by Derek James

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

A large number of people consider metal music to be violent and blasphemous, focusing on the exaggerated stage costumes and "evil" personas, while clearly overlooking the true talent of the musicians. Much of today's mainstream music is designed to appeal to the majority of society, the same majority that frowns upon the thought of a song exceeding three minutes, with simple lyrical structures, and catchy guitar riffs. Therefore, metal musicians are sometimes reduced to producing albums out of their own basements, simply because of lack of funding. This wouldn't be the case if people would realize how much dedication and heart these musicians put into their music. While it may seem like mindless screaming and thumping drumbeats, the metal genre is perhaps the most complex of all other musical styles. The lyrics can deal with anything from fantasy worlds to religion, feelings of emptiness and despair, and even satire and humor. As opposed to the over-existent themes of sex and money we see in numerous songs on the radio today, this seems like such a departure from what many consider "music". And it is.

Metal music focuses not on a "hook", or a chorus, but instead creates an atmosphere out of the music itself. Black metal, for instance, relies on low production quality, and almost tortured sounding vocals to create an uneasy environment for the listener. The guitars are usually accented by distorted and overdriven techniques to blend together with the surrounding instruments. The drums are usually very fast, making use of blast beats and double bass pedals to further enhance the aggressive and often bleak sound black metal produces.

Other forms of metal include death metal, which utilizes growled vocals and heavily downtuned guitars, while still incorporating many aspects of black metal, including the pounding drums and diverse song structure. Death metal is one of the most growing and popular genres of metal. It also branches out into other types of death metal such as melodic death metal, blackened death metal, and so forth. However, these genres typically include much of the death metal element, while speeding up the rythem of the guitar, and using a more raspy, black metal voice as opposed to a growling death metal style. Power metal, a type of metal that is often sung "clean" and with often epic songs of romance and fantasy, and is commonly influenced by the thrash metal sounds of the 1980's. The songs are usually very lengthy, and are inspired by works of literature and art, and usually induce a type of upbeat vibe on the listener.

Avant-garde metal is a constantly changing type of metal, which usually differs for every band of that genre. The sound is usually experimental, progressive, and incorporates a multitude of different metal types to create a musical work that is truly unrivaled in terms of originality. Some avant-garde metal bands even go as far as to playing Jazz-influenced melodies in some of their songs. The lyrics include pretty much anything, and cannot be categorized by any specific type. The flexibility and fluctuating sound of avant-garde metal makes for a generally different type of music with each band.

The list truly does go on, because metal is a genre in which it is not defined by one dominant trait. It constantly re-invents itself through new, emerging sub-genres, as well as through progressive bands that attempt to bring new light to a previous genre, ultimately creating a style of their own.

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