Heavy Metal: Not As Scary As You Think

With Halloween rapidly approaching us in just two weeks, there are many fun scary things to partake in. Movies, haunted houses, skeletons and zombies are just a few of all the frights in store. Yet, most of us don't typically indulge in everything our society might consider scary. When most people are asked why they have never tried to listen to metal music, they might say that it is far too scary, intimidating, or even evil! Of course this may be true for some of the genre, but there is plenty of heavy metal that is not scary or evil, but inspiring.

The past two blog posts have been alternative and then rock music, and now metal. These three genres can be thought of as a spectrum of the rock genre, where alternative is the most catchy and popish, while metal is much more on the intense side than anything else. Metal was ushered in in the late 1960s with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and many other popular bands. Then and now metal has just been defined as rock with a bit more intensity. Back then that meant some heavier guitar riffs, more aggressive vocals and crazy costumes. Today the genre has taken an entirely different form with very heavy, irregular guitar riffs, insane drumming, and many times even screaming.

It is perhaps the screaming that gives the genre the perception that many people have of it: that it is so innately scary. While screaming is certainly much more intense than lyrical singing, depending on the reasons that an artist chooses to yell instead of sing, this style of vocals can achieve a wide variety of emotions ranging from distress to anger to happiness.

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My absolute favorite band of all time is called Of Mice & Men, named after John Steinbeck's novel. They are a metal quintet from California that, while being heavy metal and featuring a substantial amount of screaming, has very positive messages of self-esteem, purpose, happiness, and other great messages. The song below is one of my favorites, Second & Sebring. It is also worth looking at the lyrics as it can be hard to understand.

While it's hard for any person not already a fan of the genre to enjoy an artist yelling, it is easy to see how the song does not fit society's main perceptions of the genre. Instead of screaming to make their music more edgy, or to get a scary, intimidating vibe, Of Mice & Men use it to express all of the emotion needed by their song. The song itself is a tribute to the main singers mother, recently passed. As such a sensitive topic as it is, the singer screams to let out all of the fresh emotion from losing a loved one. Combined with the poetic lyrics he writes, the song is inspiring because it does not hold back, all of the emotion is expressed freely and naturally through grief, but also as celebration of all of the experiences his mother has shaped.

Many people will ask me how I can enjoy listening to something like this, and I always answer the same. Many other genres of music offer vocals without pitch, such as hip hop and rap. I see screaming as just a more intense, emotional version of rap. It is rhythmic, it is dynamic, and it is powerful. Of course not all heavy metal is just screaming with guitars and a drum set, a lot mixes in a lot of singing in a powerful way. Second & Sebring ends with a very melodic melody that ties the whole song together while offering a very different style. The melody at the end ties together all of the emotion from the whole song in one pretty bow, ending with a bittersweet celebration of the great life that his mother was known to have.

The metal genre is very diverse, and while some of it is designed to be scary or intimidating, there is also a ton of other themes present as well. It can be hard to get into the genre, but once you do it can be one of releasing experiences you've ever had with music.