Controversial opinions on metal

Baroque said:
'Heavier' is such a subjective thing. It has partially more to do with lyrics than riffs. Whatever subject matter is getting you down/you're thinking deeply about at the time is going to be interpreted as heavier lyrics.

For example existentialist lyrics can be heavier to a depressed person than satanic/killing lyrics or war lyrics or political lyrics or whatever... depending on their mind state.

As far as heavier riffs, that's also subjective. Do you mean faster, lower tuned, what? Those criteria don't even work because slow standard tuning riffs can be heavy as fuck: look at Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath.
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Sound/production will always be a part of it too.
 
Baroque said:
'Heavier' is such a subjective thing. It has partially more to do with lyrics than riffs. Whatever subject matter is getting you down/you're thinking deeply about at the time is going to be interpreted as heavier lyrics.

For example existentialist lyrics can be heavier to a depressed person than satanic/killing lyrics or war lyrics or political lyrics or whatever... depending on their mind state.

As far as heavier riffs, that's also subjective. Do you mean faster, lower tuned, what? Those criteria don't even work because slow standard tuning riffs can be heavy as fuck: look at Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath.

It comes down to the feeling one gets when listening to the music. And we're all going to feel something different when we listen to any piece of music because we've all led different lives musically, and in general. Different memories will come to mind, different correlations with favorite bands etc. Also present mind-state matters a ton.

I feel like the heaviest song to any listener, subjectively, is the most recent song that has breached their defense system of musical listening interest, and at the same time shocked them/expanded on what they are normally adjusted to listening to. But if it is too far out of their spectrum of acquired taste, they will simply
reject it as bad music.
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Pretty much right on the money as usual. I think some thudding, mountain-crushing doom is the heaviest of metals, but someone who's into thrash probably thinks layered 999 mph riffing is heavy, and meanwhile there's another dude who says fuck all that a tortured voice telling trooth is heavy.

However... Its important to keep in mind that an actual genre exists called straight up 'heavy metal', and if referring to that, there are certain parameters to follow. From what I've seen, its old school stuff with clean vox.
 
Personally, i don't think the lyrics have anything to do with how heavy the music is.

edit: Same goes for speed, has absolutely nothing to do with being heavy IMO.

a loud, crushing, pummeling massive wall of sound is the best way i can describe it. It's mainly all in the riffs imo.
 
Krow said:
And I'm sticking with it, if i pick my top five heavy metal albums, Painkiller is on the list, which looks something like...

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Dio - Holy Diver
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Pagan Altar - Judgement of the Dead
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Holy Diver is probably the greatest heavy metal album ever conceived. I think it's better than anything Priest did, but SWOD or SFV is in my top 5 as well. It's a toss up between those two.

Rounding out the top 5:

Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Honorable mentions (probably in my top 10):

Carcass - Heartwork
Pantera - CFH
Malevolent Creation - Retribution or TTC

I think #5 would get changed out with several others depending on mood, but Holy Diver won't change at all.
 
TechnicalBarbarity said:
a loud, crushing, pummeling massive wall of sound is the best way i can describe it. It's mainly all in the riffs imo.
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Yea, that's it for me. It has to have a huge monster riff, a heavy bottom end, and, if not actual screamed/growled vocals, not super-clean proggy/power stuff.

So generally for me the heaviest shit, in descending order, is death, black with a fair amount of death in it (or just some bass), and then doom.
 
LOL Pantera as a best album in any possible situation is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Holy Diver isn't even as good as what Dio did with Black Sabbath. Seasons as best Slayer album? LOFUCKINGL
 
I'd have to agree that Seasons is the top Slayer album. It isn't as fast as most others, but the song writing and overall heaviness trumps the others.
 
I might have to go back on what i said earlier on, i think the best of Rainbow was just as good as anything from Dio era Sabbath.

A Light in the Black, Gates of Babylon, Stargazer and Kill the King are some of the best heavy metal tracks of all time imo.
 
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