Sunday Sounds - Why Heavy Metal? - Part 2: Emotional Context, Tone and Structure

What do you think of when you think of heavy metal? Angry music? Scary music? Evil music? Screaming? Growling? Harsh tones? Fast guitars and fast drumming? Loud and obnoxious?

No matter what you think about heavy metal, it's probably legit. But more often than not, the one thing that seems to escape most people is the emotional contexts heavy metal music incorporates. Most people assume that heavy metal merely conveys a limited range of emotions: anger, hatred, sadness, disgust, lust, et cetera. Overall, the emotional tone of heavy metal is generally dark. While this is true for the most part, there are number of subjective qualities behind this idea . . . all of which I wish to share with you, right now!

The Beauty Within Darkness

What is perhaps the most curcial element to any musical creation? A sense of melody. In the world of rock music (in its most basic pretext), the melody is a guitar riff or vocalization that provides a unique, catchy hook in which the listener finds alluring, and often times memorable. For example, the opening guitar riff to Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine, or the vocalization of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal, or the most infamous drum beat and guitar riff (and vocalization) in the world of heavy metal: the epic climax of Metallica's One. The melody of a song is what makes it a song -- that doesn't mean that every song has a melody, however -- and in the world of heavy metal, never is melody better defined.

How so?

Well, take what I said last week pertaining to the musicianship of heavy metal artists. The world of heavy metal is littered with thousands of talented musicians on every instrument, and when you combine their musianship with musical creation (such as melody), you achieve something you cannot achieve in other avenues. For example, take what I stated above . . . melody in Sweet Child O' Mine is found within a guitar, melody in Smooth Criminal is found within a voice, melody in One is found within a guitar, drums and a voice.

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't melodies in other genres of music which don't incorporate a multitude of instruments, but never is it more prevalent than in the world of heavy metal. But the real beauty of it, is that often times, in a heavy metal song, there may exist several melodies!

That's right! There are a number of songs which don't focus one just one climatic element, but rather numerous variations and themes, all of which add to the totality of a song. I offer as Exhibit A:



But sure, it's easy to feature a number of melodic entrancements with a song that's ten minutes long. Yet, that's another fascinating feature with heavy metal. There are numerous heavy metal songs that push beyond typical song length. On average, a song ranges anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes in length; yet, in the world of heavy metal, it's not uncommon to find songs beyond 10 minutes, especially when considering various sub genres. For example, black metal, epic metal, pagan metal, et cetera, all feature a vast number of songs pushing the 15 minute mark. And bands like Moonsorrow, Weakling, Dakestrah feature songs more on the side of 20 minutes . . . especially Moonsorrow who have a number songs beyond 20 minutes, even approaching a 30 minute mark.

Hold up, a 30 minute long song?! That's right. Songs so wondrously created, in structure, melody and musicianship, that they transcend the prejudices of heavy metal and enter the realm of musical composition! And yet, it retains its heavy metal qualities. I highly recommend checking out Moonsorrow's album V: Havitetty -- pure pagan metal, featuring classic shriek-style-vocalization, blast beats and tremolo picking, acoustics, flutes, keyboards, and wonderful musicianship.

But back to my point. Melody is everywhere in the world of music, but in some styles it's far more purposeful. And none other than heavy metal . . . I mean, how else can musicians make a dark song catchy and appealing?

That does appear to be the main criticism behind heavy metal: it's dark. Why would anyone wish to surround themselves with such darkness all the time? Well, in truth, it's not the darkness that draws in most fans. I mean, when I was a teenager and began listening to heavy metal for the first time, it wasn't because I found the music dark. Instead, I heard the other qualities the music had to offer. The melodies, the musicianship, the structure . . . not its theme. That was an aspect that came later in my quest to find other heavy metal bands. And yet, even then, I discovered that a lot of "dark music" was really just another subjective quality -- a way in which to explore musical elements. Even then, not all dark music is wholly dark. Even though the tone of a song may be dark, sometimes the melody and indeed the lyrics themselves are beautiful. I offer as Exhibit B:



So, why heavy metal? Well, it's all the tonal and emotional elements heavy metal has to offer. What other source of music has the ability to convey so much, yet remain so true to its nature? Heavy metal music has a lot to offer, only many levels, and it's to prejudge it based on media prejudices. It may be dark, but it can be beautiful.