thePULSEGetting Back to Basics
By Jillian Locke
A question that I always like to ask any band I’m interviewing is how they would describe their music without using any labels. It’s amazing the stunned looks I’ve received. Truth is, as much as most musicians hate labels, it is the universal way of describing music (as well as many other things in this world, for better or worse!) ~ especially in a time of musical hybrids and fusions, when grandiose labels are popping up right and left. Take for instance Early Graves label for The Funeral Pyre: “Post-melodic black metal.” It’s a running joke between the bands, because what the hell is post-melodic? My point is that although I myself am not a fan of labels, sometimes they’re quite useful for at least ballparking the kind of music a band plays. When someone asks, “What type of music is this,” maybe it would be better to just reply, “Well, it’s good music,” and leave it at that ~ but the metal nerd in each of us simply will not allow it!
According to metal guru Garry Sharpe-Young, author of New Wave of American Heavy Metal and Metal: The Definitive Guide, the major metal subgenres include thrash metal, death metal, black metal, power metal, and gothic metal. Then there are myriad off-shoots of these main categories ~ grindcore, stoner, sludge, progressive, shoegaze, D-beat punk, etc. etc. Let’s scratch the surface and get at least the basics down.
Thrash Metal: Thrash metal traces its roots to the 70s, taking inspiration from such NWOBHMers (New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the next generation of metal bands that dropped the bluesy influences of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, raging forth on a more direct and stripped-down path) as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Venom, which gave way to the American thrash phenomenon of the early 80s that included Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer. Thrash metal is characterized by, well, super f*cking fast tempos and riffage.
Death Metal: Rearing its filthy head from the southeastern region of the country, death metal found a home in Florida during the 80s with the emergence of bands like Death, Obituary, Deicide, and Morbid Angel. San Francisco’s Possessed is also credited as one of the pioneering death metal bands. The defining trait of death metal is in its subject matter: Satanic and blasphemous imagery coursed through the progressively evil veins of this incarnation of extreme metal, bringing a blacker, more diabolical element to a genre that was already horrifying the masses, which leads us to…
Black Metal: The genre that brought us corpsepaint and church burnings began in Norway. The beginnings of black metal can be traced back to thrash masters of the 80s, including legends Venom, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Bathory. The second wave of blasphemy came on the heels of the early 90s, when black metal descended upon the scene with the likes of Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Burzum, and Emporer. This movement not only brought a raw, morbidly ethereal twist to the sound, but also violence and an inner-scene power struggle (mainly between Mayhem and Burzum) and the eventual murder of Mayhem guitarist Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) by Burzum mastermind/psychopath Varg Vikernes. This turbulent and veiled time in metal not only brought the scene to its knees, it catapulted the genre into the limelight, and once again, to the masses.
Power Metal: Now we’re talking epic, bombastic sound that pulls away from the brash, violent characteristics of death and black metal, turning the focus towards speed and epic, soaring soundscapes, intertwined with cleaner vocals with lyrical content focused on mythological and folkloric content. Bands like Iced Earth, Manowar, Dragonforce, and Hammerfall have led this revolution, which has also led to forms of symphonic metal, including Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Nightwish, and Therion.
Gothic Metal: Drawing largely from the black, power, and symphonic metal influence, bands like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, The Gathering, and Type-O Negative brought this genre to life. Too, there is symphonic gothic metal, a truly epic and beautiful sub-genre which encompasses a wide range of bands from Within Temptation to Cradle of Filth to Dimmu Borgir to Therion. The symphonic genre is characterized by swooning orchestral instrumentation which offsets the brasher and sometimes harsher elements of metal, bringing an almost beautiful and spiritual sensibility to a genre which would shock and appall the everyday metal outsider.
These metal monikers are just the beginning; the list goes on and on. In a time in music where stringent lines no longer exist and labels are slowly becoming mere Frankenstein configurations of genres, one wonders where the label madness will end. I’ve left out easily a million subgenres here, but let’s be honest ~ I’d need an entire year’s worth of magazine space to get even close to describing all that is the wide and wild world of metal. But that’s the point ~ next time someone asks you what kind of music a band plays, do everything within your power to come up with your own description. Leave the technicalities and labels at the door and forge your own intellectual and emotional connection to the music. That is, after all, the entire point.
