Appeal Of Black Metal

eclipsedmoongoddess482 · Elder In Training Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 3703

Okay so I just got finished with a two day car ride and obviously I had a lot of time to kill in the car that I used to listen to music. A friend of mine burned me some CDs of his for the trip and most of them were of the heavy metal and black metal genre.

Because I didn't want my friend's time to have been completely wasted, I listened to all of the CDs and I was just left confused and a little dissapointed.

*I couldn't understand the lyrics
*I couldn't even hear the lyrics
*There was too much screaming to even know that they were lyrics
*Guitar was drowned out by screaming or an overpowering bass that wasn't even that good

So what is the massive appeal of black metal? I just don't understand. Are the lyrics really that meaningful and deep underneath a gritty exteirior?

Please tell me.
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fallenangel · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 3:51 pm Post subject:

[quote]So what is the massive appeal of black metal?[/quote]

It's loved by suburban brats who hate their parents and others who like dark stuff for reasons other than angsty depression. Personally it drives me crazy, but I guess hair metal drives just as many people insane too. The crappy MTV versions are usually loved by the Manson kids, and the more obscure groups are loved by those who truly like the genre.

[quote]I just don't understand. Are the lyrics really that meaningful and deep underneath a gritty exteirior?[/quote]

Depends. Was it mainstream, watered down MTV "black metal" or the 'good stuff'? The mainstream stuff is all the same, "evil evil evil, death is cool, gonna kill you and fuck you, lolz!" The other has some decently creative writing, not that you can hear any of it. The stuff from Norway and the rest of Europe...fuckin' hell there's something in the water over there, those guys are fucked in the head. WTF?

Yeah, I don't like it at all and agree with the points you made. It's just headache-inducing noise to me.
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ZeroHourLP · Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: -172359

Imagine shooting all the kids at school with that raucous s**t playing. BRARARARARRARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH RA RA RA RA. *gun shot* ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBROOORARARRAAAAAAAAA *shotgun, machine gun fire*

I'd get a diamond boner.
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eclipsedmoongoddess482 · Elder In Training Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 3703

[quote]Depends. Was it mainstream, watered down MTV "black metal" or the 'good stuff'? The mainstream stuff is all the same, "evil evil evil, death is cool, gonna kill you and f**k you, lolz!" The other has some decently creative writing, not that you can hear any of it. The stuff from Norway and the rest of Europe...fuckin' hell there's something in the water over there, those guys are fucked in the head. [/quote]

I think it was mainstream. I'm not really sure. One of the CDs was from a local band around where I live and he insisted that I had to listen to them. It was okay. When the frontman wasn't screaming his head off, his voice was actually pleasent and I wished he would sing more. But he screamed more than he sang and in random parts actually.

The rest was some Atreyu and Pantera CDs. Atreyu wasn't even really worth the two hours I spent listening to them out of politeness and Pantera would have been great if the frontman was better. Dimebag Darell really did live up to his rep. God rest his soul.

I've listened to Norweigian metal at a friend's house. She loves the genre and is learning like ancient text or something so she can understand most of the songs. So far the impression I get is that they all like the movie Gladiator more than the movie should be given credit for. Their music videos kick ass though. They're like high budget Warner Bros. style epic videos. I didn't understand a word of the music but the guitar playing was enough to keep my attention. And the one hot guy among the four other viking lookalikes helped too.

[quote]Imagine shooting all the kids at school with that raucous s**t playing. BRARARARARRARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH RA RA RA RA. *gun shot* ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBROOORARARRAAAAAAAAA *shotgun, machine gun fire*

I'd get a diamond boner. [/quote]

I just did. And it reminded me of the few loners in my school that sit in the corner peeling stuco off the wall.

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fallenangel · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 4:22 pm Post subject:

Atreyu suck balls. Pantera is more respectable than most.
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eclipsedmoongoddess482 · Elder In Training Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 3703

Atreyu was just too heavy on the screaming and the guitarist just wasn't skilled enough to keep my attention. Pantera definetly gets its rep from Dimebag though. He is definetly up there with Slash, Mick, and Joe Perry. They actually made an hour of the car trip go by pretty fast.

:Edit:

Just went to look up the Atreyu lyrics because I promised myself I'd do so. I'm not impressed. I'm not about to waste everyone's time and put all the songs up but here's the fourth song from their second album "Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses."

This is Song for the Optimist

Blow the last candle out, let the wax harden, I wish I could stop crying , I wish that someone still loved me.
Just breathe and focus, how can I when the air is so cold and empty, that my lungs froze right in my chest.
I'll be honest the silver linings are getting harder and harder to manufacture and the smiles are so difficult to fake.
The time is now and the day is here
What do I have to do, or who do I have to kill, to get what I want, what I need
Happiness is an emotion I was born to this world without,
nothing pleases me, I can never be satiated
Thru this toil I will breed my own distress and destroy my best hopes ,f**k up the only things that I love, I watched my dreams die ....
I watched my aspirations crach into the ground, on the backs of the angels that I've slain but I meant so well, I tried so hard, gave every bit of my soul, to what end?
Desolation, desire, exhale, pass away...

I actually speant two hours listening to this crap and not even realize what kind of crap it was.

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Papercut_Dragon · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 5:15 pm Post subject:

[quote]I actually speant two hours listening to this crap and not even realize what kind of crap it was. [/quote]

:lol: Yeah, those lyrics are a bit much.

Call me shallow, but I don't really listen to music for the lyrics, I listen for, well, just the music. Unless the lyrics are horribly cheesy cringe-inducing muck, I'm fine. That said, I do like some heavy metal. Black metal is a bit much (non-stop screaming is rather ugly), but a sing/scream mix doesn't bother me.

I couldn't really tell you why I like it, I just... do. Heh, that's not a very good response, but that's what it boils down to.
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fallenangel · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 6:25 pm Post subject:

And that's part of why Atreyu suck balls. Laughing

A bunch of mindless metaphors and images that are either overused or are so self-indulgent that they don't really mean anything. Like they're sitting there going "omg dude, check out this image I just came up with in the second verse. It doesn't really mean anything, but it sounds so fuckin' dark and cool". . . . .

I'm all for metaphors and images and good writing, but do it well. Like Bauhaus, as trendy as they were for a little while, had extremely good songs written like poems. But they didn't overuse the common things (angels, blood, tears, etc.), and they were extremely creative. God In An Alcove, Boys, She's In Parties, it was like good poetry set to music. (however, they were early 80s goth rock/alternative, but writing is writing)

Atreyu...is like a nineteen year old kid who's moved a little beyond the angsty preteen poetry of "my falling tears of blood", but is still stuck in that mediocre area with nothing to say.
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eclipsedmoongoddess482 · Elder In Training Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 3703

There's a fine line between being very moving and deep and just trying to impress people who don't know any better.

Atreyu appeals to the thirteen year olds who have yet to take creative writing classses in high school. They are still at the age where all those metaphors are cool and very deep.

They'll learn when they're older.

Coming up: Pantera lyrics Cool

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Elbreth · Still very bored Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Posts: 334

[quote="fallenangel (fallen)"] It's loved by suburban brats who hate their parents and others who like dark stuff for reasons other than angsty depression. [/quote]
If you don't know what you're talking about, please don't.

And if a black metal band has a music video then it's definatly the mainstream stuff.

eclipsedmoongoddess482 · Elder In Training Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 3703

[quote]QUOTE (fallenangel (fallen) @ Jul 2 2005, 03:51 PM)
It's loved by suburban brats who hate their parents and others who like dark stuff for reasons other than angsty depression.

If you don't know what you're talking about, please don't.
[/quote]

Dude, she does know what she's talking about. Rolling eyes

And she's right. I live down the street from kids who fit that exact description.

Please stop pissing gasoline into the fire. ;)

:Edit:

Instead of like making a big rant to prove fallen's point, maybe this could explain it better than I can. Wink

What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?
I wish you'd tell me, I don't know
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Dnn't know, don't know, don't know

CHORUS
Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'
And I don't know what I'm singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still don't know what I'm singin'
We're so loud and incoherent
Boy this oughtta bug your parents
Yeah

It's un-in-tel-ligible
I just can't get it through my skull
It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss(?)
With all these marbles in my mouth
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

CHORUS
Well we don't sound like Madonna
Here we are now, we're Nirvana
Sing distinctly? We don't wanna
Buy our album, we're Nirvana
A garage band from Seattle
Well, it sure beats raising cattle
Yeah

And I forgot the next verse
Oh well, I guess it pays to rehearse
The lyric sheet's so hard to find
What are the words? Oh, nevermind
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Don't know, don't know don't know...

CHORUS
Well, I'm yellin' and we're playin'
But I don't know what I'm sayin'
What's the message I'm conveyin'?
Can you tell me what I'm sayin'?
So have you got some idea?
Didn't think so, well, I'll see ya!
Sayonara, sayonara
Ayonawa, adinawa
Odinaya, yodinaya
Yaddayadda, yaaahyaaah
Ayaaaaah!

Okay, so Weird Al is mocking grunge but its still the same concept. This sums it up pretty well I think.
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Elbreth · Still very bored Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Posts: 334

Well... to be honest the lyrics are not the most important thing - 90% of lyrics (not confined to black metal) are pretty rubbish. There are some very well written lyrics out there don't get me wrong, but not all (especially if written in disjointed English)

It is, of course, about the atmosphere they want to portray - to the ignorant ear of course it's all going to sound like shouting, but Black Metal is a diverse genre and while it may not be for you, there certainly is far more in it than you seem to think.

The one thing I don't like is the idea of the "scene". And what I hate more is people like Arial dressing like a spastic to get attention and listening to the very fringe of black metal or only the most popular of bands and saying he's into Black Metal - I'm perhaps being a little elitist here but that's what the music is about. People like that, musically speaking, annoy me. A lot.

While it is hard to hear the lyrics, you can make a fair bit of it out if you read the lyrics while listening to it - may have to really listen, but you can. It's a [b]very[/b] aquired taste.. well it used to be before everyone and his dog started listening to Black Metal...

I'm not an angsty brat and I enjoy many things in life... her generalisation was eally quite unfounded.

fallenangel · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:11 pm Post subject:

[quote]If you don't know what you're talking about, please don't.[/quote]

What the fuck, you just proved my point! In case you didn't notice, I included TWO types of people in that description.

1. Angsty brats who listen to the popular stuff to be "cool" and "different", or because they feel it describes their fake depression.

2. People who genuinely like the music for reasons other than it's "so dark, like hot topic, cool!". People who like the sound and atmosphere, which by its very nature, is "dark".

Don't jump on [i]me[/i] because you didn't read carefully enough. Rolling eyes

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tath_x · Member Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 63

Personally, I love Black Metal. Well, the non-racist Black Metal. I'd kind of have to be a fan, being in a BM band.

The appeal? A raw energy and surge of emotions, be they hatred, self-confidence, etc that you don't get in other genres.
Aah, the vocals. You just can't beat the catharsis of performing onstage. As a BM vocalist, my love of the roars may be biased, but it's part of the charm, and clean vocals just wouldn't have the same spark on a BM track.

If it doesn't appeal to you though, it just doesn't. Like any genre, you can't train yourself to like it, and no description of how much I love it is going to change anyone's mind.

A lot of it is cheesy as hell though. I mean, just look at Immortal ^_^
Can't remember where I found this pic, but it always cracks me up. Look at Horgh, he so silly. Man, if Immortal ever catch me I'm screwed lol.