Metal albums that can damage speakers?

[EternalMetal]

As I was driving home from work/school listening to Aspyx Last one on Earth on my crappy stock Honda Civic speakers, I began to wonder if my speakers were going to blow. I had it cranked at a decent volume so that I could hear the riffs, and while being no louder than normal, it sounded like I was doing much more damage to my speakers than I normally do. Could I be doing harm to my speakers (simply listening to a specific album)?

Are there metal albums that actually cause harm to speakers? I know that metal bands often resort to cheap production, meaning the quality of the signals could be somewhat lacking(clipping, etc).

Not that I give a shit about my car speakers, but I do have nice headphones and speakers at home that I would rather not damage. Dont know if it would make me stop listening to them though

 

[Vossyrus]

Just about every album these days has terrible production, and metal music in particular. By "terrible" production I'm not talking about the kind you'd find on obscure black metal albums, I mean the kind that is referred to as "good" production. This includes remastered albums. The audio has been compressed so much in effort to make it extremely loud, and most albums feature clipping.

I guess the best example of clipping and terrible production is Metallica's Death Magnetic. I'm not a fan of Metallica but I listened to some of the songs just to see what the production was like. The quality of the audio reminds me of the days when people would download a recording program onto their computer and use it to record songs off of bands' myspace pages. They'd get their copy of the song but it would sound like a distorted mess.

An album in my collection that really bothers me is Belphegor's Pestapokalypse VI. Right from the moment the album begins... But I can't say I think much of Andy Classen's other production jobs either.

 

[Krow]

Hypocrisy - 10 Years of Chaos and Confusion is nasty about it...

That Gorepoflesh album is supposed to be really bad about it too, but no one really needs to listen to that crap.

 

[Kara-Shehr]

Everytime I listen to Anaal Nathrakh in my car I feel like my speakers could crap out at any moment. Anything with alot of bass in the mix played at extreme volumes I guess could potentially be damaging.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That Gorepoflesh album is supposed to be really bad about it too, but no one really needs to listen to that crap.

*rolleyes*

 

[-CC-]

Yeah everytime I play Belphegor's Bondage Goat Zombie I think my speakers are gonna crack. It's a shame too because it's a damn good album.

 

[Vossyrus]

^ I agree. I thought Bondage Goat Zombie was a great album but ruined again by the style of production. According to mp3gain the album's average volume is 102.1 db, when 89 is considered to be an ideal number. The songs in their wave form just look atrocious...but most new albums aren't any different.

Here is a look comparing Old Man's Child's "Demons of the Thorncastle" (Born of the Flickering, 1995) to Belphegor's song "Belphegor - Hell's Ambassador" (Pestapokalypse VI, 2006).

I think that the Old Man's Child Born of the Flickering album has a fantastic production. Purely organic, and everything sounds pretty nice especially the presence of the bass instrument! However, with Pestapokalypse VI, everything genuinely sounds terrible.

 

[Lateralus14]

Isn't that one Arckanum album supposed to do that?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Kostogher, yes. And it never worked for me and I've blasted it.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

It could be that OP drives a Honda, mine can scarcely handle anything metal above half-full volume, especially when playing mp3's. Which brings about another point already mentioned: modern day production. It is far too loud; all nuances are lost. Albums are produced this way, of course, with digital media in mind, because nobody listens to music on a good set of high fidelity speakers anymore. If you just listen with ear buds and shitty little computer speakers, you're of course going to prefer an overly loud production. Goddamn, I miss my Technics system. Altars Of Madness sounded so badass on those tower speakers, with piezo-electric tweeters, 4" mids, and a pair of 12" woofers per cabinet.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I've heard Manowar albums will blow your speakers.

 

[JontRevolting]

I think blasting Arghoslent albums blew up my car speakers,it's got some fancy fucking thing under the seat(an equaliser or something) and speakiers in the boot.It no longer works and I could never be bothered changing the disc,did'nt see the point,Arghoslent is great driving music and I was too lazy.

 

[gundamterran]

*rolleyes*

Hey, it's a great album Krow! It was well worth destroying a pair of headphones and speakers to listen to it.

 

[sevag00]

I've heard Manowar albums will blow your speakers.

nice!

 

[The Emptier]

Whenever I listen to Pyha, or other incredibly buzzy bands I feel like my speakers are going to implode

 

[SentinelSlain]

Well my copy of Morbid - December Moon has some shitty clicks and pops and things that are really fucking loud compared to the music, makes the speakers kind of jerk.

 

[Onder]

Gorepoflesh - Gore Fucking Speakers.

 

[Deconstruction]

Are there metal albums that actually cause harm to speakers?

Any kind of music can damage audio equipment if you're not mindful, honestly. Speakers blow when you're pushing too much power through them for them to handle; it has very little to do with the actual music being played.

 

[Satanstoenail]

NO MAN, METAL BLOWS THEM FASTER CUZ ITS BRUTAL

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

NAH DAWG, RAP BLOWS EM DA FASTEST CUZ OF DA BASE FROM DA PHAT BEATS YO.