Heavy metal music is said to be dying out, but they are still touring world wide, such as Metallica, Slipknot and others.
Counter Arguments
As a metal head the main argument I hear for people not liking heavy metal is that its just loud noises and screaming. However, this is simply not the case in most songs. Some songs are very thrash and contain screaming but to say that type of metal is the majority isn’t true.
Screaming in heavy metal
Even the most heavy bands such as Slipknot, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Metallica have a good majority of their songs containing moderate amounts of screaming and blast beats. Slipknot being the biggest offender for screaming, and Fleshgod Apocalypse for blast beats and heavy drums. Metallica is overall tame compared to them but is usually the first band people bring up when talking about heavy metal.
New metal bands
One band that is up-and-coming is Ice Nine Kills. Their music is horror inspired and relates iconic shows and movies. Some include; “Evil Dead”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” Each song on the Silver Scream album relates to some kind of popular horror reference. Their sound is very unique and the lead singers voice isn’t rough at all. Compared to many other metal singers it is relatively soft. Mr Perrino, a history teacher at Colonia high school, has this to say about music; “Music is a preference, to each their own If music inspires you in positive ways, it doesn’t matter what you listen to. If your listening to music that is degrading and does not inspire to bring out the best in you, then that can create a problem. But music should be listened to bring out joy and positive aspects in your life.”
Creation of Songs
A lot of the music created by these bands comes from the heart, it’s just expressed in an angry manner. Slipknot especially has the majority of their songs inspired by real life experiences the band members have faced.
Such as the song Eyeless, the bridge of the song, “You can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes” is inspired directly by Corey Taylor visiting California and hearing a homeless man yell that sentence into a payphone. Another, more grotesque song, Disasterpiece, is about a bully that used to pick on Taylor. Lastly, Nero Forte, meaning “black” and “bold” in Italian is a song about the depression Taylor faced in his life.
The songs they wrote especially during their self-titled album and Iowa album,which are the first and second album respectively, have come from an extremely dark and depressing place. A lot of them were addicted to drugs and alcohol and just downright hated each other.
Fan base
The darkest things they have done come from their earliest album though. Such as one member, Shawn Crahan, also known as “Clown” used to keep a dead crow that slowly turned into a gelatinous liquid in a jar. Before they performed they would sniff the dead crow from the jar.
The odor would build up and usually would cause them to vomit immediately into their masks on stage. They claimed to have done it so they got the feeling of death in their bodies, making them perform better. However, one day a fan wished to smell the dead crow, Clown opened the jar and the fan started to eat it.
This shows that there is a lot of chaos and emotion going on behind the scenes. Their songs have a lot of feeling, usually pain behind them.
