Heavy Metal: a lost art form?

Heavy metal music descended from rock music back in the 1970's. As time went on music got heavier, harder and meaner! Intricate guitar solos, screaming and growling vocals, faster than fast drumming, leather jackets, long hair and amplified sound is what heavy metal music was all about in the beginning. Has it changed much since then? A bit. The metal "look" is not as important these days. It's acceptable to see short haired men wearing khaki pants singing like the cookie monster! However, a lot of bands depend on the "stage show" and their look to go along with their music. Black metal is normally associated with corpse paint and spikes while bands like Gwar put on an entire theatrical show to go along with their music!

There are many genres within the heavy metal genre! I'm going to explore each one in this lense! I will include definitions of each genre along with photos and videos!

Well Im a chick who LOVES heavy metal music. I've been a fan for many years. As a kid I loved the 80's hair metal bands. The older I got the heavier my music tastes become. I began to be obsessed with bands like Pantera, Sepultura and the like. Then I discovered death metal.. and I was in love! I've been to countless concerts. Traveled to many states to see various metal shows. For a few years I ran my own underground metal magazine called Metal Mafia. I interviewed various bands known and unknown (myspace link in link list).

Now at the age of ?? I'm a wife and a mother. Even though I don't make it to many shows these days I still have a big passion for metal music! I hope you enjoy this lense as much as I'm enjoying making it!! \m/ Horns High!

If you would like to make your own Squidoo lense about any metal genre please use this link to get started. Come back and tell me about your lense and I will link it on this page!

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One of the most extreme sub-genres of heavy metal music is none other than death metal. Defined as being inspired by early thrash acts such as Slayer and Kreator, death metal typically includes blast beat drums, deep growling vocals and distorted guitars.

Death metal is mostly frowned upon by "normal" society due to its typical lyrical content which usually consists of mini horror splatter film type lyrics. Not all death metal lyrics revolve around gore and violence though. A lot of well known death metal bands go against the normal lyrics and lean towards a new direction that can include satanism, occultism, mysticism, and social commentary.

There are conflicting ideas as to where the term "Death Metal" came from. Some say that it stemmed from the founding fathers of death metal, Death, when a journalist described their music as "Death's Metal". Others say that it stemmed from the Possessed 1984 demo entitled, "Death Metal"... those are just two stories; there are many more!

Some of the most well known death metal acts include Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel and Napalm Death.

Thrash metal is typically defined by its aggression and fast tempo, fast percussion work and low guitar riffs. All of this is most likely always led with shreddingly fast guitar work that will make your jaw drop to the floor! Vocal styles are very aggressive and angry but unlike death metal the lyrics are still clearly understandable.

Thrash metal lyrics are typically different than that of the death metal genre as thrashers sing more about common social issues going on in the world such as suicide, warfare, addiction, injustice and the like.

Thrash originated back in the late 70's and early 1980's when this new genre was developed to move away from the punkrock scene of those days.

Some influential thrash albums include: Dark Angel: Darkness Descends; Kreator: Pleasure To Kill; Metallica: Master Of Puppets; Megadeth: Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, Slayer: Reign In Blood.