What is the definition of metal god dammit!?

[JayKeeley]

@JayK, that was amazing. Although I disagree with black metal being the last evolutionary form (goat help us if that's true ), for two reasons: 1) black metal owes as much to punk than it does thrash and other metal,

Sure - just look at the punk influence on NWOBHM too. Remember though that bands like Exodus and Darkthrone were true metal bands leveraging punk. They were NOT punk bands leveraging metal.

and 2) I still don't see how Isis, Meshuggah and others aren't metal, and they are leading the charge for a new sound (the current r/evolution). But still, that was amazing.

Thing is, if you take subjectivity into account then there is NO definition of metal. I guess what I'm trying to do is describe the definition as clinically as possible, without stating opinions. I don't have a crystal clear answer.

I'm not saying (and never have said) that Isis and Meshuggah aren't defining a new sound (that happens to exist) within the boundaries of metal. I'm just trying to outline that those bands are moving forward by 'pulling metal into a different genre', as opposed to 'pushing metal within its own genre' if that makes sense.

It's like invading ants pulling the queen bee out of her hive, and the wasp soldiers are defending her whilst continuing to make the hive itself bigger.

I am the wasp, you are the ant. Both militaristic, but from different squadrons. I am green beret, you are navy boy sailor.

*brain melts*

Disclaimer: Meshuggah shouldn't be listed alongside -core bands. They have always been metal. "Math Metal" to be precise.

 

[NAD]

I'm just trying to outline that those bands are moving forward by 'pulling metal into a different genre', as opposed to 'pushing metal within its own genre' if that makes sense.

Ah so... I get it now.

I am the wasp, you are the ant. Both militaristic, but from different squadrons. I am green beret, you are navy boy sailor.

Hey now I've got Vietnam Army Vet blood running through my veins which means I uhhh, I wanna... do drugs and move to Canada!

I only put Meshuggah into the lolcore portion because I've seen a lot of people lump them in there. I disagree, I'd rather put Meshuggah in the Greatest Fucking Band of the Past 5 Years category.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

you know, Meshuggah HAVE been around since the late 1980s.

 

[EVERLOSTINDEADETERNITY]

Metal can be anything?? Doesn it make you excited, does your heart race, does it pound and flail and cause violent fits, does it make you knod your head up and down??? Does it get in your soul, does it make you feel alive or enthroned with passion. Thats metal. Its in your heart and soul. Wow it kinda sounds alot like sex after reading this.

 

[MFJ]

That sounds like something that they'd say on a crappy VH1 Metal Countdown.

 

[EVERLOSTINDEADETERNITY]

That sounds like something that they'd say on a crappy VH1 Metal Countdown.

Well Im sorry we dont think exactly alike, damn me to hell for being different than you oh mighty Marksveld :Smug:
I feel metal is a deep spiritual passion. So you dont feel that way oh well.

 

[NAD]

you know, Meshuggah HAVE been around since the late 1980s.

Their recent material is what makes them so great now, then they were just good (and actually it should be of the past 7 years, Chaosphere was released in 1998).

 

[MajestikMøøse]

ok, we can comprimse and extend that to DEI in 1995.

 

[J.]

I do not consider Isis, Neurosis or Today is the Day as metal, though that trifecta can dwarf just about most real metal bands in sheer heaviness.

Of course, I also see the leather pants, denim no-sleeve jackets with patches and all that corny shit as one step away from 80's glam, so wtf do I know........

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Fuck the clothes, Cathedral have hippie clothing and are so FUCKING METAL!@!@!

 

[J.]

hippie clothing is alright. I'm talking about guys wearing leather. that's is so fucking gay, literally.

only hot chicks should wear leather

 

[NAD]

leather jackets & boots > joo

But that's my extent. Leather pants are sorta fruity. Leather miniskirts are manly as fuck though, far too manly for me.

 

[J.]

sorry, leather jackets are OK. I forgot about those, it's warm here. To me, leather boots look stupid, but eh.

If I see a guy in leather pants, I assume he sucks mushroom heads.

 

[Hell Mike]

I own TWO pairs of leather pants, HAH! I mostly only wear them walking in the woods wintertime or hellbiking though because they're pretty warm, especially the pair that came with my van halen-jacket

 

[Demonspell]

<<Thing is, if you take subjectivity into account then there is NO definition of metal. I guess what I'm trying to do is describe the definition as clinically as possible, without stating opinions.>>

Agreed, I've never been one to try and rigidly define metal, when I listen to bands like Isis I don't give consideration to whether its fits within the parameters of the genre. Whether the band's influences come from outside the genre doesn't detract from one's credibility as metal IMO. I personally think they're a hundred times more metal than bands who write proclamations of metal's superiority over faceless music, but I digress.

 

[JayKeeley]

There is no denying the majesty of Isis' "Panopticon". It is epic beyond proportions, and it pretty much transcends genres, and that's why it isn't 'metal'.

 

[Demilich]

Being 'heavier' than most metal bands doesn't make those bands better tbh.

 

[J.]

Of course not. "Heavier" almost never equals "better".

But to deny Isis and Neurosis their just due is, quite frankly, just plain dumb. If people want to deny those bands because they aren't metal, that their problem. But I laugh at those people. (not saying it's you)

 

[Demilich]

I've only heard the first couple of songs off Panopticon once, and to be honest, the first one was fucking great, but the couple I heard after that were boring by comparison.

 

[lurch70]

on a side note ...

when i came to the US in 1984 and went to Junior High ... metal was everywhere.
now I did not speak much english at all and I remember this tall metalhead chick writing on the blackboard ... METAL RULES!

and I thought ... fuck .. there are some rules I have to follow to listen to this music? ... true story, never forgot it.

now I am Amerikan Citizen ...