Heavy = ??

[Kittarin]

Ok, i need someone to help me settle an argument.

My boyfriend and i are driving around (in his car, so we only had his cd collection), and he puts in Sevendust. He skips to a certain part in the song, and exclaims "This is sooooo heavy".
Then we got into a big discussion on what constitutes "heavy". He says it's just the weight of the guitars, but i beleive that there has to be lots of technical layers as well...

Now i open the topic to the floor!

(oh, and we all know sevendust sucks, that's not an issue!) haha

 

[RETIREDTrapped]

not possible.

 

[Armageddon's Child]

"Heaviness" is basically a function of pitch, distortion and tempo. Low pitched, thickly distorted riffs played at slower tempos are going to produce the effect of heaviness...

 

[lumen]

There's an emotional component to heaviness too.

 

[Armageddon's Child]

Originally posted by llamaura
There's an emotional component to heaviness too.

I'm pretty sure that's not what he's getting at, however...

 

[Misanthrope]

Heavy is so subjective everyone see's it in a different way. To me heavy is about a mix between agression and rage in music, goregrind being the most heavy genre i know by that standart, this is why i personally dislike the term power metal for advanced dungeons and dragons metal bands i mean there is nothing we can do about the heavy metal its been around since longer than death metal but the power in power metal i have a problem with. But only by my standart of course wich is merely subjective and parciallly influenced by my personal taste so is by no means an statement or discussion.

 

[MetalManCPA]

I agree with Misanthrope that heaviness is subjective.

I dont' consider Sevendust heavy (although I disagree with Kittarin in that they don't totally suck) - there a relatively few bands played on mainstream radio that can even come close to heavy. For me, Static-X comes close for mainstream radio played bands - Bled For Days to me is heavy - for it's repetitive bass riff, and the tone of the bass.

I think "heavy", to my ears, comes from the tone of the bass, and how sonic the drums sound. When I listen to music, and my chect thumps, that's an indication of heaviness. Heavy is different from fast - as I consider bands like Slayer and Exodus, for example, to be fast (I think they fit that speed metal genre (blah to genres)). And as Armageddon's Child said, heavy usually comes from a slower tempo.

 

[Sadistik]

I agree that there IS an emotional component to heaviness. Korn tunes to Aflat, loads on the distortion, but STILL sounds like Britney Spears' backing band. Nile, in comparison, tunes to A flat (often) and loads on the distortion and is isnaely heavy. therefore it is not the "weight" of the guitars, but rather HOW they're played, and HOW the music is expressed.

 

[Misanthrope]

I think Nile is the only band i respect ( and love ) who tunes that goddamn low...hehe

 

[Prophetix]

Heaviness is not just playing a series of simple power chords and banging your head! (Metallica)
Heaviness requires techincallity, LOADS OF DISTORTION, good drumming wheather slow (Nevermore) or fast (Slayer, Children of Bodom) and requires LOADS of EMOTION! There should be rage and anger in the music..there should be real feeling! With all the guitars working together each doing a real good job you can acheive a really good heavy song!

 

[Statues_Turned_Dust]

Heaviness is the intro riff to Soilworks Razorlives

 

[YaYo]

'heavy' is just a word, and as such it has many meanings. I hate it when people start arguing over words, its the meaning thats important, so when somebody says "sevendust is heavy" then instead of thinking "sevendust arent heavy" it would be better to first try and see what their definition of 'heavy' is. Its similar to saying "Apples are round" and then getting a reply "No apples are NOT square". In this case the word just happens to be the same ('heavy').

"heavy" is like the words "metal" or "punk", people have such different meanings for these words that any disagreement over "slipknot aren't metal", "sevendust are heavy" or similar shouldnt be bothered with, because the arguments that follow usually result from different understandings of words.

 

[blakmetalemp]

Heavy = the band BEHEMOTH!

 

[RETIREDTrapped]

It's a stupid term to use.

'Heavy' might refer to (shitty) Ab tuned guitars playing two notes over and over again, or it might refer to something awesomely technical and complex.

It's a 'Nothing' word.

 

[MacMoney]

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Now that's heavy!

 

[Sullen Jester]

Heavy = the band BEHEMOTH!

I think the band Civilian Massacre is a lot heavier, and remains to be the heaviest band I've heard yet. Not the good ole wall of sound heavy, but bloody intense!