All metal sounds the same to me unfortunately.
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Did someone say Brutality?!?!
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Used to be that way for me too. If you want to try to get into it more, send me a pm and we can talk about it.
As far as Logan's point about hitting hard, I definitely agree that it is designed to sound impressive to the masses. The people that actually have an ear for this kind of stuff (ie metalheads) know that there is nothing decent going on. It is the pop of the metal arena. However, I really don't have any appreciation for things like you linked. Stuff that is aimed at hitting hard and having an impact based on their intensity like that are largely boring to me. The exception being tech death like Fleshgod Apocalypse and the Faceless. Most of that stuff like Rings of Saturn (which sometimes gets called tech death but is mostly deathcore imo) just sounds like nonsense. They are playing fast, but they are playing nothing worth listening to. Meanwhile Fleshgod and the Faceless have phenomenal musicality. The way that the classical excerpt that Fleshgod puts into their albums fits with the sound of their music, the way that it flows together, it really demonstrates just how good of artists they are. Meanwhile Autotheism was a masterpiece imo. Both bands hit hard and are insanely intense, but they have more depth and character in their music, making them actually worth listening to imo. (of course music is subjective and blah blah blah, but if you don't agree with my opinion, then you are just plain wrong, obviously)
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Never heard about Metal Core.
But i guess its not my taste.
i have a cd from Soulfly, that is allready hard enough for me.
If you have any taste, then it isn't your taste.
I guess the hardest stuff I listen to is Breaking Benjamin....but I guess that's not even metal. I'm not much for screaming anymore I suspose.
Deathcore V. Death Metal
Djent V. Metal
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Personally I don't particularly look for intensity, the bands I'm currently listen to are all excellent at creating atmosphere in their music and that seems to be what I'm drawn to atm (I'm still very new so this is bound to change). I think probs the hardest stuff I listen to at the moment would be something like Finntroll; Folk metal, so whether or not that itch will be scratched I don't know.
But it seems that based off what everyone's been saying, the reason the two genres are hated so much is that whilst most metal carved a place for itself in music (hence why it's a niche sound), Metalcore and Nu Metal contorted themselves to make their sound palatable for the masses, by eliminated the elements of metal that made it what it is (musically and philosophically). Is that fair? Or a load of pretentious crap?
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As much as I was talking all high and mighty before, categorizing most metal-fans in 3 big groups, it's actually pretty interesting to hear individual opinions on why some people here don't enjoy metal-core and nu-metal. Especially from people who are literally just now discovering metal for themselves, I never thought about that point of view honestly.
I used to listen to some metalcore and nu metal some years back (and still do, but only one or two bands), but one thing I've noticed is that a lot of the bands in these scenes sound the same (Bring Me the Horizon, Asking Alexandria, etc.). That's a reason why I stopped listening to the two subgenres (that, and during that point in my life the only thing I would listen to was metal, and the more I listened to other genres the less I listened to metal).
Someone may have already mentioned it in the thread, but take a look into "the loudness war." In summation, it is the trend for companies to record music "louder" which started in the 1990's. Similarly, during this time, is when (metal) music itself generally started to get louder - more bass, down-tuned guitars, etcetera. I have often heard some of the newer genres of metal described as "walls of noise," which to some degree is true, but it goes hand-in-hand with other things.
If you're curious about learning and learning all the various definitions of whatever subgenres, by all means, go for it. But don't take it too seriously, or you'll find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole. In the end, you'll still be listening to whatever you enjoy listening to.
Besides, as for metal, you can't get too much more metal than this.
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Shred plays very sweet.
Just need to do some more listening unless you're just not a fan (which there's nothing wrong with that). These are all "metal". Its a very diverse musical genre.
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I'll give these a listen tomorrow when I'm home from work. I think though I like metal that's not all screaming through a song. "Normal" singing is nice too. Kind of like how Alexisonfire does it. I guess that's probably a newb metal band though lol
The videos I linked are not necessarily personal picks or anything - they are mainly just highlighting the differences within the umbrella metal genre. Most folks refer to normal vocals as "clean" vocals, which used to be the norm until the death and black metal scenes began unfolding. If you want some suggestions just shoot me a PM :D
Yeah it is interesting to hear peoples' reasons for liking or disliking certain sub genres. While some folks equate intensity to speed, once metal gets over a certain bpm (beats per minute) it begins to get annoying to me. Strangely for me, it boils down to the rate at which I can comfortably nod my head. Most thrash metal and groove metal hovers around 160-210 bpm (with some groove metal even lower around 140 bpm). For whatever reason this tempo really resonates with me. Even though the music is slower, it actually sounds "heavier" to me depending on the mixing, etc of course.
Case in point this track from Exhorder (give it until 57 sec to get into the main groove)
Exhorder is known as a groove metal band, which means slower tempos in general and an underlying influence of almost bluesy groove. However, I consider them as one of the "heaviest" bands in metal. They were the main influence on Pantera's change in sound around 1990/1991 when they released Cowboys From Hell. The tempo of this track along with the mixing make for a super "heavy" feel to my ears. However, some folks that are really big death/black metal fans probably think that this is not nearly as "heavy" as the standard death/black metal fare. Someone mentioned the "wall of sound" that has become synonymous with some of the more modern death metal bands. One of the reasons that this track from the early 90s sounds "heavier" to me than the modern wall of sound is that you pretty much cannot recreate this type of tone any longer with modern digital equipment. What was done in the early 90s with mixing, gear, and recording was magical to me and just works super well for my tastes and, for some reason, I find a lot of more modern music to be very flat and thin sounding.
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Have you actually listened to Rings of Saturn? I'm a big fan of Meshuggah, Beyond Creation, Soreption, and RoS, I also used to be hooked on FA (then I felt that they played so fast that every melodic element just became a big mess), and I cannot agree with you at all about RoS. They're exceptionally good for the their genre, it's not just speedy non-sense (which is especially true for the new Lugal Ki En album).
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Whoah Art Metal freaking rules!
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I personally love nu metal but im 22 and its what ive grown up with...
TL;DR after about ten comments but I'd like to throw out my two cents somewhere on the site so I can come back and reference it any time this comes up for me, rather than typing it again. So I'll post it here.
I'd like to call myself "well cultured" or "versed" when it comes to music. I listen to a wide variety of genres on the daily, I literally almost always have music playing unless I'm Gaming. So I've heard at least a sample of just about anything you could mention. "Bet you don't know what throat singing is huehuehue" Please, not only do I know it, I've heard it used in a Korean metal band along with horse hair instruments (i.e.old school violin work), wind instruments like flutes, and traditional metal instrumentation. So I know what's out there. A lot.
Why do people hate x type of metal? Because it's shit. I'll explain this with "screamo" because it's a genre I have more experience shredding, no pun intended. Screamo typical involves terrible, whiny lyrics with selfish messages, instruments that are blaring and just... so boring and uninspired anyway, and the vocals are just... so obnoxious. The average person can't tell the difference between different songs of the same band or even different bands entirely, it can be so bad. It's not even opinion. You can objectively argue that these bands are terrible, just like you can objectively argue that Amira Willighagen is one of the best singers alive, and she's a kid.
Honestly, I'm convinced some genres are incapable of being good. "Yeah, but there's that one screamo band that sounds really good!" Yeah... So good in fact and so different from the shitty bands that make up that genre it's like they're not even in the same genre. See how that works? Name me a screamo band that is good and I can probably find a genre it more properly fits in.
And just to answer the unasked, but thought, question... "Well then why is mainstream music so... mainstream... I mean, so much of it is, as you put it, objectively bad." Two reasons. One, it's trendy. Psychology teaches us that something doesn't have to be good to be popular. It merely needs to be popular... to be popular.. Oh, jeez. Basically, it's catchy and caters to the people listening to it. There's a reason "Last Friday Night" or whatever is so popular. It has an energetic, catchy tune and people actually live like that. Well, here in the US they do. And two, most people haven't heard otherwise. Mainstream is the most accessible music out there. Finding other stuff takes time, effort, and patience. Which makes me wonder how someone can ditch mainstream and wind up with screamo... The least they could have done is stumbled across Abigail Williams, or even Graveworm.