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What is metal for you?


Holy Terror

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Lots of Metal inspires liberating thoughts, for sure. And I can relate to how it can keep one going when life turns demotivating, definitely. But most importantly, fucking hell yeah, I love using metal to let out my rage. Instead of feeling like the world is unfair and like I don't have a choice but to accept people's shitty actions or thoughts, or instead of insulting people when I've just fucking had enough of their faces... I get to churn that rage into a fucking amazing feeling.

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This makes me think of Shawshank Redemption. There is one scene where Andy says something along the lines of music is the only freedom that can never be taken from you. That is what music as a whole is for me. I was born and Raised with rock and metal and I largely identify with metal more than any other genre. As I was growing up it was more about the sound of what I was listening to. As I got older it became more and more about the music as a whole. Being able to lose myself in what ever I was listening to. Then at one point I became severely depressed. That for me is when metal became extremely important. It made me open my eyes and helped me say fuck you to the world. It gave me the attitude of I'm going to stick around to piss you all off. sorry about the ridiculously long post

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I'd say metal is' date=' as is most music if you ask me, a way of identifying and expressing yourself as well as a 'tool' of cultivating your already existing personal aspects, such as feelings, view on life, etc[/quote'] Basically these. Also, I tend to consider music, writing, art, etc. in terms of catharsis, and metal (and in general, other arts that involve dark themes) is what brings the most catharsis for me. I don't really listen to it for anger--I don't perticularly find what I listen to be "angry", and generally speaking I'm not a person who gets angry in the first place--but rather because I find an emotional depth--a depth of feeling and expression--in it that I can't find in most other music. If anything, listening to metal makes me feel more at peace.
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I often pondered this question. I wrote up a mission statement "for lack of a better description" on my blog awhile back and I did my best to answer this question because I wanted my readers to understand exactly what metal is to me. Here is an excerpt "If the myths remain then I will live within the perceptions of mainstream mythology. That then makes me a “SOCIALLY AWKWARD ANARCHIST SATANIST ANGRY METALHEAD” through and through and I wear it like a badge. I am living free on the DARKSIDE, off the grid and thinking for myself. I accept reality for what it is both the good and the bad and I will not hide my head in politically correct idealism. Heavy Metal music audibly and lyrically challenges the human soul and in that challenge our mind is forced to wrestle with the very nihilistic illusion or existential reality of our existence" Here is the link for the rest of the post For Love of The Music ?The Rise of the Darkside? | tHedArksIde Horns Up !!! Tim Shearn www.welcometothedarkside.org

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What metal is to me now and what it has meant to me in the past are two vastly different, but equally significant, things. In the past metal kept me going through the darkest times in my life. Now metal is joy - whenever I listen to metal, or in fact any music I enjoy, I can't help but smile. EDIT: It is interesting to note nowhere is this new trait more evident then when listening to funeral doom which, given its atmosphere and no doubt intended emotional response, is somewhat ironic.

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Music. Thats it.  Its like certain tracks (that happen to be of the metal genre or not) fall right in to the place where im at. Like a sountrack to my life at a certain point, music just aligns with you. So..i listen to all kind of music..but the songs that stick with me, that arent temporary, that dont (just) belong to a certain "era" of my life and then dissapear, are mostly of the metal genre. So when people ask me what i listen to.. metal is in the first place. Because this soundtrack sticks and keeps coming back. So..metal in general is just a musical genre for me..but certain tracks are a part of me. And that fact will probably never change.

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Yeah, i guess i always divided people in to two piles, one with people that listen to music on a daily basis, music makes them feel and they feel the music, and people that just randomly listen to the radio in the car or while cleaning their apartment. But i believe that many people who listen to "sugary pop music", can feel connected with it just like we are connected to a metal track. God, its hard to explain something in a foreign language. : D Im just sceptical about people judging other genres and people that listen to them So, i dont mind a person that listens to sugary pop and FEELS something when they listen to it.. Even if the music completely sucks for my taste.  I do mind people that dont listen to music at all, that just turn on the radio and never really fall in to it. Those are some fucked up people imo. : D 

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That's the point I was getting at. I try (but often fail) to avoid making arbitrary judgements of a band or genre based on my own taste. The music I enjoy can evoke a wide range of emotions from ecstasy to grief and this, I believe, is why art exists. For me music is art, not in the traditional sense of the painting or sculpture, but in the abstract sense similar to film and literature. If the truth be told it is the most accessible artform for me as music does not rely on visual cues. Being vision impaired that's important - my eyes pretty much suck so visual art poses a significant challenge for me.

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My eye condition causes progressive vision loss, I can still see a bit so movies (at home, cinemas are too dark for my eyes to work) and other visual artforms are still on the menu (art after all is food for the mind in my opinion). Even the most stunning man-made art though pales in comparison to the astounding beauty of nature. Nowhere was this more evident then when I dove the Great Barrier Reef a few years back.

 

Here at metal forum threads are just very loose guidelines - we're experts at getting way off topic here :D

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You guys should have an "offtopic" topic. : P "The astounding beauty of nature" - no doubt, i think this includes actual human beings in there as well, not just trees, rivers and rocks. But your point of view, where "art is food for the mind" kind of goes along with the "cliche" art view where eveything is art as long as the perceiver "gets something from it". Im not really sure how i feel about that, i guess i somewhat accept this because i strongly believe every person for themselves experience and feel the world in certain specific ways. But then again, id say an orange on the counter isnt art and neither is Nicki Minajs butt. :/

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I would agree with that - art evokes emotion that's why it's art. With regards to the beauty of nature it's certainly not limited purely to scenery. The human form can be beautiful. So can the patterns of butterflies, snakes, big cats, even the way that creatures move can be beautiful. Nature is spectacular. We have an off-topic section. We also have a "What's On Your Mind" thread in the forum games sub-forum.

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Really? I never identified myself as a "metalhead" for the sole reason, that i recognized many metalheads think theyre "advanced", "not belonging", but when you take a closer look at the each person, they have the same dumbass values as the general mass of people and they actually fit very nicely, with the exception of what they listen on their ipods and what they wear (or have longer hair). Plenty of them are racist or nationalists (Varg is my god, duurh duurh), plenty of them are sexist and homophobic and think that listening to harder music makes them more of a man. And the need to belong to a group so badly almost always comes with excluding other groups. Not just the dominant one, but other subcultures, which are "fighting" the same fight against the dominant society. This subculture has very strict standards, like i read before, many metalheads are frowned upon because they dont wear all black, dont have long hair, dont listen to certain bands (you DONT listen to the BIG FOUR?!), dont go concerts or festivals, listen to other music as well.. and so on. God forbid you listen to some kind of core, youre such a god damn poser. Or NU-oh my god! And the list just goes on. I mean.. i get the part of distinguishing yourself from the dominant culture, but doing that by belonging to another quite large subculture that excludes others (just as the dominant society does) and works within the same frame of traditional values and a set of rules (just like the dominant society does) is pretty contradictive. Not to mention the metal sub genres, where the rules are even stricter. If you want to be a part of the subculture of black metal you have to go way beyond listening to Mayhem, Emperor, Immortal, Darkthrone and Burzum. If youre not underground, youre a fake. You dont know the french black legions? You can just fuck off back to listening Within Temptation. : D

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Well that hasn't been my experience. I've found most metalheads to be more tolerant and less inclined to being bigots. I acknowledge this isn't always the case though. I've been prone to douchebaggery myself particularly when it comes to melodic metalcore but I think I'm getting better. I just dislike bands claiming to be metal when that makes up only a minimal fraction of their sound but I digress. Metal is one of many music genres I enjoy and I do identify as a metalhead. It wasn't a rebellion thing for me and never will be the genre just does something for me.

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Metal is very much like a first love. Growing up metal was the first music I listened to and actually enjoyed and identified with, I had all these anti this and anti that ideas floating in my head and metal spoke my language. Largely it's appeal has nothing to do with whether other people listen to it or not - I feel no camaraderie or collective conscience with other fans that's not what I look for. I do flirt around with other genres (mostly classical and jazz) but I always come back to metal.

 

In addition to my original comment above I haven't ever come across homophobic, racist or sexist attitudes amongst what keeps getting termed as "metalheads".  For me the "ism" is usually there before you come to the music, literature are or form that connects with or corroborates your existing "ism". I am not denying for one minute these people exist (and I am certainly not devaluing Aveline's experiences) but I have been involved with metal for 27 years nearly and haven't come up against any inherently racist, sexist etc fellow fans.

Varg is an absolute knob.  A racist and a murderer as well as being responsible for some really dull music in recent releases, but I still listen to his (earlier) music purely because i like the sound and style.

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