From time to time, since many years ago, I have periods I feel like listening more to metal than to other styles...but I either listen to classical heavy metal (like AC/DC, motörhead, Turbo, from Poland...), power metal (gamma ray, mainly, some ballad by Iced Earth, Pantera), hair/glam metal (such as Kiss...but here I would include the Japanese band X-Japan) and Gothic Metal (Tristania, Lacrimosa, Theatre of Tragedy). Rarely I would listen to the newest subgeneres (like nu metal) nor the darker genre, that is, scary black metal (however I’ve listened to some songs by some black metal band)...too dark..uff...
I did some experiment listening to some online-radio playing only black metal, to see the psychological effect or its effect on one’s mood and fight it if it was negative...even without paying attention to the lyrics (fortunately it’s almost impossible to understand the lyrics due to the way of singing). Better death metal (Death, Vader, Quo Vadis, the polish ones, not the Canadian homonymous band, God Dethroned...), dark, but not that much (but dark anyway)...and since it’s not as dark, I even find the kind of guttural singing interesting and somehow funny (black metal is too wrapped with something too obscure)...the fact is that i don't take it seriously. But again it’s also better, for me, not to think too much about the lyrics, rather than of the combination of guttural voices and the melody (great guitars!). Then I came across Viking metal (sounds funny to me...thinking of "Wickie, the viking" cartoons)...different topics (rather epic, related, logically, to viking world) but the same kind of music and voices, being it a subgenre within death metal for some people. Amon Amarth is the band I first found and listened to...good music (well, i've just listened to their "death in fire" and " the pursuit of vikings"). Again, i'm not talking at all about the lyrics.
Why stepping off a path leaving behind softer/lighter bands within metal i usually listen to? First I remembered 2 songs of extreme metal genres I used to have (“spiritual healing” by Death and another one of who knows with a strange title...Dr. Karl! No m’enrecordoooo!! Potser era d'alguns individus que fan black metal la que m’enviares fa temps...)...and I remembered metal concerts several years ago in my city...open air free concerts, being some of them of death metal. Secondly I wanted to test the changes in my mood listening to such music for some time and see better the difference between different genres. Of course normally it has some effect on me (besides the headache derived from being at my pc, since my CD player doesn’t work), but I wanted to avoid it and turn it positive. Turn darkness into light...with the help of alternating other kinds of music I also like, from relaxation music, to electronic, including, ballads, jazz, traditional music from Asia, alternative rock, power pop, new wave, and so on. and the mind and some control of the mood did the rest.
Why stepping off a path leaving behind softer/lighter bands within metal i usually listen to? First I remembered 2 songs of extreme metal genres I used to have (“spiritual healing” by Death and another one of who knows with a strange title...Dr. Karl! No m’enrecordoooo!! Potser era d'alguns individus que fan black metal la que m’enviares fa temps...)...and I remembered metal concerts several years ago in my city...open air free concerts, being some of them of death metal. Secondly I wanted to test the changes in my mood listening to such music for some time and see better the difference between different genres. Of course normally it has some effect on me (besides the headache derived from being at my pc, since my CD player doesn’t work), but I wanted to avoid it and turn it positive. Turn darkness into light...with the help of alternating other kinds of music I also like, from relaxation music, to electronic, including, ballads, jazz, traditional music from Asia, alternative rock, power pop, new wave, and so on. and the mind and some control of the mood did the rest.
Test your mind and mood!strengthen your mind. It’s somehow like trying to read or study on the train (what a comparison) while there’s a lot of people talking at the same time, the music is on...and sometimes somebody is talking about something interesting tempting you to pay attention....In both cases (music and train concentration) the key is to find the way to keep one’s mind focused on something else than on the background or something coming directly to our senses in the case of black and death metal, avoiding the darkness of the lyrics(but I repeat that I like death metal..and most people i know that listen to such gernes are pretty normal people in appearence and don't have obscure souls or minds)...well, not much darker than the reality of nowadays world. These tactic/technique/experiment could be somehow compared to tantric techniques, if i'm allowed to do so. avoiding certain reactions and feelings, keepin one mind and soul clean and following another path. And metaphorically it was a bit like watching the news (the Bad News always on tv...) trying not to get hurt and keeping a positive attitude towards everything...walking away from impulses, wishes, suffering...Walking away. And now Quo Vadis play a cover version of a love song by Maanam (polish too, from the 80es...kinda pop/rock/eighties sound) with guttural voices and so on. Superb version. Why aren't there death metal bands or some other subgenre within death metal singing to more positive things. making songs like the cover version i just mentioned?..or even why isn't there a bit of humour?
list of bands sorted by heavy metal subgenres: http://www.metal-archives.com/browseG.php?g=heavy
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