2014 Grammy Nominees - Best metal performance

[Mardoch]

It's like CoB without vocals with Alexi and Jani's spots in the songs being flipped. Keyboards first, guitars second. It still feels quite metal to me.



In any case, yeah, I'm going to have to disagree with you.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

I don't listen to metal in order to scare myself or people around (it was maybe the case when I was a teen, searching for the heaviest and scariest bands around, which were Sodom, Possessed, Destruction, Slayer and the likes, but it's not the case anymore).
I like heavy guitars, nice riffing and good melodies, with clean vocals (or I should say no growls cause I enjoy a band like Grave Digger and the vocals are surely not that "clean"). That's heavy metal for me. Volbeat is metal, Dio is metal, Slayer is metal, Pretty Maids is metal, Dream Theater is metal.
The problem is that the definition of metal changed over the years. What was "heavy metal" 20 or 30 years ago is now classed as "hard rock", while "heavy metal" is reserved for the heavier bands with extreme vox. That's bullshit as far as I'm concerned. Judas Priest or Nocturnal Rites are as "heavy
metal" as Soilwork or Cannibal Corpse or any extreme band for me.

I don't agree with this at all, because the only people that called Priest classic rock were kids with little perspective, and like Jasonic pointed out - they came around to realizing that it's not true. 10 years ago we saw Priest re-unite with Halford and they shut the naysayers up pretty quickly and completely showed everyone what made them so heavy in the first place. I would probably hold Painkiller up as one of the heaviest songs ever written, full stop. Not sure how people could say that they're not metal (well unless you loop Nostradamus into it - THEN I see it )


And as I said, Sabbath is about as heavy as they come, even today! Those first two albums (which I coincidentally went through yesterday morning on Spotify since they finally got the rights to them) are absolutely crushing for 1970. And that's my point - people who listened to that stuff then would say the same thing many people say about screaming vocals today. Sabbath and Priest were abrasive as hell, and screaming vocals is the logical conclusion to that attitude. Nobody's saying you have to like it, but on the other hand, I do think it's funny that the people who are so opposed to that style of singing listen to bands who were trying to be as ferocious and edgy as possible. In effect - it's THOSE people who are the ones defining those bands as "classic rock" if you ask me!!!

But cheers dude, no harm no foul

 

[MeTuLHeD]

If it's just galloping power chords with keyboard fluttering around, yeah I wouldn't really call that metal...

Metal is much broader than your rather narrow definition. Is it aggressive music? Yes. But I do think it's quite possible to have melodic vocals (read: non-screamo/growly) and still be metal. Walk into any FYE and browse through the 'Metal' section. You'll find everything from Kamelot to Katharsis and all points in between...just as it should be.