(July 4, 2015 at 9:33 am)bennyboy Wrote: I'm curious how you are defining "metal." I see it as rooted in certain song structures, certain musical philosophies, certain lyric themes, etc. Alice in chains has some vaguely metal-sounding stuff, but I don't see that overall they have the attitudes or sound that I would call metal.
This is really a great question, and one that has no definitive answer.
Myself, I think of metal as tending to minor tonalities; heavy, straightforward beats which might be subdivided finely but with little syncopation; an emphasis on instrumental technique that might become exaggerated; lyrical themes that prefer the extremes of partying or doom, but avoid the middle ground between the two extremes; guitar tones based on humbucker pickups pushing massively overdriven amps; and an aggressive approach to everything musical.
Out of the grunge movement in particular, I think of both AiC and Soundgarden as being, if not purely metal (because they aren't), the closest to metal.
If I were to refine the essence of metal, I'd have Sabbath, Metallica, and Van Halen all in the mix, although I confess having no idea about the proportions -- and I suspect those will vary by opinions and taste anyway.
