

Motrhead; the band's leader Lemmy, spent time in punk band The Damned and attempted to teach Sid Vicious how to play bass guitar.

Heavy metal dance

Although some heavy metal fans would disagree with the term "dance," there are certain body movements that are nearly universal in the metal world, including headbanging, moshing, and various hand gestures such as devil horns. Stage diving, air guitar, and crowd surfing are also practiced, but crowd surfing and moshing are most popular today

European classical music

History of European art music Medieval Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic 20th century Contemporary classical music (476 1400) (1400 1600) (1600 1760) (1730 1820) (1815 1910) (1900 2000)

Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. The central norms of this tradition, according to one school of thought, developed between 1550 and 1820, focusing on what is known as the common practice period. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to "canonize" the period from Bach to Beethoven as an era in music parallel to the golden age of sculpture, architecture and art of classical antiquity (from which no music has directly survived). The earliest reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. Since that time the term has come in common parlance to mean the opposite of popular music.

Timeline
According to one school of thought, musical works are best understood in the context of their place in musical history; for adherents to this approach, this is essential to full enjoyment of these works. There is a widely accepted system of dividing the history of classical music composition into stylistic periods. According to this system, the major time divisions are:

Ancient music - the music generally before the year 476, the approximate time of the fall of the Roman Empire. Most of the extant music from this period is from ancient Greece. Medieval, generally before 1450. Monophonic chant, also called plainsong or Gregorian Chant, was the dominant form until about 1100. Polyphonic (multivoiced) music developed from monophonic chant throughout the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Renaissance, about 14501600, characterized by greater use of instrumentation, multiple melodic lines and by the use of the first bass instruments. Baroque, about 16001750, characterized by the use of complex tonal, rather than modal, counterpoint, and growing popularity of keyboard music (harpsichord and pipe organ). Classical, about 17301820, an important era which established many of the norms of composition, presentation and style. Also, the classical era is marked by the disappearance of the harpsichord and the clavichord in favour of the piano, which from then on would become the predominant instrument for keyboard performance and composition. Romantic, 18151910 a period which codified practice, expanded the role of music in cultural life and created institutions for the teaching, performance and preservation of works of music. Modern, 1905-1985 a period which represented a crisis in the values of classical music and its role within intellectual life, and the extension of theory and technique. Some theorists, such as Arnold Schoenberg in his essay "Brahms the Progressive," insist that Modernism represents a logical progression from 19th century trends in composition; others hold the opposing point of view, that Modernism represents the rejection or negation of the method of Classical composition. 20th century, usually used to describe the wide variety of post-Romantic styles composed through the year 2000, which includes late Romantic, Modern and Post-Modern styles of composition. The term contemporary music is sometimes used to describe music composed in the late 20th century through present day. The prefix neo is usually used to describe a 20th Century or Contemporary composition written in the style of an earlier period, such as classical, romantic, or modern. So for example, Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is considered a Neo-Classical composition.

The dates are generalizations, since the periods overlapped. Some authorities subdivide the periods further by date or style. However, it should be noted that these categories are to an extent arbitrary; the use of counterpoint and fugue, which is considered characteristic of the Baroque era, was continued by Mozart, who is generally classified as typical of the Classical period, by Beethoven who is often described as straddling the Classical and Romantic periods, and Brahms, who is often classified as Romantic.

This chart shows a selection of the most famous classical composers. For a more complete overview see Graphical timeline for classical composers

Classical music as "music of the classical era"

In music history, a different meaning of the term classical music is occasionally used: it designates music from a period in musical history covering approximately Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to Beethovenroughly, 17301820. When used in this sense, the term is usually capitalized to avoid confusion.

The nature of classical music

Classical music is primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in music notation, as opposed to being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings. While there are differences between particular performances of a classical work, a piece of classical music is generally held to transcend any interpretation of it. The use of musical

notation is an effective method for transmitting classical music, since the written music contains the technical instructions for performing the work. The written score, however, does not usually contain explicit instructions as to how to interpret the piece, apart from directions for dynamics and tempo; this is left to the discretion of the performers, who are guided by their personal experience and musical education, their knowledge of the work's idiom, and the accumulated body of historic performance practices. Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake, unlike music that serves as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment (although orchestral film music is occasionally treated as classical music). Classical music concerts often take place in a relatively solemn atmosphere, and the audience is usually expected to stay quiet and still to avoid distracting the concentration of other audience members. The performers often dress formally, a practice which is taken as a gesture of respect for the music and the audience, and performers do not normally engage in direct involvement or casual banter with the audience. Private readings of chamber music may take place at more informal domestic occasions. Its written transmission, along with the veneration bestowed on certain classical works, has led to the expectation that performers will play a work in a way that realizes in detail the original intentions of the composer. Indeed, deviations from the composer's instructions are sometimes condemned as outright ethical lapses. During the 19th century the details that composers put in their scores generally increased. Yet the opposite trendadmiration of performers for new "interpretations" of the composer's workcan be seen, and it is not unknown for a composer to praise a performer for achieving a better realization of the composer's original intent than the composer was able to imagine. Thus, classical music performers often achieve very high reputations for their musicianship, even if they do not compose themselves. Classical composers often aspire to imbue their music with a very complex relationship between its affective (emotional) content, and the intellectual means by which it is achieved. Many of the most esteemed works of classical music make use of musical development, the process by which a musical germ, idea or motif is repeated in different contexts, or in altered form, so that the mind of the listener consciously or unconsciously compares the different versions. The classical genres of sonata form and fugue employ rigorous forms of musical development. (See also History of sonata form) Another consequence of the primacy of the composer's written score is that improvisation plays a relatively minor role in classical music, in sharp contrast to traditions like jazz, where improvisation is central. Improvisation in classical music performance was far more common during the Baroque era than in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and recently the performance of such music by modern classical musicians has been enriched by a revival of the old improvisational practices. During the Classical period, Mozart and Beethoven sometimes improvised the cadenzas to their piano concertos (and thereby encouraged others to do so), but they also provided written cadenzas for use by other soloists. Art music, concert music, and orchestral music are terms sometimes used as synonyms of classical music.

Complexity
Classical works often display great musical complexity through the composer's use of development, modulation (changing of keys), variation rather than exact repetition, musical phrases that are not of even length, counterpoint, polyphony and sophisticated harmony. Also, many long classical works (from 30 minutes to three hours) are built up from a hierarchy of smaller units: namely phrases, periods, sections, and movements. Schenkerian analysis is a branch of music theory which attempts to distinguish these structural levels.

Emotional content
As with many forms of fine art, classical music often aspires to communicate a transcendent quality of emotion, which expresses something universal about the human condition. While emotional expression is not a property exclusive to classical music, this deeper exploration of emotion arguably allows the best classical music to reach what has been called the "sublime" in art. Many examples often cited in support of this, for instance Beethoven's setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem, Ode to Joy in his 9th symphony, which is often performed at occasions of national liberation or celebration, as in Leonard Bernstein's famously performing the work to mark the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the Japanese practice of performing it to observe the New Year. However, some composers, such as Iannis Xenakis, argue that the emotional effect of music on the listeners is arbitrary and therefore the objective complexity or informational content of the piece is paramount.

Instruments
Classical and popular music are often distinguished by their choice of instruments. The instruments used in common practice classical music were mostly invented before the mid-19th century (often, much earlier), and codified in the 18th and 19th centuries. They consist of the instruments found in an orchestra, together with a few other solo instruments (such as the piano, harpsichord, and organ). Electric instruments such as the electric guitar and electric violin play a prominent role in popular music, but of course play no role in classical music before the twentieth century, and only appear occasionally in the classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Both classical and popular musicians have experimented in recent decades with electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, electric and digital techniques such as the use of sampled or computer-generated sounds, and the sounds of instruments from other cultures such as the gamelan. None of the bass instruments existed until the Renaissance. In Medieval Music, instruments are divided in two categories: loud instruments for use outdoors or in church, and quieter instruments for indoor use. Many instruments which are associated today with popular music used to have important roles in early classical music, such as bagpipes, vilhuela, hurdy-gurdy and

some woodwind instruments. On the other hand, the acoustic guitar, for example, which used to be associated mainly with popular music, has gained prominence in classical music through the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, while equal temperament became gradually accepted as the dominant musical tuning during the 19th century, different historical temperaments are often used for music from earlier periods. For instance, music of the English Renaissance is often performed in mean tone temperament.

Durability
One criterion that might be said to distinguish works of the classical musical canon is its cultural durability. However, this is not a distinguishing mark of all classical music: works by J. S. Bach (16851750) continue to be widely performed and highly regarded, while music by many of Bach's contemporaries, while undoubtedly "classical", is deemed mediocre, and is rarely performed.

Influences between classical and popular music

Classical music has always been influenced by, or taken material from, popular music. Examples include occasional music such as Brahms' use of student drinking songs in his Academic Festival Overture, genres exemplfied by Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and the influence of jazz on early- and mid-twentieth century composers including Maurice Ravel. Certain postmodern and postminimalist classical composers acknowledge a debt to popular music. There are also many examples of influence flowing the other way, including popular songs based on classical music, the use to which Pachelbel's Canon has been put since the 1970s, and the musical crossover phenomenon, where classical musicians have achieved success in the popular music arena (one notable example is the "Hooked on Classics" series of recordings made by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1980s). In fact, it could be argued that the entire genre of film music could be considered part of this influence as well, since it brings orchestral music to vast audiences of moviegoers who might otherwise never choose to listen to such music (albeit for the most part unconsciously).

Classical music and folk music

Composers of classical music have often made use of folk music (music created by untutored musicians, often from a purely oral tradition). Some have done so with an explicit nationalist ideology, others have simply mined folk music for thematic material. See: European Classical Composers Noted for Use of Folk Music

Commercial uses of classical music

Certain staples of classical music are often used commercially (that is, either in advertising or in the soundtracks of movies made for entertainment). In television commercials, several loud, bombastically rhythmic orchestral passages have become cliches, particularly the opening "O Fortuna" of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana; other

examples in the same vein are the Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem, and excerpts of Aaron Copland's "Rodeo". Similarly, movies often revert to standard, cliched snatches of classical music to represent refinement or opulence: probably the most-often heard piece in this category is Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Classical music in education

Throughout history, parents have often made sure that their children receive classical music training from a young age. Early experience with music provides the basis for more serious study later. For those who desire to become performers, any musical instrument is practically impossible to learn to play at a professional level if not learned in childhood. Some parents pursue music lessons for their children for social reasons or in an effort to instill a useful sense of self-discipline; lessons have also been shown to increase academic performance. Some consider that a degree of knowledge of important works of classical music is part of a good general education. The 1990s marked the emergence in the United States of research papers and popular books on the so-called Mozart effect: a temporary, small elevation of scores on certain tests as a result of listening to Mozart. The popularized version of the controversial theory was expressed succinctly by a New York Times music columnist: "researchers have determined that listening to Mozart actually makes you smarter." Promoters marketed CDs claimed to induce the effect. Florida passed a law requiring toddlers in state-run schools to listen to classical music every day, and in 1998 the governor of Georgia budgeted $105,000 a year to provide every child born in Georgia with a tape or CD of classical music. One of the original researchers commented "I don't think it can hurt. I'm all for exposing children to wonderful cultural experiences. But I do think the money could be better spent on music education programs."

Electric guitar

Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. Right: Maton Freshman, a hollow body electric guitar.

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that utilizes electronic pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into electrical current. The signal may be electrically altered to achieve various tonal effects prior to being fed into an amplifier, which produces the final sound which can be either an electrical sound or an acoustic sound. Distortion pedals can change the sound that is emitted from the amplifier. There are two main types of electric guitar:

Hollow body electric guitars, sometimes called semi-acoustic, and themselves of two types: o Archtop electric guitars with a full sound box. o Thin hollow body guitars. Solid body guitars.

Some acoustic guitars are fitted with pickups purely as an alternative to using a microphone. These are also sometimes called semi-acoustic, and sometimes acoustic electric, but are regarded as acoustic rather than electric guitars. The terminology is not generally agreed, and the line hard to draw. Specialised steel guitars, although they are also electric instruments descended from the guitar, are normally not considered electric guitars but rather as a separate instrument. This distinction has important consequences on claims of priority in the history of the electric guitar. The electric guitar is used extensively in many popular styles of music, including blues, rock and roll, country music, pop music, jazz, rap and even contemporary classical music. It's distinctive sound and intimate association with many legendary internationally-famous musicians has made it the signature instrument of late twentieth-century music.

History
The popularity of the electric guitar began with the big band era because amplified instruments became necessary to compete with the loud volumes of the large brass sections common to jazz orchestras of the thirties and forties. Initially, electric guitars consisted primarily of hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies to which electromagnetic transducers had been attached.

Early years
Electric guitars were originally designed by an assortment of luthiers, electronics enthusiasts, and instrument manufacturers, in varying combinations. Some of the earliest electric guitars used tungsten pickups and were manufactured in the 1930s by Rickenbacker. The electric guitar was first made famous in performance by jazz legend Charlie Christian. The version of the instrument that is most well known today is the [solid body] electric guitar, a guitar made of solid wood, without resonating airspaces within it. One of the first solid body electric guitars was built by musician and inventor Les

Paul in the early 1940s, working after hours in the Gibson Guitar factory. His "log" guitar (so called because it consisted of a simple 4x4 wood post with a neck attached to it, two Swedish hollow body halves attached to the sides, and homemade pickups and hardware) was generally considered to be the first of its kind until recently, when research through old trade publications and with surviving luthiers and their families revealed many other prototypes, and even limited production models that fit our modern conception of an 'electric guitar.' At least one company, Audiovox, built and may have offered an electric solid-body as early as the mid-1930s. Rickenbacher, later spelled Rickenbacker (both are pronounced Rickenbocker) offered a solid Bakelite electric guitar beginning in 1935 that, when tested by vintage guitar researcher John Teagle, reportedly sounded quite modern and aggressive.

Fender
In 1950 and 1951, electronics and instrument amplifier maker Leo Fender, through his eponymous company, designed the first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar, which was initially named the Broadcaster. However, the Gretsch company had a drumset by the same name (Broadkaster), so Fender was forced to change the name, choosing Telecaster in homage to the new phenomenon of television. Features of the Telecaster included an ash body; a maple 25" scale, 21-fret neck attached to the body with four-bolts reinforced by a steel neckplate; two single-coil, 6-pole pickups (bridge and neck positions), with tone and volume controls, pickup selector switch, and an output jack mounted on the side of the body. A black bakelite pickguard concealed body routings for pickups and wiring. The bolt-on neck was consistent with Leo Fender's belief that the instrument design should be modular to allow cost-effective and consistent manufacture and assembly, as well as simple repair or replacement. A variant of the Telecaster, the Esquire, had only the bridge pickup. Due to the Broadcaster trademark issue, the earliest Telecasters were delivered with headstock decals with the Fender logo but no model identification, and are commonly referred to by collectors as "Nocasters". In 1954 Fender introduced the Stratocaster, or "Strat", which was positioned as a deluxe model and offered various product improvements and innovations over the Telecaster. These innovations included an ash or alder double-cutaway body design for badge assembly with an integrated vibrato mechanism (called a synchronized tremolo by Fender, thus beginning a confusion of the terms that still continues), three single-coil pickups, and body comfort contours. The Stratocaster has become the most-recognizable and most copied electric guitar design ever. Pink Floyd's guitarist, David Gilmour, owns one of the first Fender Stratocasters ever made. Leo Fender is also credited with developing the first commercially-successful electric bass called the Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951.

Gibson
Gibson, like many guitar manufacturers, had long offered semi-acoustic guitars with pickups, and previously rejected Les Paul and his "log" electric in the 1940s. In apparent response to the Telecaster, Gibson introduced the first Gibson Les Paul solid body guitar in 1952, designed at least in part with input from Les Paul. Features of the

Les Paul included a mahogany body with a carved maple top (much like a violin) and contrasting edge binding, two single-coil "soapbar" pickups, a 24" scale mahogany neck with a more traditional glued-in "set" neck joint, binding on the edges of the fret board, and a tilt-back headstock with three tuners to a side. The earliest models had a combination bridge and trapeze-tailpiece design that was deemed unsuitable by Les Paul himself. Gibson then developed the Tune-o-Matic bridge and separate stop tailpiece, an adjustable non-vibrato design that has endured. By 1957, Gibson had made the final major change to the Les Paul as we know it today - the humbucking pickup, or humbucker. The humbucker, invented by Seth Lover, was a dual-coil pickup which produced a distinctive tone but also offered the advantage of elimination of the 60-cycle hum associated with single-coil pickups.The more traditionally designed and styled Gibson solid-body instruments were a contrast to Leo Fender's modular designs, with the most notable differentiator being the method of neck attachment and the scale of the neck (Gibson-24.75", Fender-25.5"). Each design has it own merits. To this day, the basic design of nearly every solid-body electric guitar available today echoes the features of early 1950s originals - the Fender Telecaster & Stratocaster, and the Gibson Les Paul.

Types of electric guitar

Most electric guitars are fitted with six strings and are usually tuned from low to high E - A - D - G - B - E, the same as an acoustic guitar, although many guitarists occasionally tune their instruments in a different way, including "dropped D", various transposed and open chord tunings, usually to simplify fretting of some chord inversions in a certain key. Some guitarists also tune to very low tunings, almost 4 whole steps down from E - A - D - G - B - E. Seven-string models exist, most of which add a low B string below the E. Seven-string guitars were popularized by Steve Vai and others in the '80s, and have been recently revived by some nu metal bands. Jazz guitarists using a seven-string include veteran jazzman Bucky Pizzarelli and his popular son John Pizzarelli. There are even eight-string electric guitars, such as the one played by Charlie Hunter (manufactured by Novax Guitars), but they are extremely unusual. The largest manufacturer of 8- to 14-strings is Warr Guitars. Their models are used by Trey Gunn(of King Crimson) who has his own signature line from the company. Jimmy Page, an innovator of hard rock, used and made famous custom Gibson electric guitars with two necks - essentially two instruments in one; in his case, a 6string and 12-string guitar, to replicate his use of two different guitars when playing live "Stairway to Heaven" so that he didn't have to pause to switch from one section to another. These are commonly known as double-neck (or, less commonly, "twinneck") guitars. The purpose is to obtain different ranges of sound from each instrument; typical combinations are six-string and four-string (guitar and bass guitar) or, more commonly, a six-string and twelve-string. Such a combination may come handy when playing ballads live, where the 12-string gives a mellower sound as accompaniment, while the 6-string may be used for a guitar solo. English progressive rock bands such as Genesis took this trend to its zenith using custom made instruments produced by the Shergold company. Rick Nielsen, guitarist for Cheap Trick, uses a variety of custom guitars, many of which have five necks - more for comic effect than for actual usefulness. Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai occasionally uses a

triple-neck guitar; one neck is twelve string, one is six string and the third is a fretless six string.

Detail of a Squier-made Fender Stratocaster. Note the tremolo arm, the 3 single-coil pickups, the volume and tone knobs. Some electric guitars have a tremolo arm or whammy bar, which is a lever attached to the bridge that can slacken or tighten the strings temporarily, changing the pitch or creating a vibrato. Tremolo properly refers to a quick variation of volume, not pitch; however, the misnaming (probably originating with Leo Fender printing "Synchronized Tremolo" right on the headstock of his original 1954 Stratocaster) is probably too established to change. Eddie Van Halen often uses this feature to embellish his playing, as heard in Van Halen's "Eruption". Early tremolo systems tended to cause the guitar to go out of tune with extended use; an important innovator in this field was Floyd Rose, who introduced one of the first improvements on the vibrato system in many years when in the late 1970s he began to experiment with "locking" nuts and bridges which work to prevent the guitar from detuning even under the most heavy whammy bar acrobatics.

Pickups
Electric guitars are not usually amplified by using a microphone, but with special pickups that sense the movement of strings. Such pickups tend to also pick up the ambient electrical noises of the room, the so-called "hum", with a strong 50 or 60 Hz component depending on the frequency used in the local power transmission system. Hum is annoying, especially when playing with distortion, so "humbucker" pickups were invented to counter this. Normal pickups are single-coil; humbuckers are essentially like twin microphones arranged in such a way that electrical noise cancels itself. A similar effect may be achieved using a guitar with multiple single coil pickups with an appropriate selection of dual pickups. (See main articles on pickups and humbuckers.) Another instrument, the pedal steel guitar, does not look like a guitar at all, but resembles a small rectangular table with one or more sets of strings on top. Country musician Junior Brown uses a custom-built instrument of his invention, the guit-steel, which has one neck that is a steel guitar, and one standard electric guitar neck.

The physical principle

The physics of electric guitars and other electric string instruments is fairly simple, since they are based on induced currents (see the electromagnetism article for more details).

Magnets are located under each string, which make the strings behave as magnets themselves. When a string is played, it oscillates at a certain frequency, causing the magnetic field it creates to oscillate with it. Solenoids (electromagnetic coils) are wrapped around each magnet, giving a periodic induced current (at the same frequency) [1].

Electric guitar sound and effects

Both the North America-built Godin LG (left) and the Fender Stratocaster (right - an entry-level, Korean-made Squier model is shown) are solidbody electric guitars, but they differ significantly in design, including scale length, neck and body woods, and pickup type. An acoustic guitar's sound is largely dependent on the vibration of the guitar's body and the air within it; the sound of an electric guitar is largely dependent on a magnetically induced electrical signal, generated by the vibration of metal strings near sensitive pickups. The signal is then shaped on its path to the amplifier. By the late 1960s, it became common practice to exploit this dependence to alter the sound of the instrument. The most dramatic innovation was the generation of distortion by increasing the gain, or volume, of the preamplifier in order to clip the electronic signal. This form of distortion generates harmonics, particularly in even multiples of the input frequency, which are considered pleasing to the ear. Beginning in the 1960s, the tonal palette of the electric guitar was further modified by introducing an effects box in its signal path. Traditionally built in a small metal chassis with an on/off foot switch, such "stomp boxes" have become as much a part of the instrument for many electric guitarists as the electric guitar itself. Typical effects include stereo chorus, fuzz, wah-wah and flanging, compression/sustain, delay, reverb, and phase shift. Some important innovators of this aspect of the electric guitar include guitarists Frank Zappa, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Jones, Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Thurston Moore, Adam Jones, Daniel Ash, and Tom Morello, and technicians such as Roger Mayer.

By the 1980s, and 1990s, digital and software effects became capable of replicating the analog effects used in the past. These new digital effects attempted to model the sound produced by analog effects and tube amps, to varying degrees of quality. There are many free to use guitar effects software for personal computer downloadable from the Internet. Today anyone can transform his PC with sound card into a digital guitar effects processor. Although there are some obvious advantages to digital and software effects, many guitarists still use analog effects for their real or perceived quality over their digital counterparts. Some innovations have been made recently in the design of the electric guitar. In 2002, Gibson announced the first digital guitar, which performs analog-to-digital conversion internally. The resulting digital signal is delivered over a standard Ethernet cable, eliminating cable-induced line noise. The guitar also provides independent signal processing for each individual string. Also, in 2003 amp maker Line 6 released the Variax guitar. It differs in some fundamental ways from conventional solid-body electrics. For example it uses piezoelectric pickups instead of the conventional electro-magnetic ones, and has an onboard computer capable of modifying the sound of the guitar to realistically model many popular guitars.

Uses
The electric guitar can be played either solo or with other instruments. It has been used in numerous genres of popular music, as well as (much less frequently) classical music.

Contemporary classical music

While the classical guitar had historically been the only variety of guitar favored by classical composers, in the 1950s a few contemporary classical composers began to use the electric guitar in their compositions. Examples of such works include Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen (1955-1957); Morton Feldman's The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar (1966); George Crumb's Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968); Hans Werner Henze's Versuch ber Schweine (1968); and Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden (1966-70). In the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of composers (many of them composerperformers who had grown up playing the instrument in rock bands) began writing for the instrument. These include Steven Mackey, Omar Rodriquez, Lois V Vierk, Tim Brady, John Fitz Rogers, Tristan Murail, Randall Woolf, Scott Johnson and Yngwie Malmsteen with his Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra. The American composers Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham have written "symphonic" works for large ensembles of electric guitars, in some cases numbering up to 100 players. Still, like many electric and electronic instruments, the electric guitar remains primarily associated with rock and jazz music, rather than with classical compositions and performances.

Common Brands

B.C. Rich Dean Epiphone ESP Fender Gibson Gretsch Ibanez Jackson Johnson Peavey PRS Rickenbacker Schecter Squier Washburn Yamaha Godin

Bass guitar

Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass or simply bass) is an electrically amplified plucked string instrument. It is similar in appearance to an electric guitar but has a larger body, a longer neck and scale length, and, usually, four strings (compared to six on an electric guitar) tuned an octave lower in pitch. Electric basses may be fretted or fretless, but fretted basses are far more common in most popular music settings. There are also hollow-bodied acoustic bass guitars. Since the 1950s the electric bass has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the instrument that provides the low-pitched bassline(s) and bass runs. The electric

bass is used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, and funk styles, and bass solos are sometimes performed in other genres. [edit]

History
[edit]

1920s prototypes
In the 1920s and early 1930s, several early prototypes of electric double basses were developed. Even though these instruments had electric pickups, they were still variants of the double bass, because they were unfretted and played vertically. The Audiovox Manufacturing Company in Seattle, Washington had an upright solidbody electric bass on the market by February 1935, designed by Paul Tutmarc, a musician, instrument maker, and amplifier designer. [edit]

1930s: Fretted basses

Subsequently, Paul Tutmarc developed a guitar-style electric bass instrument that was fretted and designed to be held and played horizontally. Audiovox's sales catalogue of 1935-6 listed what is probably the worlds first fretted, solid body electric bass that is designed to be played horizontally - the Model #736 Electric Bass Fiddle. The change to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport; the addition of guitar-style frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily (which also made the new electric bass easier to learn). [edit]

1950s and 1960s: Fender Bass

A self-taught electrical engineer named Leo Fender developed the first mass-produced electric bass in the 1950s. His Fender Precision Bass became a widely-copied industry standard. The Precision Bass (or "P-bass") evolved from a simple, uncontoured 'slab' body design with a single piece, four-pole pickup to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a single "split coil pickup" (staggered humbucker). In 1960, Fender introduced the Jazz Bass, which became an industry standard. The jazz bass featured two single-coil pickups, one close to the bridge and one in the Precision bass' position, each with separate volume and tone controls. As well, the neck was more narrow at the nut than the Precision bass (1 1/2" vs 1 3/4"). Pickup positions on other manufacturers' basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" position pickups, in reference to Precision and Jazz basses. During the 1960s, Fender also produced a six-string bass, the Fender VI, although it was tuned higher than a modern six-string bass.

Following Fender's lead, other companies such as Gibson, Danelectro, ESP Guitars, and many others started to produce their own version of the electric bass. Some became identified with a particular style of music, such as the Rickenbacker 4000 series which became identified with progressive rock bassists. [edit]

1970s: Boutique Basses

In 1971 Alembic established the template for what would subsequently be known as "boutique" or "high end" electric basses. These expensive, custom-tailored instruments featured unique designs, premium wood bodies chosen and hand-finished by master craftspeople, onboard electronics for preamplification and equalization, and innovative construction techniques such as multi-laminate neck-through-body construction and graphite necks. Alembic and another "boutique" bass manufacturer, Ken Smith, both produced 5-string basses with a low "B" string in the mid-1970s. Ken Smith also developed and marketed the first wide-spacing six-string electric bass. [edit]

Nomenclature
The instrument is called a "bass guitar" (pronounced like "base"), "electric bass guitar," "electric bass," or simply "bass." In the 1950s and 1960s, the term "Fender bass" was widely used to describe the bass guitar, due to Fender's early dominance in the market for mass-produced bass guitars. However, the term "electric bass" began replacing "Fender bass" in the late 1960's, as evidenced by the title of Carol Kaye's popular bass instructional book in 1969 (How To Play The Electric Bass) and the use of the term "electric bass" by US musicians' unions. [edit]

Design considerations

"Headless" Steinberger bass. Musicians have embraced a wide variety of different electric bass designs, which include a huge variety of options for the body, neck, pickups, and other features. Musicians have become open minded towards the new technologies and approaches to musical instrument design that have developed for the electric bass. As well, instruments handmade by highly-skilled masters of the craft of lutherie (guitarmaking) are becoming an increasingly popular choice for professional and highlyskilled amateur bassists. These developments have given the modern bass player a wide range of choices when choosing an instrument. Design options include: [edit]

Body

Bodies are typically made of wood although other materials such as graphite (for example, some of the Steinberger designs) have also been used. A wide variety of woods are suitable - the most common include alder, mahogany and ash, and bubinga. The choice of body material and shape can have a significant impact on the timbre of the completed instrument as well as aesthetic considerations. Other design considerations include:

A wide range of colored or clear lacquer, wax and oil finishes exploiting the amazing variety of natural wood forms Various flat and carved industrial designs for different types of both traditional and exotic woods, large percentage of luthier-produced unique instruments (affecting weight, balance and aesthetics) Headed and headless (with tuning carried out using a special bridge, mainly manufactured by Steinberger and Hohner) designs Several artificial materials developed especially for instrument building, most notable being luthite Unique production techniques for artificial materials, including die-casting for cost-effective complex body shapes

One further variable is the solidity of the body. Most basses have solid bodies but variations include chambers for increased resonance or to reduce weight. Basses are also built with entirely hollow bodies, which changes the tone and resonance of the instrument and allows performers to practice without an amplifier. Since the size of the resonant chamber for acoustic bass guitars is much smaller than the resonant chambers of other acoustic bass instruments such as the double bass or the guitarron, acoustic bass guitars cannot produce much unamplified volume; as such acoustic bass guitars are typically equipped with piezoelectric or magnetic pickups and amplified. Hollow-bodied bass guitars are discussed in more detail in the article on acoustic bass guitars. [edit]

Strings and tuning

The standard design electric bass has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G (with the fundamental frequency of the E string set at 41.3 Hz, the same as the lowest string on the double bass). This tuning is the same as the standard tuning on the lower four strings on a 6-string guitar, only an octave lower. The materials used in the strings gives bass players a range of tonal options. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound or flatwound), metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings, and non-metal strings made of nylon. Early basses used flatwound strings, with a smooth surface. These gave a smooth, somewhat damped sound reminiscent of a double bass. In the 1960s and 1970s roundwound bass strings similar to guitar strings became increasingly popular. Roundwounds give a brighter sound, more similar to that of a guitar or piano, and with much greater sustain. The clearer roundwound sound more readily "cuts through" rock bands and other forms of pop music, and have replaced flatwounds in

most popular music. Flatwounds are still used by some who prefer the sound or desire a "classic" tone for Motown music or other genres which originally involveded flatwound bass strings.

Note positions on a right-handed 4-string bass in standard EADG tuning As performers sought to expand the range of their instruments, a range of other tuning options and bass types has been used. The most common include:

Four strings with alternate tunings to obtain an extended lower range. Tunings such as "BEAD" (this requires a low "B" string in addition to the other three "standard" strings), "D-A-D-G" (a "standard" set of strings, with only the lowest string detuned), and D-G-C-F or C-G-C-F (a "standard" set of strings, all of which are detuned) give bassists an extended lower range. These options are sometimes used by players who do not like the "feel" of the thicker, heavier 5-string neck, or by bassists who do not have access to a 5-string bass.

A musician warming up on a five-string electric bass guitar. Five strings (normally B-E-A-D-G but sometimes EADGC). The 5-string bass with a low "B" provides added lower range, as compared with the 4-string bass. As well, it gives a player easier access to low notes when playing in the higher positions. The resultant tone of the instrument is usually "thicker," as the fatter strings give fewer harmonics. This is particularly the case for notes on the low "B" string.

Six strings (BEADGC or BEADGB although EADGBE has also been used). While six-string basses are much less common than 4- or 5-string basses, they are used in Latin, jazz, and several other genres. Bassists using six-string basses include New Order's Peter Hook and Dream Theater's John Myung. Detuners, one of which is sold under the name Hipshot, are mechanical devices operated by the left-hand thumb that allow one or more strings to be detuned to a lower pitch. Hipshots are typically used to drop the "E"-string down to "D" on a four string bass). More rarely, some bassists (e.g., Michael Manring) will add detuners to more than one string, to enable them to detune strings during a performance and have access to a wider range of chime-like harmonics.

Less commonly, bassists use other types of basses or tuning methods to obtain an extended range. Instrument types or tunings used for this purpose include:

Eight-, 10-, and 12-string basses with double or triple courses of strings, as compared with their 4-, 5-, and 6-string counterparts. An 8-string bass would be strung Ee, Aa, Dd, Gg, while a 12-string bass might be tuned Eee Aaa Ddd Ggg, with standard pitch strings augmented by two strings an octave higher. Guitar-tuned bass (4-string): the D-G-B-E tuning has the same note names as the first (e.g., from highest to lowest) four strings of a guitar, although they are pitched two octaves lower. Tenor bass: A-D-G-C Piccolo bass: e-a-d-g (an octave higher than standard bass tuning-the same as the bottom four strings of a guitar) Sub-contra bass: C#-F#-B-E ("C#" being at 18 Hz and the "E"- string being the same as the "E"-string found on standard basses). To amplify the low pitches of this instrument, a subwoofer capable of extended low-range reproduction is needed. Extended range 11-string basses which go from a low "C#" up to a high Eb (one semitone below a guitar's high E). Eleven-string basses are uncommon and are typically custom built instruments. Al Caldwell, Jean Baudin (of the band Nuclear Rabbit), and Garry Goodman (from The Neilson-Goodman Project) play 11-string basses.

[edit]

Pickups
The vibrations of the instrument's metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in the pickups, produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups. This in turn produces small electrical voltages in the coils. These low-level signals are then amplified and played through a speaker. Less commonly, non-magnetic pickups are used, such as piezoelectric pickups which sense the mechanical vibrations of the strings. Since the 1990s, basses are often available with battery-powered "active" electronics that boost the signal and/or provide equalization controls to boost or cut bass and treble frequencies.

"P"-style split pickups

[edit] Pickup types

"P-" pickups (the "P" refers to the original Fender Precision Bass) are actually two distinct single-coil halves, wired in opposite direction to reduce hum, each offset a small amount along the length of the body so that each half is underneath two strings. "J-" pickups (referring to the original Fender Jazz Bass) are wider eight-pole pickups which lie underneath all four strings. Soapbar pickups, found, for example, in MusicMan basses, are the same height as a J pickup, but about twice as wide (much like an electric guitar's humbucker). The name comes from the rectangular shape being similar to a bar of soap.

[edit] Pickup configuration

Many basses have just one pickup, typically a "P" or soapbar pickup. Multiple pickups are also quite common, two of the most common configurations being a "P" near the neck and a "J" near the bridge (e.g. Fender Precision Deluxe), or two "J" pickups (e.g. Fender Jazz). Some basses use more unusual pickup configurations, such as a Humbucker and "P" pickup (found on some Fenders), Stu Hamm's "Urge" basses, which have a "P" pickup sandwiched between two "J" pickups, and some of Bootsy Collins' custom basses, which had as many as 5 J pickups. The placement of the pickup greatly affects the sound, with a pickup near the neck joint thought to sound "fatter" or "warmer" while a pickup near the bridge is thought to sound "tighter" or "sharper." Most basses with multiple pickups allow blending of the output from the pickups, providing for a range of timbres.

[edit] Non-magnetic pickups

Piezoelectric pickups are non-magnetic pickups that produce a different tone and allow bassists to use non-metallic strings such as nylon strings. Piezoelectric pickups sense the vibrations of the string, as transmitted to the pickup through the basses' wooden body. Since piezoelectric pickups are based on the vibration of the strings and body, they can be prone to feedback "howls" when used with an amplifier, especially when higher levels of amplification are used. Optical pickups such as Lightwave Systems pickups are another type of nonmagnetic pickup. Optical pickups are expensive and rarely used, apart from a small number of professional bass players who require the advantages offered by optical pickups: no noise (e.g., hum) or feedback problems, even at high levels of amplification.

[edit]

Frets
The frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions, although fretless basses are also widely available. The original Fender basses had 20 frets. [edit]

Fretless basses
Fretless basses have a distinctive sound that is created because the absence of frets means that the string is pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard and buzzes against it as with the double bass. The fretless bass allows players to use the expressive devices of glissando and microtonal intonations such as quarter tones and just intonation. Fretless basses are mostly used in jazz and jazz fusion music. Nonetheless, bassists from other genres use fretless basses, such as thrash metal/death metal bassist Steve DiGiorgio. Some bassists use both fretted and fretless basses in performances, according to the type of material they are performing. Fusion-jazz virtuoso Jaco Pastorius, who brought the fretless bass into the spotlight, used a fretless bass that he created by removing the frets from a fretted bass and filling in the grooves, a method that is still used by some bassists. Some fretless basses have 'fret lines' inlaid in the fingerboard as a guide, while others only use guide marks on the side of the neck. Strings wound with tape or coated in epoxy are sometimes used with the fretless bass so that the metal string windings will not wear down the fingerboard. Some fretless basses, including those used by Pastorius, have a fingerboard coated with epoxy or a similar hard material. This increases durability and sustain and gives a brighter tone than a bare wooden board. [edit]

Amplification and effects

Electric bassists use either a 'combo' amplifier, so-named because it combines an amplifier and a speaker in a single cabinet, or an amplifier and a separate speaker

cabinet (or cabinets). Some bassists plug directly into a mixing console for large-scale PA amplification. For further information see :

bass instrument amplification

Various electronic components such as preamplifiers and signal processors, and the configuration of the amplifier and speaker, can be used to alter the basic sound of the instrument. In the 1990s and early 2000s, signal processors such as equalizers, distortion devices, and compressors or [limiter]s became increasingly popular additions to many electric bass players' gear, because these processors give players additional tonal options. For further information see:

bass guitar effects

[edit]

Playing techniques
[edit]

Sitting or standing
Most bass players stand while playing, although sitting is also accepted, particularly in large ensemble settings (e.g., jazz big band) or acoustic genres such as folk music. It is a matter of the player's preference as to which position gives the greatest ease of playing, and what a bandleader expects. When sitting, the instrument can be balanced on the right thigh, or like classical guitar players, the left. Balancing the bass on the left thigh positions it in such a way that it mimics the standing position, allowing for less difference between the standing and sitting positions. [edit]

Plectra vs. fingers or thumb

The electric bass, in contrast to the upright bass (or double bass), is played in a similar position to the guitar, held horizontally across the body. Notes are usually produced by plucking with the fingers or with a guitar pick, which is a type of plectrum. This choice often depends on a bassit's musical genre very few funk bassists use plectrums, while they are widely found in punk rock and metal styles. Using a pick typically gives the bass a brighter, punchier sound, while playing with fingers makes the sound softer and round. Some bassists use their fingernails flamenco-style to provide some compromise between playing fingerstyle and using a pick. Bassists trying to emulate the sound of a double bass will often pluck the strings with their thumb, and use their fingers to anchor their hand and partially mute the strings. This palm-muting creates a short, "thumpy" tone.

James Jamerson, one of the most influential bassists during the Motown era, was well-known for his work in many popular Motown songs. Jamerson played the bass with only his index finger (which gained him the nickname "The Hook") but created intricate bass lines that have proven challenging even for modern bassists using the more common used two-fingered (typically index and middle) technique. [edit]

Right hand support and position

Variations in style also occur in where a bassist rests his right-hand thumb. A player may rest his thumb on the top edge of one of the pickups. One may also rest his thumb on the side of the fretboard, which is especially common among bassists who have an upright bass influence. Also, bassists may simply anchor their thumbs on the lowest string (and move it off to play on the low string). This technique is known as the "floating thumb", and was previously popular mainly with bassists who played 5 or more string basses, but is now common for all bassists. Early Fender models also came with a "thumbrest" attached to the pickguard, below the strings. Contrary to its name, this was not used to rest the thumb, but to rest the fingers while using the thumb to pluck the strings. The thumbrest was moved above the strings in 70's models, and eliminated entirely in the 80's. [edit]

Downward stroke
This is a technique that consists in hitting the strings with continuous downward strokes with a plectrum at a very fast pace. This provides the continuous and repetitive sound of finger picking but with a punchy sound. This technique was used by Dee Dee Ramone of the early punk rock band The Ramones. [edit]

Striking or plucking position

Bassists also have different preferences as to where on the string they pluck the notes. While the influential bassist Jaco Pastorius and many with him preferred to pluck them very close to the bridge for a bright and sharp sound, many prefer the rounder sound they get by plucking closer to the neck, mostly near the neck pickup. Geezer Butler, among others, plucks the strings over the higher frets. [edit] 'Piano hammer' style The "piano hammer-style" is a high-speed technique used of striking the bass string with the index finger. In this technique, the index hand is whipped towards the bass string then retracted quickly by pivoting of the wrist. The index finger snaps down and taps the string like a piano hammer. The result is a smooth dark tone which can be

contrasted by "back-pedaling" the string with the tip of the finger in an upward pluck. Usually two fingers are required with this technique. [edit]

"Slap and pop," tapping, and related techniques

The slap and pop method, in which notes and percussive sounds are created by slapping the string with the thumb and releasing strings with a snap, was pioneered by Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone in the 1960s and early 1970s. Stanley Clarke and Louis Johnson further developed Graham's technique. Other notable slap and pop players include Mark King, Flea, Les Claypool, and Victor Wooten . In the late 1980s, fusion bass player Victor Wooten (of Bla Fleck and the Flecktones) developed the so-called "double thumb," in which the string is slapped twice, on the upstroke and a downstroke (for more information, see Classical Thump). Examples of the slap and pop technique can be seen at HowToSlapBass.com In the two-handed tapping style, both hands play notes by tapping the string to the fret, which makes it possible to play contrapuntally, chords and arpeggios. Players using this technique include John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Stuart Hamm, Roscoe Beck, Billy Sheehan, Victor Wooten, and Michael Manring. For more information on twohanded tapping technique, see the articles on Chapman Stick and Warr guitar, manystringed instruments that are designed to be played using two-handed tapping. Tony Levin, the bassist for King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, pioneered the use of wooden dowel "funk fingers" affixed with velcro to the tips of the index and middle fingers and used to strike the strings of the bass. [edit]

Musical role
The electric bass is the standard bass instrument in many musical genres, including modern country, post-1970s-style jazz, many variants of rock and roll, metal, punk, reggae, soul, and funk. Even though the double bass is still the standard bass instrument in orchestral settings, some late-20th-century composers have used the electric bass in an orchestral setting. Modern bass playing draws on guitar and double bass for inspiration as well as an increasing vernacular of its own. The bass may have differing roles within different types of music and the bassist may prefer different degrees of prominence in the music. Early uses of the electric bass saw bassists doubling the double bass part or replacing the upright bass entirely with their new, more portable and easily amplified instrument. By the 1960s, the electric bass had replaced the upright bass in most forms of popular music (although country music and jazz were an exception to this trend). The switch to electric bass moved bassists more into the foreground of a band, in several senses:

From an aural perspective, electric bass tone can often "cut through" a live mix better. As well, electric basses can be amplified to very high levels without the problem of feedback "howls" that upright bass players face. These factors enabled some electric bass players to develop a soloistic role for the bass. From a visual point of view, the switch to the electric bass allowed bassists much more freedom of movement on stage. The double bass sits on an endpin, and stands vertically, and players typically play in a single location for the duration of a song. However, the electric bass is smaller, and is held up with a strap, which allows the electric bassist to move about on the stage while playing, and get closer to other musicians or the audience.

Drum.

Drum carried by John Unger, Company B, 40th Regiment New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Mozart Regiment, December 20, 1863

Several American Indian-style drums for sale at the National Museum of the American Indian. A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion family , technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drumskin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound. Drums are among the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has been virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. The shell almost invariably has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of the shell varies widely. In the western

musical tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder, although timpani for example use bowl-shaped shells. Other shapes include a frame design (tar (drum)), truncated cones (bongo drums), and joined truncated cones (talking drum). Drums with cylindrical shells can be open at one end (as in the timbales) or can have two drum heads. Single headed drums normally consist of a skin or other membrane, called a head, which is stretched over an enclosed space or over one of the ends of a hollow vessel. Drums with two heads covering both ends of a tubular shell often have a small hole halfway between the two drumheads; the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions include the African slit drum, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, and the Caribbean steel drum, made from a metal barrel. Drums are usually played by the hands or by one or two sticks. In some non-Western cultures drums have a symbolic function and are often used in religious ceremonies. The sound of a drum depends on several variables including shell shape, size, thickness of shell, materials of the shell, type of drumhead, tension of the drumhead, position of the drum, location, and how it is struck. In popular music and jazz, drums usually refers to a drum kit or set of drums, and drummer to the band member or person who plays them. Drums are played by percussionists whose skills can be called for in all areas of music from Classical to Heavy Rock & all areas in between. Many drummers are also adept at both playing the drum set and a set of hand drums for added musical variety. In the past, drums were used as a means of communication and not just for their musical qualities. They are sometimes used in sending signals. The talking drums of Africa can imitate the inflections and pitch variations of a spoken language and are used for communicating over great distances.- see drum (communication).

History of Heavy metal

The history of heavy metal music began around 1964-1970 with bands like the Kinks, the Who, Alice Cooper's The Spiders, Cream, Golden Earring, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer, Atomic Rooster, Cactus, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Free, Uriah Heep, Mountain, Bloodrock, Black Widow, and Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly Heavy album and Steppenwolf's song Born to Be Wild which contained the phrase "heavy metal thunder" share credit for the name heavy metal. The genre borrowed heavily from rock and the blues but moved towards a more aggressive direction than other bands from the 60's incorporating energetic live shows and darker melodies and themes. Cream is one of the best known bands which appeared early in the genre known for classic songs like Sunshine Of Your Love and White Room. The Jimi Hendrix Experience featuring the legendary Jimi Hendrix on guitar and vocals was incredibly revolutionary and remains a strong influence on musicians today, especially guitarists. Groundbreaking albums like Are You Experienced?, Axis Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland were pivotal in the future direction of rock. Led Zeppelin was also a big contributor to the movement incorporating in heavy thudding guitars and high almost screaming vocals. Deep Purple's classic Deep Purple In Rock showcased Ritchie Blackmore's classical guitar style juxtaposed against the intense screams of Ian Gillan's vocal. In 1970 Black Sabbath made what many consider to be the first true heavy metal album self titled Black Sabbath followed in the next few years by Paranoid and Master of Reality. Guitarist Tony Iommi, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, drummer Bill Ward, and bassist Geezer Butler churned out gloomy heavy churning riffs and rhythms accompanied nicely by Ozzy's eerie vocal style. This Birmingham act nearly single handedly defined the essence of the heavy metal genre combining a fascination with dark mythological and religious subject matter juxtaposed against the reality of a working class life in poverty ridden industrial Birmingham during the early 70's. Newer bands like Judas Priest, Queen and Blue Oyster Cult took up the mantle of these older bands and added their voice to an ever growing revolution in rock music. Queen was the most experimental of the groups combining interesting and beautiful melodies with classically inspired harmonies which bordered on progressive and experimental rock. Kiss took the genre to a fevered pitch using classic elements of theatre such as fire and fake blood to keep audiences interested. In the late 70's heavy metal went through a decline and the giants of the early 70's started to loose influence due to deaths and personnel changes. AC/DC, Judas Priest, Queen, and Rush kept the genre alive but only just. The early 1980s saw a revival of metal of a sort with bands like Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue among others. Unfortunately due to highly commercialized excess driven hair bands the genre was sent in to another decline where the music would be reabsorbed into new genres. By around 1990 most heavy metal had evolved into other rock genres like hard rock, grunge, gothic rock, gothic metal, thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, and nu metal

To God and My Own Self Be True...

a story of heavy metal and my life!
Heavy Metal is more than just a style of music, its a way of life. It has been a large part of my life as far back as I can remember. In this page I am going to attempt to give a short history of metal as well as tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Trenton, NJ in March of 1967. I started listening to hard rock and what became known as metal as early as 5 years old because of a neighbors who turned me on to Aerosmith. Being born in NJ and living close to Philadelphia and New York City, I was in the heart of the NY metal movement in the 80's, but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start from the beginning... (Please note that this is not a complete history, it is only the history as I saw it and as it happened in my life.) Heavy metal derived from the loud blues-rock and psychedelia of the late '60s. For the most part, metal lost most of the blues influences and leaving the powerful, loud,

guitar riffs. In the late 60's and early '70s, heavy metal began establishing itself as one of the most commercially successful forms of aggressive rock & roll. Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and bands like Cream, The Who, Steppenwolf, Hawkwind, Alice Cooper, and Led Zeppelin fused heavy guitars with blues based rock 'n roll and began to put on outrageous live performances. These bands also began to gain dedicated and loyal followers, as opposed to most of the "here to today, gone tomorrow" pop stars that would attract instant popularity, only to lose it all within a few months.

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) By the mid-70's, the leaders of the new heavy metal movement were being established and beginning to influence a whole new school of metal fans. Bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Angel, and Judas Priest were beginning to gain large audiences. Of course KISS would be one of the biggest bands to emerge from the 70's. Their impact on the 80's metal explosion would be enormous; not just the music but also the gigantic, bigger than life, stage persona and show.

KISS (1976) Below are some incredible albums that are usually credited with being the true beginning of HEAVY METAL!

Led Zeppelin ('69)

Deep Purple-Machine Head ('72)

Black Sabbath ('70)

While these albums are usually credited with being the start of metal, they were not for the start for me. It was actually the second wave of bands that caught my attention, mostly because this was about the time that I was old enough to start listening to music. I can remember listening to Aerosmith's "Toy in the Attic" for the first time when I was in grade school. I was mesmerized and from then until today have been a huge Aerosmith fan, as well as a big metal fanatic. (Since then, I have bought every Aerosmith album the day it was released. I actually hitch hiked to the mall to buy Aerosmith's "Done With Mirrors" when I was in college.)

Aerosmith (1976) Even in grade school I would brag to friends that I had the new Aerosmith record. I even got into a playground fight because someone said that Led Zeppelin was a better band than Aerosmith. I can remember being mocked for listening to Rush, Ted Nugent, Queen, Mahogany Rush etc. when the "cool" bands were Bay City Rollers, the Jackson 5 and KC & the Sunshine Band. (GAK!!!) Disco was in; Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever were all the rage-but I was a metal addict. KISS was probably my biggest addiction of the time, as their posters and magazine photos took up every inch of wall space I had in my bedroom. While KISS did disappoint through the late 70's/early 80's, I remained a KISS fan and still am one to this very day. Aerosmith and KISS were actually the first two albums that I bought. (ok, actually my parents bought them for me.) Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" and KISS "Destroyer" Two records that changed my life in the mid 70's:

Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic ('76)

Kiss-Destroyer ('76)

The late 70's disco was all but dead and albums like Thin Lizzy's "Live & Dangerous" and Boston's "Don't Look Back" were gracing my turntable. (and of course Aerosmith's "Night in the Ruts") This is also about the time I discovered, what is now refered to as "true metal" or "classic heavy metal" Through the next decades, metal adapted itself to the times and it would never completely disappeared from the charts. Trends came and went, as did the trendy followers, but metal fans were devoted. In the early 80s, heavy metal exploded in popularity. Judas Priest, although they had been touring and recording albums since the early 70's, experienced a major popularity surge in '82 with the release of "Screaming for Vengeance." It was actually this band that pulled me deeper into the metal culture. Upon hearing the classic "Stained Class" I was convinced that Judas Priest was the ultimate heavy band. This is about the time I discovered bands like Iron Maiden, who had just released "Number of the Beast," Accept "Restless & Wild," Motorhead's classic "Ace of Spades," Raven "Rock til You Drop," Saxon "Wheels of Steel," Scorpions "Lonesome Crow" and "Fly to the Rainbow." Yup, I had discovered the incredible NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal.) This movement never did gain as much popularity in the States, but was an incredible influence on some of the early American Metal bands as well as some of today's popular bands.

Judas Priest (1991)

In high school I bought, as new releases by then unknown bands, Motley Crue's "Too Fast for Love" on Leather Records, Slayer's "Hell Awaits," Venom's "Black Metal," Metallica's "Kill 'em All," and Queensryche's debut EP. A few "local bands" were beginning to gain some popularity as well. Anthrax, from NY released a 45 single called "Soldiers of Metal"; from Long Island Twisted Sister were filling up the clubs and had finally signed a decent record contract; Heathen's Rage were filling local halls and opening for some major acts. We all know what happened with Anthrax and Twisted Sister, both went on to be huge successes. Heathen's Rage released a vinyl EP with a killer track called "City of Hell" and finally a four song demo in 1987 before disappearing off the face of the earth. Below are some of the albums I discovered in the mid 80's:

Metallica-Kill 'Em All ('83)

Slayer-Show No Mercy ('84)

Iron Maiden-Killer ('81)

From the glam-hair bands like Stryper, Ratt, and Cinderella, to the intense thrash bands like Megadeth, Overkill, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Celtic Frost, to the more traditional bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween and Armored Saint to the hardrockers like Frehley's Comet to the incredible comeback of bands like Kiss, Deep Purple, and especially Aerosmith, the 80's were definitely a strong time for metal lovers. What was really great about this time was that there was a unity among metalheads. The same metalhead that liked Motley Crue and Accept also liked Slayer and Motorhead.

Kiss in the 80's

Frehley's Comet in the mid-80's

The 80's for me was a time of many concerts. Some of the better remembered and highly cherished from that time were: Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, which was an awesome experience. Quiet Riot opened that show. Black Sabbath was being chastized for doing "Smoke on the Water" live, which I thought was GREAT! ELO's drummer was filling in for the ailing Bill Ward. Many thought they would do a cover of ELO's "Evil Woman" but they did not. Aerosmith on the "Rock in a Hard Place" tour and the incredible "Back in the Saddle" show with the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, both at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Pat Travers opened up the "R.I.A.H.P." show. He was on his "Black Pearl" tour and Ted Nugent co-headlined the "Back in the Saddle" show. Dio and Twisted Sister at a small theatre in downtown Philly. The very next year they both returned together and sold out the Spectrum. The year after that Dio did a live video with us Philly maniacs.

Tony Lee (Heathen's Rage)

Anthrax on the "Spread It" Tour with Heathen's Rage at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I was also privileged to see Anthrax at the infamous LaMore Club in NYC. Judas Priest "Defenders" tour two times in one month-Spectrum, PA and the Meadowlands, NJ

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force at a little club in PA. I still have the t-shirt from that show. Queensryche and headliners KISS in Philadelphia, PA and in Rochester, NY. The metal guard rail in front of the stage broke in Philly and we were able to sit on the edge of the stage for the entire KISS show. I got my picture in FACES Magazine. I have seen KISS several other times since then. The reunion and farwell tours have blown me away! David Lee Roth with Steve Via and Billy Sheehan on the "Eat 'Em And Smile" tour at the War Memorial in Rochester. TT Quick and Helstar at a little club in Rochester. After Helstar played, almost everyone left, so we watched TT Quick with about 20 other people, then they hung out with us and drank some beers and played pool. Cool show! Of course, later some of the TT Quick guys went on to be with Nuclear Assault. Ted Nugent and Alcatrazz (with Yngwie Malmsteen) at Six Flags Great Adventure. Killer show, although my girlfiiend (now my wife) got violently sick from some laced alcohol she drank.! Also saw Petra, Molly Hatchet (on their reuion tour with Danny Joe Brown), and Charlie Daniels at Six Flags. Not a bad seat in the place. In the mid-'80s thru the early 90's, speed metal and thrash became the most popular form of heavy metal in the American underground. Crossing the new wave of British heavy metal with hardcore punk, speed metal was extremely fast and more technically demanding. Tthe bands played fast, but their attack was precise and clean. In that sense, speed metal remained true to its metal roots. But what it borrowed from hardcore; the insanely fast tempos and a defiant, do-it-yourself attitude was just as important, and sometimes it was even more important. It gave the band not only a unique musical approach but also an attractive "anti-image" for legions fans, including myslef. Of course, Metallica became the leaders of the genre until their recent style changes. Other key bands were Megadeth, Dark Angel, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Testament, Slayer and Anthrax. Of course, this is only a small list of some of the better known. There were actually hundreds of bands of this style- Vengeance Rising, Powermad, Laaz Rockit, Flotsom & Jetsam, Hallow's Eve, Deliverance, Sepultura, Heathen, Kreator, Coroner, Destruction, Believer, Forbidden, Forced Entry, Mortification, Annihilator are some others that were riding the thrash wave while it was hot. This raw style stood in direct conflict to the chart topping, more commercial, and glammy bands of the 80's and early 90's (Guns n Roses, Ratt, Poison, Stryper, Kix, Dokken, and Motley Crue, among others), Many of the bands developed a dedicated cult following that would eventually allow them to go gold and for some, like Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns n Roses and especially Metallica, platinum+. What was so amazing about this was they they had little, if any, radio support. Unfortunately, this great art form began to fall apart and fracture into what is now either hardcore, grindcore, or black metal. In the 1990's, the few bands who do exist have changed styles. Metallica has gone for a more "alternative" radio friendly sound, while Megadeth have gone for a more melodic radio friendly sound. Anthrax parted ways with vocalist Joey Belladonna and their lead guitarist Dan Spitz and have stayed pretty true to their roots, although I prefer their older music to the newer releases. (Belladonna reunited with Anthrax in April 2005). Testament and Slayer are still

together, albeit with some new faces, but are still pounding out some aggressive thrash that sometimes borders early death metal.

Metallica (1991)

Megadeth (1990)

Another form of metal that came out of the 80's is Progressive Metal. Bands like Fates Warning and Savatage, that started out as more traditional heavy metal bands, as well as Queensryche have lead the way for others. Watchtower, Dream Theatre, Veni Domine, Stratovarious, Angra, Viper, and hosts of others took the heaviness of metal and combined it with the progressive tendencies of Rush, Marillion, Pink Floyd, Yes, and early Genesis and even mixed in some classical elements.

Fates Warning (1999)

Savatage (1993)

There was one thing for sure, heavy metal was more than just a passing trend. Some critics, even today, continue to dismiss metal as over simplistic, primal pounding, with annoying screams. Certainly, there is some heavy metal that is nothing but threechord riffing, but most metal bands place major importance on technical skill. Even those who play the simplistic forms of metal like AC/DC, do so with such skill and attitude, that it cannot be ignored. Metal guitarists have always been innovators in technique, speed, and skill. In every subgenre of heavy metal, the guitar is the center of the music. The songs are assembled around the riff, with the guitar solo taking prominence.

The 90's also ushered in a big change in my life. While I had always been somewhat "religious" it was during this time that I met some friends at a Motorhead/Raven concert in Rochester, NY that changed my life. These guys were in a metal band called Holy Saint and they were a Christian metal band. Through this band I became a Christian. I can honestly say the knowing Jesus really changed my life. While some of the story you are about to read has some regrets, I have never regretted my relationship with Him. Fortunately these guys also opened up a whole new world of Christian heavy metal to me.

From L to R: Myself (1984), Holy Saint vocalist Chris Books and bassist Micheal Amico Dig the poofy hair I was sporting and the blonde streak, inspired by Joe Perry and Gregg Giuffria.

Unfortunately, after graduating from college, I got involved in a church that condemned metal. I got deeply involved along with my new wife of only a few months. We conviced ourselves that "secular metal" was all evil and so we got rid of the, literally, thousands of albums, tapes and the beginnings of my CD collection. (I know, I often cry myself.) Thank God for Stryper! I would have been without any music I liked if not for them.

Stryper (1990)

I began to discover that there was hundreds of Christian metal bands, ranging in style from thrash to classic rock. I bought up bands like Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Trouble, Sacred Warrior, Believer, Seventh Angel, Sardonyx, Whitecross, Bride, Haven, Bloodgood, Rez, Barren Cross. These bands got me through some tough times.

me (white shirt) on stage with Sardonyx 1992.

Below are some of the classic Christian thrash discs that still frequent my CD player:

Vengeance Rising Human Sacrifice

Deliverance Weapons of Our Warfare

Believer Extraction from Mortality

Eventually, we figured out that Christianity was not about having your life lived for you. We left the church we were in and got involved in a well balanced church. I discovered that a relationship with Jesus was what was important, not a list of manmade do's and dont's. In 1993 I joined a Christian heavy metal band myself, becoming the vocalist for Ultimatum.

A picture of a sweaty me singing for Ultimatum.

Eventually I began collecting some of my old favorites again. Once again, it was Aerosmith that brought me around. I was in my car, flipping through radio station,

when I heard a block of songs off "Rocks," perhaps the greatest Aerosmith disc ever. It was a lunch hour album side and they played five songs off that disc. Man, it was like seeing an old friend again. I knew then, after enjoying those five songs, like having a cold Pepsi on a hot day, it was not the music I needed to change, it was me! In the mid 90's, with the popularity of grunge, metal took a big dive in popularity. Some even went so far as to say metal was dead. This was, of course, untrue as it still had a huge underground following. While the magazine that we all grew to love began to cover trendy garbage, the metalheads began to put out their own zines. The 90's seemed to be a time of short lived trends. Grunge, Industrial, Alternative, PopPunk, Techno, Emo, and now Ska, Rapcore and Goth. Death Metal had its time in the spot light too, although never to the extent of grunge or alternative. I, honestly, am not a big death metal fan, as I feel the vocals all pretty much sound the same. That being said, there are some death bands I really enjoy that play their music with a skill not hear before. Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Extol, Metanoia, Death and a few other all mix elements of classic metal with death metal and in turn create some beautiful music. Despite the trends, metal continued to stay strong. New blood began to emerge, as well as the reformation of such greats as Exodus, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I was even blessed with the opportunity to join the guys from the original Vengeance Rising as the new vocalist for their new project called Once Dead. The 90's came and went and despite the changes in music, there a host of new, killer bands: Nevermore, Iced Earth, Mortification, Hammerfall, Destinys End, Narnia, Extol, New Eden, Teramaze, Place of Skulls, and the list goes on and on. As you can see from my CD list, I have once again attained a large collection of my favorites. For a more condensed list of favorites, see my favorites list.

The Genres Of Heavy Metal

This page briefly describes many of the genres and classifications of metal, as well as provide specific band listings for these genres. This is really only a guideline, and one man's guideline at that -- a lot of this is subject to opinion and is the source of endless debate among fans.

Black Metal Black metal finds its roots in bands such as Venom and Bathory, and is often characterized by an inherently evil tone and a raspy vocal style (Quorthon of Bathory may or may not be the originator of this vocal style, but once you've heard him, many black metal vocalists will sound very similar to him, for what that's worth). The earlier bands focused on minimal instrumentation, as

represented by Darkthrone, early Mayhem, and older Immortal, while another group of bands explored a more symphonic, keyboard-driven style (Emperor, Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir) and still others have migrated towards an eclectic, avant-garde direction (Arcturus, new Mayhem). Norway continues to be the primary exporter of black metal bands, though other countries have contributed some quality bands as well.

Christian Metal Whereas the other genres presented here are defined by the music itself, Christian metal bands are listed as a genre based on their lyrical stance. Thus, there are Christian thrash bands (Tourniquet, Living Sacrifice), Christian doom bands (Paramaecium), Christian progressive bands (Veni Domine), and so on. Some Christian bands are preachy to the point of being obnoxious, while others are far more subtle in their approach. Stryper, was the first band to gain acceptance in the secular world (though just how "metal" they were is subject to debate), and then bands such as Barren Cross, Bloodgood and others came along, proving that real metal and spiritual lyrics could indeed coexist.

Death Metal One of the more extreme forms of metal, death metal is basically an offshoot of thrash, with less melodic riffs and a low, growly, often almost unintelligible vocal style that at its best (or worst, depending on one's point of view) has been described as "cookie monster vocals". The early nineties saw the initial rise of death metal in places such as Florida ( Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary, and others) and Sweden ( At The Gates, Entombed, and others), and remains a dominant form of extreme metal to this day.

Doom Doom metal can be described with a single word -- slow. Ponderous, ultraheavy riffing and (usually) melodic vocals dominate this form of metal. Black Sabbath are, of course, the fathers of metal in general, but their early work concentrated on slow riffing and thus is the primary influence on doom metal bands. Candlemass deserves mention for rejuvenating the genre in the eighties, and their first four albums are regarded as classics in the field.

Doomdeath A subgenre of doom metal, doomdeath combines the slow pace of doom with the low, growly vocal style of death metal. Three British bands, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema, are generally regarded as innovators here, though of the three, only My Dying Bride still plays the doomdeath style.

Folk Metal As the name implies, these bands introduce folk influences into their sound, often with the use of violins and sometimes flutes. Skyclad may not have been

the first such group, and they aren't the folkiest, but they arguably were one of the first groups to popularize the concept.

Goth Metal Goth metal bands derive from earlier goth rock bands such as Sisters Of Mercy, with Type O Negative one of the most well-known such bands. For some reason the Finns have taken to this style, with most of the bands in the goth category hailing from that country.

Gothic Metal Gothic metal bands tend to write songs with a slightly more orchestral feel to them. Often the vocal style of such bands is a dead giveaway, with either choirs or the so-called "beauty and the beast" style (a male, death-like vocalist paired with a more angelic female voice) often employed. The vast majority of bands who feature a female lead vocalist (excepting the rare female extreme metal vocalists such as Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy and Karyn Crisis of Crisis) are usually considered gothic metal bands. Theatre Of Tragedy, in their early years, was a prime example of this style (though they have transformed into quite a different style now), with bands such as Tristania and The Gathering also releasing prototypical gothic metal albums at least at some point in their careers.

Grindcore Grindcore bands usually focus on very short songs, each a burst of frenzied noise, yet often with surprising depth and skill in the musicianship department. It is often labelled as an offshoot or a subgenre of death metal, though its origins would imply otherwise. Napalm Death may or may not have invented the genre, but their early works are considered classics.

Grunge The grunge boom hit in the early nineties, originating in the Pacific Northwest, bands such as Mudhoney, Green River, and others fusing raw punk with early Sabbath heaviness. Many of the bands commonly associated with grunge are arguably not really metal at all, though a few, such as Tad, clearly were heavy enough to warrant inclusion. Nirvana, of course, is the band that most associate with breaking the genre into the mainstream with their Nevermind release in 1991, though their earlier Bleach album is a far more metallic beast, and closer to the early spirit of grunge.

Hard Rock In reality, the difference between "hard rock" and "heavy metal" is a fine line, and widely open to debate and interpretation. To these ears, hard rock really seems to be the more radio-friendly version, while heavy metal opts for a more sinister, darker sound. Practically every band in the so-called glam or hair genre probably slots in hard rock, and many debate about whether such bands

are really metallic or not (the lack of glam bands on this site gives a clue as to this author's opinion). Nonetheless, there were and are many bands not in the glam arena that are best described as hard rock, and many of them have sufficient crossover appeal to belong on a metal site.

Industrial Metal Industrial music, in its earlier form, comprised of making music with nonmusical instruments. Industrial metal takes this idea and furthers it, usually by complementing metal guitars with samples, external sound effects, and (often) processed vocals. Ministry is an acknowledged pioneer in the field, and one of its disciples, Skrew, also deserves mention as a prime influence and soundalike for many bands in this genre. On the somewhat more mainstream side of this genre are bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

Instrumental As the name implies, groups in this category feature no vocals. The majority of these bands are somewhat eclectic and progressive in their approach, though there are exceptions. An all-time BNR favorite, Kong, is in this category.

Metalcore As of this writing, metalcore is the latest rage in underground metal in America. These bands combine straight hardcore singing with music often more aligned with thrash or melodic death (indeed, a lot of bands these days seem to be blurring the distinction between melodic death and metalcore).

Melodic Death Metal A second form of death metal is the so-called Gothenburg style, named for the Swedish city where innovators such as Dark Tranquillity and In Flames reside. Here, the vocal style is similar but the musical style is much more melodic, occasionally bringing to mind an Iron Maiden.

Nu-Metal Even as the popularity of nu-metal wanes, the debate will continue among metal fans on whether nu-metal really is a metal genre. First popularized in the mid-nineties by groups such as Korn and Deftones, nu-metal bands frequently feature down-tuned guitars, vocals that frequently borrow from hip-hop or hardcore, and song structures that appear to have originated from the alternative hard rock scene rather than traditional metal.

N.W.O.B.H.M. The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) signalled a rebirth in metal popularity in England, roughly around the years of 1980 to 1984 or so. Of the hundreds of British bands who sprouted at this time (many who never

got past a demo or a 7" record), Iron Maiden and Def Leppard are probably the two most well-known, with others such as Saxon, Angelwitch and Diamond Head also making a major impact on the scene. Though the time frame and nationality are the main defining components of NWOBHM, the majority of these bands also had a similar style, mixing prime 70's Brit metal (Judas Priest, Deep Purple, UFO) with the roughness of punk rock. Though it's difficult at best to point to a single album as a representation of the entire genre, a good place to start might be Iron Maiden's debut album.

Power Metal Once upon a time the term "power metal" was interchangeable with plain old heavy metal, with perhaps an emphasis on heavier riffing. In recent times, though, the term is most often used to describe the decidedly European style of metal, a style dominated by double-bass drumming, anthemic choruses, and speedy riffing. One originator of this style would have to be Helloween, whose early works such as Walls Of Jericho and Keeper Of The Seven Keys proved to be blueprints for the style. Another band worth mentioning is Hammerfall, as they are often regarded as the band most responsible for the revival of the genre in 1997 when they debuted with Glory To The Brave.

Progressive Metal Initially, progressive metal bands fell into two camps, the first being bands who incorporated quirky time signatures and atypical riffing into metal, and the (related) second being metal bands strongly influenced by 70's progressive rock bands such as Yes, Genesis, and ELP. Watchtower and Thought Industry are two excellent examples of the first group, while Dream Theater remains the most well-known of the latter group, as well as the single band most fans point to first when referring to progressive metal. In later years, melodic progressive metal bands have blossomed, many of them not quite as technically oriented as the genre originally defined. Indeed, a lot of these bands can be best described as some mixture of Dream Theater, Queensryche, and Fates Warning, which indeed places these three bands as major innovators in the field. On the extreme end of progressive metal is technical metal, where the musicianship and songwriting variance is placed at an even higher premium. This is demonstrated by bands such as Cynic, and Spiral Architect.

Stoner Rock Also occasionally referred to as desert rock/metal, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what the name "stoner rock" refers to, though whether or not it's an appropriate term or not is another matter. Bands in the genre focus on 70's rock/metal influences and a psychedelic edge. The single band most often noted as an influence or soundalike to others in this field is unquestionably Kyuss, who in their relatively short career basically invented the genre (though bands such as Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu deserve a mention here too).

Thrash

Thrash metal is generally characterized by a fast pace, a staccato, chunky guitar riffing style, and aggressive vocals. Metallica's Kill 'Em All, released in 1983, is arguably the first true thrash album, with healthy thrash scenes sprouting in the USA (particularly the San Francisco area), Germany, and elsewhere by the late eighties. By the early nineties the genre was a bit oversaturated, and in later years fewer bands played the style, but it's still a viable style today, with veteran bands such as Overkill, Testament, and Destruction, among others, still producing quality thrash albums. Amusingly, thrash is often misspelled as "trash" by European writers.

Viking Metal Musically, several bands in the Viking genre sound like black metal bands on the surface, but the lyrical subject is different, and moreover there is usually more of a rousing, anthemic chorus element not found in black metal. Traditional Norse melodies often find their way into Viking metal songs, which can at times relate this genre to folk metal.

picture of the author 2001

To God and My Own Self Be True...

a story of heavy metal and my life!
Heavy Metal is more than just a style of music, its a way of life. It has been a large part of my life as far back as I can remember. In this page I am going to attempt to give a short history of metal as well as tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Trenton, NJ in March of 1967. I started listening to hard rock and what became known as metal as early as 5 years old because of a neighbors who turned me on to Aerosmith. Being born in NJ and living close to Philadelphia and New York City, I was in the heart of the NY metal movement in the 80's, but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start from the beginning... (Please note that this is not a complete history, it is only the history as I saw it and as it happened in my life.) Heavy metal derived from the loud blues-rock and psychedelia of the late '60s. For the most part, metal lost most of the blues influences and leaving the powerful, loud, guitar riffs. In the late 60's and early '70s, heavy metal began establishing itself as one of the most commercially successful forms of aggressive rock & roll. Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and bands like Cream, The Who, Steppenwolf, Hawkwind, Alice Cooper, and Led Zeppelin fused heavy guitars with blues based rock 'n roll and began to put on outrageous live performances. These bands also began to gain dedicated and loyal followers, as opposed to most of the "here to today, gone tomorrow" pop stars that would attract instant popularity, only to lose it all within a few months.

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) By the mid-70's, the leaders of the new heavy metal movement were being established and beginning to influence a whole new school of metal fans. Bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Angel, and Judas Priest were beginning to gain large audiences. Of course KISS would be one of the biggest bands to emerge from the 70's. Their impact on the 80's metal explosion would be enormous; not just the music but also the gigantic, bigger than life, stage persona and show.

KISS (1976) Below are some incredible albums that are usually credited with being the true beginning of HEAVY METAL!

Led Zeppelin ('69)

Deep Purple-Machine Head ('72)

Black Sabbath ('70)

While these albums are usually credited with being the start of metal, they were not for the start for me. It was actually the second wave of bands that caught my attention, mostly because this was about the time that I was old enough to start listening to music. I can remember listening to Aerosmith's "Toy in the Attic" for the first time when I was in grade school. I was mesmerized and from then until today have been a huge Aerosmith fan, as well as a big metal fanatic. (Since then, I have bought every Aerosmith album the day it was released. I actually hitch hiked to the mall to buy Aerosmith's "Done With Mirrors" when I was in college.)

Aerosmith (1976) Even in grade school I would brag to friends that I had the new Aerosmith record. I even got into a playground fight because someone said that Led Zeppelin was a better band than Aerosmith. I can remember being mocked for listening to Rush, Ted Nugent, Queen, Mahogany Rush etc. when the "cool" bands were Bay City Rollers, the Jackson 5 and KC & the Sunshine Band. (GAK!!!) Disco was in; Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever were all the rage-but I was a metal addict. KISS was probably my biggest addiction of the time, as their posters and magazine photos took up every inch of wall space I had in my bedroom. While KISS did disappoint through the late 70's/early 80's, I remained a KISS fan and still am one to this very day. Aerosmith and KISS were actually the first two albums that I bought. (ok, actually my parents bought them for me.) Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" and KISS "Destroyer" Two records that changed my life in the mid 70's:

Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic ('76)

Kiss-Destroyer ('76)

The late 70's disco was all but dead and albums like Thin Lizzy's "Live & Dangerous" and Boston's "Don't Look Back" were gracing my turntable. (and of course Aerosmith's "Night in the Ruts") This is also about the time I discovered, what is now refered to as "true metal" or "classic heavy metal" Through the next decades, metal adapted itself to the times and it would never completely disappeared from the charts. Trends came and went, as did the trendy

followers, but metal fans were devoted. In the early 80s, heavy metal exploded in popularity. Judas Priest, although they had been touring and recording albums since the early 70's, experienced a major popularity surge in '82 with the release of "Screaming for Vengeance." It was actually this band that pulled me deeper into the metal culture. Upon hearing the classic "Stained Class" I was convinced that Judas Priest was the ultimate heavy band. This is about the time I discovered bands like Iron Maiden, who had just released "Number of the Beast," Accept "Restless & Wild," Motorhead's classic "Ace of Spades," Raven "Rock til You Drop," Saxon "Wheels of Steel," Scorpions "Lonesome Crow" and "Fly to the Rainbow." Yup, I had discovered the incredible NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal.) This movement never did gain as much popularity in the States, but was an incredible influence on some of the early American Metal bands as well as some of today's popular bands.

Judas Priest (1991) In high school I bought, as new releases by then unknown bands, Motley Crue's "Too Fast for Love" on Leather Records, Slayer's "Hell Awaits," Venom's "Black Metal," Metallica's "Kill 'em All," and Queensryche's debut EP. A few "local bands" were beginning to gain some popularity as well. Anthrax, from NY released a 45 single called "Soldiers of Metal"; from Long Island Twisted Sister were filling up the clubs and had finally signed a decent record contract; Heathen's Rage were filling local halls and opening for some major acts. We all know what happened with Anthrax and Twisted Sister, both went on to be huge successes. Heathen's Rage released a vinyl EP with a killer track called "City of Hell" and finally a four song demo in 1987 before disappearing off the face of the earth. Below are some of the albums I discovered in the mid 80's:

Metallica-Kill 'Em All ('83)

Slayer-Show No Mercy ('84)

Iron Maiden-Killer ('81)

From the glam-hair bands like Stryper, Ratt, and Cinderella, to the intense thrash bands like Megadeth, Overkill, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Celtic Frost, to the more traditional bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween and Armored Saint to the hardrockers like Frehley's Comet to the incredible comeback of bands like Kiss, Deep Purple, and especially Aerosmith, the 80's were definitely a strong time for metal lovers. What was really great about this time was that there was a unity among metalheads. The same metalhead that liked Motley Crue and Accept also liked Slayer and Motorhead.

Kiss in the 80's

Frehley's Comet in the mid-80's

The 80's for me was a time of many concerts. Some of the better remembered and highly cherished from that time were: Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, which was an awesome experience. Quiet Riot opened that show. Black Sabbath was being chastized for doing "Smoke on the Water" live, which I thought was GREAT! ELO's drummer was filling in for the ailing Bill Ward. Many thought they would do a cover of ELO's "Evil Woman" but they did not. Aerosmith on the "Rock in a Hard Place" tour and the incredible "Back in the Saddle" show with the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, both at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Pat Travers opened up the "R.I.A.H.P." show. He was on his "Black Pearl" tour and Ted Nugent co-headlined the "Back in the Saddle" show. Dio and Twisted Sister at a small theatre in downtown Philly. The very next year they both returned together and sold out the Spectrum. The year after that Dio did a live video with us Philly maniacs.

Tony Lee (Heathen's Rage)

Anthrax on the "Spread It" Tour with Heathen's Rage at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I was also privileged to see Anthrax at the infamous LaMore Club in NYC. Judas Priest "Defenders" tour two times in one month-Spectrum, PA and the Meadowlands, NJ Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force at a little club in PA. I still have the t-shirt from that show. Queensryche and headliners KISS in Philadelphia, PA and in Rochester, NY. The metal guard rail in front of the stage broke in Philly and we were able to sit on the edge of the stage for the entire KISS show. I got my picture in FACES Magazine. I have seen KISS several other times since then. The reunion and farwell tours have blown me away! David Lee Roth with Steve Via and Billy Sheehan on the "Eat 'Em And Smile" tour at the War Memorial in Rochester. TT Quick and Helstar at a little club in Rochester. After Helstar played, almost everyone left, so we watched TT Quick with about 20 other people, then they hung out with us and drank some beers and played pool. Cool show! Of course, later some of the TT Quick guys went on to be with Nuclear Assault. Ted Nugent and Alcatrazz (with Yngwie Malmsteen) at Six Flags Great Adventure. Killer show, although my girlfiiend (now my wife) got violently sick from some laced alcohol she drank.! Also saw Petra, Molly Hatchet (on their reuion tour with Danny Joe Brown), and Charlie Daniels at Six Flags. Not a bad seat in the place. In the mid-'80s thru the early 90's, speed metal and thrash became the most popular form of heavy metal in the American underground. Crossing the new wave of British heavy metal with hardcore punk, speed metal was extremely fast and more technically demanding. Tthe bands played fast, but their attack was precise and clean. In that sense, speed metal remained true to its metal roots. But what it borrowed from hardcore; the insanely fast tempos and a defiant, do-it-yourself attitude was just as important, and sometimes it was even more important. It gave the band not only a unique musical approach but also an attractive "anti-image" for legions fans,

including myslef. Of course, Metallica became the leaders of the genre until their recent style changes. Other key bands were Megadeth, Dark Angel, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Testament, Slayer and Anthrax. Of course, this is only a small list of some of the better known. There were actually hundreds of bands of this style- Vengeance Rising, Powermad, Laaz Rockit, Flotsom & Jetsam, Hallow's Eve, Deliverance, Sepultura, Heathen, Kreator, Coroner, Destruction, Believer, Forbidden, Forced Entry, Mortification, Annihilator are some others that were riding the thrash wave while it was hot. This raw style stood in direct conflict to the chart topping, more commercial, and glammy bands of the 80's and early 90's (Guns n Roses, Ratt, Poison, Stryper, Kix, Dokken, and Motley Crue, among others), Many of the bands developed a dedicated cult following that would eventually allow them to go gold and for some, like Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns n Roses and especially Metallica, platinum+. What was so amazing about this was they they had little, if any, radio support. Unfortunately, this great art form began to fall apart and fracture into what is now either hardcore, grindcore, or black metal. In the 1990's, the few bands who do exist have changed styles. Metallica has gone for a more "alternative" radio friendly sound, while Megadeth have gone for a more melodic radio friendly sound. Anthrax parted ways with vocalist Joey Belladonna and their lead guitarist Dan Spitz and have stayed pretty true to their roots, although I prefer their older music to the newer releases. (Belladonna reunited with Anthrax in April 2005). Testament and Slayer are still together, albeit with some new faces, but are still pounding out some aggressive thrash that sometimes borders early death metal.

Metallica (1991)

Megadeth (1990)

Another form of metal that came out of the 80's is Progressive Metal. Bands like Fates Warning and Savatage, that started out as more traditional heavy metal bands, as well as Queensryche have lead the way for others. Watchtower, Dream Theatre, Veni Domine, Stratovarious, Angra, Viper, and hosts of others took the heaviness of metal and combined it with the progressive tendencies of Rush, Marillion, Pink Floyd, Yes, and early Genesis and even mixed in some classical elements.

Fates Warning (1999)

Savatage (1993)

There was one thing for sure, heavy metal was more than just a passing trend. Some critics, even today, continue to dismiss metal as over simplistic, primal pounding, with annoying screams. Certainly, there is some heavy metal that is nothing but threechord riffing, but most metal bands place major importance on technical skill. Even those who play the simplistic forms of metal like AC/DC, do so with such skill and attitude, that it cannot be ignored. Metal guitarists have always been innovators in technique, speed, and skill. In every subgenre of heavy metal, the guitar is the center of the music. The songs are assembled around the riff, with the guitar solo taking prominence. The 90's also ushered in a big change in my life. While I had always been somewhat "religious" it was during this time that I met some friends at a Motorhead/Raven concert in Rochester, NY that changed my life. These guys were in a metal band called Holy Saint and they were a Christian metal band. Through this band I became a Christian. I can honestly say the knowing Jesus really changed my life. While some of the story you are about to read has some regrets, I have never regretted my relationship with Him. Fortunately these guys also opened up a whole new world of Christian heavy metal to me.

From L to R: Myself (1984), Holy Saint vocalist Chris Books and bassist Micheal Amico Dig the poofy hair I was sporting and the blonde streak, inspired by Joe Perry and Gregg Giuffria.

Unfortunately, after graduating from college, I got involved in a church that condemned metal. I got deeply involved along with my new wife of only a few months. We conviced ourselves that "secular metal" was all evil and so we got rid of the, literally, thousands of albums, tapes and the beginnings of my CD collection. (I know, I often cry myself.) Thank God for Stryper! I would have been without any music I liked if not for them.

Stryper (1990)

I began to discover that there was hundreds of Christian metal bands, ranging in style from thrash to classic rock. I bought up bands like Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Trouble, Sacred Warrior, Believer, Seventh Angel, Sardonyx, Whitecross, Bride, Haven, Bloodgood, Rez, Barren Cross. These bands got me through some tough times.

me (white shirt) on stage with Sardonyx 1992.

Below are some of the classic Christian thrash discs that still frequent my CD player:

Vengeance Rising Human Sacrifice

Deliverance Weapons of Our Warfare

Believer Extraction from Mortality

Eventually, we figured out that Christianity was not about having your life lived for you. We left the church we were in and got involved in a well balanced church. I discovered that a relationship with Jesus was what was important, not a list of manmade do's and dont's. In 1993 I joined a Christian heavy metal band myself, becoming the vocalist for Ultimatum.

A picture of a sweaty me singing for Ultimatum.

Eventually I began collecting some of my old favorites again. Once again, it was Aerosmith that brought me around. I was in my car, flipping through radio station, when I heard a block of songs off "Rocks," perhaps the greatest Aerosmith disc ever. It was a lunch hour album side and they played five songs off that disc. Man, it was like seeing an old friend again. I knew then, after enjoying those five songs, like having a cold Pepsi on a hot day, it was not the music I needed to change, it was me! In the mid 90's, with the popularity of grunge, metal took a big dive in popularity. Some even went so far as to say metal was dead. This was, of course, untrue as it still had a huge underground following. While the magazine that we all grew to love began to cover trendy garbage, the metalheads began to put out their own zines. The 90's seemed to be a time of short lived trends. Grunge, Industrial, Alternative, PopPunk, Techno, Emo, and now Ska, Rapcore and Goth. Death Metal had its time in the spot light too, although never to the extent of grunge or alternative. I, honestly, am not a big death metal fan, as I feel the vocals all pretty much sound the same. That being said, there are some death bands I really enjoy that play their music with a skill not hear before. Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Extol, Metanoia, Death and a few other all mix elements of classic metal with death metal and in turn create some beautiful music. Despite the trends, metal continued to stay strong. New blood began to emerge, as well as the reformation of such greats as Exodus, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I was even blessed with the opportunity to join the guys from the original Vengeance Rising as the new vocalist for their new project called Once Dead. The 90's came and went and despite the changes in music, there a host of new, killer bands: Nevermore, Iced Earth, Mortification, Hammerfall, Destinys End, Narnia, Extol, New Eden, Teramaze, Place of Skulls, and the list goes on and on. As you can see from my CD list, I have once again attained a large collection of my favorites. For a more condensed list of favorites, see my favorites list. Heavy Metal Marches On! Let the Onslaught Continue!

A History of Metal | My CD Gallery | My Personal Favorite Everything | My Want list | FAQ Contact Me. align="center">A History of Metal | My CD Gallery | My Personal Favorite Everything | My Want list | FAQ Contact Me.

The History of Heavy Metal

Throughout history, technical innovations have acted as catalysts for experimentation and development. Music is no exception, the first important technical advancement that allowed an adaptive musical revolution was the introduction of the electric guitar in the late 1940s. The Fender Broadcaster, later renamed the Telecaster, launched in 1950, was the world's first commercially available electric guitar, with a solid wooden body and bolt on neck. The Fender Precision Bass was launched the following year, to replace the bulky, cumbersome and frequently barely audible acoustic double bass. The rock 'n' roll revolution exploded on the music scene during the '50s, and the development of electric guitar technique was paralleled by this phenomenon. During the late '50s, there was a growing awareness of the potential of the electric guitar. The distinction between rhythm and lead playing was clearly made and songs were now constructed to include a four or eight-bar break in the middle. A technical innovation in drumming heralded the next phase of rock music's development. In 1957, Remo Belli started supplying plastic, instead of supplying traditional calf leather skins to drum manufacturers. Plastic skins were far more functional. In the early '60s, bands began to capitalise on the benefits offered by recent improvements in technology. In the U.K., four or five-piece outfits became the norm, comprising bass, rhythm and lead guitars plus optional keyboards or saxophone. The Rolling Stones, labelled as the "badboys" of the British invasion did much to initialise the general public's negative attitude to rock music. 1967 was an important year in the development of rock music. It saw the release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which marked a growing acceptance of rock as an art form. Hendrix made a massive impact on the rock scene. His style became the blueprint for rock, and later heavy metal guitarists the world over. Led Zeppelin became the role model for other artists to follow. The basic components of their style still represent the essential aspects of heavy metal and they probably rank as the most important influence on the genre. This is an amazing feat, considering the band has been defunct for well over a decade. At the same time as Cream, Led Zeppelin and Hendrix were making waves throughout Europe, a whole new generation of bands were beginning to emerge out of garages and seedy clubs in the U.S.A.. Bands such as the MC5, the Stooges, Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad and Blue Cheer all helped mould the next phase through which rock music would progress. The impact of the MC5, Blue Cheer and the Stooges is perhaps now, in the mid '90s, more apparent than ever. Contemporary outfits such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden derive much inspiration from these sources. Alice Cooper's outrageous stage antics saw the inception of rock theatre, where the live show became an integral part and visual extension of the music. 1970 saw the beginning of real exponential growth in the rock industry. The boundaries between blues-rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, heavy rock, adultorientated-rock and progressive rock became increasingly blurred as total musical

freedom became a reality. Some of the key artists that emerged at this time included High Tide, Black Cat Bones, Black Sabbath, Black Widow, Uriah Heep, UFO and Blue Oyster Cult. Kiss and Ted Nugent took glam-rock's garish image to new heights. Each of the four members of Kiss portrayed a cartoon-like character which necessitated elaborate face make-up and a science fiction-like stage attire. Aerosmith, hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. metamorphosed the basic R 'n' B and rock 'n' roll structures of bands such as the Faces and Rolling Stones into a new hardline, infectious metallic form. 1976-1979 represent the nadir for heavy metal and hard-rock as the punk movement exploded in every major city in the U.K., and later to a lesser extent everywhere else. Punk and new wave have had a profound influence on the development of rock music ever since. Ironically, since punk's decline there has never been an ever growing realisation that the punk and metal genres are fundamentally very similar and inextricably linked. Van Halen, who exploded onto the U.S. scene in 1978 can be regarded as perhaps the archetypal exponents of this new direction. With the dual focus of flamboyant vocalist David Lee Roth and guitarist virtuoso Eddie Van Halen, they single-handedly, rewrote the heavy metal rule-book virtually overnight. This more economic and powerful style was also clearly manifest in the approach adopted by the new bands to emerge in the U.K. between 1979 and 1981. Collectively, this is referred to as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (N.W.O.B.H.M.). It combines elements of both the punk movement (brevity, attitude and energy) and early '70s heavy rock (technical ability, melody and professionalism). Bands such as Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard, Demon, Venom, Raven, Angelwitch, Diamond Head, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Praying Mantis and Samson did overcome record company apathy to make a significant and long-lasting impact. 1 August 1981 was an important landmark in heavy metal, with the birth of MTV, the 24-hour television music channel. Heavy metal videos allowed the realisation and visualisation of the music's violent, exciting, sexual, mystical and rebellious imagery. Thrash-metal was the logical progression from punk in many ways. It combined the energy, aggression and attitude of punk with the technical and musical sophistication of the N.W.O.B.H.M.. Their basic approach was utilised by Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer, who simply amplified, speeded up and improved technically upon the formative style. Thrash involved playing very fast and executing a myriad of complex instrumental time-changes. Metallica's multi-platinum, self-titled 1991 album represents concrete evidence of the mass acceptance of what was initially considered an obtuse musical style. Death metal and grindcore represent the extreme, yet logical outposts of the thrash metal sub-culture. Napalm Death, Carcass, Obituary and Death are leading exponents of this sub-genre and have a large and loyal underground following. Thrash metal also produced a new breed of lead guitarists. Their style is characterised by high-speed melodic lead work and represents the further development of an approach first exemplified by Alvin Lee of Ten Years After. The influences of The Stooges, MC5 and the Velvet Underground are clearly evident in the recorded works of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone and Temple Of The Dog. Heavy metal has gradually come of age over the last quarter of a century; it has transcended, infiltrated and incorporated all musical styles to some degree, including classical, jazz, blues, rock, pop, folk and funk. To some extent, the original meaning

of the word is now obsolete, although its use as a clich by the popular media is still in a derogatory sense. The future of heavy metal offers much promise. There will be a continued acceptance of its major musical form and copies of the latest Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, Slayer and Def Leppard albums will no doubt be successful within the future heavy metal audience. Artistic creativity and technical innovation continue apace, and with them the potential for new and exciting musical developments. The growth and diversification of metal has proceeded at an expansive rate over the last 25 years and there is no evidence to suggest that it is slowing down.

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Misinterpretations of Heavy Metal

The term "heavy metal" is probably one of the most overused, abused and misused clichs in the English language. It has expanded, unchecked, over and around existing musical genres to become so large and multifaceted, that a simple description or definition is now totally inappropriate. In time, it has incorporated ever more subgenres; firstly as a result of musical diversification from the "initial form" and secondly as a consequence of the acknowledgement of its influences, roots and origins. This has resulted in an ever increasing number of older musical styles being included under the heavy metal umbrella. The gut reaction to the term itself conjures up images of heavily tattooed band members decked out in studded black leather and spandex trousers with long hair and a macho attitude. In addition, the music is often perceived as being loud, repetitive and aggressive with sexist or satanic elements included in the lyrics. This can be readily qualified if one examines the following dictionary definitions:

"a particularly loud, simple and repetitive form of hard rock" (Chambers English Dictionary, 1990) "a form of rock music popular during the 1970s and 1980s, basic in form and characterised by shrill guitar solos, repetitive rhythms and high sound levels" (Brewers Twentieth Century Phrase And Fable Dictionary, 1991) "energetic and highly amplified electronic rock music having a heart beat and usually an element of the fantastic" (Webster's Dictionary, 1975) "simplistic, noisy macho music that appeals to headbanging denim-clad northerners (U.K.) or beer-swilling Midwesterners (U.S.); the musical equivalent of fantasy's "sword and sorcery" and game playing's "dungeons and dragons"" (Newspeak, A Dictionary Of Jargon, J. Green, 1984)

These definitions are typical of the misrepresentation of heavy metal by the media, as they focus entirely on the shocking or controversial aspects of a small number of performers. Heavy metal has received bad press since its inception, with tabloid newspapers regularly exposing, condemning or ridiculing bands for their outrageous rock 'n' roll lifestyles and stage shows. Over the years, various allegations of sexism, devil worship and the incitement of teenagers to take alcohol, drugs and be promiscuous have all been levelled. In addition, further alienation to the music by the older generations has been aided by the medical reports on the damage that high noise levels and headbanging can inflict on their offspring. One of the many misinterpretations of heavy metal is that the players are untalented, and that the music is very simple. This might be true for some heavy metal players, but only about 10% of them. This music is definitely not simple. In fact, it is very complex, incorporating techniques from many musical genres including classical and jazz. It is incredibly difficult to play the notes at the speed that they do. Guitar solos are present in nearly all heavy metal songs, and they always require a lot of talent to play. These solos often combine set structures of classical music and jazz music. "Easy listening" is slow, and therefore requires little talent when compared to heavy metal. "Pop" is also very simple, and usually only uses three simple chords, whereas heavy metal uses more chords and faster. Another of the misinterpretations is that heavy metal is repetitious. This is totally untrue. Heavy metal is the least repetitive music form that I know of! Some people also think that heavy metal is "all the same". However, this is said about the music within all genres. I don't think that it's true for any of them. Heavy metal also has a huge number of forms, for example, black metal, crossover, Christian metal, electronic metal, glam metal, industrial, punk, speed metal, thrash metal, funk metal, etc.; and this, in itself, invalidates this misinterpretation. Another misinterpretation involves the images of the musicians. People think that they are all "hard" and have "macho attitudes". This may be true for some of them, but only some of them. For example, here is a recent quote from Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, "A lot of people have said that some of the songs we do have really helped them out when they've been in a bad way. I can't even tell you how many times people have said that when it's really mucked up in their life - they've put on our music and it helps them get through some of the hard times, and that's about as rewarding as I'm really looking for. I think that's worth all the money in the world." That's not the attitude which people expect from him. Also, apparently the Iron Maiden guitarist is a fisherman; however, the media don't portray him that way. Marty Friedman of Megadeth releases individual classical guitar albums. Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson, has commented that people who meet him without knowing what he does for a living are very surprised when they find out, because he doesn't seem like that kind of person to them.

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The beginning of hard rock When looking back at the history of heavy metal, I must first venture into the '60's, when hard rock began. James Marshal Hendrix was born in 1942. Influenced by B.B. King and Curtis Mayfield, he taught himself to play the guitar. His debut ('Are You Experienced') was released in 1967 and he is considered one of the most influential artists of all time. Another band that emerged the same year as Jimi was 'The Doors'. At the time, these bands were labeled "acid rock," but now-a-days I'd call them pioneers of hard rock. The same goes for Iron Butterfly and Deep Purple, whose debuts ('In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' and 'Shades of Deep Purple') came in 1968, a year after Hendrix and the Doors. The start of real heavy metal: Led Zeppelin was a British band that was equally as innovative and influential as Jimi Hendrix. They released their debut, 'Led Zeppelin 1', in 1969. Zeppelin was, at the time, not popular amongst the critics. They were called "over amplified blues," thus earning them the title of "heavy blues rock." But almost any metalhead (me included) credit them with being the general start of heavy metal, and a band who helped define the genre. Another British band to form in the late '60's was 'Black Sabbath'. They were originally a blues rock band named Polka Tulk Blues Band, but then, several years later, they changed their sound as well as their name. The band wrote dark, ominous and heavy guitar riffs as an attempt to be the music's answer to horror movies. Today, they are considered to be the first "doom metal" band, and, since 95% of modern metal bands were influenced by them in some way, I call them epitome of heavy metal. Both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath continued releasing albums throughout the '70's, and these bands were the start of something called The New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Metal in its infant stages Another influential British band of the 1970's was Judas Priest. They released 'Rocka Rolla' in 1974 and continued releasing influential albums throughout the '70's and '80's. At the time these albums were simply known as heavy metal, but now-a-days they are labeled "hair metal." Another hair metal band from the 70's is Kiss. Their debut, 'Kiss', was released in 1974. THE LATE 70'S:> Another musician who really helped heavy metal become famous was Eddie Van Halen. He was a guitar virtuoso, and his debut in 1978 ('Van

Halen') was a milestone in heavy metal. His band continued releasing albums throughout the next decade. But by the late 1970's, when punk bands like The Clash, the Ramones, and Sex Pistols cropped up, heavy metal seemed to be dying. Luckily, two critical metal bands, who were apart of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, arose in 1980 and helped kill the uprising of punk. Motorhead is widely considered to be the start of speed metal (metal played really fast), and their album, <B00005NHO2> is a classic. The other band is 'Iron Maiden'. With metal popular again, the playing field was wide open for many other bands to come. Two other metal bands who released classic albums in 1980. Those albums were AC-DCs 'Back in Black' and Ozzy Osbournes 'Blizzard of Ozz'. AC-DC released albums in the 70's, but Back in Black is generally considered to be their best. And Ozzy Osbourne was the singer in the aforementioned heavy metal band from the 1970's, Black Sabbath. But Sabbath disbanded and nothing was heard from the band until Ozzy Osbourne formed his own band and released his debut. This album featured the standard setting guitarist Randy Rhodes (who was equally as talented as Van Halen). The Golden Age of metal: Since heavy metal was again the music of choice, many metal bands cropped up in the 80's. Since heavy metal was at its peak of popularity in the 1980's, I call this decade The Golden Age of metal. One particularly popular sub genre of heavy metal was thrash metal. Speed metal and thrash metal are essentially the same. Thrash incorporates speed metals extreme sound and extreme speed (speedy riffs and drums) into traditional heavy metal. As aforementioned, Motorhead were essentially the first speed metal band, and another thrash band adopted their name from Motorheads 1979 album, 'Overkill'. Overkill wrote their first song, Unleash the Beast Within, in 1981. This song is often considered to be the first thrash song ever. But their first, full-length debut, 'Feel the Fire', dropped in 1985, after Metallica and Slayer introduced themselves to the world. Metallica may not have been the first thrash band on the scene, but they were second. Other bands released demos, but Metallicas debut album, 'Kill 'Em All', was thrashs first full length studio LP. Metallica were inspired by such bands as Motorhead and Iron Maiden, and they continued releasing albums throughout the 1980's and 90's. They are, in my opinion, the best heavy metal band of all time! After their debut was released in 1983, thrash metal really took off. The band Slayer formed and released 'Show No Mercy' in 1983. I consider this to be the first death metal album, since it was a darker

and heavier sounding thrash. Other thrash metal bands to emerge in the 1980's were Anthrax ('Fistful of Metal' in 1984), Dark Angel ('We Have Arrived' in 1984), Exodus ('Bonded by Blood' in 1985), Megadeth (whose founding member, heavy metal icon Dave Mustaine, was formerly in Metallica) released 'Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!' in 1985, Testament ('The Legacy' in 1987), and Death Angel ('Frolic through the Park' in 1988.) But thrash wasnt the only genre of metal in the 1980's. With 'Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation' in 1985, Sepultura helped further the death metal created by Slayer, as did Morbid Angel, who released 'Altars of Madness' in 1989. Sepultura later released three other albums in the 80's. Also, since thrash was so popular in the that decade, few realize that industrial metal was created. The band Ministry may have not been the first industrial band, but they were the first to popularize it. Their debut, 'With Sympathy', was released in 1983, and they would continue releasing albums throughout the 80's, as well as the next two decades. Essential metalhead listening thus far, in addition to the aforementioned albums: 'Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZOSO)' 'Paranoid' 'Screaming for Vengeance' 'British Steel' 'Number of the Beast' 'Powerslave' '1984' 'The Years of Decay' 'Ride the Lightning' 'Master of Puppets' 'Reign in Blood' 'Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?' 'Among the Living' 'Beneath the Remains' 'The New Order' 'Practice What You Preach' 'Altars of Madness'

Heavy Metal

With its loud, distorted electric guitars (see entry under 1950s Music in volume 3), powerful vocals, and often dark style, heavy-metal music became an important style of rock and roll (see entry under 1950sMusic in volume 3) starting in the 1970s. Amid the pop-rock and psychedelic rock of the late 1960s, musicians and groups such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970sMusic in volume 4) incorporated a harder, louder tone coupled with often mystical imagery that went far beyond anything else heard on the radio (see entry under 1920sTV and Radio in volume 2) in the late 1960s. Heavy metal music is all about aggression, power, and pushing the boundaries of "respectable" music. Its critics are many, but its fans outnumber them because heavy-metal music speaks to raw human emotions.

Joe Elliot, lead singerof the heavymetalbandDef Leppard.

Photograph by Ken Settle. Reproduced by permission.

As the genre (category) got going in the 1970s, it produced a number of important artists who took the sound to new levels. Black Sabbath, led for a long time by singer Ozzy Osbourne (1948), reached many fans with their songs that touched on teenage insecurities. Alice Cooper (1948) hit on a similar theme with the song "I'm Eighteen" and later brought fantastic theater productions to his concerts, with fake blood, smoke and fire, and the trademark loud and distorted heavy metal sound. KISS (see entry under 1970sMusic in volume 4), perhaps the most successful of heavy metal bands in the 1970s, wore elaborate makeup and produced theatrical rock concerts that made them fan favorites. Their songs "Dr. Love" and "Rock and Roll

All Nite" expressed the desire for good times, another essential heavy metal theme. In the 1980s, heavy metal became even more successful. Bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden continued the early, raw sound. Softer heavy-metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard reached an even wider market and scored a number of hits during the 1980s. "Speed metal" and "thrash" bands that fused heavy metal and punk (see entry under 1970sMusic in volume 4), the most famous of which was Metallica, rose in popularity at the same time. Heavy metal became the subject of a hit show on MTV (see entry under 1980s Music in volume 5) and of a hit movie, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), that both spoofed and celebrated the genre in its mock-documentary about a fictional heavy metal band. Heavy metal music was also in the limelight for more controversial reasons in the 1980s. Critics, led by the Parents Music Resource Center, founded by Tipper Gore (1948), wife of thenU.S. senator and later Vice President Al Gore (1948), charged that heavy metal music was spreading bad messages that had an evil influence on children. These critics charged that some heavy metal songs contained satanic messages and some were about violence and death, causing negative reactions in children. Despite these charges, heavy metal continued to attract a loyal fan base in the 1990s and beyond.

The Philosophy of Heavy Metal

The Philosophy of Heavy Metal
During an unusual time, in which a large number of bigger historical trends reached one of those periodistic points of brutal evidence, metal music punched through the pleasant facade of mainstream music and

brought to bear upon a slumbering populace remnants of the ancient Indo-European spirit of vir. It did so through a Romanticist, Faustian form of music-culture which to this day remains controversial, despite the attempts of commercial bands to turn it into a predictable, fatalistic, impotent version of itself. However, for now it has run its course, so it makes sense to look over the past and from that, divine what might exist of it in the future. The fundamental questions of any artistic movement are "What did it believe that others did not?" and "To what did it appeal?" In metal, there are two interpretations: first, what the musicians who contributed something sizable to the genre intended - I'm not talking about popular but artistically meaningless efforts like Cannibal Corpse or Cradle of Filth and second, what those outside the genre would like it to mean; generally, since it threatens their worldview, they want it to mean nothing. I. What did the metal movement believe that was unique to it? To see this, we have to trace thirty years of its progress. It emerged from the proto-metal of bands like King Crimson, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and soon solidified into a 1970s style of heavy metal most notably represented by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead (we would include Venom here, but everything they did was done by Motorhead except the explicit and repetitive occult imagery). Heavy metal arose roughly concurrently with punk and hardcore, best represented by early work like Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the Ramones and proto-punk like Link Wray and the MC5. Both movements were dissident movements, meaning that they rejected everything present in popular culture at the time and took a path of ambiguous degree of opposition, but clearly a different and thus incompatible choice. A. Heavy Metal With heavy metal, the style of Black Sabbath was solidified, but deeply hybridized with the progressive rock, Celtic folk and electric blues fusion of Led Zeppelin, having influences also from aggro-prog bands like King Crimson and Jade Warrior. The late 1960s culminated in rock being bored with itself, and after the Beatles went progressive and British and American blues-rock guitarists aimed for more lengthy, complex works, rock essentially turning progressive in nature. "Progressive" is perhaps a misnomer, as there's no "progress" in re-incorporating influences from classical music, but for rock it was progress from the simplistic pop of the 1950s to incorporate new styles and vastly adulterate the blues framework of rock (the blues is a syncopated version of Celtic and German folk-pop, formed in America of the mixture of cultures; like most popular music on all continents, it features easily transposed chord progressions and a basic song structure which allows easy melodic improvisation). This music, tame as it sounds today, was a turd in the punchbowl among the progressive and folksy, mostly pacifistic and hedonistic rock of the time. Unlike the good times and party hearty vibe of most music, metal, like dissident apocalyptic rockers the Doors before it, was "heavy" in that it took on weighty existential topics and its partying was self-destructive, an expression of impending doom. It was not happy fun include everyone music; it was for darker souls, those more likely to strike out in anger at the world, and those who felt a need to reject more than embrace recent

social changes. Consequently, it embraced dark imagery, with Iron Maiden taking on occult topics, Motorhead wearing Iron Crosses (a symbol of the defeated National Socialist regime in Germany), and Judas Priest not only writing songs about WWII but openly accepting a demonic, warlike persona. Alone this would be cause enough to say metal was divergent from rock of the time, but the musical factor of its development was important. Unlike the harmony-based, short-cycle riffs of rock, metal almost exclusively used moveable power chords, which can be played in any position along the neck of the guitar in quick sequence, thus lending to riffs written as phrases (like classical, or jazz) more than rhythmic variations built around open chords. This both simplified the music to the point where it was highly accessible, and gave it a dark sound which lent itself, as in classical composition, toward a narrative song structure in which riffs form motifs that resolve themselves over the course of a song. While clearly much of the heritage of this style comes from the lengthy classical-borrowing epics of progressive rock, between the raw nature of the inverted fifth and the thunderous effect of chordal phrases buffeting the listener, it produced a gnarled, feral sound. Even more alarmingly, for those who wanted to immerse themselves in the hippie pop of the time, metal was openly embracing of the wilderness (similar to the concept of "the frontier" in the music of the Doors) and replaced a desire for moral certitude with a desire for the lawless. Its musicians wrote about ancient times, about battle and death, and seemed to be searching through the haze of the counterculture for something of eternal meaning, which explains to some degree the vast amount of ecclesiastical and occult symbolism in all metal bands of the period. Indeed, in Venom and Angel Witch and many other NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) acts, there was an almost exclusive focus on the dark side and on the spiritual figures society rejected for not being tamed, such as Lord Satan himself. Using occult imagery to reflect political topics was also popular, and is best exemplified by what became the prototype of all "Satanic" metal lyrics to follow, Black Sabbath's "War Pigs":

Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of death's construction. In the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind, poisoning their brainwashed minds. Oh lord, yeah! Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war. Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah. Time will tell on their power minds, making war just for fun.

Treating people just like pawns in chess, wait till their judgement day comes, yeah. Now in darkness world stops turning, ashes where the bodies burning. No more War Pigs have the power, Hand of God has struck the hour. Day of judgement, God is calling, on their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercies for their sins, Satan, laughing, spreads his wings. Oh lord, yeah! - War Pigs, Black Sabbath

In this song, a humanity distracted by political and monetary concerns turns its back on reality, thus a travesty occurs and is unnoticed by all while, in the last verse, the demonic figure of hatred and death triumphs. Heavy metal grew prodigiously from 1972 to just after the turn of the decade, and at that point was replaced by newer styles which represented a re-infusion of hardcore punk styles; unlike punk, hardcore punk did not follow pop song structures nor did it use conventional harmonics, often consisting of two or three power chords per song, rhythmic and droning riffing, and songs that like small operas were built around their own topics. If a song was about death, it might end abruptly; a song about war might diverge into a middle interlude with no immediate relation to the previous works. What drove hardcore punk was the insistent pace of its music, and the power chord phrases that resembled the topics of each song much as each song's structure resembled the topic being discussed. Lyrics and music were united. However, hardcore was quite simple and soon drowned in a sea of imitators. B. Speed Metal and Thrash Like hardcore, the next generation of metal was confrontational with its alienation and took a political and socially-critical angle; because of the Cold War going on at the time, most of these artists believed themselves to be the victims of centralized government and its political wars detached from the daily lives of the people, and thus the ethics of the music were highly populist and individualistic. The latter tendency would save later generations from being absorbed by the former, as hardcore was almost entirely by 1985, at which point the musical quality declined rapidly (to embrace populist politics means, in a liberal democratic era, to abandon dissidence for an extremism of the dominant rhetoric of the age). As hardcore died, it passed on its genetic material to metal, and the best examples of this were Discharge and the Exploited and GBH, whose stylistic attitudes appeared through succeeding generations of metal. Arguably the first genre to emerge was speed metal, which followed expanded heavy metal structures but used muffled strumming to turn ringing chords into short explosive bursts of bass-intensive sound. This made the music more aesthetically menacing, and for a long time, guaranteed it zero airplay. On the other end of the spectrum, thrash music made less frequent use of muffled chords but took on two forms: metal riffs in punk song structures (COC, DRI) and punk riffs in metal

song structures (Cryptic Slaughter, dead horse). Speed metal tended to use metal riffs in metal song structures but show the influence of hardcore music in riff texturing, which evoked the sounds of one-chord rhythm riffing, and in general uptempo songwriting and abrupt changes in melodic line within each song. Perhaps the best examples of speed metal were Metallica, Exodus and Slayer; the first two were based around muffled-chord player, while the latter focused on playing quick fluid phrases known for their complexity, and using introductory sequences of riffs like a progressive band in simple, aggressive form.

They block out the landscape with giant signs Covered with pretty girls and catchy lines Put up the fences and cement the ground To dull my senses, keep the flowers down - Give My Taxes Back, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

Thrash died out early, because there is only so much one can do with short, fast songs (frequently under thirty seconds). Speed metal proved to be too close to the heavy metal song format, and since there was more money and future for the musicians in radio-friendly heavy metal than battering-ram speed metal, most speed metal bands by the turn of the decade mutated into heavy metal acts with " speed metal influences," in the case of Metallica eventually going on to incorporate country music into their sound. This "selling out" of speed metal reflected a fundamental division in metal at the time, namely the perception that one could not speak the truth in public, and thus anything popular had compromised reality for a public reality which sold records. This belief was also echoed in the indie, grunge, rap, techno and punk music of the time. Thrash bands tended to write a mixture of "political" songs and more direct, existential critiques of modern society; for example, in DRI's "Give my taxes back." Speed metal bands incorporated a fair amount of such existential critique as well, for example Metallica's "Escape."

Feel no pain, but my life ain't easy I know I'm my best friend No one cares, but I'm so much stronger I'll fight until the end To escape from the true false world Undamaged destiny Can't get caught in the endless circle Ring of stupidity Out of my own, out to be free One with my mind, they just can't see No need to hear things that they say Life is for my own to live my own way Rape my mind and destroy my feelings Don't tell my what to do I don't care now, 'cause I'm on my side And I can see through you Feed my brain with your so-called standards

Who says that I ain't right Break away from your common fashion See through your blurry sight Out of my own, out to be free One with my mind, they just can't see No need to hear things that they say Life is for my own to live my own way See they try to bring the hammer down No damn chains can hold me to the ground Life is for my own to live my own way - Escape, Metallica

However, the majority of songs in speed metal rotated around fear of government, nuclear war, apocalypse, social issues and occult topics. What was common to both movements was a belief that the path of progress as a general item was missing the point, and that somehow there was something inarticulable in polite society that needed to be done. As time went on, however, even these genres fell short because of their popularity, in the view of many metal artists, and thus the next step was taken. C. Grindcore and Death Metal It is probably a mistake to view grindcore as anything but an extremist extension of thrash, but much as Venom contributed aesthetics in the form of primitive punkish riffing and over-the-top Satanic and occult lyrics, grindcore contributed the biologically distorted vocals which would also be a trait of death metal and black metal. These are achieved by, much as one overdrives an amplifier to distort sound, pitching one's vocal chords in a position too low or too high for the sound produced, and then forcing it through violently (it will become clear around 2020, when these musicians hit their fifties, whether or not this causes a dramatic increase in throat cancer). Hardcore musicians used an approximation of this, much like the growling surly cadences of Wattie with the Exploited, but grindcore took it to a new extreme, in songs which were punkish and abruptly short like those of thrash, but even more inclined toward chromatic and harmonically-nullifying chord progressions. This was a music beyond protest; it destroyed music itself in order to create a wall of sound which was unnacceptable in any social listening, would never get radio airplay and annoyed and disturbed anyone not acquainted with the genre. Grindcore lyrics were usually political, in a paranoid and anarchistic view of the world, but could be quite insightful, as this example from Swedish band Carbonized:

Welcome citizen of our adorable nation Serve and be a part of us in modern time Parents have never existed; your blood, state property

Leave personality; total trust will make security Your ears - our information Your eyes - our sight Implanted in society - only for the security From childhood to the grave Every step will be safe as we are behind Guided through life blessed in our birth So our secret son welcome to the promised life... - For the Security, Carbonized

Early grindcore bands worth mentioning are Napalm Death and Carcass, both from the UK, and related projects, also both related to industrial grindcore band Godflesh. Napalm Death was known for songs as short as one second; the band deliberately played out of time with each other during certain sections of song to achieve a muddy, blurring, discoordinated effect that made it impossible to tell what was occurring until the next phrase rose out of the muck. Their lyrics were explicitly political and generally leftist, but also highly critical of society as a whole including its populist aspects. Carcass took another route and wrote lyrics using complex latinate words from medical textbooks, describing in playful and mocking fashion the process of dying, being mutilated, and experiencing disease (the emphasis on complex latinate language was shared by bands such as Slayer and Judas Priest). The unstated purpose of this seemed to be to remind the audience that mortality is real, and thus life is indeed quite short, and therefore: we're playing for keeps with our public actions and private decisions, because life is limited and death very near and the consequences of our actions will catch up to us. Interestingly, grindcore occurred almost entirely before the end of the Cold War (roughly: 1989), as if someone finally listened. Death metal arose roughly concurrently with grindcore, but only became solidified as a style during the waning days of grind; it borrowed vocals and techniques from grindcore, but emphasized precision and clear structure instead of confusion. Musically, it resembles speed metal rehybridized with hardcore, then run through a progressive filter: songs are epic in structure, but often chromatic in harmony, with "free jazz" styled improvisation for lead solos and determining the course of phrase. Like most heavy metal to date, it emphasized phrasal songwriting, where riffs were not so much recursion as they were phrases that evolved throughout a song, except even to a greater extreme in death metal . Breaking from the hardcore tradition, it resurrected some of the grandeur and refined apocalyptic presentation of music from the Doors through early heavy metal. For the first time, something as abrupt and disturbing as Black Sabbath had been in 1969 had again come to metal, as if overcoming the Led Zeppelin influence and focusing purely on primitive music written into lengthy, narrative structures like progressive rock or classical. However, it was limited by its emphasis on chromatic rhythm riffing, and its use of a single chord shape, the inverted fifth. If one had to give death metal a birthdate, it would probably be 1985; in this year, bands such as Possessed and Sepultura took the thrashinfluenced proto-death/proto-black metal of bands like Sodom, Bathory

and Hellhammer and made a more rhythmic, architecturally structured music of a "riff salad" which arranged related ideas in motifs and used them to illustrate the passage of an idea through a song; it is most similar to opera or classical music, albeit done in a far simpler style within the format of rock music: drums, two guitars, bass and vocals. These used the death metal vocal style which was distinct from that of grindcore in that greater enunciation occurred, yet often there were subverbal sounds used for emphasis (this is a longstanding rock and blues tradition). By 1987, when Necrovore from Texas recorded their demo finalizing the death metal style and Massacra in France had expanded the genre to include classically-evocative high-speed riff narratives, bands such as Morbid Angel and Morpheus (Descends) were already defining styles of death metal . Interestingly, in Europe, the new style was incorporated into speed metal in bands like Kreator and Destruction; in America, hybrids also existed, such as Rigor Mortis ( speed metal vocals and song structure, death metal riff styles) and Death Strike/Master (punk riffs, death metal vocals and song structure). Because the early death metal and black metal bands shared a genesis in acts like Sodom, Bathory, Possessed and Celtic Frost, much of the pre-history of death metal is addressed in the following section. With the emergence of genre-defining acts like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Incantation, Immolation and Suffocation, death metal defined itself as a clear style of several components. Some, like Morbid Angel, were an updated version of Slayer, an updated version of Judas Priest itself, and used speed metal song structures with death metal riffs, topics and presentation. Others, like Suffocation, used an extreme form of speed metal riffing, with its choppy percussive muted-strummed chords, a form embraced to a lesser degree by Deicide, who focused on intensity and searing atonal solos. Immolation was a hybrid between these that used slower tempos in alternation with faster, more percussive moments in song. Incantation created dirges that picked up tempo into slurries of fast chords, with the barest moments of asymmetrical melody gracing the tirade accompanied by blast. These bands (among others) represented the first wave of death metal ; it's important to note that without Morpheus (now Morpheus Descends), Suffocation would not exist, and that Morbid Angel derived much of its

aesthetic and melodic components from Necrovore; Deicide seems like a faster, healthier, more technical version of Slayer's "Reign in Blood." In this division of styles is visible the varying degree of influences from metal's past, including speed metal and thrash and grindcore, and this conflict of interpretations over technique led to a splintering in agreement on how the music should be composed, with some favoring a primarily rhythmic approach like that of speed metal bands, and others reaching toward outright melodic music or music that were it not chromatic would be melodic in structure, since it was exclusively phrasal. (The oftmentioned Death, whose speed metal hybrid death metal eventually disintegrated into heavy metal with death metal vocals, deserve a footnote but no more, as without the massive overhype this band was above average but conveyed mainly by influences from other acts.) Death metal went through several generations. The first was the 19851988 style best exemplified by Sepultura and Massacra; the next two years brought its classic style, as shown by the bands mentioned in the previous paragraph. After that, a divergence occurred. First, the Swedish death metal bands, who had been present but mostly unknown outside Sweden, took predominance with bands like Entombed, Therion, At the Gates, Dismember and Suffer. These used rigid riff playing in a shifting frame of tempo reference, in a style pioneered by Asphyx and Sinister (from the Netherlands) among others, but added to it a blistering new form of distortion which increased the tremelo effect of their riffs, elliding notes together into a liquid flow of melody (interesting, Robert Fripp from King Crimson invented an extreme form of this with his "Frippertronics" ambient music). This caused the emphasis in songs to shift from chromatic rhythm playing to a firm pace with many changes, over which melodic phrasal composition formed the expository work of each song. This increased the complexity of the music, and gave composers more with which to work, in part spawning a series of progressive-influenced death metal bands.

It's been my dream To enter the stream To let carnates know What life really means If one understands That's all I can ask Life to you is such a wretched task! - An Incarnation's Dream, Atheist

From Florida came Atheist, who wrote jazz-technique-influenced death metal that used classic metal narrative melodic songwriting, establishing with their landmark "Unquestionable Presence" the formative nature of the post-classic death metal genre. Alongside them came a series of bands, including Gorguts from Canada and Demilich from Finland, who pushed boundaries in harmony and melody further without giving up the structuralist form of death metal (interestingly, Deicide's second album, "Legion," also belongs to this category). Amorphis rounded out the ground by producing an album of simple riffs in epic, emotional songs this was "The Karelian Isthmus," and its influence is understated to this day. This was the golden age of fully mature death metal , and it culminated around 1994 when the form itself became limiting, in part

because death metal audiences expected "brutal" sounds of a simplistic and sonic nature, but also in part because death metal retained too much of speed metal and hardcore punk in its presentation to escape its own impetus, namely the shock of growling vocals and pounding, nihilistically chromatic riffs. Consequently, the next genre to emerge rectified this situation, after a brief downtime in which mainstream influences merged with underground, even influencing the most popular radio genre of the day. D. Doom Metal and Grunge During the early 1990s, an offshoot movement of death metal merged with the older style of heavy droning rock that Black Sabbath had pioneered, and formed doom metal, a genre fragment that immediately offered enough possiblity that it rapidly mutated and then died under its own weight. The most evident acts in this category were Cathedral and My Dying Bride; Cathedral made rock-oriented, heavy, and unbearably slow songs which centered around mournful topics and a certain amount of self-pity, while My Dying Bride fully immersed themselves in the maudlin but increased the instrumental aspects of the genre, incorporating interleaving melodies and violin accompaniment (something also attempted on At the Gates' second full-length). Rounding out the genre were bands such as Winter, Thergothon and Skepticism, with the former making nearly industrial slow and grinding bizarre music, and the latter two - as if incorporating a Dead Can Dance influence - producing slowly developing melodic songs with soundtrack-like mood regulation through keyboards and noise. All of these bands shared a common element: they worked with drone, and by the nature of drone, used melodies diminishing in interval over time such that they started from open harmony and ended in near-chromatic entropy. Influenced in part by Celtic Frost and other classic metal and punk bands, Nirvana burst onto the mainstream radio with a new style called "grunge" that was part metal and punk, but mostly mournful, out-of-the-closet angsty rock which featured droning vocals and simple punklike riffs. Other interesting acts were Mudhoney and Alice in Chains; both enjoyed popularity with metalheads, with the most crossover being with doom audiences. This is in part because musically, these two genres were the most similar, and aesthetically, they both addressed a fatalism which some overcame and others (Goodbye Mr. Cobain) did not. Fatalism is the belief that one can do nothing about one's fate but mourn it as a means of accepting it; it is easily confused with nihilism, or a belief in nothing but the inherent value of ultimate reality, and general negativity, which can be either a form of aggression or passive self-pity like fatalism. Doom metal explored these areas, but what pleased the crowd most were bands that did not escape their fatalism, thus soon the genre shot its wad and died. Grunge suffered a similar fate, modulating gradually into pop-punk which was musically like grunge infused with candy rock and energetic punk rhythms, giving people on the radio a break from the grim as the Clinton administration (counterculture liberalism triumphing over "the establishment") and the Internet boom (newfound wealth, a new frontier) developed. E. Black Metal

Black metal was born at the same moment as death metal , and initially, was indistinguishable from it. Early bands such as Sodom and Bathory were like speed metal mixed with thrash, which re-incorporated the type of epic song that Black Sabbath had popularized with their less radio-friendly pieces. It is impossible here to negate the influence of Motorhead, who used simple punk/progressive riffs in metal songs, and Venom, who created the aesthetics of simple song, insistent rhythm and occult lyrics with growling voice; these two bands influenced this genre the most. Interestingly, the birth of proto-death/proto-black metal bands such as Sodom and Hellhammer and Bathory was in 1983, at the same time American speed metal bands like Slayer were first recording. This parallel development reflected the dual nature of American and European metal, with Europeans instinctively taking to melodic composition while Americans developed rhythm and technique.

The bloody history from the past Deceased humans now forgotten An age of legends and fear A time now so distant Less numbered as they were their lives So primitive and pagan Superstitions were a part of the life So unprotected in the dark nights Pagan fears The past is alive The past is alive Woeful people with pale faces Staring obsessed at the moon Some memories will never go away And they will forever be here - Pagan Fears, Mayhem

After the birth of this new form of metal, the first form to be like hardcore punk "underground" and thus distributed by an informal network of small labels and zines in an effort to escape commercialization and the corruption of viewpoint that comes with it, metal veered toward the most achievable idea first: death metal . Its mostly rhythmic and chromatic basis allowed it to be fully explored from the early eighties until the early

1990s, at which point the first black metal based on the lessons of death metal , or "modern black metal," emerged. The first wave of bands were almost exclusively from the same Scandinavian countries that had produced death metal of a melodic nature, and comprised Immortal, Mayhem, Beherit, Gorgoroth, Burzum, Enslaved, Darkthrone and Emperor. These foundational acts essentially defined the genre; in Greece, a hybrid form of heavy metal and black metal emerged with Varathron and Rotting Christ, who shared members who had previously been in death metal bands (arguably, Rotting Christ's first album is death metal , and the name clearly belongs to the death metal and not black metal genre). In America, the only foundational modern black metal band was Havohej, which contained personnel who had formerly been in Incantation. Unlike death metal , black metal was explicitly melodic in composition, although there were multiple interpretations of how to compose it. Immortal started out resembling later Bathory, but evolved into fast melodies of power chords over incomprehensibly fast, muddled drumming, which demoted the influence of drums to secondary and let guitars function as the primary composition instrument, with vocals (!) being the predominant rhythm instrument. Darkthrone began not far from a hybrid between Swedish death metal and doom metal, but quickly began a tribute to the more extreme aspects of older Bathory, with songs staged dramatically such that a story unfolded and was presented as one might in a theatre, with percussion and pacing to match the scene. Burzum resembled the best of death metal in its smoothly chained collection of riffs and narrative, mimetic composition, but over time moved closer to ambient music. Emperor and Gorgoroth were neoclassical music over traditional drums at a higher pace, with less focus on fills than on counterbalancing internal rhythms within songs. Between these techniques and the range of melody - with varied emotions, moods and developing phrases based on previous motifs - modern black metal represents the highest evolution of metal as a technical and artistic musical genre. F. Black Hardcore and Nu-Metal Black metal was both music and a circus, in that news of the murders coming out of normally peaceful Scandinavia, the fascist and neo-Nazi beliefs of many of the bands, and of course the sensation of music that embraced occult and naturalistic themes in a literal sense, symbolism both by Lucifer and the wolf in winter, howling over his weaker prey, contributed to an atmosphere of suspending the normal rules of society. Once the creative instigators of the genre had said their piece and retired, or settled for making music of a more crowd-pleasing aspect, the new civilization created by black metal was replaced by those who wished to inhabit it and have what it created for themselves.

There is a serpent in every Eden Slick as grease and cold as ice There is a lie in every meaning Rest assured to fool you twice In this age of utter madness We maintain we are in control

And ending life before deliverance While countries are both bought and sold Holy writtings hokus-pokus Blaze of glory and crucifix Prepried costly credit salvations TV-preachers and dirty tricks Don't trust nobody It will cost you much too much Beware of the dagger It caress you at first touch O, all small creatures It is the twilight if the gods When the foundations to our existence Begins to crumble one by one And legislations protects its breakers And he who was wrong but paid the most won Even the gods of countless religions Holds no powers against this tide Of degeneration because we have now found That there is no thrones up there in the sky Run from this fire It will burn your very soul Its flames reaching higher Comed this far there is no hold O, all small creatures It is the twilight if the gods - Twilight of the Gods, Bathory

What emerged of this was the same inevitable end that had swallowed hardcore, grindcore, speed metal and death metal , namely the surging of the crowd to occupy the space, imitating the aesthetics of the music but unable to reproduce the content that made it stand head and shoulders above the crowd. True to the nature of all popular movements, these reverted to a populist viewpoint; instead of using Satan or lawless nature as metaphor, they took them literally. Thus came about a wave of bands making Satanic music and purporting to "hate everyone equality" and "want death for all humanity," without realizing they'd been played like a rental fiddle. The emulators did not have the musical subtlety of the original, and thus started making music that resembled punk rock with the trappings of black metal. It is fair and historically accurate to call this black hardcore. Unlike the metal before it, this music did not aim to be distinctive but focused on fitting into the most popular definitions of the genre, which were by nature narrow, or on being "unique" by taking that format and

it had to give it importance was its chronological currency, and that faded quickly since there were now "new" bands every week. Like hardcore before it, it died when the leaders left and soon every fan had a band, label, zine or distro, and thus quickly the concentration on relevant content was replaced with a hurry to produce something and sell it. It wasn't commercialization per se, since this has all remained in the underground, but it's another kind of selling out: deferring to the crowd who has pulled away from the mainstream, but has no answers beyond being "different" by doing the same old thing. The music is interchangeable, and serves as an epitaph rather than a continuation for black metal. Hardcore in its final days had much the same quality. When the focus shifted from the art to the fans and their selfimage, the bands began to sound like each other as new musicians first cloned the old and then began competing on trivial levels of "newness," such as different sounds or imagery. The core of the music called black hardcore is the same as hardcore, emo, punk rock, and even rock itself; it's based on either the threechord theory in its simplest form, or toneless rhythm riffing, and songs tend to have a verse-chorus structure with any additional portions existing purely for the aesthetics of being "different." What may have been learned is that there's more than one way to sell out, and only one way to make music of lasting significance: to focus on the artistic and emotional and logical attributes of the music, and to push to create not something "new" but something that addresses reality and the experience of people living through it, including what ideals they might have - and their reasons for being dissidents. This isn't to suggest that music should preach, but that it should put into practice its beliefs and create art objects that praise the meaningful aspects of life - instead of trying to create a placeholder. In roughly 1996, this decline became evident, and consequently metal fragmented once again. The dichotomy between mainstream and underground widened, and then closed, as mainstream bands began adopting the same techniques as underground, and fans looking into the underground found product that was not musically distinct from the mainstream pop as classic death and black metal had been. This vast failure of spirit, and collapse of metal culture, gave rise to nu-metal and similar genres in the mainstream. To understand why this music was formulated as it was, we must backtrack a slight bit.

While we may believe

our world - our reality to be that is - is but one manifestation of the essence Other planes lie beyond the reach of normal sense and common roads But they are no less real than what we see or touch or feel Denied by the blind church 'cause these are not the words of God - the same God that burnt the knowing - Lost Wisdom, Burzum

As speed metal was dying, Europeans were hybridizing it with death metal styles and producing something which filled the gap, but it was not popular in America, thus a new hybrid was formed here: it used the chord progressions and composition style of rock, the technique of speed metal and the aesthetics of death metal mixed with an urban sense of selfimportance and righteous anger (observant readers will note this anger resembles the ressentiment that Nietzsche describes so thoroughly). Pantera was the forerunner of this new music, but in the underground itself, a second-rate death metal band named Cannibal Corpse quickly mutated into its own extreme version of this new form. Both of these bands were vastly popular. In black metal, some Englishmen named Cradle of Filth began rehashing heavy metal of the Iron Maiden and Judas Priest era with black metal vocals and speed, and became equally popular. It is not important that Pantera borrowed its style from Exhorder and Prong, or that Cannibal Corpse borrowed theirs from Suffocation, but that these styles were borrowed and not invented, and thus able to be filled with content not relevant to their creation. What remains of the nu-metal and black hardcore movements is the knowledge that once again, popularity took over, and bands instead of leading began to follow the desires their audience had in common, which tend to be of a lowest common denominator (perhaps a parallel to democracy is appropriate here; leaders in democracy do not lead, but read opinion polls and act out what they perceive as the simplest expression of the desire of their electorates). Ultimately, this was fatal to the metal movement as it existed, but the terminal decay started before, when the ideas germaine to the creation of these unique styles of music were expressed but the crowd still wanted more product (CDs, tshirts, DVDs, cigarette lighters). It remains enigmatic how such dissident genres can be so easily taken over, but perhaps the truth is that sheep can wear wolves' clothing as well, and that because something is labelled as being dissident does not mean it understands the thought process behind reaching that state enough to express something relevant to it. Much as Christianity invaded pagan culture from within, and soon subverted it and turned its people against themselves, popularity - whether commercial or of the trend-underground type - invaded metal and divided it permanently. II. To what did it appeal? When we consider the audience of metal, and why they became metalheads and kept listening to heavy metal and speed metal or death

and black metal music, it is clear that there are two minds on the subject: outside the genre, and inside the minds of those who within the genre have created and moved it forward - participation by itself is not important, since simply because one has started a band that sounds like a genre does not mean that one understands it. The public view of heavy metal has been consistent since its inception: in the eye of the mainstream citizen, people listen to heavy metal because they're angry, want to shock other people, and in general evade responsibility for being solid members of the community. To those uninitiated in the metal realm, heavy metal is the equivalent of a kid pushing his plate away at the dinner table because he doesn't like peas. This perception seems hollow, of course, once we consider how much easier it would have been for these plate-pushers to create more obvious protest music, or to simply withdraw entirely. More likely is that heavy metal is both a message to society and a suggestion of a different type of order, albeit constrained by the fact that musical subgenres and their subcultures are not full-scale civilizations in themselves. Within the metal genre, meaning within the minds of those creators articulate enough to point to something like a philosophy outside of the music they generate, there is a clear sense of this idea: metal is a spirit rising within society that represents something which society will not accept, cannot nurture and rejects because it is somehow oppositional (enough) to the status quo that it is taboo or even not recognized as signal, but mistaken for noise. But, if we accept its intent as genuine, what does it express? Looking at heavy metal as a legitimate artistic movement suggests that it is communicating something with its loud, socially-unacceptable, hedonistic and barbarian sound. It does not aim for consonance, and it refuses to hide the addictive role that rhythm plays in popular music. Further, it has always had the most distorted and aggressive vocalists, even in the days when heavy metal bands sang (instead of growled); its instrumentation has always been basic, and seemingly incoherent, but from within that forms of great beauty arise. Taking that concept further, it seems clear that metal has embraced everything that we normally don't think about socially - death, ugliness, terror, disease, warfare, sodomy and somehow turned it into music that isn't attractive in the decorative sense, but makes from these repellent facts of life something appealing, perhaps by instead of demonizing them lending to them compassion and trying to find a place in one's worldview where they might fit as necessary in the achievement of a larger good. This view remains socially unacceptable, especially in predominantly Christian and Jewish liberal democracies, which is why the "public view" of metal attempts to discredit it and write it off as angry teenagers protesting early bedtimes.

III. Metal as Philosophy Any art, even the most basic, has a philosophy; the complexity of that belief system generally matches the detail level of what is being expressed. Early music, which must have consisted of people banging stones and sticks together in the light of a cave fire, expressed a playfulness and appreciation for life - but nothing more. As art became more coordinated, and the world became more complex, art proliferated into different forms with different beliefs. Making the plausible assumption that metal music has a belief system to express, let us investigate the beliefs behind that expression. A. Art as Language of Life The old question "Does art imitate life, or life imitate art?" is a subtle joke: art is a language for describing life, specifically what is meaningful to the artist. Back to its earliest appearances in history, art has been a means of accentuating the experience in life that is meaningful; around fire pits, no doubt, cavemen developed song and story to tell of the most interesting things that had happened to them, or things they have particularly valued. These experiences related through art were not one-dimensional, but captured the whole of experience - loss, pain, struggle, and finally gain and satiation. The gain might have at first been purely material, such as the hunt that brought down the largest wooly mammoth in the valley, but in time moved on to realizations as well: no doubt there was an artistic movement celebrating the invention of fire.

Dogmas of the past - thou holy might has faded Traditional rites - misunderstood in modern days Religions turn to helpless - the feeble is discovered I came back from a journey to future Walked through mists others couldn't move Discovered things you can't imagine The day will come you go through 'em Death ... of millions Funerals ... of millions Continents ... swallowed by the sea A god ... who left the world False prophecies became true The holy might has got nobody PAST BELIEF CESSION has begun ... I'm nobody - Past Belief Cessation, Blood

A modern time demands a different art since, after industrial technology and human domination of nature, the means of art are cheap and anyone can make it. Therefore it competes strictly in terms of its ability to transfer an emotion found in experience to others, and it is measured in terms of its accuracy and relevance to different individuals. However, the function of art remains the same: it describes life by imitating life and selectively emphasizing some aspects over others. In this, art imitates life, but selectively, and with the shaping hand of human narration. Music provides the clearest view of this, since it literally "sounds like" life; rhythms imitate motion and tones reflect mood depending on the degree of dissonance and consonance they possess relative to the foundational notes of a phrase. Happy music is ruthlessly consonant, skipping across

the scale in large even intervals, while sad music is slow and slightly dissonant, creating a languid harmony of the simple and irreconcilable. And metal music? It is abrupt in rhythm, or warlike; in harmony it is unsettled and primitive, using the inverted fifth; in melody, depending on subgenre, it is either satisfyingly geometrical or a dissonant beauty in which any number of moods might float to the surface like milk in coffee. From this meditation, we can see how metal music reflects life in its sounds, and how in a modern time it thus selects its audience based on what they perceive of the world, and thus find realistic and evocative of experience in music. B. Metal as Expression of vir It is nearly impossible to find a modern equivalent for the ancient IndoEuropean/Sanskrit root word vir because our society does not have an equivalent belief, having replaced the warlike yet compassionate attitudes of the ancients with a liberal democratic worldview. This liberal democracy worldview is the root of the egalitarian, utilitarian and populist vein of thought that has produced the modern bureaucracy, as well as a form of conformity previously unseen: we are all treated as being of the same general form, thus "equal," and thus equally fit to serve in an industrial society and be subject to as near a mechanical process as possible. When this conflict between normative bureaucracy and the old order first hit Europe, the result was two world wars in rapid sequence. It is the most foundational schism of our time, and while we may not praise the old order as it was at the time, we might praise its ancestors: the ancients, or the classic civilizations of Greece, Rome, Scandinavia and India. Because a utilitarian society has no need for internal principles of humans, treating them much like it does any other natural object and feeding them through a process exerting external influence on them to shape them to a rough replica of its ideal form, it has no equivalent for vir, which means that in defining vir, we split it between several balkanized categories of modern association with different aspects than are intended. We might say that it is an assertive, warlike spirit; but this only captures some of the definition, since it also includes selfconfidence and an implacable calm when doing what one believes to be right. There is also an element of the creative, progenerative spirit, or the ability to - for example encounter an empty continent and build there a civilization. In Nietzsche's

definition, it is not the lion or the lamb, but both: the peace of mind that comes from being able to assert an order encouraging higher growth in man and surrounding nature. Vir is everything that a hero would be, including genius, and so if we must define it in modern tems, we'd call it closer to virility than to virtue, the latter being an adaptation of inner strength to an external Absolute moral rule, thus rendering the creative internal spirit impotent. Probably the best expression of vir, albeit not by name, has been in literature. We can find in Dante's "Inferno" glimpses of this idea as his character struggles for a balance between heaven and earth in his own spirit, and ultimately leaves behind his cowardly judgmental, socialized persona in favor of something closer to the divine. Later, the same conceptual framework becomes apparent in the post-"Enlightenment" Romantic literature of England, France and Germany, where authors such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Lord Byron wrote poems extolling the virtues of the ancients, establishing an equilibrium with one's own mortality, and enjoying all of the unstable passions of life while remaining on a course for glory. These were contemplative, self-assertive poems, and overthrew the "individualism" of the time by asserting that the value in the individual was not the fact of the existence of another body in the world, but the spirit within that body - and that not all spirits were equal, as most were numb to the finer aspects of life and thus had lost their creative and adventurous outlook. This echoed the conflict between bureaucratic utilitarian society, which shapes humans through external forces, and the view of the ancients and Romantics alike, which was that people must shape themselves from within. Implicit in this attitude was a view of mortality which contrasted the Christian fear of it; mortality was seen as necessary, and a death in the pursuit of something worthwhile as not tragic, shifting the emphasis from preservation of the body to nurturing of the soul. This literary tradition continued up until the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, but appears to have become lost a decade before metal music was born.

When night falls she cloaks the world in impenetrable darkness. A chill rises from the soil and contaminates the air

suddenly... life has new meaning. - Dunkelheit, Burzum

Vir as a concept is not academic in nature; it is something one lives, and by which one dies; it is a value higher than preservation of life itself. When one considers the many branches of philosophy, namely ethics and metaphysics and aesthetics, it becomes apparent that these can be divided into roughly two categories: things that describe natural function, and things that recommend a particular function over another: values, in other words, or making preferences for a better design occur over the normal state of disorganization in life. Philosophy, like art, is a language, and among Indo-Europeans, vir is the only principle that can organize all of its parts into something that both describes and recommends. To a thinker in an ancient society, vir was the principle that caused nature to unleash a diversity of plants and animals onto the globe; vir was a thunderstorm, or the brutal chill of winter, shaping the land and its life for a more productive season. It was present in both the absurd fertility of spring and the vicious culling that left a predominance of the more adapted. Also, it was a recommendation for humans: this is the principle of your environment; act accordingly. From a purely academic viewpoint, it unified all philosophy around a central worldview which addresses the fundamental question of existence. Whether born yesterday, or an older person, the individual faces a world in which many things happen, and some turn out positive for that individual, while others are negative. Herein is the reason humans philosophize. We live because to some degree, we believe in living, but it is a balance between emotions incurred by the positive and the negative aspects of life. In this the fundamental question of philosophy can be seen, which is, "Why do I live, and why is it that life includes negativity?" There are several approaches to this question: (a) One can deny suffering. Whether through stoicism, or numbness, or a belief that the individual does not exist, one can minimize the value of suffering to the individual. However, when one destroys suffering in the representation of the world that every individual has, one also reduces the impact of joy, and thus a stable norm is achieved but great deeds, which require great passions and enjoyment of life, are stultified. The problem of far-east philosophies comes to mind here. (b) One can embrace suffering. Self-pity is a fundamental notion to all humans, because by making the impact of suffering congratulatory to the individual, it allows the individual to endure suffering, but also converts the individual into a masochist. When this happens, the individual loses any higher impulse, and becomes fixated on the self and ways to keep it afloat through additional suffering and, as a palliative, reward, which usually takes the form of pity for others. This is the way of middle eastern religions, including Christianity. (c) One can explain suffering, without finding a way to resolve the fact that it is real and its impact will inexorably be felt. In this view, one finds a reason that suffering exists, such as the notion that because there is negativity there is space for change, and that which is not fit for the future is eliminated. It is a naturalistic view, and this is common to all Pagan beliefs: they understand suffering as a mechanism by which nature

maintains itself and encourages, gently when you consider how large the natural world is compared to the individual, the growth of individuals and species. The only philosophy that expresses vir is (c), because in this one subsumes the role of suffering to that of a creative force, and thus does not lessen either suffering of joy, but finds it natural and right that one might pursue enjoyment (and what it encourages: creative achievement, whether writing better music or building bigger banquet halls) and also experience suffering. There is no need or ability to explain away suffering; suffering is simply suffering, or negativity, associated with empty spaces and "clearing" forces such as winter and death. The individual following this philosophy must accept that some things, such as mortality and suffering, are part of life as a whole, and while the individual will suffer and die, the whole will continue and it is right that it do so, because the whole is the source of both the individual and enjoyment. This is a philosophy for strong people; one must overcome emotional reaction as well as the desire to nullify all feeling, and must forge ahead knowing that casualties await. It is for this reason that the ancients considered their philosophy to be heroic in nature, as it exemplified the human struggling for something better, something more creative, despite great sadness and loss and tragedy. It is in this spirit alone that one transcends suffering by accepting it as part of something greater than the individual, and thus by not fixating on suffering one is able to see life as a balance between suffering and enjoyment that produces the groundwork of future enjoyment (as well as, alas, suffering). Metal expresses this philosophy in a range of ways. In the heavy metal days, it was an assertion of a procreative and masculine sense of individual freedom with no care for tomorrow or the consequences of one's actions; "I do what I do because I will it, and because I enjoy it, and negative consequences are inevitable so I don't worry about them" is a summary of this belief. Accordingly, imagery of classical civilization, virile societies like National Socialist Germany, and even simplistic statements like "You'd better watch, 'cause I'm a war machine" (Kiss) permeated heavy metal. With speed metal, this philosophy became somewhat intellectualized and over-emotional, perhaps because of influence of liberal democratic thought, and is best seen in Sepultura's "Inner Self," Metallica's "Escape," and Slayer's "Evil Has No Boundaries". Ultimately,

death metal and black metal took this in a more Romanticist direction, embracing mortality as having meaning, and using the symbolism of both wolves and warriors to hammer home the idea that the weak dying and the strong surviving is not only natural, but the only way out of a conformist modern society which breeds people best suited for filing papers, talking about how "progressive" recent products are, watching TV and eating pre-prepared foods from microwaved boxes. C. Classical Ideas in Metal Before the moral democratic society, there was the classical age of Greece and Rome and Scandinavia and before them, India. During these times, morality was suppressed in favor of vir and other naturalistic collectivist principles (morality is designed to protect the individual, where vir is designed to promote health in society and surrounding nature as a whole), and these values continued up until very recently in IndoEuropean societies in Europe and the United States. For this reason, it makes sense to trace metal's philosophy through the ideas of its parent culture, that of Indo-European art and culture. The following are generalized ideas seen in both traditions. Romanticism: Ancient ruins, lawless forests, dark moments in the soul and hidden joys; these are the primary symbols of Romanticist literature and art. It espouses the values of classical civilization in that of humanity confronting wilderness (including suffering) and choosing not to dominate it, but appreciate its ways and the ultimate wisdom of its design; this is a cosmological philosophy, or one that addresses the whole of existence, unlike philosophies which limit their view to the human perspective. It is not absolutist; in it there is no ultimate truth, only personal experience, and that experience is esoteric, meaning that those who have the greatest ability (intelligence, character and strength) find as much knowledge as they seek. There is no single key, or single devotional sign-up-and-you're-in-theknow attitude, nor is the any approval for the one-size-fits-all depersonalizing influence of bureaucratic, liberal, democratic society. Romantic literature and art blossomed during and after the "Enlightenment," a movement which eventually became massively populist in attitude, much as metal came about during the hippie pacificist festival of late 1960s rock music. Romanticism is traditionally linked to a rejection of conventional morality and Nationalism, or pride in one's own tribe, race and caste. It is thus linked to the ancient feudal societies in which a warrior aristocracy ruled for the best interests of all, but was

unafraid to promote the better over the rest. Black metal imagery is almost a direct match for Romantic aesthetics; heavy metal imagery contains many of the same elements. The confusion moderns experience over seeing National Socialism (nationalist ethnocultural feudalism) linked with a radically pro-Green and anti-industrial-society stance is the result of modern society being detached from its Romantic roots. Faustian: A German Romantic writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, wrote his immortal epic "Faust" about a man who makes a bargain with the devil, and in it was the metaphor of the Faustian spirit: humankind struggling with the necessary evils of suffering and death, yet aware of the great things to be achieved once one accepts them in the bargain. As a result, the Faustian spirit describes any individual who does not seek to explain away suffering, but wants to accept life as a whole, and thus feels extreme passions in both pleasure and pain. It is the antithesis of the passive and world-negating spirit of far-east philosophy and populist Christianity. The raging spirit of metal that embraces the dark side of life is Faustian in its very nature, as is the tendency of black metal bands to glorify both death and the exultant experience of victory in combat. Naturalism: Best exemplified by William Blake (a major influence on the Doors) and Ralph Waldo Emerson, this movement seeks to understand nature and its wisdom by recognizing that it is superior to human orders for the purpose of adapting to and maintaing a high quality of life. Naturalists do not cringe at the red talons of the predatory hawk tearing the mouse; instead, they praise the greater strength of the mouse and hawk populations achieved as a result, and the trees which will be fertilized by hawk droppings. It is an organic, gritty philosophy with deep links to cosmicism, or acceptance of the universe as an order in itself which needs no remaking; this is in dramatic contrast to Christian moralism and Judaism's "Tikkun Olam," or "repairing the world," both of which inherently find fault with nature and seek to replace it with an order specific to the human perspective, most notably the individual's fear of death and suffering. Blake's concept of "the path of excess leading to the road of wisdom" is an esoteric statement of this belief, and clearly influenced early heavy metal and is an unstated influence behind death metal and black metal. Structuralism: When Plato told his parable of the cave, in which visitors see only shadows on the wall projected by a fire behind the "forms" of objects, he was not suggesting that the form be pursued; rather, he was describing the mechanism by which we perceive the world as our representation (a concept fundamental to the thought of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, the primary thinkers in German idealist philosophy). Designs and structure are things we perceive, or abstract, from observation; they do not necessarily exist in a dualistic "pure" world separated from this one. Death metal's form of phrasal composition, and unification of vast riff salads into coherent motifs, is pure structuralism, as is the tendency in black metal to use seemingly absurd combinations of theme that resolve into a larger structure or melody in the song; this style of melodic composition is distinct from melody used as an effect in harmonic composition, as is done in rock music, but one can see the origins of this compositional idea in Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Interestingly, this concept is echoed in both ancient Indian philosophy (the Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita) and classical Greco-Roman ideas (the Aeneid and Odyssey). The entire concept of metal could be called structuralist, in that the aesthetic of distortion and noise is designed to hide clear thought in the form of structure that exists only in the mind of listener and composer. Narrative: Music can take several forms, with the most common

focusing on finding a concept - an interval, an odd chord change, a rhythm - and "exploring" it through relatively random improvisation or repetitive, cyclic motifs. Metal music especially of the underground death metal and black metal variety takes on the concept of narrative composition, where songs resemble their topics are written to simulate the progress of the listener through that experience; as in classical Greek art, where music and drama and poetry were combined into a single art form, lyrics are used to accentuate the topic being expressed in sound. Inconsistent dynamic: Popular music tends to establish a throbbing or loud droning aesthetic, in which variation consists of doing "unexpected" things with that constant level of listener excitation, but metal music has an inconsistent dynamic if one is willing to accept the basic level of loudness achieved by its format. Drums fall away for breaks, and riffs often vary between chordal and single-string forms, creating a variation in intensity; further, metal song structure can often encompass radically different tempos and moods through riff form and degree of consonance, something that is absent from mainstream music. Even more interestingly, black metal bands such as Burzum, Havohej ("Man and Jinn"), Darkthrone and Immortal ("Pure Holocaust") reduced percussion to a constant background rumble with as much musicality as a metronome, and as in classical music, let pacing variations within each guitar phrase define the cadence of the bar. In this, as in its style of melodic narrative composition, death metal and black metal are most similar to Germanic ambient music as seen in Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, both of whom created epic songs of unconventional structure around these principles. In this style of music, a central melody is buried within numerous motif clusters in which themes evolve from cryptic versions of their most elemental parts, culminating in a unification of introductory phrases and the central melody, or structural core. Virility: as described above, metal music is unrepentant and barbarian, rejecting social morals and conventional behavior for an individually-determined worldview; this is similar to Romantic and Naturalist rejection of the Absolute in favor of the esoteric, and is seen also in pagan beliefs. Not surprisingly, this symbolism appeared not only in black metal, but in death metal and heavy metal as well. Because of its fear of metal, and its consequent refusal to believe there is artistic spirit or meaning behind "rebellion music" of this type, mainstream society and the academics who write on metal have apparently not observed these correlations, but to those who study classical music and then are fortunate enough to be exposed to the intelligent (not Cannibal Corpse, Pantera or Cradle of Filth) metal, these similarities are too much to ignore. IV. Rebirth As of this writing, metal is at a crossroads, since black metal has faded into populism and generic loudness and nothing has emerged to take its place. It is possible that black metal will be the last stage of metal, since it has by evolving from loud rock into a unique artform expressed its fundamental beliefs and has nowhere left to "innovate," although it could devote time to - much like Romantic poets - celebrating the culture it has established, and thus move from the political and philosophical to the range of art which simply celebrates life, in doing so expressing its politics and philosophy by virtue of the ideals it finds in art. The most positive view of this situation presupposes that metal will, having "grown up" to full possession of its ideals, after a short lull, be reborn.

Between metal movements in the past, there were lulls almost as entropic as the current "black hardcore" and "nu-metal" fads, although these were not as pronounced since it was clear that the genre had not as of yet achieved selfarticulation. Once heavy metal had birthed its champions, it degenerated into "stadium rock" for the later years of the 1970s, setting new records for vapidity and moronic populism. Speed metal took over, and within seven years had spent its own inertia, leaving the genre to Pantera and Helmet; after that brief void, death metal rose and came to predominance by the early 1990s, then rapidly faded into repetition and self-parody, at which point the nascent "modern" black metal movement took hold and ran for a good five years until, in late 1996, it became apparent that it had become populated with imitators and, excepting a few albums by already-established bands (and traditionalists such as Averse Sefira and Yamatu), was defunct as an artistic movement, although "just gaining momentum!" as a popular, plastic-disc-selling one. However, these lulls were short and momentum carried between them; it is alarming to see how the lifespan of a metal genre has decreased from nine years (1969-1978, with heavy metal) to seven years (1981-1988, with speed metal, and 1985-1992, with death metal ) to five years (19901995, with black metal). What comes next will be crucial, and what follows in this article are analytical suggestions for how it might use the languages of art and philosophy to create traditional Indo-European sonic art in a form new to both metal and mainstream music. Metal is best when it requires an independent mind to even become involved with it, and to figure out some way of stating an unclear idea with strong associations in ideas that have been eternally revered by the strong; when it is a cookie-cutter template, it is easily cloned, which is why future genres should perhaps veer away from rock standards of musicianship to something akin to progressive rock, except more esoteric in use of narrative themes. It is necessary that black metal die, and fighting that death is like fighting the decay of larger society, futility. A more sensible course of action is to create something new which upholds these ancient values of Indo-European culture, and for metalheads waiting for the "next big thing" to instead listen to Beethoven. Rhythm and Percussion: The German ambient bands were of two minds. Kraftwerk used percussion in electronic form, but used it sparingly and without variation, so as in Immortal ("Pure Holocaust") or Darkthrone ("Transilvanian Hunger") or Burzum ("Hvis Lyset Tar Oss") it had a metronomic function and little else. Tangerine Dream eschewed

percussion instruments entirely, and instead used sounds of short distance between dynamic lows and peak intensity to create the same effect drums would have, but they used this selectively in their songs; there is no constant percussion, nor pop song format. Metal could learn well from this, and is already leaning in this direction. Songs like "The Crying Orc" from Burzum have demonstrated how large sections of metal works can exist without drums, increasing mood and not lessening it. Of the post-black metal projects, Darkthrone's Fenriz created Neptune Towers, which is extremely close in sound to Tangerine Dream, but with even less percussive effect; Burzum's Christian Vikernes produced "Daudi Baldrs," an album that resembles a fusion between Kraftwerk and Dead Can Dance, and then followed it up with "Hlidskjalf," which used very little percussion and resembles Dead Can Dance being taken to the next level, with music meant for listening instead of soundtrack use. Beherit's Holocausto took a different path, making "Electric Doom Synthesis" which sounded like a pop-industrial version of Kraftwerk fused with early Ministry, then went into Tangerine Dream territory with "Suuri Shamaani," which is layers of threadlike sound forming harmony of texture. Industrial grindcore band Godflesh sent its main creator, Justin K. Broadrick, on to create Final, a project which uses guitar textures and droning tones to produce something similar to a more linear version of Tangerine Dream. Clearly, this lineage between metal and ambient music is already established. Use the bass: Iron Maiden upset the rock world with their distinctive melodic basslines, which alternatingly formed harmony and counterpoint to the main riff (which was often as not single-note-at-a-time playing, such that the chordal nature of heavy metal riffing was interrupted for something with greater detail and narrative power). This usage is similar to that of synthpop and ambient bands, who necessity has forced to use the bass as a melodic lead instrument as well as a rhythmic one, impelling the writing of distinctive basslines which use melodic lead phrasing in repetitive cycles to structure songs. Metal has a single dominant instrument, the guitar, which defines rhythm and harmony at the same time and by its progress over the course of a piece defines the melodic nature of a song; using the bass to complement this, instead of playing eighth notes on the root notes of each chord (more of a production technique, than a compositional one, as it fills out the guitar sound but effectively nullifies the bass), would give metal the range normally granted to electronic keyboards and thus would allow metal bands to compose within the organic distorted space of amplified strings without compromising that sound for the "pure" electronic tones of synthetics. Mood: The first album from Enslaved, "Vikinglgr Veldi," is distinctive in all of metal for its mixing of folk music and distorted guitars without selling out to either extreme; it does this by varying mood through all devices, including tempo, and not eschewing fast and vicious riffing to contrast the slower segments of song which build melody gracefully through harmonic accents in rhythm playing and restatement and fusion of phrase in lead. This album will be an important partial template for any future metalheads. A similar work is "Unquestionable Presence," from Atheist, which unlike the jazz-metal to follow did not focus on a ranting constant intensity but achieved a poetic transition between emotional evocations. Another interesting study is the work of Graveland, which achieves an operatic intensity not as much through its production of layered keyboards and guitars but through its use of radically distinct song structures which form scene settings in the mind of the listener. This was a tendency of black metal as a whole, but it is most distinctively expressed in Graveland and Enslaved, although Burzum's "My Journey to the Stars" and "Det Som Engang Var" are also important references.

Both Graveland and death metal band Incantation acquire the flexibility to write songs this way by using long phrases in chromatic intervals a root chord of the motif, which is intriguing as aesthetically they compose in quite different styles. Melodic composition: Like classical music, good metal builds itself around a melodic idea mated to rhythm, forming it central motif, which in turn forms the core of the song; other riffs are arranged in motifs made of two or more oppositional tendencies, and resolve themselves into the start point of the next motif, which creates the narrative song structure that moves the music through moods and symbols much as human experience is remembered in terms of resolutions to diverse situations culminating in some central realization. In order for this to occur, the step that was taken in death metal and black metal must be preserved, which is a move from harmonic composition to melodic composition in which harmony is a technique for anchoring variations and future motifs. The precursor to this can be found in Judas Priest, who were famed for their dual-guitar harmonizing attack, and in hard rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, in whose work lead rhythm guitar transitioned between parts of each song with harmonic grounding. If anything has defined metal, it is that the inverted fifth - a chord which moves easily on the fretboard, allowing guitarists to link notes smoothly into phrases lends itself to melodic composition because it does not fully "complete" triadic harmony, thus can easily transfer to any interval, making phrasal composition not just convenient but necessary.

Taken together, these styles approximate a popular music version of the traditional music of Indo-European cultures, and are distinct from the cosmopolitan types of popular rock, jazz, funk, rap, techno and blues. They easily incorporate the popular music of another era, now called "roots music" and "folk music" and "world music," which is more sensible as in composition and spirit is is closer to metal than other genres (country is heavily inspired by this music, which makes the Metallica country-metal fusion interesting on a musicological level, even if fairly bland listening). By unifying itself around a philosophy as expressed in music, metal can end the evolutionary period that culminated in black metal and move into being an independent genre with a long future that does not require "innovation" or novelty to uphold the values its finds eternally powerful.

Books About Metal Music

The outside world periodically investigates and analyzes metal to encode in book form its conclusions. For the convenience of our readers, we have assembled a brief guide to society's efforts so far, in a resemblance of order of relevance. Click the image to see options to buy the book. Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan Although somewhat uneven, this book chronicles the events in Norway as black metal rose and intelligently presents the ideological viewpoints behind the actions of these musicians, as well as giving insight to the mechanations of bands and personalities in the turbulent world of underground metal.

Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology by Deena Weinstein A reasonable summary of most academic study so far, which indulges heavy metal as an extreme offshoot of rock in which rebellion is the prime goal and the fundamental ceremony is the concert. These failings aside, there is very perceptive research here on the origins of heavy metal and the personalities within its culture. The latter is most informative of all aspects in this book and is Weinstein's strength as a writer.

Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture by Deena Weinstein A broadly inclusive view at the public perception of heavy metal and its fans which, although limited to mainstream music, captures the unstable origins of modern metal, this book provides a solid foundation for Weinstein's comments on metal.

The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal by Martin Popoff Short reviews talking about the emotions and social significance of heavy metal bands are Popoff's strength, and he through a fragmented view into hundreds of bands reveals a culture in transition. Including a reasonable small selection of underground metal.

20th Century Rock N Roll: Heavy Metal by Martin Popoff A somewhat distanced view of metal as rock music, this book brushes over many of metal's strengths en route to a discussion of its commonality with popular music.

Goldmine Heavy Metal Price Guide by Martin Popoff For those who want to enter the intricate world of collecting, an experienced metal journalist outlines the significance and comparative value of classic metal releases of interest to collectors.

Are You Morbid? by Tom G. Warrior Although somewhat scattered in focus due to its intense immersion in the personality of the writer and the human emotions of its band, this book establishes the intent of Celtic Frost and its predecessor, Hellhammer, and explains the philosophies of unified concept and music as a presentation of the ideology and desires of an artist (stranded in a mortal body). While conversational in text and often tedious, this retelling answers many fundamental Hessian questions.

Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett A sociological study of 100 metalheads including profiles and brief analytical pieces on various aspects of relatively mainstream metal culture. Reasonable and deliberately overindulgently just, this work attempts to

find a parent's view of why children who hate society, religion, and conformity turn to metal.

Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music by Robert Walser Aimed at the most popular examples of heavy metal, this analysis peers into issues of gender and power as ethnographic vectors of impetus toward participation in the metal genre. The interpretations of reasoning and ideologies behind music, while limited to less than self-articulate examples in many cases, are the strength of this book.

Rocking the Classics : English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture by Edward L. Macan Delving into the world of progressive rock in a context of cultural development through history, this book explores the motivations and musicology of progressive rock with a broad but well targetted research base.

Black Sabbath: An Oral History by Mike Stark and Dave Marsh A reasonable account of the early days of metal and its slow descent out of the hippie and biker positive hedonism of the day into a new and darker persona. Extensive material on Sabbath personalities and attitudes regarding the creation and presentation of their music.

Riders on the Storm : My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors by John Densmore A useful prescience about politics in dark themed bands can be derived from the lessons learned in this recounting of the rise and fall of the Doors and their enigmatic vocalist Jim Morrison. Densmore is under the grip of Catholic morality and while recognizing it is unable to vanquish it, but it colors the book less than his stunning firstperson viewpoint on the action.

HEAVY METAL
Heavy metal is what started it all, from Black Sabbath onward although the phrase came to mean "anything loud and distorted" in mainstream usage. Its blues and jazz basis, but strange insistence on a neo-classical treatment of modality, propelled this band to the front of a rising new movement. Today the heavy metal genre includes doom metal, who are old school metalheads who play very slowly to depress you. Heads above: Cathedral and Helstar.

Candlemass Cathedral Helstar

Saint Vitus Skepticism Witchfinder General

Traditional: Often called "True Metal", sometimes "Classic" or just "Heavy Metal", this is the genre that was there before all the others. The proliferation of genres didn't begin until the first big metal wave began to crest in the mid 80's, and before that all metal bands were just "Heavy Metal". Hard and fast standards are hard to pin down here. Most Traditional Metal bands play music at least partially inspired by early pioneers like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Manowar. There is a definite focus on two-guitar harmonies, aggressive riffs, and powerful clean vocals with a lot of emphasis on the upper ranges. Songs with "Barbarian" and "Metal" in the title are pretty much customary, and songs about Metal as a musical form and way of life are common. An exception is the pioneering band Manilla Road, who are the fathers of a subset of true metal including bands like Omen and Ironsword. These bands tend to use rawer production and riffage, as well as sometimes using gruffer vocals. These bands represent a small but respected subset of the Traditional Metal fold. Another side note in Traditional Metal is the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) sound from the early 80s. This was a wave of new bands from England (Including Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, but also such bands as Def Leppard) that had an explosion of popularity from '79 to roughly 1983. There are still proponents of the NWOBHM sound, which can be hard to define, but is essentially a "rockier" variation on the early metal sound. The lines between Traditional and Power Metal, as well as Traditional and Doom or Thrash can sometimes be blurry, and there are many bands that straddle two or more styles. Where exactly these bands fall is usually the decision of a given listener, or the bands themselves. If a band devotes one or more songs to how cool metal is, you can be pretty sure they consider themselves "True Metal".

Pioneers: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Manilla Road Notable Bands: Manowar, Omen, Ironsword, Wizard, Pegazus, Twisted Tower Dire, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Cage, Primal Fear, Steel Attack, Paragon, Skullview, Battleroar, Running Wild, Cauldron Born, Tarot, Hanker.

History of Heavy Metal

The History of Heavy Metal Music
Era Context Music Art Influence 1865Country, Populism Rock Individualism 1949 Celtic 1950ProtoCounterculture Moralism Prog, Jazz 1969 Metal 1970Heavy Electronic, Futurism Hedonism 1981 Metal Ambient 1982Speed Reactionarism Humanism Hardcore 1987 Metal 1988Death Egalitarianism DeconstructionismAlternative 1993 Metal 1991Black Egalitarianism DeconstructionismAlternative 1996 Metal RetroHip-Hop, 1996- Globalism Universalism PRESENT cumulative Techno
Thesis Popular music was recorded and marketed as a Counterculture which opposed the normal, functional, and unexciting Culture that was dominant in society; by being outside of that which was in power, Counterculturalists argued, they were able to see what was "real" and to implement a "progressive" worldview in which moral correctness brought us gradually closer to a utopian state. This marketing mirrored the process of adolescents, the main audience for popular music, who first reject the world of their parents, then once independent re-assess their own values, and finally, rejoin society on the terms of these recreated values. This determines "reality" as they will act to create it, based upon their values system. While dominant Culture sought what was pragmatic, and Counterculture pursued the moral, metal music became its own movement because it could not agree with either of those approaches, preferring instead to try to seek what was "real," or meaningful and "heavy" (in the LSD-influenced vernacular of the time). Their approach did not aim at correctness, but assertion of subjective meaning.

Early metal bands, in emulation of popular music as a whole, hoped to discover what was real by finding out first what was not. This attitude, over the course of four generations of music, took metal beyond the grounds of "good" versus "evil" into nihilism, where nothing had inherent value or classification, but could be described in terms of experience. Nihilism is a frightening belief system for those in societies organized by dualistic (heaven versus earth) and liberal (individualistic, egalitarian) societies, as it denies that our values systems are more real than events in natural reality. To a nihilist, truth is a way we describe some things in reality, but there is no eternal life nor eternal truth which exists separate from immortality. Nihilism means accepting mortality, and experience as what we have in place of a religious or moral truth. These ideas exceed limits of social acceptability, which in a capitalist liberal democracy threatens the self-marketing which individuals use to gain business partners, social groups and mates. As a result, metal was forced to wholly transcend the artificial consensual reality shared by Culture and Counterculture, and to create its own value system including its nihilism. Seeking the real, and not the moral, this value system in turn surpassed its own nihilism by moving from a negative logical viewpoint to an assertive one, looking not for something objectively determined to be "eternal" but for that which will be true in any age past or present, discovering through personal experience and acceptance of nihilism (a symbolic analogue for mortality) that which society will not recognize, completing the process of adolescence in a state of actual outsidership. Introduction Metal music began as the work of the youth born after the superpower age began, during a highly developmental period for Western civilization in which it, having defeated fascism and nationalism and other old-world evolution-based systems of government, considered itself highly evolved in a humanistic state of liberal democracy which benefitted the individual more than any system previously on record. During this era, society served citizens in their quest for the most convenient lifestyle possible, and any questions or goals outside of this worldview were not considered: it was considered a "progressive" continuation of human development from a primitive evolutionary "red in tooth and claw" state to one in which social concepts of justice and morality defined the life of the individual. The individual has triumphed over the natural world, and faces none of the uncertainty of mortal existence brought about by physical competition and predation. Politically (the global quest for egalitarian society) and socially (the empowerment of

new groups and loss of consensus) humanity viewed itself as getting ahead and being superior to other forms of civilization, including the equally egalitarian but totalitarian Communist empires of the Soviet Union and China, but as the thermonuclear age dawned in the 1950s, this dichotomy came to define the "free West" as much as its enemies. The first generation after WWII created early protometal in a time when all older knowledge and social order was being overturned in the wake of an impulse to redesign the world to avoid the "evils" of the previous generation. The people of this age, and coming ages, were new in that they could not recall a time of direct experience of nature as necessary; the grocery stores, modern medicine and industrial economies of their time took care of all of their needs, and no unbroken natural world could any longer be found except on specialty tours. Their civilization had become exclusively introspective and was losing contact with the (natural) world beyond its self-defined boundaries. During this time, a "peace" movement which embraced pacifism and egalitarian individualism was gaining popularity at the forefront of the counterculture, a phenomenon which had existed since in the 1950s smart marketers (namely Allen Freed) had promoted rock music as an alternative to the staid, traditional, monogamous and sober lives of Protestant, Anglo-Saxon Americans. With WWII polarizing the world against first German and later Russian "enemies," and Viet Nam revealing the moral bankruptcy of benevolent superpowers motivated by their economies, society was becoming more dependent upon the ideological tradition building over the last 2,000 years: focus on the individual, or individualism, as politically expressed in egalitarianism and liberal democracy. This was expressed in both culture and counterculture. In contrast, metal music emphasized morbidity and glorified ancient civilizations as well as heroic struggles, merging the gothic attitudes of art rock with the broad scope of progressive rock, but most of all, its sound emphasized heavy: a literal reality that cut through all of our words and symbols and grand theories, to remind us that we are mortal and not ultimately able to control our lifespan or the inherent abilities we have. This clashed drastically with both the pacifist hippie movement and the religious and industrial sentiments of the broader society surrounding it. Philosophy This was a confrontation with the "abyss" as first described by existentialist F.W Nietzsche: the awareness that life is finite and of functional, transactional maintenance; that we are both predator and prey, and that we have no control over our lives or death. To Nietzsche, and thinkers such as Arthur Schopenhauer before him, to realize this was an "undergoing," or embracing of nihilism: the belief that there is no value other than the inherent, physical interaction of the natural world. To a nihilist, there is no inherent morality or value, thus there is no reason to view social status and financial success as ultimate goals, only as methods to a path ranked by subjectively-derived importance. This view threatens the beliefs and punishments used to hold Western society together since roughly AD 1000. Regardless of benevolent social objectives, Nietzsche argued, religion and society were cults that banished death through the "revenge" that morality offered in giving

the individual a vector by which to be "better" than the world itself, and by being "equal" to all others, immune to comparison (a symbolic form of predation triggered by Charles Darwin's arguments on "survival of the fittest). In essence, Nietzsche saw social behavior itself as an enemy of reality recognition in the individual and thus, like morality, an ingrained influence that would prompt rebellion and instability within a society that would know no other recourse than moral norming. Heavy metal, as the music most visibly fascinated with death and suffering (and most likely to mention Nietzsche), addresses the sublimated issue of Nietzsche's abyss in Western society, which has based its founding principles and individual social and mystical values upon the polarity of "good" and "evil," is an identification with the enemy. In the Judeo-Christian view, death and suffering are an enemy which is banished with "good" behavior in the hopes of heavenly (and earthly) reward. In secular form, egalitarian capitalist liberal democracy "empowers" the individual and gives him or her the moral "freedom" to act without regard for the natural world, thus being immune to predation and any form of assessment outside of the social and fiscal. When one embraces the breadth of history (outside of the current civilization), the nihilistic lack of eternal presence of value, the predominance of death and predation, and the logic of feral impulse, one has directly challenged both modern capitalist liberal democracy and the extensive religious (Judeo-Christian) and secular (liberalism) heritage upon which it is built. 8,000 years before Christ there was a religion in Northern India which addressed these issues in a sense without dualism; it believed that life is known to humans through sensual (eyes, ears, taste, smell, touch) perception of a reality composed of ideas which was similar in structure to both nature and the process of thought itself. In this religion the Faustian spirit was clearly present, as while a heroic deed was more important than survival, personal mortality was clearly affirmed. Thus there was both meaning and death, and no absolute God or Heaven to reconcile the two. This required the individual to declare values worthy of filling a life, and worth dying for, and from this origin the ancient heroic civilizations were spawned. Metal's belief system is closer to this than to any modern equivalent, thus it is sensible to posit a closure of the cycle and its renewal in the ideas gestured by heavy metal music. Music Art does not exist in a vacuum within the minds of its creators. If a concept is applied to music, there is a corresponding concept in structure and the worldview of the artist that creates the frame of mind in which the artist creates music which sounds like its desired value system. Art is too complex to be created without any prior thought as to what it expresses; this concept is common in literature and visual art, but ignored in popular music (perhaps because in most popular music, the concept - and the music reflect crass materialism and futile neurosis and not much else). At the end of an age of moral symbolism and technological norming, metal is recreating the language of music to reflect heroic values, formulated from the nihilistic mandate of "now that you believe in nothing, find something worth believing in." The ease of social and political identification found in rock music is eschewed, as are aesthetics which endorse the myopic neurosis of first world lifestyles. And while metal has evolved over several generations, several musical facets remain the same, suggesting a corresponding shared conceptual underpinning. This "design form" of metal differs from popular music in one simple way, but from this arise any number of techniques and attributes which allow composers to create in this method. Its primary distinguishing characteristic is that metal embraces

structure more than any other form of popular music; while rock is notorious for its verse-chorus-verse structure and jazz emphasizes a looser version of the same allowing unfetter improvisation, metal emphasizes a motivic, melodic narrative structure in the same way that classical and baroque music do. Each piece may utilize other techniques, but what holds it together is a melodic progression between ideas that do not fit into simple verse-chorus descriptors. Even in 1960s proto-heavy metal, use of motives not repeated as part of the verse-chorus cycle and transitional riffing suggested a poetic form of music in which song structure was derived from what needed to be communicated. Synthesis In this structuralism, metal music asserts a concern for the underlying mechanism of the universe as a whole, instead of limiting its focus to human social concerns. This degrades the public image fascination begun in the West with absolutist morality; in its use of power chords, the most harmonically flexible chord shape, and a tendency toward melodic composition, metal music emphasizes an experience, where rock can articulate at best a moment and then put it into a repeating loop. While rock uses more open chords and aesthetic variation, its outlook is ultimately a utopic form of the counterculture: progressive trends leading to some ultimate state of an absolute, such as "freedom" or "joy" or "popularity." By way of contrast, metal music is a portrait of the posthumanist mindset: concerned more about natural reality than social symbolism, addressing experience instead of moral conclusion, and, when it seeks a context of meaning, oriented toward the subjective experience than an "objectivity" derived from shared societal concept. It is aware that leaving behind the comforting alternate reality of social assessment returns to a natural state in which the individual is ranked among others according to ability, much as predation did years ago, and is forced to accept mortality and limits of personal control. This thought demonstrates the modern era of Western civilization facing the ideas of the ancients while eschewing the consensual social reality of industrial capitalist liberal democracies, and, as said societies collapse from lack of consensus, a potential future direction for Indo-European culture.

Period 1 [ 1865 - 1949 ]

History [ Populism ]
In this age, America matured from its beginnings into the bureaucratic complexities of a modern republic, decided on its unifying concept, and consequently, experienced demographic and social change. Having been formed in 1789 on a compromise between those who wished to remain colonies and those who wished for a centralized federal entity, the fledgling nation had resolved few of its internal disputes in part owing to the chaos of its birth and the ongoing warfare that afflicted it as late as 1812. Having dispatched this, it began

attempting to find consensus among the disparate viewpoints that had not found home in a Europe wracked by internal religious infighting descended from the conflicts of the middle ages. As the nation-state of America expanded, especially toward the West, there was an increasing need for governmental intervention to resolve disputes (seen by the republic as transactional) between settlers and Indians, settlers and each other, Westward republics and the banks that owned them back east. This required a commitment to a bureaucratic entity, which in turn required central authorities and standards. The result was, after some internal peregrinations, a Civil War not fought over the issue of slavery (as asserted in middle school textbooks) but the issue of state's rights: was the United States a confederacy of small independent nations, or a republic made of states which were essentially local variants on the order imposed by a strong central government? The latter prevailed due to the industrial supremacy of the northeast; this would be a central theme in most American wars. Once this concept had been decided, it was over the next forty years unified by an expansion of the founding concepts of the nation in accordance with the decisions of the Civil War. The highest power was the Federal State, but the Individual was its currency, and therefore America came to embrace its image as the "melting pot" in which the "poor, huddled masses" might find refuge. As a result of this new marketing, America invited and enfranchised new groups of people, starting with recently-freed African slaves and continuing to an acceptance of previously unwanted immigrant groups, such as Irish/Scots, Italians, Jews and Slavs. Because of this change, a shift in alignment occurred that would plague America in the coming years: the original Northern European population of America, now seen as the top dog in a complicated caste system, began to isolate itself through financial and social means from successive waves of newcomers of fundamentally different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. This was contrasted by an egalitarian movement to accept these people and "diverse," or non-collectively-consensual ideas into the mainstream; as time passed, this movement became known as the counterculture, but that could only occur after World War II, when the country was united in temporary consensus by a shared enemy. As a result of these social changes, American ideology underwent public change. Where it had once been an elitist nation designed for those who could rise above the need for a normative social order, it became an inclusive and facilitative society whose greatest degree of commonality was a desire by its new and old populations to rise in class rank through the earning power afforded by a vast industrial civilization. Over time, this view, in which society pandered to the diverse and non-consensual individuals for the purpose of "empowering" them to be socially equal, earn money and become autonomous agents of wealth, became known in a generalized sense as "Populism."

Music [ Rock ]
One cannot contemplate rock music without viewing its roots; that being said, its roots cannot be viewed without analyzing their origins in turn, and the political circumstance which shaped their public image. Derived from English drinking songs, Celtic folk music, German popular music including waltzes and the proto-gospel singing of Scottish immigrants, "country folk" music had been an aspect of American culture since the early days of the Republic,

but as it existed in country and not city was rarely recognized by cultural authorities of the day. Further, once new populations became empowered and replaced the old, most of this history was forgotten. In part, the reason for this was political: the members of society who advanced American popular music as an artform were not of the original Northern European population, nor were they disposed toward thinking benevolently toward the same; further, they needed to invent something which, like advertising throughough the 1950s, presented itself as an oppositional alternative to the "traditional, boring" way of doing things (early advertising extolled the virtues of its products, while later advertising promoted products as part of a lifestyle which had to demonstrate both novelty and uniqueness to have value as a replacement for the traditional, boring, and otherwise effective way of doing things; this transcendence of function for image has fundamentally shaped American character). As a result, the mythos of blues as a solely African-American artform, and the denial of the Celtic, English and American folk influences on both blues and rock music, was perpetrated as a marketing campaign with highly destructive results for all involved. The blues was not formalized until it was recorded, and at that point in time, a fixed structure was imposed on it based on the interpretations of others. Broadly stated, it used a minor pentatonic scale with a flatted fifth, constant syncopation, and distinctive "emotional" vocal styles. Of all of its components, none were unique, nor was its I-IV-V chord progression unique to the blues. To view it from an ethnomusical perspective, the blues is an aesthetic (not musical) variation on the English, Scottish, Irish and German folk music which made up the American colloquial sonic art perspective since its inception. From a marketing perspective, however, the blues had to be marketed as a revelation from the downtrodden and suffering African-American slaves, so that it might maintain an "outsider" perspective which, to people bored with a society based on money and lacking heroic values, might appear more "authentic" than their own. When country music was re-introduced to the then-standardized blues form, the result was called rock music. Its primary difference from country was in its use of vocals which emphasized timbre over tonal accuracy, and the adoption of a more insistent, constant syncopated beat. While German waltz and popular music bands had invented the modern drum kit and developed most techniques for percussion, their music and that of their country counterparts in America tended to use drums sparsely, much more in the style of modern jazz bands than in the ranting, repetitive, dominant methods of rock music. However, it is hard to find someone in a crowd of mixed caste, race, class and intellect for whom a constant beat is intellectually and sensually inaccessible, so it was adopted as a convention. Much as the standardization of the blues took diverse song forms and brought them into a single style, rock swept a wide range of influences into a monochromatic form. Some historical backfill is worth noting here. The Celtic folksongs of Ireland and Scotland had two main influences: the pentatonic drone music of the Semitic "natives" of the UK, namely Scythians and the diverse groups forming "Picts," and the Indo-European traditional music which is continued in India today. The melodies, including pentatonic variations of many different forms (many of which include the flatted fifth or modal analogue), are almost contiguous such that a player of Indian classical music and a Celtic folklorist can complete each others' melodies in the traditional manner. Similarly, pentatonic music also derived from the Indo-European tradition was present in Germany, most notably in the biergartens and public ceremonies requiring simple music that everyone could enjoy. These musics employed improvisation, as did classical playing from the previous four hundred years; when these historical facts are recognized, American popular music can be

identified as the marketing hoax that it is. The consequences of this hoax have been a persistent blaming of white Americans for "stealing" a black form of music that never existed, and in return, a condescension toward traditional forms of music of all races that became identified with, and scorned as, a black form of music. As we shall see, marketing has both shaped the American experience and contributed to longstanding internal conflicts without resolution. In terms of popular music, marketing is important precisely because it insists on standard forms; they are easy to reproduce without requiring any particularly unique talents on the part of performers, producers, marketers or audience. This has caused an increasing simplification of music while marketing has grown correspondingly more savvy and, like American advertising as a whole, has grown away from focus on the product to focus on lifestyle associations unrelated to the product. However it arrived, blues-country became "rock" in the 1930s-1950s mainly because of technology. Adolph Rickenbacker invented the electric guitar in 1931, and recording equipment advanced from the primitive to the cheaper and more portable units brought on by vacuum tube and then transistor technology. Additionally, microphones improved, especially those which could capture the nuances of voice. Louder guitars and vocals required the simple shuffle beats of blues drumming to gain volume, prompting a revolution in drum kit assembly. As a result, the simple blues-country hybrid became a marketing standard known as "rock 'n' roll," then "rock," as it was absorbed into the American mainstream. The earliest bands lacked much in the way of style, but wrote complacently harmonizing pieces based on the European popular music of clubs in the 1930s (much of jazz is based upon the same music). As time went on, the stylings - appearance, performance and cultural positioning - of the music became more advanced, and the songs themselves became simpler and more like advertising jingles.

Art [ Individualism ]
If one thread had to be described in the art of the era as rising parallel to Populism in the political and social consciousness, it would be Individualism: the belief in the decisions and desires and needs of the individual as the most important value held by humans, especially in the context of "lifestyle choices" which involve the purchasing of products. Much of this relates to the desire of new American immigrants to both fit in and be accepted for what they were, as, lacking the cultural affectations of Northern Europeans, they demanded a "tolerant" society such that their own customs might not come into conflict with any dominant or consensus-oriented cultural standards. Thus non-consensus became consensus through the vehicle of absolute individual autonomy, and a depletion of any standards for the goals of individual behavior. When the religious impetus to America first developed, it was in the form of settlers escaping the imperial sentiments of a Europe united by Christianity; after one thousand years of wrangling in which the mostly Judaic-Buddhistic doctrine of early Christianity had been replaced with the Euro-Brahminic doctrine of Catholicism, the continent had accepted the modified religion and begun the process of bringing disparate cultures and peoples under its yoke. As government became necessary, it followed a pattern of allowing universal non-consensus (a process similar to the autonomy granted the individual by moralism, which places not harming others as a higher value than finding the right answer for all people) which accelerated after the Civil War, as it needed to justify its crushing of those who wanted America to be a loose confederation of countries with different rules and customs for each, and after WWII, when America had to justify her total war and nuclear engagement against "totalitarian" empires by coming up with a better marketing slogan, namely the "land of the free" rhetoric. Thus individualism travelled from a minor technique of asserting independence from the dominant religious tradition of the mother continent to a

justification for global military and cultural supremacy. Art did not escape this influence. As art is a mental process that, if the artist wishes to survive on his or her skill, produces a salable physical entity, public and popular art by definition must find something to sell to its audience, usually by exploring concepts with which they are familiar and enamored. For this reason, in capitalist liberal democratic societies especially art tends to follow the trends of each era, and in America, art has gone from being of the elitist classical music and fine arts tradition of Europe to having a distinctly popular flair, reflecting the individualistic concept that no idea can be judged by collective standards, and thus that like individuals all art and all perspectives are "equal," and have no meaning except aesthetics; thus if art appeals to one for sentimental or visual reasons, it is more important than any transcendent meaning it might attempt to convey. This individualism shaped the stylistic aspects of rock'n'roll more than any other single force.

Influence [ Country, Celtic ]

Country, Folk and Celtic music originally had a diversity of forms but under the influence of rock music, became increasingly closer to the standard rock form while feeling the pressure to change stylistically. In this the normative influence of monochromatic forms such as rock music is seen.

Period 2 [ 1950 - 1969 ]

History [ Counterculture ]
I've watched the dogs of war enjoying their feast I've seen the western world go down in the east The food of love became the greed of our time But now I'm living on the profits of pride - Black Sabbath, "Hole in the Sky," 1975

When World War II broke out across Asia, Europe, and finally the Americas, there was at first confusion as to how to portray this war. A world already sickened by the first World War and the Great Depression was inclined toward noninterventionist policies, favoring sticking close to home and fixing local problems (the Depression having run for a decade, most countries were starved for social services and public works that had lapsed during that time). Ultimately, what leaders and propagandists alike made the tone of their argumentation was the concept of the "free world" versus leaders who were seen as arbitrarily totalitarian. Where before World War II, Hitler was seen as an ideologue who would use any method to achieve his ends, in the hands of US propagandists he became an insane man lusting for power who would use ideology to justify his ends (the same was done to Tojo, Mussolini and later, in a case in which it may have been accurate, Stalin). The result of this propaganda was to consolidate the different aspects of egalitarian philosophy in the West into a single imperial doctrine, that of bringing "freedom" of individualism to an (obviously) otherwise "uncivilized" world, thus justifying the right of America and her allies to engage in any warlike practice that suited them against nations which did not uphold the capitalist liberal democratic government, widely held to be the most "empowering" and "moral" form of government. Whether fighting

godless Communists or the "Hitlerian" nationalist Milosevic, the Americans and their allies of liberal powers including wartime partners the UK and Australia - felt themselves justified in waging war for the reason of bringing capitalist liberal democracy to the "people" of distant homelands. This was in many ways parallel to COMINTERN, or the Communist movement to "empower" workers worldwide with Communist societies. However, the first tremors of uncertainty cracked this facade during the years following WWII. First in Korea, and then in Viet Nam, the Americans faced wars of murky practices and equally murky outcomes following the doctrine of "Containment," by which Communism was blocked from gaining a foothold across the world. As it turns out, Containment was not incorrect, for Communism or any other system, as industrial powers tend to influence their neighbors through gifts of weapons and financial aid (carrot) and military intimidation (stick). The Vietnam war brought this uncertainty to a head in 1968 during the Tet Offensive, when an American public who had been assured by their TV sets that the Vietnamese Communists (NVA/VC) had been all but beaten suddenly witnessed a Communist force of unpredicted size and strength swarming from all corners to attack a demoralized, racially-divided and drug-addicted US military. The result was politically contained, later, but it was clear to most alert observers that American doctrine was facing a major challenge both externally and surprisingly, internally (it took two decades before a liberal president, Bill Clinton, would apply the same policies with limited success in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan). The result of this doubt and political posturing was most profound in America. In the 1950s, Beats and other cultural insurgent groups cast aspersions onto the traditional American way of life, one which had in the 1950s become accessible to the secondtier European populations such as Italians, Irish/Scots, and Slavs (all historically less favored because of their racial mixture, in the case of the Italians, Arabs, the Irish/Scots, Scythians and other middle eastern groups, and the Slavs, Mongols, Gypsies and Jews). When the Beats faded toward the end of the 1950s, they had been statistically insignificant except in academia, which meant the next generation of teachers in the 1960s were well-versed in Beat and liberal orthodoxy, and taught it to students from age 13 onward. Consequently, the youth coming of age in 1965 were aligned against the religion, social practices and values of their parents, and burst into full flower as a "Counterculture" whose primary doctrine was that opposition in the name of traditional American values of liberty, equality and fraternity applied to disenfranchised populations from African-Americans to American Indians to Jews and Homosexuals. These groups united under the Countercultural banner to become a force that assimilated American liberalism and redirected its agenda to empowerment for all, once it became dominant. However, before it gained any social status, it had "outsider" authenticity and cachet which made it a sought-after cultural force across the West, in part because of its contrarian status and its lack of acceptance among the cultural and social mechanisms of the day.

Music - [ Proto-metal ]

Since 1950s rock had been such whitebread wholesomeness, centered mainly around puppy love and going to the beach or the sock hop, the revenge of those who had been left out focused angrily on dissident and alienated themes, but expressed them to some degree in the civility of the day, leading to forms that in our current time of literal and material thought are tame, but in their time were offensive by the nature of their existence. These came in three forms, one crude, one arty, and one techniqueoriented. The first was the advent of loud, distorted blues, which was pioneered by a mess of a band called Blue Cheer, who made braying, droning, grinding blues rock with the aid of deformed amplifiers and a passion for crudity. They were the vanguard of a range of electric blues bands from Cream to Jimi Hendrix to ZZ Top, and inspired much of the loud rock which followed, including proto-punk-rockers the Kinks and the Who. Much can be said about these bands, but what is most important is that they took the traditions of folk and blues improvisation and turned them into something technically on par with the jazz and big band acts of the day, adding guitar fireworks and lengthy songs to a genre that was otherwise strictly radioplay ditties. The second tine of the fork was progressive rock, which in 1968 found its most extreme act in King Crimson, but which truly flowered during the early middle 1970s. Arguably, this genre was given impetus by a band overmentioned in any history of popular music because they were among the first to leave standard rock format, overcoming its novelty, namely, the Beatles. Their work was one of many that allowed bands to mix classical and jazz training into their rock, resulting in longer song structures, many of which were narrative or neo-operatic (Camel, Genesis, Yes) and the use of distortion and dissonance in artful ways. While these bands ultimately choked on their own "virtuosity," being nestled in a genre that could barely appreciate them but not reaching the level of complexity of classical works (in part because of a need to service the unending drumbeats and syncopated rhythms common to rock), they lived on in contributions to other genres. Finally, there was a tradition of bands who grew from the surf and garage rock traditions into a technique-oriented neo-proto-punk-rock format, beginning with halfAmerican Indian guitarist Link Wray and leading through surf guitar champion Dick Dale, both of whom were users of distortion. Psychedelic bands such as the 13th Floor Elevators and semi-punkers like Love and The Trees are worth mentioning here, but these bands had a foot as well in inspiration from the first dark rock band to exist, the Doors. Where other rock bands had focused on love or peace, the Doors brought a Nietzsche-inspired morbid subconscious psychedelia to rock music, and were the origins of much of the neo-Romanticism which later bloomed into metal, as well as many of the more inspired moments of progressive and punk rock. By 1969, the influence of these artists had saturated the forms of public consciousness which were focused on rock music as a developing artform, and contributed to the explosion of hard rock (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple) and proto-metal (Black Sabbath), both of which occurred simultaneously to the development of distorted, power-chord based technical music from King Crimson. This year was thus the watershed for loud forms of rock, as it started three threads which would run concurrently during the 1970s and hybridize in the next decade.

In many ways taking up where the Doors left off, Black Sabbath were originally a British electric blues band named Earth, but after guitarist Toni Iommi had a stint in progressive rock band Jethro Tull (and not coincidentally, members of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath participated in each other's projects), the quartet surged foward with a new sound, inspired by horror movies and the same morbid, neoGothic animal nihilism that had made the Doors strikingly out of place. Using perhaps the most extreme distortion heard so far, and reducing the flowery instrumentalism of the time to the basics, Black Sabbath combined progressive rock with electric blues and created something that differed from its contemporaries in several ways: it almost exclusively used power chords; it used bassier distortion; it had narrative song structures like a progressive band, but relied on gutsimple riffs for the majority of its air time; it was morbid, occult and negative in its lyrical outlook. For all of the political change fomented by 1960s rock, Black Sabbath were a shock -- but even more surprising was their consequent success on radio and in record stores. They had tuned into something their worldwide audience found relevant, if not appealing. Legend relates that the members of Black Sabbath, looking for a new "angle" (trend) in rock music, drove past a marquee for the horror movie titled Black Sabbath in English speaking countries. H.P. Lovecraft, arguably the founder of that genre, once stated that in life he had not observed good or evil, but an abundance of horror meaning that there was no moral classification for the "bad" things that happened, but that the experience would be horrific. Black Sabbath as a band, in adopting their new image, sought to express the experience of horror and truth, eschewing for a moment the rigid morality of rock bands around them. It is important to note that most of this occurred with notice - by the members of Black Sabbath. They wanted to be musicians and fit in somewhere between power blues and progressive rock, and despite drug use, psychological mishaps and basic personal instability, they created a "sound" that was ahead of its time - and ahead of its musicians. Much less articulated than Led Zeppelin (and farther from the rock norm of the time), they launched themselves ahead of the crowd and then had to look back and gather some sense of direction, causing the band to collapse artistically by 1978. At that point, however, the formula for 1970s heavy metal was established: a smidgen of the King Crimson esoteric weirdness, the dark Gothic haunting cavernous sound of Black Sabbath, the guitar wizardry of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, the physical thunder and brash insane hedonism of Blue Cheer. At this point in history, "heavy metal" (a term borrowed from beat writer William S. Burroughs' 1962 novel, The Soft Machine) was viewed as somewhere between prog rock and psychedelia, but already its content was starting to differentiate itself. Primarily, mainstream radio music will always follow the same song format that was the basis of the English drinking songs and Scots hymns that inspired the blues, including some degree of instrumental vocal shadowing ("call and response"), repetitive verse chorus form, and a bridge taking the song to a brief melodic

counterpoint and then resolution. The more intricate Black Sabbath songs were thus mostly lost to radio, encouraging any artists wishing to develop those concepts to do so elsewhere. Further, the morality of the time and the counterculture was offended by the occultism Black Sabbath had chosen as an aesthetic image, yet had found it loomed larger than life (aided by the semi-serious occultism of Led Zeppelin's Jimi Page). Occult beliefs are distinguished from "normal" (Christian, Jewish) religions by the occult's tendency to accept good and evil as forcing balancing the universe, both being necessary, as in the gnostic tradition. This doesn't sit well with church elders nor with Counterculture members trying to come up with a universal, absolute reason why change and empowerment of the less-fortunate must occur. Years later, even highly political punkers were often skeptical and repulsed by the amorphous, indefinite stance of heavy metal, as if they fear the reaction of an occult mystic to their rule-based logic.

Art - [ Moralism ]
During this era, in which the superpowers re-aligned themselves internally to justify their violent projection of individual "freedom" upon the world, as a consequence of their competition with the Communist empires of Russia and China, the primary goal of Western art was to glorify the individual and the choices it faced approaching "freedom" in an industrial society. Jazz rose into the mainstream and took on new forms, most notably the harmolodic (free harmony) of Ornette Coleman and the consequent adoption of that technique by John Coltrane, as a coda to hard bop. Mainstream film and literature both praised the individual and its range of choices, and warned of possible confusion in this new society. Don DeLillo's 1972 novel White Noise is emblematic of this tendency, in that it both explored the importance of each individual life and warned about a lost span of consciousness in a world of brands, constant distractions, entertainment and cities which were more like machines than dwelling areas. Thomas Pynchon's novel of the years following, Gravity's Rainbow, warned of the moral - individualistic - consequences of too much technological thinking. Some years before, William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch had suggested that society operated according to an "Algebra of Need," in which the drug seller's dependency on his client's dependency was compared to the system of capital itself. While these books were highly critical of society itself, their criticism was based in liberal democratic thought and the importance of the individual, which made them both critics and collaborators in the society of the time. At a certain level, there is truth in the observation that to explain evil is the first step to excusing it; indeed, that all explanation is, de facto, exoneration. It is a dangerous step down a path to moral relativism, situational ethics and the enfeebling of the will to fight the evil. from the washington times Naturally, in popular music, this formula was pared down quite a bit. Most music was still about love, but it had gone from "puppy love" to "serious" adult love to the concept of love as political activism, in a neo-Christian belief that if we embraced all people equally, peace would reign on earth. While to anyone from the 1990s or later this concept is all but a punchline, at the time a less experienced society found it a

welcome respite from the Cold War and the balance of power between two nucleartipped adversaries. In the vision of the music of the time, now labelled "classic rock," a moralism of the individual could prevent the abuses of the past, and thus by process of elimination, have solved the problems of the future.

Influence - [ Prog, Jazz ]

If one were to diagram the influences between metal and progressive rock, it would resemble a game of Pong more than anything else, as any idea one had would quickly influence the other, in part because early hard rock bands such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin had "virtuosity" and harmonically advanced music which put them in roughly the same league as bands such as King Crimson and Camel, mainstays of the progressive rock era. Hard rock bands didn't tend to be as "weird" or venture as far from the conventionally accepted song format, as their audience was less art-school and more blue collar. However, the influence occurred, and through prog rock was absorbed quite a bit of jazz and classical theory as well. (An influence also came from Roma guitar player Django Reinhardt, who like Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi was limited in motion to only two fingers on his fretboard hand.)

Period 3 [ 1970 - 1981 ]

History - [ Futurism ]
The world saw the postwar order of superpower rule fade as the failures of Vietnam and the cold war culminated in a lack of faith in previous ideologies. The hippie generation, as an appeal to values inherent to the American political dialogue since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, was a culmination of internal stress in the democratic, neo-liberal, individualist political climate of America. While claiming ourselves to be liberators, detractors argued, we were shepherding our own third world with segregation of the oppressing and subjecting ourselves to a social order that put a monetary/political value on lifestyle, sex, and desire. America - the great savior of Europe during World War II and the world policeman for commercial hegemony - confronted her own hypocrisy in the rice fields of Viet Nam and the crowded race riot kindling of America's ghettoes. In chasing the symbols of peace, happiness, love and tranquility, the "youth counterculture" of the 1960s and 1970s embraced its oppressors and soon the peace sign became another icon of commercial culture. In the absence of ideology behind the dissipating hippie movement, technological futurism without ideological structure mated the sensual lifestyles of the 1960s with the commercial values of the 1940s, leading to a vapid culture which quickly assimilated anything however rebellious into its stream of social entertainment. The unstoppable machine of basic commerce which had been untouched by the hippie revolution began to justify itself with morality while increasing the benefits of first world living. Free love became swinging, experimentation became a steady diet of drugs, and ideology turned into coffee table discussion. By these mechanisms the 1970s became a futuristic decade, or one in which belief turned toward the future and technology as a savior where ideology had petered out, paving the way for a decade following which would affirm

the industrial revolution as its own value system. During the 1980s, the only relevant symbols were monetary and social success, meaning a modern adaptation of the white picket house in the suburbs, the minivan, local church and school groups and happy children with no cares in the world. A decade of overextension and massive expenditure on cold war buildup shattered most of this and replaced it with a literal reality of subservience, slowly flipping the power balance to a sublimated leftism. As the smiley futurism came to a close at the turn of the eighties it was clear the alienation was not an affliction but a condition of the system, and more extreme responses arose. Both the old-school conservative system and the hippie "revolution" had failed in their aims. In the mainstream, the previously "new left" leanings of our culture were overshadowed by the pragmatism of gaining money and power, and in the underground, a new series of dissidents found themselves in desperate paranoia against the industrial society slowly surrounding them. Slowly, the pragmatic "eat and assert needs" conservativism of America flowered with Ronald Reagan, and the underground new left moved toward media and went mainstream to combat the money and power of old school interests.

Metal - [ Heavy Metal ]

Metal began in prototype form with Black Sabbath, whose trademark occultism symbolized life in terms of the eternal and ideal, while their gritty, sensual, lawless guitar gave significance to the immediate and real. The resulting fusion of the bohemian generation with a nihilistic, dark and morbid streak birthed early metal. Those who had rejected the hippies and found no solace in social order embraced this music and lost bohemians everywhere began to find new directions in this sound. Having been thus born of the rock tradition early metal remained much within that framework, with dual lineages existing in Black Sabbath, the proto-metal architecturalists, and Led Zeppelin, the blues-folk-rock extravagantists. While the 1970s struggled to develop further the innovations in rock between 1965-1969 the influences that hit metal were primarily from European progressive rock. These musicians used classical theory to give narrative context to themes which in the popular music style repeat through cycling short complementary phrases or riffs which center motives. This technique migrated classical styles adapted from acoustic guitar and espoused structure over total improvisation. As metal grew in the middle 1970s, its fragmented nature brought it both commercial success and hilarity as a retarded younger brother to rock. The rock side coupled with trash rock bands and formed stadium metal, which was the apex of metal's popularity and the nadir of its creativity, with bands being known for musical illiteracy, hedonistic excess and often mind-wrenching stupidity in interviews. These bands would come into full flower in the 1980s, but marked their territory well before the turn of the decade. On the other hand, however, some of the most dramatic growth in metal occurred when bands merged progressive leanings with desires for traditional solid, sing-along songs. From this fork in the metal path came three greats whose influences cannot be underestimated, birthed in the early 1970s but becoming most dramatically influential in the 1980s: Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden. Each had musicians from a progressive background who added new ideas to rock and metal, whether the neoclassical guitar duo of K.K. Downing and Glen

Tipton or the melodic basslines of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. Even Motorhead, the simplest and most basic of the three, wrote songs with a melodic baroque tendency that rivalled that of the Beatles, except without the flourishes and happy feelings. Bridging between psychedelic space rock like founder Lemmy Kilmister's Hawkwind, aggressive punk and simplified metal-rock in the style of Blue Cheer, Motorhead sounded like a glass-gargling vagabond and an impromptu jail session band, but developed much of the technique and basic riff forms for the hybrid music to come. The more obscure and threatening NWOBHM bands grew with the subgenre in the 1970s to oppose commercial slickness with direct and primal music. Angel Witch and Diamond Head and eventually Venom tore technique to its basics to get to the balladmeets-firefight balance of rebel music. All of these fused the DIY attitude of punk bands with the epic nature of metal and created as a result music that was bold and far-reaching but accessible, both to fans and to those who would like to pick up their own instruments and emulate it.

Art - [ Hedonism ]
"My purpose was always just to express myself," he answers. "People are kidding themselves when they think music is going to change the world or enlighten people. It's a bunch of hogwash." -- Paul Stanley, Kiss

The 1970s brought an era between the peace love and happiness age and the more serious years to follow; as the Cold War intensified and the threat of ICBMs became more pronounced and definitive, the 1970s were privately a grim time of preparation for the worst and publically a time of vast hedonism. Part of this existed because underneath the hopes of the last generation had been a vast despair, in knowing that force would solve what pleasant thoughts of peace and universal love could not; part of this occurred because the movements of the 1950s had run their course for a generation without finding anything new. Hippies were essentially Beats with a more artificially positive outlook, and rock'n'roll had run itself into redundancy, relying on extremity to make itself something other than mundane. The result of this pursuing tangible heights in a void of actual belief was a profound hedonism. Casual sex reached the mainstream, as did drugs including more powerful variants of marijuana and cocaine. The futurism of a commercial society replaced ideas with lifestyles based on products, conspicuous consumption, and the Me generation at its most flagrant. The result was that most fell into mainstream lockstep, having absorbed the methods of the previous generation but lost its belief; the dissidents in art were hardcore punk, ambient and electronic music.

Influence - [ Electronic, Ambient ]

From the public front, the Sex Pistols exemplified all that hardcore was: brash, loud, and in total nihilistic denial of almost all value (except curiously being anti-abortion, since even punk vocalists find it hard to shake past indoctrination). For every band that was a public face on punk however there were garage bands and hardcore bands which labored in obscurity, rarely recording much that survives to this day, in part because their attitude toward musicality was so dismissive that their one- and twochord songs had few fans except those caught up in the cultural movement itself. In ambient music, musicians such as Tangerine Dream and Robert Fripp probed a new form of spirituality in pieces that eschewed the obvious, tangible and quantifiable

sounds of traditional rock instrumentation, preferring instead lengthy pieces which slowly developed through layers of atmosphere and contained a poetic content of revelation, much as classical pieces progress through motives to uncover an essential melody or inspiration. They were echoed in this by electronic musicians such as Kraftwerk, who originated the genre when it was necessary to be able to manufacturer one's own instruments, who used their classical training to make sublime pieces overlaid on top of minimal beats, reversing the trend toward more ornate percussion that had grown through rock and especially its progressive variant. While these three exceptions existed, the rest of the world essentially anaesthesized itself, including most rock, metal, jazz and blues musicians, leading to a time of innovation in technical detail but loss of basic impetus. For this reason, hardcore punk changed the entire way sonic art was viewed, and electronic music took a subtle backseat while providing the groundwork for the next generation.

Period 4 [ 1982 - 1987 ]

History - [ Reactionarism ]
One defining aspect of the 1980s was the ascent of conservative leaders in the United States and Britain who favored building up large militaries and nuclear weapons stockpiles to counter those of the Soviet union; this was a reaction to the more passive eras previous which had hoped that love and later technological futurism could drive away the basic problem that faced humanity, namely two edgy superpowers ready to clobber each other with bombs that turned cities to glowing dust. The feeling was that the Cold War could drag on interminably, or could explode at any moment, and the West wanted to be ready for that eventuality. The result was a decade which outwardly tried to affirm all that the people in their 30s and 40s found meaningful, namely a white picket fence vision of America from the 1950s, and this boiled over into England and the world as a whole. It was a bracingly reactionary time, in which "Communist" was once again a careerthreatening insult, and in which the Christian religion and the process of making money for oneself again became the way in which one's social importance was reckoned. Naturally, this provoked a resurrection of the Counterculture and its strongest incarnation yet, since it had been absorbed in the 1970s and, since popular opinion was close to its own values, had been assimilated. Now that it once again had something to rebel against, it manifested itself in a growing cadre of die-hard liberal specialist movements and alternative art, literature and music scenes, none of which produced anything enduring.

Metal - [ Speed Metal/Thrash ]

Metal aged and so did the generation that produced the hippies, drifting into commercialdom and then self-hatred for losing sight of basic goals. Having lost both of their fundamental systems of iconography (traditional + hippie "revolution" and New Left) within a decade while most of the population remained ignorant to both, the youth of the 1960s and 1970s were more cynical and materialist as they aged than any

previous group. This awakened a scavenger coming to carcass in the 1980s which rolled into glorious rehash of the commercial ambition of the 1950s, leading to a wave of denial and an ever-present conformity in face of new fears: drugs, technological warfare, disease. A desperate paranoid climate emerged underneath the murmuring denial neurosis of commercial social doctrine. Ideology in popular music became an intense moral crusade of horror at the history of humanity to that point, hearkening back to WWI-era dissent. In this environment, metal updated itself with the aggression and simplicity of hardcore, and came back for the attack in at first two hybrid genres: speed metal and thrash. Speed metal took the classically-influenced structures of neoclassical progressive heavy metal from the 1970s and merged them with the palm-muted, choppy strum of violent British hardcore, as well as the whipping speed-strum of the more fluid crustcore genre. An example of the first influence can be found in violently alienated bands like The Exploited and Black Flag, where the latter originated in Amebix and Discharge, who twisted three chords into a song where the guitar playing was fast but the drumming and vocal delivery slower, creating like ambient music a disorientation of pace and thus of activity. Thrash was crossover music based more in hardcore, so unlike speed metal, which added hardcore riff stylings to metal song forms, it added metal riff stylings to hardcore song forms. Classic speed metal bands were Metallica, Megadeth, Testament, Slayer, Anthrax and Prong, but these were the largest and most commercial and many others existed concurrently. Thrash remained underground and lasted for less than a decade, thus it retained its primal trio of Cryptic Slaughter, the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Corrosion of Conformity, although it is academically interestin to mention offshoots like Suicidal Tendencies and Fearless Iranians From Hell, both of which were more punk rock and rock'n'roll than the core of the thrash genre. Although toward the end of the 1980s people began referring to bands like Destruction and Kreator as "thrash metal," it makes more sense to identify them as essentially speed metal bands which borrowed attributes from thrash and nascent death metal bands. At one point praised by Robert Fripp for remaining apart from mainstream culture, these bands faced a growing divide in the music industry, namely the availability of cheaper recording technology (thanks to advances in digital and manufacturing ability) as well as, for the first time, the ability to press records and CDs in small runs, giving rise to a horde of smaller labels. While hardcore punk bands had maintained the DIY aspect for years, they were unwilling and unable to make any money doing so, but in the 1980s the ease of access to these technologies meant that small, independent ("indie") labels could both publish ecclectic rarities and not go bankrupt in the process. For youth growing up during this time period, life was an uncertain and duty-bound prospect, threatened on one side by ICBMs which could arrive in a matter of minutes and vaporize cities, and on another by a tide of reactionary politics and social conformity which forced people

into norms to avoid the risk of standing out and being tacitly avoided by employers and potential social contacts alike. Speed metal and thrash bands, who were in the crux of generational exchange, experienced both worlds: the public image and the private reality, including political dissidence. Their hardcoresque anthems of social and political dissent are leftist but even more so, "rejectivist." The world is pushed back and its mechanisms declared incompetent. Many began the slow spiral into fatalism, where either through belief in religious mechanisms behind historical growth or a lack of ability to apply their passion, lapsing into a hedonism of self-destructive principle. The hedonistic attitudes and hail-satan paeans to deviant creativity evaporated as a politicized theory of what ought to be done, inherited both from hardcore punk and the surrounding public culture, seized metal. Songs were written about the evils of drugs, the mistreatment of American Indians, the oppression of minorities by a WASP majority, the desire for individualist independence from the conformist horde, and the abuse of our natural environment. At its inception a genre of palm-muted, Morse-codish riffs and epic song structures the speed metal of the 1980s held out until the 1990s before being absorbed. Speed metal and "social consciousness" dimmed many fantasies; it had become as moralistic as both the conservative society and self-righteous countermovement against which 1969 metal had rebelled. This caused dissent among those who felt that both commercialism and this moralistic trend were absorbing the "free spirit" they had admired in the music previously, and that it was becoming predictable and selfdestructive in its tendency to sound like everything else. In contrast, electronic music was exploring increasingly existential themes and broader questions of intent, eschewing the moralistic humanism which overran speed metal and thrash. Q: What is its appeal to Laibach? Well, it's very industrial, and formerly it was very innovative, especially techno music. It's a very innovative practice, in the way of inventing a new form. The only real revolution which has happened inside of pop culture was for instance Kraftwerk. They have actually formed a new language inside music; they could easily be treated as the last important German classical composers. And after Kraftwerk there was no other revolution inside musicyet. Everything was based on what had already been stated. It's all based on the format of rock and roll. Rock and roll is a matter of something which originated in the Sixties and Fifties and it is not very original-it's coming out from traditions of Gospel and Blues and that goes further into African roots, the roots of African music. The only real revolutionary music was when they started to invent electronic instruments, that was in the Twenties. And computer musicKraftwerk were the first ones to do it properly. Jesus Christ Superstars also features a very strong element of heavy metal. Heavy metal is a matter of genre. We don't consider ourselves as huge innovators of styles, but we are using different genres to express different intentions which we have. Heavy metal

is definitely a very authentic genre of popular culture and actually quite interesting changes are happening with heavy metal at the moment. The fact is there's not such a big a difference between heavy metal and electro-industrial music, or techno music, or basic industrial music, if you go back further. I think that lots of prejudices are on power, and that's the biggest problem. Heavy metal does have its own concepts, its own logic and it works-it works very well for certain aspects of music. There's not much difference between Metallica and Wagner. Laibach, from delirium magazine interview This conflict led to change in the form of the rise of metal's dual underground genres, which by 1987 had established themselves in nascent form as a handful of ideas and techniques each. These would await another generation to be brought into much focus, as the transitional time of the end of the 1980s and the dominant liberalism of the early 1990s caused further ideological confusion in metal (and essentially eliminated punk hardcore as an artform, since it drowned in the same ideological conformity). At first, these two genres were the same musical formation, but over time differences in scope and belief separated them.

Early bands which explored this new territory fused the melodic, elemental speedy hardcore of Discharge or The Exploited with the more architectural song forms, as developed initially by bands like Judas Priest and Angel Witch, and added to them an emphasis on chromatic intervals, both for their simplicity and the dead sound they gave to any melodic temperment to the song as a whole. After Discharge's "See Nothing, Hear Nothing, Say Nothing" came out in 1982, metal responded the following year, with new bands Bathory, Sodom and Hellhammer developing morbid Goth-Romantic versions of the new style, embracing death and evil and nothingness, as if channeling the apocalyptic thermonuclear fears of the previous generation of metal into a certainty of existential doom. Their essential thesis seemed to be thus: the world had become obsessed with its own power and political-moral attitudes, but had forgotten the finity of human life and thus the need to pick things that were important and eternal, such as nature and strong emotions, which had been obscured by the need to avoid threats and defend against philosophical enemies. In the mainstream, Slayer produced their own version of this style in 1983, but did not differentiate much beyond a fusion of Judas Priest, Angel Witch and Discharge until their album of 1987, "Raining Blood." By that time, Celtic Frost had emerged from Hellhammer with a mock operatic drama of searching for value in T.S. Eliot's wasteland, Bathory had unleashed a Viking rock spectacular which identified strongly with the heroic values of ancient societies, and Sodom had gone from praising Satan to warning of environmental holocaust and dicatorship. Further bands had joined the fray, most notably Sepultura, Possessed and Massacra, each of whom added a degree of interpretation of a style coming to be known as death metal. Of note also were Necrovore and Morbid Angel who created similar styles of acerbic, abstract death metal.

Art - [ Humanism ]
Because the 1980s were so reactionary, the Counterculture lashed out with an onslaught of individualistic, egalitarian, humanistic values, which coincided with the reasons Culture gave for its being "superior" to the godless Communists. This meant that the art of the period expressed humanistic sentiments from one of two poles, but could never bring them together. Cosmopolitan speed metal bands like Nuclear Assault and Anthrax emphasized this in contrast to Metallica, whose lyrics were ultimately more embracing of patriotism and a rigid rights-based view of reality. The same split occurred elsewhere in popular music; folk-rockers like REM were Democrats for the college kids, and country-folk bands reached out to working people who voted Republican. The end goal of the two messages were the same, but they catered to different lifestyles. This fragmentation began to occur more frequently along the division between "indie" and "mainstream," a fact used by each side to claim the other was either self-marginalizing or sold out, respectively. The Atlantic magazine would in the early days of the twenty-first century write about the differences between rural commonsense types ("Red") and cosmopolitan, urban, multicultural administrative

elites ("Blue"), a division which came into form in the split described above.

Influence - [ Hardcore ]
British heavy metal and punk is what we are. It is fusion of two styles. We said that from day one. - Jeff Hanneman, Slayer* The predominant musical influence during this era was the rise and fall of hardcore, something which was birthed in the late 1970s but expressed its technique and ideas most fully in the 1980s before choking on its own excess. Because it was accessible to both fans and musicians, it was soon flooded with followers; because it took a doctrinaire but identifiable political stance, it was soon flooded with people for whom the art was secondary to mind control; because it had no consensus on its ideology in whole, it pulled itself in too many directions, fragmented and dispersed. Its influence on metal was undeniable, but equally obvious are what happened to hardcore bands. Henry Rollins of Black Flag went on to an alternative metal project, the Henry Rollins Band, and musicians from Amebix put out a metal album ("Monolith"), while ex-Discharge personnel ended up in the Slayer-sounding Broken Bones. Hardcore itself disintegrated, having reached its furthest point of extremity and beyond that, having few ideas (none were possible, since once one breaks music down to its simplest point, there is very little ground upon which to expand in that direction). What occurred in its place is what is popularly called "punk rock," which resembled the stripped-down rock which had inspired the creation of punk music before it had branched into hardcore, its "underground" counterpart to the more public music of bands like Iggy Pop, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols. The result of this fragmentation was a range of genres, from "emo" or emotional melodic punk rock, to various forms of progressive punk and descendents of hardcore-metal hybrids, most notably thrash (with substantial migration to the rising death metal and industrial music scenes). While finding direct progeny of hardcore is more difficult, finding its influence is not. Band like Soft Machine and Public Image Limited formed "post-punk," a genre in which the bands traded guitars for keyboards and, taking influence from electronic bands like Kraftwerk, made punk-like basic music. When this genre in turn crossed wires with the still below cover indie rock scene, the result was "80s music," which possessed the instrumentation of the postpunk bands, including drum machines and sequenced keyboards, but had more in common with the "sensitive" side of popular music, including (depending on the band) influences from jazz, rhythm 'n' blues, country and industrial. At this point, it became difficult to tell this music from the "indie rock" except by instrumentation, as both featured melodic composition, gentle harmonies and "sensitive" vocalists. For these and many other reasons beyond the scope of this document, the 1980s are viewed as a watershed for popular music, as it branched into a plurality of genres which shared a common instrumental heritage, but not necessarily a musical one, being now two generations removed from the original blues-country fusion that produced rock music itself. The ones that stood out most clearly as not part of the crowd were the synthpop or electronic bands, the industrial bands, and the metal bands - for all practical purposes, punk and hardcore had collapsed into repetition and ceased to be an influence in popular music. The only exception was the progressive/emo music of bands like Fugazi, and the new hybrid form of thrash/death metal known as "grindcore," pioneered by bands like Carcass and Napalm Death in the middle 1980s. These genres like many of the split ideas of the 1980s had to ferment for several years until the 1990s had dawned, at which point a new political

and social climate gave them a more fertile medium for growth. At this point, it was impossible to find a clean lineage for any of these genres, as they existed in parallel and cross influenced each other not solely musically, but aesthetically. For example, much of indie rock came to borrow riff styles and song structures from punk rock, but rock as a whole lifted any number of aesthetic changes, including the harsher vocals and distortion which these bands used. Industrial music was initially an affair of tape loops of industrial machinery noises, in the style of Einsturzende Neubauten, but moved from that into a "pop" form which used distorted keyboards and punk riffs in the context of aggressive synthpop. This in turn hybridized with grindcore in the late 1980s to form "industrial grindcore," exemplified by Godflesh and later emulated by pop industrial bands like Ministry. However, it's hard to argue this descended linearly from the influences mentioned, as early 1980s industrial synthpop band Killing Joke provides an equally viable template. For this reason, it is more accurate to say that after 1985, partially because of the new abundance of labels using cheaper technology to produce CDs and records, there was a complicated inheritance of different traits through many avenues, mostly aesthetic and not musical, and this alone distinguished not only 1980s music but all music after it. Interlude: Explanation of the Next Two Sections After speed metal had reached the furthest extremes possible in music that was still saleable and then, like hardcore music before it, became assimilated by the mainstream ideologies that it unwittingly espoused, the elements in metal that emphasized an artistic and not political thrust to lyrics and imagery moved forward by, taking their cue from first the punk scene and then the indie scene, going "underground." This meant they took advantage of the ability to issue releases on small labels with no broad-spectrum sales, and designed their music for a market which did not intend to be mainstream. Music could be more aesthetically distant from conventional rock and pop, and unlike music which needed to be sold in stores which had to respond to complaints from potentially offended customers, could embrace any topic or aesthetic it wanted (interestingly, it was this development that also fueled the rise of political music of various extremes). This new "underground" was like the indie and punk scene before it in its distribution channels, but radically different in what it produced; instead of making an alternative version of the music which received radio play, it was making an alternative art form which violated the very attributes that made music radio-playable at all. The two genres which arose from this were death metal and black metal, and as of the first generation - Bathory, Sodom, and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost - there was no differentiation. For that reason, this narrative branches at this point and doublecovers the period from roughly 1983-1996, so that each of these two different genres can be revealed for its essential attributes, ideology and ultimately, influences it had. As these genres are aesthetically similar but musically and philosophically far different, it is imperative to distinguish between them, especially regarding what occurred with black metal and "forbidden ideas."

Period 5 [ 1988 - 1993 ]

History - [ Egalitarianism ]
Post-coldwar instability arose when the sudden collapse of communism under Western economic pressure created a vacuum of social direction which was eventually resolved in unity between moral emotion and needs for power. As little had changed, social boredom increased and with the official ideology of non-change created the most nihilistic, disposable society ever. Entertainment media became prevalent as CDs, VCRs, and stereos of a high-performance nature became common. The large screen TV lit America at night and warmed her power grids with the drooling inattention of a stagnant, functional land. Worldwide, America was seen as a cultural leader and thus was embraced despite the horrifying failures of the American system. The focus of world leaders turned inward to militarize against drugs, racism and separatism. The Rise of Western (Judeo-Christian) Civilization Our civilization as we know it is the recent artifact of the merging of Christian ideals with the remnants of former times, and as such encompasses only the period of history after the rise of Judeo-Christianity within the context of Judeo-Christian values. Today's Americans and world citizens view modern society as the apex of culture, often forgetting empires such as Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, India, China or Japan which flourished as imperial dynasties amassing vast knowledge and cultural influence. Christianity was the essential principle of the founding of the states we now know as modern Europe, and by extension, America. "Within the time bracket 700 BC-AD 799 the lives of Confucius and Buddha, of the major Jewish prophets and of Mohammed are all included. The first Christians were Jews; but both under the impulse of its own doctrine, which held that all men were alike in spirit, and under the strong leadership of Paul, a man of Jewish birth, Roman citizenship and Greek culture, Christianity began to make converts without regard to former belief...The Christan teaching spread at first among the poor, the people at the bottom of society, those whom Greek glories and Roman splendors had passed over or enslaved, and who had the least delight in or hope for in the existing world...By the fifth century the entire Roman world was formally Christian."1 With the Christianization of the Romans and the consequent collapse of their empire, new states began to form using the germinal ideas of the old. These were based on Christian platonism, or theology of dualistic states in which one, as the known reality, is less pure than its more abstract and idealized theocratic counterpart. "Augustine wrote in the City of God with this event obsessing his imagination. He wrote to show that tough the world itself perished there was yet another world that was more enduring and more important. There were, he said, really two 'cities,' the earthly and the heavenly, the temporal and the eternal, the city of man and the City of God... [which] might mean certain elect spirits of this world, the good people as opposed to the bad. It might, more theoretically, be a system of ideal values or ideal justice, as opposed to the crude approximations of the actual world." 2 "Not all the early Christians were poor, and it became customary for the rich to provide for the poor at the common meals...This concern gave the early Christian communities a warmth and a human appeal that stood in marked contrast to the coldness and impersonality of the pagan cults. No less attractive were the promise of salvation, the importance to God o each individual human soul, and the spiritual equality of all men in the new faith. As Paul put it, 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in

Christ Jesus.'"

As Christianity rose in Europe, soon its doctrine of purity began eliminating those who did not concur. When Charlemagne founded his empire in mainstream Europe, only a brave few invaders and uncivilized Vikings opposed them. Over time however, the advantages of civilization made the task of the raiders more difficult, and they settled down and through wives and friends became Christian as well. As Christianity spread, other Judeo-Christian influences drifted into Europe. "Among early traders Jews were often important, because Judaism, penetrating the Byzantine and Arabic worlds as well as the Western, offered one of the few channels of distant communication that were open." 3 As Europe became centralized and civility and compromise fostered a booming industry, Christianity became important to the point that it became absorbed wholly by culture and as a result became a facet of European civilization soon to be exported to America. "In the real life of the time the Church was omnipresent. Religion permeated every pore. In feudalism, the mutual duties of lord and vassal were confirmed by religious oaths..." 4 Religious chaos and violence flooded Europe for the next half-millennium until an escape valve could be found, and ships soon departed for America carrying colonists and the most virulent form of the new religion yet, Protestantism. As America now becomes a world policeman as the remaining superpower after the Cold War, one has to recognize that history will repeat itself once again. "But you do not comprehend this? You are incapable of seeing something that required two thousand years to achieve victory?--There is nothing to wonder at in that: all protracted things are hard to see, to see whole. That, however, is what has happened: from the trunk of that tree of vengefulness and hatred, Jewish hatred-- the profoundest and sublimest kind of hatred, capable of creating ideals and reversing values, the like of which has never existed on earth before--there grew something equally incomparable...This Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate gospel of love, this 'Redeemer' who brought blessedness and victory to the poor, the sick and the sinners-- was he not this seduction in its most uncanny and iresistible form, a seduction and bypath to precisely those Jewish values and new ideals? Did Israel not attain the ultimat egoal of its sublime vegefulness precisely through the bypath of this 'Redeemer,' this ostensible opponent and disintegrator of Israel? Was it not part of the secret black art of truly grand politics of revenge, of a farseeing, subterranean, slowly advancing, and premeditated revenge, that israel must itself deny the real instrument

'all the world,' namely all the opponents of Israel, could unhesitatingly swallow just this bait?" 1. A History of the Modern World, R.R. Palmer, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1961. pgs 10-11 2. Palmer, 12. 3. Palmer, 26. 4. Palmer, 32. 5. The Western Heritage, Donald Kagan et al, MacMillan, New York, 1979. pg 191. 6. On the Genealogy of Morals, F.W. Nietzsche, Vintage/Random House 1967. pg 34-35 Any analysis of this time will reveal the increasing presence of television, cable television, movies and radio in the collective consciousness of Americans. In addition, the Internet, a defense communications subsystem, exploded into public life with AOL and dot-coms clamoring for inflated market share. The new Clinton economy raced up to meet it with token appeals for heart-tugging issues but a fundamentally sound economic policy which fostered growth, allowing a sudden hideousness of corporate focus. It became relatively easy to be wealthy in America, and wealth spread to non-white ethnic groups. World culture sighed a collective disbelief of ideology and iconography except as applied to hedonism, entertainment and public status. Belief in any meaning toward a cause was seen as a method of getting killed, and conflict avoidance for both commercial and moral purposes became the public standard of behavior in America and other countries in its economic model. The culture of the 1960s fully matured into raves, drug orgies, strange internet sex, etc. Whatever felt good was real. And while the edges of boredom on this vision showed, to many the classic 1960s archetype of the population being oppressed in being kept from the fulfillment of their urges, as a means of expressing a template of life, came true in the ability to have a job, make money and express hedonistic outpourings. Barricaded emotions became a perverse zen of neutralism, in which individuals saw society as unchanging and their own actions as ineffective, so hedonism and personal "moral neutrality" was required. Recycling and condom use, working out and finding a career somehow became bedfellows with the hippie aesthetic and a 1970s value structure in music and iconographic treatment of musicians. An aging hippie draft-dodging privileged youth of the 1960s became president, and his hypocrisy matched his grand gestures, overflowing generosity and appropriately sentimental tears at suffering everywhere. His performance was central to the age: where Generation X had grown up blown to hell in the 1980s and then moved on to yuppiedom, the new generations were casually debauched and hedonistic but mostly simply holding on to whatever they could find in the empty youths of yuppie households. Their frustration bore a sobering truth: humanity was too large to collectively mobilize for complex political ideals, and were mostly pacified with television, shiny cars and consumer electronic goods. The rising generations of the world, acclimated to years of non-issues and political icons without significance, began to withdraw from society in protest not of its application of values but its lack of values. The average person responded more to television and emotional appeal than political logic; media had saturated every aspect of life in nearly every country, and carried a strong bias with its frivolous programming. Strategic futility and single-issue, knee-jerk responses dominated this era. The single issue nature of the new voting consciousness meant a focus on the negative and on change of the wrong, since by tacit agreement no collective plan could move forward. Conservativism went with the way of the dinosaur and liberal crusaders charged in only to immediately embrace their own scandals

while failing to address environmental issues, social/educational reform, and corporate domination. The new generation of liberals were far more informed than the previous generation, and had powerful economic advisers; as the conservative party had shifted liberal a decade before, the liberals had shifted conservative with new allies in the media and financial sectors. The media in return supported the new thrust in liberal government, identifying with its the moral values and humanism inherent in its leftism. The first televised war had birthed a generation who absorb information subconsciously from TVs and expect it delivered with the flickering attention span of a cathod ray tube. The iconographic treatment of "stars" from the 1970s became a slavish worship and prurient inspection of the tragic lives of public individuals; media sped up the event horizon by pumping endless news of change in thousands of voices into the lives of people worldwide; the soon emerging triumph of computing. Children who had grown up with television and radio recognized familiar citations in patchwork creations by rap artists, collage artists like Beck, and the disassociative lyrics of grunge bands. The New Left had triumphed, yet was still in conflict with the basic conflicts of democracy, and the slightly more enlightened age had come. Underneath it all beat the dying embers of Christian morality and symbological idealism, with a Puritan work ethic matching a rigorous desire for vengeance. While this did not affect current generations as much, as their inertia in coming from a more hopeful time insulated them, the duality of public image and private reality shattered the following generations. Broken homes, degenerate and abusive marriages, parents working until late at night and a constant stream of media emphasizing human failure and conflict took its toll. Almost aphasic in their approach to politics and ideology, these generations were entirely temporal in their approach to values and without belief in any form of ideal, as all ideals had behind them a commercial engine. As if in sick replay of the Vietnam conflict, human intentions seemed "good" but turned out "bad" - through something we brought with us no matter where we went. Emotional nihilism approached, and raging spirits sought reason to live or, in other ranges, significance of death.

Metal - [ Death Metal ]

"Certain individuals I like, but people as a whole suck! Nothing but talking monkeys with car keys." - Kam Lee, Massacre Death metal existed without a name for many years, being influenced by both the extremes of speed metal (Destruction) and Thrash (Cryptic Slaughter), as well as carrying forward influences from hardcore (The Exploited) and Gothic influences to original heavy metal and industrial. In fact, like a genetic profile, the genre is not identifiable by a single trait alone, but by a collection of traits and the common ideas that allow them to be organized as such. Riffs from The Exploited, for example, could be transplanted into modern death metal without being out of place (especially from their "Let's have a war..." album); similarly, distortion and song structures from Destruction can be played "in style" by death metal bands without seeming out of place. However, what unified these concepts, and gave the genre its name, was its literal morbidity: it did not praise death, nor warn of it, but explored it in a strange obsession designed to reinforce the existence of "ultimate reality": the physical,

natural, objective world in which we live, and in which we die. In fact, the early death metal especially can be explained almost exclusively by the Hellhammer slogan, "Only death is real." This outlook, a primitive denial of all that asserted the existence of society on a level above or more important than natural reality, was not explicitly political, nor was it identifiable with any social movement except perhaps fragments of existentialism, nihilism and naturalism; it was certaintly not studied to that degree by the majority of death metal bands and fans. However, by taking this route, death metal avoided the increasing politicization of post-hardcore music which was occurring around it, and the consequent "internalization" of dialogue to the point where a genre only existed by the barest of aesthetic commonality: it used the same instrumentation and distorted, but shared no culture or musical direction or belief system. Over the next two decades, this litmus test for a genre would be reinforced time and again, with genres that could not maintain shared direction collapsing into commerce. Many bands applied the styles -- chromatic progressions, fast strumming, ambient rhythms -- into different incarnations of a new genre, death metal. The mainstreammoral/underground-nihilist dichotomy was illustrated in the songwriting of older metal bands, which followed too much of the friendly rock music format and allowed itself to anticipate the conditioned desires of the listener, as contrasted to the new music which emphasized structural change (narrative) over finding a convenient harmony and riff and sticking with it. The innovations of Discharge, allowing chromatic riffing to be used in the context of melodic songwriting, and of Bathory, in building song structure around the shape of its riffing, were applied in the works of bands obsessed with death, mortality, and the obscurist predictions of mythology. Apocalypticism, which in speed metal bands had been a dire warning, was here a foundational assumption. As part rebel and part insurgent structuralist, metal broke the scale into broad tonal leaps and chromatic rhythm playing where the structure was the message, not the root note to which it was harmonized or the conventions of such construction followed; key is used carelessly if at all at focal points of intersecting themes in motif development, eschewing the cyclic silhouette of rock form. This was most clearly defined in the second generation of the new style, which began with Sepultura, Massacra, Possessed, Necrovore and Morbid Angel, whose music was both a radical primitivism and a futurist adaptation of classical theory. Although many elements of metal and hard rock remained, what was emerging that made the genre distinct from all others was a way of taking a "riff salad" and shaping it into a changing pattern which eventually revealed a conclusion. Much as Mozart's music would dance through motivic change for most of its duration, finally uncovering its central theme, a gentle melody, in death metal a thunderous barrage of chromatic riffs prepared the listener for certain expectations in tone and phrase shape, then brought out the conclusion, like the last stanza of a poem: that which explained the journey and why its conclusion was apt. This style was most reminiscent of past centuries of Romantic and Naturalistic European poetry, art and music, but was missed by all but a few death metal fans - not, however, by the innovators creating music in the genre. Aesthetically, death metal was abrupt and disturbing to most because of the vocals, which were organically distorted by pitching the voice either lower or higher than

normal and forcing it to volumes not normally invoked except in an open-throat shout. It was a guttural growl, like that of a defensive animal, and it matched the oftendowntowned guitars and layers of thick distortion which as often as not cut out the middle ranges of sound in favor of low-end and high-end. Drums used an extreme form of syncopation known as double bass, in which two bass drums were played alternatingly at high speed, destroying the syncopatic effect in the context of the song but providing a buffetting, urgent constant rhythm. In this genre, power chords exclusively were used, and new forms were incorporated including dissonance. Further, rhythmically the genre operated more as ambient bands do, with percussion framing the music but not leading it on, avoiding the expectation-based "funky" rhythms of rock, bluess and jazz. The result was that even without analyzing the music most listeners identified it with something unearthly, morbid, malevolent and antisocial. From here the genre bloomed, splitting into several different styles. Massacra was representative of the flowing, liquid, high-speed strumming style that rapidly included bands like Incantation, Hypocrisy, Vader, and later, the heavy-tremolo and electric blistering distortion-clad bands from Sweden, including Dismember and Entombed; Morpheus (later Morpheus Descends to avoid legal conflicts with the hard rock band from Sweden) established the percussive speed-metal-influenced style of choppy, muted riffs and precise drum patterning, a subgroup that included Sinister, Suffocation, Suffer and Cryptopsy; Possessed created a style somewhere in the middle that eventually included bands like Therion, Demigod, Monstrosity, Deicide and Unleashed. Sepultura reverted to being a speed metal band before getting in touch with their punk and world music roots, and Celtic Frost veered into glam rock before calling it a day. Sodom remained consistent, but gained instrumental prowess, making their new music unrecognizable to older fans. For each of these styles, diversification occurred, sometimes with interesting results. Some blended jazz with death metal, as did Atheist and Cynic; others mixed in grindcore for an aggressive but often blockheaded style called "deathgrind." Some tried to work ambient into the mix, as did Kong, and a few worked on hybrids with past versions of metal and rock, most of which were absorbed by their rock half and thus were unpalatable to metal fans, and equally unrecognizable to rock fans, causing the bands to either shift fully to rock music or to give up entirely. Some found a balance between the faster and mid-paced styles of death metal, to which they added simple but spectacularly effective melodic composition; good examples here would be Amorphis and Demilich. In summary, this was the genre of metal so far which created the greatest room for variation, in part because it was unified by a belief system more than a lifestyle choice, and in part as a result of its broad range of musical applications and few "rules" or genre conventions, despite having a clear musical identity in its nearly-keyless, atonal-and-dissonant friendly melodic structural form of composition. Death metal had taken the style underground, but also generated a flood of "angry" mainstream imitators and sellouts. Bands like Pantera, Cannibal Corpse, and Tool made use of death metal imagery or technique in the format of complacent suburban music designed to fill lives with distraction. For many, death metal died with the explosion of the Swedish scene and lyrics like those to the first Therion album selfconscious, moral, and pious while being anti-religious and "metal," in a conflict that while not touching the music defined the decomposition of focus in the genre. Morality

was "safe." So were rock hybrids like Entombed's "Clandestine." Flamboyant useless stylings of rock music and stadium heavy metal crept in alongside a dearth of ideas and repetition of known formulae. It seemed as if growth had made the genre too selfconscious, and as a result, it had abandoned itself to the methods of its antagonists. Worth mentioning in the context of death metal is the rise of a similar genre, grindcore, which grew from punk and thrash melded by convenience, to which the guttural vocals and detuned guitars of death metal were added. While the earliest bands such as Master and Carcass achieved some success, they eventually felt pressure to diversify and found themselves constrained by the emphasis on constant slamming rhythms, like rock based around expectation and not continuity as death metal was, as well as the need to be "extreme" (interestingly, Carcass spawned Napalm Death which in turn spawned Godflesh, leaving a trail behind its creators in search of a flexible but aggressive yet musical artform). Lyrics from Carcass were baffling to most as they consisted of humorous descriptions of illness soaked in the language of medical doctors, with latinate words falling into the gurgling voice like a radio broadcast from the land of the dead. Bolt Thrower, from England like Carcass, adopted a more "epic" style, describing conflict in both ancient and modern times, and Blood, from Germany, who took on a mythological-occultist view, added to a genre that was otherwise strikingly literal like punk bands; Napalm Death and Terrorizer provide examples of this general direction. In its own way, this music was both deconstructive and constructive. Its nihilism and alienation escaped the rules of society entirely and exceeded the limits of religion and conventional morality; it was born to be offensive and thus marked itself as not only not belonging to society but happy in that alienated view, preferring a separate truth to a compromise with something it saw as false and in denial of mortality, thus unable to seek any meaningful values (when life is infinite, and the self is the limits of perception, is there any reason to care about anything but gratification?). Unlike most genres of the time, however, its deconstruction was predicated on the notion that if enough of society were removed, a truth could be seen which was less constricting and less without value. This was years later a fulfillment of the Jim Morrison summary of William Blake's basic theory that if humankind could remove its perceptive confusion, it would see the world as it is - infinite.

Art - [ Deconstructionism ]
The theme of art in this age was deconstruction: removing consistent threads of thought which constituted a worldview, and supplanting them with an often random collection of observations and personal notes. In terms of the philosophy of this age, this could be a decisional point leading to either a negative state, in which total randomness and lack of direction (or intent) prevails, causing an entropic state of ideas, or toward an ideal state, in which people re-affirm subjective perception and make decisions based upon it determining how they will influence the physical, actual world; this is the opposite to the false objectivity and judgmentalism of morality, industrial/monetary "value" and the binary state of social acceptiveness. It remains to be seen which direction the generations of music engendered in this time will take, but so far, evidence suggests that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and they are embracing the ideals of the Counterculture generations before them.

Influence - [ Alternative ]
Among popular music, three main genres dominated this time: techno, or very simple beat-based electronic music, hip-hop, or beat based rhyming poetry constructed around samples, pop angst industrial, and alternative rock, which is a fusion of 1980s indie rock with punk rock and some of the more appealing techniques of 1980s metal. Clearly Nirvana bursting onto the scene (with the less popular but more archetypal Mudhoney) in 1991 was the inception of alternative rock radio domination, while the early popularity of Nine Inch Nails showcased pop industrial, and too many artists to name dominated hip-hop and techno (examples: The Orb, the Crystal Method, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy). Together these musics seem to have little in common, but when interpreted for their basic artistic direction, all are very similar. Alternative rock fused the emotionality of emo and the energy of punk rock in a style that proclaimed its dissidence but had no ideas outside extreme versions of the counterculture before it; that so many of these bands, once the money was made and a band member died or went into rehab, relapsed into making 1970s style rock is revelatory. Techno is like electronica, except without the melodic complexity or song structures; it follows a simple pop format and samples from all genres equally. Its twin is hip-hop, which like techno is built around the construction of new variations on accepted percussion rhythmic patterns, building on that foundation a vocal track of rhyming street poetry and samples, as well as simple keyboard riffs. Techno borrows much from disco and rhythm and blues, while hip-hop has a rich legacy of jazz, rhythm and blues and television soundtracks from which it derives inspiration (interestingly, the first hip-hop song sampled a Kraftwerk electronic riff, courtesy of Afrikaa Bambataa). These genres were deconstructive and filling for the moments when one needed music, thus were functional music for a dysfunctional time; they did not espouse any radical change that had not been present in the dominant attitudes of rock through the time, but their methods were more lifestyle- and socialization-based, thus they were more emotive and less pragmatic, avoiding the explicit political trap of hardcore punk (some notable exceptions occur in the hip-hop/rap genre, including Public Enemy, who are as worthy an example as one is likely to find in any of these genres).

Period 6 [ 1991 - 1996 ]

Metal - [ Black Metal ]
The black metal genre however, dormant since the burst of creativity that brought Celtic Frost, Sodom and Bathory together in roughly the same year, roared into life with a modernization that encompassed all of what death metal had done in a compositional framework unified by melody, creating music requiring a longer attention span but delivering a greater sensibility. Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Burzum, Enslaved, Havohej, Gorgoroth and Graveland created more than an imposing sound in music: they used the rough textures of alienated music to create structural music that, unlike the rhythmic and mostly chromatic composition of death metal, used a range of intervals and harmonies to render melodic structure. It continued the tradition of using motivic, narrative construction, but added to it the complexity of uniting a song in tone as well as rhythmic shape. The result was some of the most majestic metal with sonorous aesthetic and deepening feeling for the listener, almost all of it emerging from Scandinavia between 19911994. Artistically, black metal sought to exceed the

narrow direction of reaction to mainstream events that the increasing trend toward morality in death metal brought. Resentment over "jogging suit death metal," which reduced lyrical focus to politically acceptable social sentiments, boiled through black metal. Its original concept revolved around "evil" and occult mysticism, from which it got the name "black" (as in "black magic"), but this rapidly gave way to its Romantic and Naturalistic side, which soon united several concepts around a general idea: the natural world is more important than a society which has no values except money and not offending anyone, and meaning is discovered when one accepts death (a form of occultism in itself) and is willing to look outside the boundaries of the self. Vast, metaphorical songs with epic titles ("I am the black wizards" and "My journey to the stars" come to mind) resembled small classical pieces more than popular music, with multiple themes converging over the course of poetic movements, and the values espoused in aesthetic and interview hearkened back to Pagan Europe and in some cases, to the Vedantic religion of Indo-Europeans before that. Ignored were moral concerns over the survival and political rights of the whole of humanity, supplanted by a concern for the natural environment and pre-Christian tradition, as well as an appeal to the "eternal" - that which existed outside of a "progressive" society and its politicized march toward individualistic utopia. While these musicians were strongly independent, they distrusted illusions such as total autonomy of the individual, immortality and universal absolutes such as "freedom" and "justice." Theirs was the world of the wolf, the blizzard, and the indefinable idealism of those who exist alone in nature. Ideology and causes of intellectual desire drowned out the hedonism and lack of discipline of previous eras. Black metal was responsible to nothing but itself, and the fantasy combined with reality to ferment a neo-terrorist movement. Much has been said about the burning of churches and killing of people that occurred in Norway and Sweden, but one thing is clear: where previous metal bands performed stunts to draw attention to themselves, the church burnings and killings were originally not intended for public consumption; they were private acts intended as ideological statements, not promotions for the personalities or bands behind them. That indictment and capture eventually occurred is more a product of the youth and inexperience of teenagers regarding crime than a "me, me, look at me!" approach to publicity. Whatever the intention, as soon as news stories broke that over 70 churches had been burned, and at least five people killed, public attention took to black metal as it never had before. What kept the stories from being something other than human interest novelties was the music: unlike any form of metal or popular music previous, it was epic and spoke grandly of emotional values of a nature not limited to the 15 minutes of fame accorded modern acts. As black metal grew, from roughly 1991 to 1996, its impetus toward majestic music forced its lyricists and inspirational minds to devise new concepts for creation, spawning a range of sub-styles which each polarized around an ideology: self over all, destroy all, or the variance of ideas within pagan or naturalistic/fascist directions. These each took a different approach to aesthetics, coloring the raw sensation of whole perception of their work in the textures and constructions of different needs. Over time the fire of black metal spent itself, as most of these can only state their apocalypticism once. Astute historians might note that the insistence of black metal bands upon paradox in music and idea produced a massively different aesthetic for the time but spent it instantly once others cloned it with nonsense content in stylistic

imitation, as hardcore had fallen. Where initially many including the creators of black metal viewed its artistic content as being polemic for occult war against Christianity, over time divergences appeared within the same general areas of mysticism, philosophy or politics. As is traditional, Romantic music in any culture tends toward a worship of nature and appreciation for the whole of the past, including Pagan tradition; because of its adulation for natural diversity, it also tends to be nationalistic, or believing that countries should not be "nation-states" composed of political boundaries but should be "nations" composed of unified ethnicities and cultures, as that is how one maintains the different points of view that constitute diversity. However, when one explores dangerous and forbidden ideas, with it come the symbols and concepts which are demonized by a multicultural, liberal democratic society. NSBM, or National Socialist Black Metal, became a phenomenon after Norway unloaded a surprise dawn attack and swept the genre, but the extremist tradition in thought had been present for far longer than that. Where Iggy Pop's guitarists may have worn Nazi emblems out of pure provocation, or Slayer displayed emblems of both Satan and Hitler for an antisocial reaction, the new bands stated what many in the community had been thinking for years and further, invited it into their thought process to influence their music through am embrace of pan-European and Greco-Roman classicist ideals. They affirmed their need to exist as national populations, and condemned the invasion of Judeo-Christian belief and non-native peoples into Europe, as well as praised forbidden figures such as Adolf Hitler, Ted Kaczynski and Pentti Linkola. Fascism and eco-fascism were endorsed as an alternative to the weakness of individualism, which in the eyes of these bands had with Christian thought led to a separation of modern humanity from nature, tradition and honor. The romantic streak of metal recurred with many destructive acts, and then amazingly fast black metal sold out in 1995 and death metal returned as longstanding artists improved technicality and specialized artistically. To say "sold out" in this context means to reveal the fundamental principles of an effort to be motivated by short term human desires, most commonly monetary greed or public image. Making extreme music is a fine line between art and "entertainment," where in the latter media pander to the anticipations, weaknesses, lowest common drives and energies of the general population. As black metal's indulgences went from obscure opera to dinnertime comedy circus (Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Dark Funeral), the faith of the public in the genre began to wane, and a new range of fans began to replace the old. As it collapsed black metal reverted to a surefire crowd-pleaser: 1970s style heavy metal and simpler forms of fixed harmony music. As the older bands who were "true" to what had once powered their works, after years of band and social interaction as a result of their art, became repetitive or commercialized, the playing field was equal for any entertainer. This egalitarian style of black metal pandered to the crowd and became the most popular genre of any "underground" metal, ever. The results of the first wave of "entertainment black metal" became mixed with underground styles, and the genre was inundated by simians imitating media icons and classics toward which a morality of "true"ness exists. By 1997, the consumer could buy black metal in the flavor of his or her caprice: underground, melodic, punkish, electronic. Content no longer mattered. Novelty in style dominated with the exception of a few dedicated souls.

Q: on "Bathory.html">blood, fire, death" an epic sound is present through the use of longer songs with greater symbolic significance to their movements and motifs. what inspired this change from the dark, heavy and primitively simple music of "under the sign of the black mark"? Probably from reading biographies on masters like Wagner and Beethoven and their works. I began to listen to classical music shortly after forming Bathory, and from 1985-1986 it was all I would listen to. I had been playing various types of rock in various constellations since 1975, so picking up Wagner, Beethoven, Haydn and others really broadened my musical awareness extensively. The motif signature naturally comes from the world of opera. Quorthon, from an interview

Period 7 [ 1996 - PRESENT ]

History - [ Globalism ]
As the Clinton era of American leadership wound down, a new confidence emerged in the world. Unprecedented wealth brought on by the Internet boom, and a world political strategy which encouraged the bombardment of those who did not tow the capitalist liberal democratic line, enabled America and her allies in NATO and the UN to take on newfound importance. Europe unified itself into a financial consortium known as the European Union, and as a consequence international business took on new power and importance. It seemed that modern society was finally reaching its apex, and nothing would stop its might. Small conflicts were both inconclusive and victories for the liberal West as it smashed dictators in Yugoslavia and the Middle East; back in the USA, the Clinton administration generated a flood of legislation empowering minorities, women, homosexuals and other marginalized individuals (except metalheads). The internet, arguably the most important development during this time, became popularized with AOL in 1996 and by 1999, it seemed everyone was getting online. Worldwide countries were linked up and citizens could share information and make personal connections. Consequently, a boom in liberal thought occurred once again, as it seemed that truly understanding and moral righteousness were triumphing over the darkness. With a President who played in a jazz band, smoked pot and considered himself "the first Black President," America felt it had lived up to its covenant with liberal democracy. In fact, this was the era in which the Baby Boomers, or children of the 1960s and 1970s, experienced the greatest degree of political power and those who were pre-war children retired. Other advancements included the distribution of cable networks into more homes than ever before, and the marketing appeal of American media gaining worldwide audiences. It seemed as if nothing could stop the progress of progress. The Unabomber was convicted, multiple civil rights trials convicted people from the draconian past of racial discrimination, and Hispanic immigration into America blossomed as did racial mixing, promoting a newfound sensitivity that people in the 1960s only dreamed. With the maturation and power seizure of the "hippie" Baby Boomers, the Counterculture had triumphed and the New Left had gained power in the most respected and oldest ways. Further, the Y2K bug, which had threatened to crash the world's computers and plunge us into a primordial chaos, had no effect and was

beaten by an army of well-paid programmers. It seemed nothing could stop the advancement. As the new millennium dawned, a new presidential race brought doubts, characterized by Atlantic magazine as the conflict between "Red" (rural Americans, conservatives, traditionalists) and "Blue" (cosmopolitan Americans, liberals). The outcome of Gore vs Bush was both uncertain and definite, as so few people turned out to vote that an election could be decided by a handful of votes in a single state. The old divisions re-opened when George W. Bush took office to inherit the "dot-com bust," in which over-valued Internet stocks collapsed, and a recession that eroded confidence in American prosperity. That was followed almost immediately by terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations in Europe and the Mideast, showing that a new adversary - representing a conflict between older, nationalistic Islamic republics and the progressive American regime - would heat up the future. Western citizens immediately felt the old divisions of the Counterculture vs Culture return, except that this time, neither necessarily was "in charge" but both existed in a pluralistic, multicultural democracy.

Metal - [ Retro-cumulative ]
During this time, the movements of black and death metal, having spent their initial impetus, relapsed into a process of searching past influences for a "true" strain of each genre. The result was a reactionary "retro" movement which inspired brief revivals but then flagged. Death metal returned in force, with older bands releasing new albums and newer bands putting out releases that at the time seemed promising, but since none of it was sufficiently distinct from the past (or each other), there was no direction to be had. This is not to espouse some "innovation," as music has been so well-defined that there is no room to innovate, but there is room to create, and apparently, the creativity of these acts lagged behind where their shows of allegiance to past proven styles did not. In black metal, the controversy over NSBM died down once the white power/white nationalist movement absorbed it, creating bands whose topics were solely about the propaganda they espoused, unlike the original NSBM bands who stamped out songs about topics related to their ideals as they would exist in life itself; the new bands, like white power punk and metal before them, essentially ranted out propaganda without end. Unfortunately, for the bands that weren't NSBM, a worse fate awaited: repetition of past symbols and "unique" novelty reconstructions of the same, causing them to rapidly fall into a droning litany of praise for black metal itself, and internal dialogue of black metal itself, without finding in it what had made it great and inspired. The result was a flagging of the genre.

The populist front of metal in the meantime had two fingers, the first being a hiphop/emo/metal hybrid known as "nu-metal," and the second being a reactionary movement which praised 1970s heavy metal hybridized with speed metal technique into a new form known as "power metal." This was at least an honest if simplistic gesture, and brought about a resurrection of the metal spirit in those who had been young in the 1980s and late 1970s, enabling them a bit of nostalgia as their dollars flowed into supporting the genre. Once these changes were visible, the supporting commonality of belief behind black metal fell away completely, and its actions became wholly responses to developments with the metal and punk genres. It is probably fair to call this new genre of black metal "black hardcore," since in music and ideology it has more in common with the punk rock and punk hardcore of the middle 1980s than it does to black metal. Predominantly liberal in direction, it espouses either Satan or "equal" death to all human beings, and bands are virtually indistinguishable between each other in part because, unlike the original black metal bands, they rely on three-note riffs and radio-rock style song structures. In response, almost all of the old black metal bands either quit, became "heavy metal" versions of themselves (Immortal, Enslaved, Gorgoroth), or took an honorable exit into electronic music, as Burzum, Neptune Towers (Darkthrone), Beherit and Ildjarn did. At this point, black metal is reliving the past that hardcore experienced. A few seminal acts created something great; others, mistaking the form for the substance, emulated it and expected to be as profound, but weren't, so instead they campaigned for lowered standards. The result is an egalitarian free-for-all where almost no musical effort is being made, most energy going into socialization and image, and the result is that black metal has become that against which it railed. People die, genres die. Only the deeds of honorable artists are immortal.

Art - [ Universalism ]
With immigration to America and Europe at a record high, and enfranchisement of non-conventionallyfavored groups occurring, most art at this point in time emphasizes the universal nature of human experience and equality of all people in an attempt to profit from the purchasing habits of these new groups (one might point to movies such as "Save the Last Dance" and "A Day Without a Mexican"). Music, literature, and art are howling out the theme of the importance of every point of view, especially those where the position of the individual determines what its values should be, and the result is a cacophony of voices that have divided the art market according to the background and political preferences of the buyer. As such, it is hard to derive any trend from these but universalism: a moral belief in the equality of all people, the importance of the individual and its choices, and a desire to crush any "oppression" or marginalization wherever it is found.

Influence - [ Hip-Hop, Techno ]

Similar to the condition of metal are the genres of hip-hop and techno and alternative

rock, which are also out of ideas and fragmenting to pander to different audiences. While originally maintaing a strong pro-black-community outlook, hip-hop has now become home to rappers with a range of different skills and outlooks, including those which reduce it to a marketing gimmick designed to sell "extremity" to suburban kids. The positive outlook, PLUR (peace, love, unity, respect) community which techno became in the late 1990s has lost focus as raves have begun catering to an older crowd who seem more serious about drug use than music. Alternative rock? Like other rock genres, it has been absorbed into the generic pop realm and now resembles indie rock more than it did previously. Genres like country and pop punk have suffered the same norming. The influence of metal on these, and their influence on metal, is for the first time not direct: it wholly affects outlook and lifestyle philosophy. Where once only pop bands chanted a mantra of "be distinct, be unique," it is now the province of black hardcore bands to differentiate themselves with affectations and recombinations of "profound" ideas borrowed from mainstream sources. As it was something to do in the 1970s or 1980s to have an indie or punk rock band, now it's an activity for lonely teenagers to record black hardcore albums on their computers and to trade them with "friends," guaranteeing each other a tiny slice of the cheap immortality afforded by recognition without respect. Ultimately, this serves to strengthen the original convictions of death and black metal more than reduce them, in that where mainstream and metal once crossed paths, it has again been proven that they are incompatible.

Conclusion
The metal movement migrated from a position among the Counterculture as a rebel to one of denying everything the Counterculture stood for, prefer to eschew the intermediate tradition and hail what occurred thousands of years before the modern world. The domain of rugged individuals, it went from hedonism to rejecting the individual-over-all preference so that it might find meaning in the process of life itself. And finally, it grew from a position of denying all value to inventing value where society has publically declared that none exists. What brought about this extraordinary journey? Since its genesis, metal music has been "outsider art," looking inside society from the basic position of "I don't like what I see." In a time of absolutes and universals, it looked for the ultimate answer, the truth that laid waste to all else, in part to reconcile its members to their position outside of society but in part in a desperate search for something to hold on to, and in which to find meaning. Over the course of several generations it distilled this value system and found its connections to knowledge outside of the realm of popular music. Oddly enough, it has done this by embracing the lack of meaning in a nihilistic deconstruction that presupposed significance existed elsewhere, since that which had public meaning made no sense to someone who could recognize the importance

of the morbid end awaiting each of us. Its outsidership, unlike the political and lifestyle alternativs others chose, was based in feeling and not tangible elements or ideas within society. This brought it full cycle from a rebellious adolescence to a warlike but life-affirming adulthood. In this transition there is hope, as for every adolescent who takes one look at the adult world and says, "Take it back - it's broken!" there is this path of learning. While for now metal music has lost its impetus and been assimilated, this path isn't unique to metal, and in many ways, metal can be considered one vector of re-introducing this truth to a forgetful (15 minutes, Orwellian memory hole) modern industrial society based on the convenience and wealth of individuals. One can hope for the future in following this transition, and as an epitaph to metal, organize the ideas with which any future generations would start: Nihilism - from Vedic and European transcendental idealism, the idea that nothing has any significance or value inherently, only by the valuation of a human mind. Ethnic pride - from Latin America to the Nordics to the American Indians to Malaysians to Chinese to Hispanics worldwide, metallions recognize natural ethnicities as the only vehicle for their unique national culture. Environmentalism - a great horror of humanity is the destruction of earth and anti-corporatism and environmentalism are part of this. Melodic poesy - the sense of melody and layering of the same as central to any complexity in composition, developed further toward a language in which uniqueness is appreciated over novelty of form. Anti-moralism - a fear and resentment of morality as a construct at all, preferring nihilistic and deontological moralities. Heroism - personal pride and passion for honor in existence will be seen as more important than social approbation. Any future movement that hopes to transcend the ills of this era must heed well to what metal has discovered: one cannot use external force (carrot and stick) to force things to fit into a framework or worldview; the force must come from within. Without a culture emerging to support a consensus of values, one is left with yammering monkeys using authority to beat on each other for the gratification of their own sense of self-importance. This is "absolutism," and it is represented in things ranging from money to morality to the war on drugs to the crusade against "racists" and "terrorists." Metal discovered by exploring experience that this absolutist, universal, mechanistic viewpoint was illusion, and that what was real was the life that all along we as modern humans have hidden past layers of interpretation and religious dogma derived from dualism. Schopenhauer wrote the philosophy of the "will," urging awake a force to life in each person that aims toward a refinement of the human being and a focusing of ambition toward life and desire for existence. Nietzsche's "Will to Power" is a technical restatement of this to clarify that while the will is indeed all, presupposing a lack of external world that may resist your will is ignorant. Nietzsche rightfully brushes aside the trivial question of "Is reality real?" by suggesting that a system of consistent reactions and structure will always be "real" in that it has effected us, and our interaction with it affects our survival which in turn is important to the system. He rails against contentment and moral dogma, and suggests the evolution of humans to bermensch status - people fully accepting the nihilism of life and moving forward to embrace what design,

This cuts aside much of the guilt and ineffective action of the world voting public. Someone told to save the planet will join an organization for saving baby seals that mails stamps around the world to collect donations, but will not be able to tell you a single action except "drastic change" that would actually solve the problem. A postmoral person will correctly respond that most sufferings are tied to a few central problems, and that the largest is general disregard for the environment. The bermensch that Nietzsche wrote of could arise, but by the suffocating nature of a media-fed democracy will be an extremist; after that, the next generation is to be a lone wolf for forms of radical change through thought.

The Best of Black and Death Metal

Over a career as a death metal disc jockey spanning six years in Planet Southern California, Spinoza Ray Prozak developed a strong sense of history regarding the relevance of the music he played over the air. "Not all metal bands are equal," he once said, "and though we'd never want them to be, some are going to stand out in history as having addressed the human soul in the unique way a metal band can - while others will just be working within the paradigm." Presented here are the bands and releases that Spinoza Ray thinks define the genres of metal - heavy metal, thrash, death metal, grindcore and black metal - by speaking directly the language of innovation within the architecture of metal's art. Covers and names link to reviews with more information about the bands and their albums.

Death Metal
Sodom A bridge between thrash and death metal, Sodom made simple songs using fast tremolo strumming and along with fellow European bands Celtic Frost and Bathory, became the impetus toward the styles that would amalgamate into the new genre of death metal. Morbid Angel Influenced by the extremity of Sepultura and Possessed, Morbid Angel injected fantasy realms of the complex codices of musical theory into death metal, exploring the edge of

atonality with chaotic yet centrally-fused melodic structures. At the Gates Exploring complex song structures and different chord voicings, At the Gates created a classically-influenced style for Swedish death metal which expanded its basic precept of melodic construction based around brutally distorted guitar picked fast in a tremolo which blurred it into contiguous sound, sounding often more like it was written for violins (and indeed, they had a violinist in the band for their third album). Therion Dark romantic metal that flows through individualized song structures like a book of poetry encapsulates divergent views of life into one complicated worldview, Therion brought fantasy metal to a realization of artistic relevance to the world and inspired a generation or two of death metal and black metal bands. Demilich Almost universally misunderstood, this band created a form of metal that has never been explored, namely one in which the harmonic constructions of popular music were expanded and inserted within metal songs, allowing the melodic construction of the whole to detour into motifs reflecting a cyclic recombination of each idea. Unleashed Using rhythm like a blunt instrument, Unleashed combined the central chorus vocal rhythm organization of heavy metal with death metal's emphasis on the elements of rhythm microencoded in strumming and details of percussion to emphasize the band's mythological view of primal existence. Massacra An early and often overlooked contributor, Massacra were contemporaries of Morbid Angel who used a similar style of fast tremolo picking and abrupt variations in song structure to create classically-inspired, monumentally dynamic forms of sonic art. Sepultura Starting with a dark and unravelling black metal entry to extreme metal but working into a fusion of speed metal and death metal rhythm, Sepultura developed an aggressive but light on its feet style that brought a currency of energy

into death metal approaching the techno age.

Black Metal
Hellhammer/Celtic Frost One of black metal's developmental influences, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost found simple songs a method of injecting viral dissonance to music and therefore extrapolating complexity without necessarily expressing it in the music, all while riding dark but spiritual grooves that still compell listeners to this day. Bathory Raw and essential music follows rhythm through a pounding tribute to violence and darkness in this one-man war against the world; for basic blackmetal, none have surpassed this surprisingly current-sounding landmark. Immortal Creators of beauty in darkness and believers in the empowering factors of imagination and unleashed soul, Immortal made a symphony to the night with "Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism" and then followed it up with an exploration of harmony in internal turbulence with the seminal "Pure Holocaust," an album which captured both the polyrhythmic spirit of chaos metal and the developing science of black metal melody. Ildjarn Ildjarn uses clusters of related riffs made from a few chords whipped into phrases surrounding a motif-concept and massages them into organically structured songs in which a natural poetic impulse gives context to a change in perception. Like the best of black metal, this is simultaneously unlistenably abrasive and gently contemplative. Enslaved The genesis of this music is a fusion between the folk music of Norway, with its lengthy repetitive passages in which variation occurs as in nature, subtly and with slowly-building force that eventually alters the whole without a single clear causal trigger, and sonorous black metal with lengthy phrases of power chords culminating in a melodic concluding passage of the type that has always defined metal music as emotionally "heavy." Burzum