I Need a Subgenre Checklist

[djh101]

Trying to re-classify the genres of all my music. Not an easy task. Not sure which genres deserve to exist as labels and which bands go where. I wish I had a little checklist book that I could just check off for each band.


Folk- I don't know about this. I think it would be quite plausible to classify at least most folk metal bands as power metal (and a good chunk as melodic death metal). I hit Ensiferum, though. Not a lot of folk elements in there, but I wouldn't call them death metal nor would I call them power metal.

Gothic/Industrial/Alternative- Too similar to split up all the bands into three genres. Maybe not industrial so much, I don't know. Katatonia sounds a lot to Type O Negative to me. At least of the songs that I have. I'm not big on any of these genres.

Symphonic Metal- I can't say I like this term, but I also can't say I'd class Epica as power metal.

Hmmm...

 

[Kreated]

gothic is a theme, not a style, despite what some people may claim. industrial is also very different, and alternative can have different meanings but most alternative metal bands sound nothing like industrial metal. Also, folk metal eg Cruachan sounds nothing like Power Metal really.

I would say the breakdowns are:
classic metal, nwobhm, thrash, black, death, early black (to me venom sounds nothing like later black metal), early death, industrial, speed, power, doom, neoclassical, djent, groove, grindcore, deathgrind, extreme doom / doom fusions with black death etc, drone, black drone, dark industrial, dark electronic and "black ambient", "post-gothic" eg the gathering, funeral doom, folk, alt, symphonic, atmospheric black, sludge, stoner, "strapping" (strapping young lad should have its own genre), "progressive thrash" aka load-era metallica, also "garage thrash" or "st anger thrash", post-metal, rap metal, glam, nu, early nu (e.g. biohazard), early rap, metalcore, deathcore, post-grunge

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I would say the breakdowns are:
classic metal, nwobhm, thrash, black, death, early black (to me venom sounds nothing like later black metal), early death, industrial, speed, power, doom, neoclassical, djent, groove, grindcore, deathgrind, extreme doom / doom fusions with black death etc, drone, black drone, dark industrial, dark electronic and "black ambient", "post-gothic" eg the gathering, funeral doom, folk, alt, symphonic, atmospheric black, sludge, stoner, "strapping" (strapping young lad should have its own genre), "progressive thrash" aka load-era metallica, also "garage thrash" or "st anger thrash", post-metal, rap metal, glam, nu, early nu (e.g. biohazard), early rap, metalcore, deathcore

wat

 

[djh101]

Quite a few genres, there. I'm trying to keep away from all the fusion genres in my classifying (e.g. I'm not saying 'blackened death metal' doesn't exist just like I'm not going to deny that indigo exists, but I'm not going to name it while naming the colors of the rainbows).

 

[Kreated]

wat

if something doesn't fit well into a genre I say it gets its own

 

[Kreated]

Quite a few genres, there. I'm trying to keep away from all the fusion genres in my classifying (e.g. I'm not saying 'blackened death metal' doesn't exist just like I'm not going to deny that indigo exists, but I'm not going to name it while naming the colors of the rainbows).

I wasn't including most fusion genres, I didn't list blackened death. But how about just these 10 then:

Classic / Nwobhm / Power / Glam
Speed / Thrash / Groove
Black
Death
Sludge / Stoner
Industrial / Nu / Rap / Post-grunge
Metalcore / Deathcore / other "cores"
Doom / Funeral Doom / Drone
Symphonic / Folk / Atmospheric
Progressive / Avant-garde

 

[Vossyrus]

I go for broader categories these days. I still use basic genres as a template but my newer approach is partially based on my interpretation of the band/music rather than just being about the technicalities of the music itself. Basically, I try to group bands together that embody the same or similar sort of spirit (in my view).

 

[The Emptier]

i would say progressive thrash is legit, vektor anyone?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

i would say progressive thrash is legit, vektor anyone?

Not to mention the godfathers of all things progressive metal, Watchtower. The Load-era Metallica thing is what made it obvious trolling, coupled with considering post-grunge and early rap to be metal sub-genres.

 

[djh101]

Yeah, if a band doesn't fit in one of my currently existing genres, it does need its own. That's how symphonic metal ended up on my list. Or if I have a lot of bands in one particular genre (if I only had 5-10 death metal songs, I wouldn't bother classing melodic death by itself). A lot of genres I haven't bothered with, though. E.g. the only near-sludge band I really listen to is Mastodon, and they fit nicely under progressive. Here's my current genres:

Heavy (i.e. 'classic')
Death
Melodic Death
Power
Symphonic
Progressive
Thrash
Black
Industrial (considering throwing these under nu metal)
Doom
Folk

And here's a good motto: If you can't tell the difference between two genres, don't bother separating them.

 

[djh101]

I like how everyone seems to have a signature style of metal subgenre classification. No two people seem to have the same opinion of what's what.

 

[Kreated]

Not to mention the godfathers of all things progressive metal, Watchtower. The Load-era Metallica thing is what made it obvious trolling, coupled with considering post-grunge and early rap to be metal sub-genres.

early rap metal, not early rap. And post-grunge bands like godsmack sevendust and drowning pool tour with and play with metal and nu metal bands all the time. Not that they're really metal, but I wanted to give a complete overview of related genres

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I keep it super simple on my I Tunes. Black, Death, Doom, Heavy, Power Progresive and Trash. Bands that blend, I make a choice. Bands that are strange, I choose whatever is closest. The goal for me is just have the easiest time gathering bands together. It seems like you have moved in a similar simplistic vien.

As for my CD collection, its just the metal in one spot, rock in another, classical in another, world in another etc.

 

[Krow]

My itunes classification goes
heavy metal (heavy/doom/thrash)
rock (any type of rock/sludge/southern/stoner metal/whatever other oddities i listen to that arent metal)
death metal
black metal

I've found that trying to overclassify music on something like that causes a headache. it's fine to try and find something you like, but to have 100 different genres with one album each is cluttery, imo.

 

[djh101]

I've found that trying to overclassify music on something like that causes a headache. it's fine to try and find something you like, but to have 100 different genres with one album each is cluttery, imo.

True. Usually I just class bands according to other bands that they sound like (I don't bother to get down to the which elements make up which). Still, I like everything to be accurate and correct. You should see my library- not an article or preposition is capitalized, not a song without a correct year or track number exists. 8)

 

[Ryuuzaki]

If I'm completely unsure, I usually just go look on the metal archives.

 

[Lifewithoutpain]

I only have three metal categories; if it's not Death Metal or Black metal it's just Metal.

 

[Victoria R]

i would say progressive thrash is legit, vektor anyone?

Very good music, thank you for sharing!

 

[The Emptier]

No problemo

 

[ZyklonOroborous]

I also try to keep it simple but I also want to keep my shit classified in a certain place, just because I have so much music on my computer, and I want to know what I'm going to be listening to instead of browsing through my massive library. So......

Classic (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Pentagram, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple.)

Thrash - Big Four, Exodus, Metal Church ( Puyallup REPRESENT!), etc.

Straight Up Metal - 3 Inches of Blood, Iced Earth, Pantera.

Prog Metal - Dream Theater, Periphery, Atheist, Animals as Leaders, etc.

Opeth - Opeth cannot be classified IMO

Death Metal - Cannibal Corpse, Death, Autopsy, Baphomet, Decapitated, Dying Fetus, Nile, Behemoth, Amon Amarth, Dethklok, TBDM.

Black Metal - Dimmu Borgir, Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem, Venom, Dark Funeral, shit like that.

Metalcore - KSE, As I lay Dying, Trivium, Arkaea, All that remains.

and FUCKING PRIMUS!!