What is heavy?

[death metal black metal]

Gravitas is another old word that we still use to talk about manliness, especially in actors and politicians. We say a man possesses gravitas
when he makes us believe we should take him seriously. We get our word “gravity” from the Latin gravitas; it means “heavy.” The Romans used
gravitas the same way we do—to say that a man or a thing is to be taken seriously. - Jack Donovan, The Way of Men, p 20

I've always thought heavy meant serious. It's the weighty side of life, that which deals with consequences and mortal decisions. It's the opposite of the hippie cool, chill, peace, etc. Gravitas in this sense gives it another dimension: it is the point at which you will not yield, why you will not yield, and what you protect.

[Biannual Scab Miracle]

Thus the anti-poser attitude in metal.  Also, I think the death metal approach of building factory riffs up towards distinction finds a match in the way people who are taken seriously can say amazing things without resorting to paroxysm.  Zooming in, a death metal riff that makes sense only in terms of what preceded it is like a usually generic statement that takes on life given the speaker's history.

[Wolfgang]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsLkL8DTHeg

Cannibal Corpse is for pussies.

[MiddleIndex]

The way I look at it is there's 2 types of "heavy", there's is a artificial heaviness that tries to use shortcuts like whacking on loads of distortion, turning the amp up to "11", using detuning guitars, being non-musical to the point of just being hard work to listen to, stabbing people or  burning down churches. To me this seems like what's posers would do or what happens when things go stagnate and there's no ideas left and no imagination anymore. If you were to take someone that knows nothing of metal, who finds Iron Maiden to be inaudible to start their own Death Metal band, to try to be as extreme and as heavy as fucking possible using their perception of what they believe Heavy Metal to be, they would use artificial heaviness to try and achieve this.
The 2nd meaning for "Heavy" is philosophical, I think say Kill em All has music on it that has a tightness and an instinct that's true and pure to metal that's its heavier and unmatched by all these bands out today that use beefed up production and tricks to sound heavy but also clean and accessible.

[Wolfgang]

Don't say burning churches is part of the fake heavy. That was the heaviest thing the Norse bands did.

[MiddleIndex]

Don't say burning churches is part of the fake heavy. That was the heaviest thing the Norse bands did.

see when it stops being about making metal music then whats the point. see when they start to believe their music is the gateway to hell and satan thinks they are really cool then they are the same as religious fanatics.

Metal is ment to bring people together with the love good music thats been crafted with thought. not stabbing people.

[Veritas]

Dark matter.

The body tenses, as spirit builds.
The mind is one.

[aquarius]

Don't say burning churches is part of the fake heavy. That was the heaviest thing the Norse bands did.

see when it stops being about making metal music then whats the point. see when they start to believe their music is the gateway to hell and satan thinks they are really cool then they are the same as religious fanatics.

The way I see it music is an abstract expression of ideology whereas actions are the physical result of it. There's no law to say the two paths can't meet, though it often gets messy when they do. But what counts is that the expression is real and honest. And on that note I'm reminded of an early interview with Justin Broadrick wherein he states there's nothing heavier than Godflesh; nothing more 'real'.

[MiddleIndex]

But what counts is that the expression is real and honest

Im all for burning down churches, kicking priests in the balls and giving trying to give the music that something exta, a mis teeq of sorts but Heavy Metal is about sharing and self expression, its about not ending someones else.

Like Death, Chuck Schuldiner used his music to bring the listener into his world, he didnt need to run out and kick phoneboxes over.

[Cargést]

*Mystique

Sharing and self-expression are not what Heavy Metal is about.  Heavy Metal is about "Heaviness", and "Heaviness" requires only the recognition of reality ("dark side" and all).

Metal Music, I would say, is a large and integral part of Metal as a culture (or, rather, the spirit of that culture).  The same "Heaviness" from which the music draws can inspire other forms of art.  Lots of literature, architecture, painting, etc. is distinctly "Metal" in character, even while being separated (either by distance or time) from the modern phenomenon of "Metal".

It's been said before, and I will reiterate it: Metal is the current manifestation of a prevailing trend amongst (Eurasian) humans to produce individuals whose perspectives of reality are unclouded by transitory human concerns, to the effect that their output is universally (and sometimes increasingly, as with Metal [until '94]) "Heavy" in comparison to what may be culturally normal/preferred.

[Wolfgang]

But what counts is that the expression is real and honest

Im all for burning down churches, kicking priests in the balls and giving trying to give the music that something exta, a mis teeq of sorts but Heavy Metal is about sharing and self expression, its about not ending someones else.

Like Death, Chuck Schuldiner used his music to bring the listener into his world, he didnt need to run out and kick phoneboxes over.

You will not survive here invoking Chuck's name while not grasping what metal is about. However, before you go I will give you an idiots guide to what metal was really about.


While not all, most rock music is about "unity". Metal is not. Metal is a call to arms to combat societal decay, whether it admitted it or not. Metal was a militant celebration of classical European imagery, music, culture and heritage whether it knew it or not. The first metal saw it in the context of Christendom, but as metal evolved, it became more subversive to those traditional notions of morality which lead us to this place. This lead to the embrace of darkness and evil to protest and subvert morality. This started with bands such as Black Sabbath and Pentagram, continued by Judas Priest which exploded into NWOBHM. It is no accident that NWOBHM took names like Saxon and Satan. Some NWOBHM period bands consciously recognize metal began as a folk British movement, and continue to celebrate the form as that more explicitly. Pagan Altar being one active with good, evolving material coming out in modern times even.

After British metal, subsequent waves got more and more extreme, and the reality of what metal was really about got more and more explicit. It is no accident Norway was where Satan was largely abandoned for older myths and Churches were set ablaze. It isn't hard to see how what Sabbath began with Embryo/Children of the grave would eventually lead to Burzum.

But if I have to explain this, you may never get it.

[Dinaric Leather]

But if I have to explain this, you may never get it.

Your post really could have done without this line. You may be very right but this sort of arrogance never ends well. Don't let the fact you are awash in a sea of idiots get to your head.

[Mixcoatl]

Don't say burning churches is part of the fake heavy. That was the heaviest thing the Norse bands did.

see when it stops being about making metal music then whats the point. see when they start to believe their music is the gateway to hell and satan thinks they are really cool then they are the same as religious fanatics.

Metal is ment to bring people together with the love good music thats been crafted with thought. not stabbing people.

I think you missed the whole of it entirely.