The HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL Thread Continued

@deep_333

I don’t think there are actually that many stories/ themes/topics, be it music, visual art or literature. It’s not the what, so much as the how.

The Iron Maiden tune is very pumped up -- unrelentingly so. there’s not really any contrast -- it’s just balls out, pedal to the metal, from start to end. Personally, I find this gets monotonous very quickly. Compare it, for example, to Led Zep’s "What Is and What Should Never Be" -- way more contrast and variation in textures, dynamics, timbres. Not saying one is better -- just trying to explain what my preferences are.

it’s not that I don’t enjoy rockin’ out -- "Warrior" and "The King Will Come" from Wishbone Ash’s Argus are examples of what I like. Notice how they vary more hard driving riffs with more lyrical passages.

All three tunes display the influence of British Folk music. I like this, but no doubt there are those for whom this just comes across as "light-weight".  Fair enough. Each to his/her own.   

@stuartk - ah yes, that old bugaboo about categorizations - one person's metal is another person's hard rock and yet another person's 'classic rock'. I think it starts getting a bit silly after awhile; there must be at least 10 sub-genres just under 'metal'. In Hendrix's day, there wasn't any 'classic rock' or 'metal'. 

Totally agree with you about Wishbone Ash - I always loved that original lineup. Much of Maiden's more wonderfully melodic stuff always struck me in a similar way to Wishbone Ash, with the guitars intertwining in and out....  And Steve Harris from Iron Maiden had historical and literary concerns in much of their music; their's was a more cerebral metal, generally speaking. 

@stuartk Many metal bands are not unidimensional...For example, Opeth (swedish progressive metal) is quite heavy by all standards within the metal genre, though there’s a lot of melody sprinkled in all over.. even with some of their heaviest tracks.

But, out of nowhere, they released an album, "Damnation", which is quite unlike any of their heavier works.

The entire album’s gold, but here are a couple of tracks from that album,

Opeth - Hope Leaves

(the recording/studio master if you can get your hands on it is admirable too...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGPRoszjnWA

I noted that one of the highest rated comments on the YT video is a guy talking about how he was homeless & suicidal, but, pulled through listening to this album

Here’s another track from the same album.

Opeth - Weakness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1BIcwJDy5c

Not the happiness song on earth (for sure), but, the guy is singing about some personal loss.

Diana Krall sang about personal loss in one of her high quality audiophile recordings, but, i just fell asleep when i heard it (that's just me, not speaking for everyone, of course). This guy sang about personal loss, i was wide awake and it touched the depths of my soul somewhere.

There are many audiophiles talking about how they couldn’t emotionally connect with the music in spite of having high end gear n all...You listen to something like this on a bluetooth speaker late at night and it might still get ya (no high end rigs are necessary)....Emotional connection is not even a question when the artist himself is something special.

@deep_333

I don’t think there are actually that many stories/ themes/topics, be it music, visual art or literature. It’s not the what, so much as the how.

The Iron Maiden tune is very pumped up -- unrelentingly so. there’s not really any contrast -- it’s just balls out, pedal to the metal, from start to end. Personally, I find this gets monotonous very quickly. Compare it, for example, to Led Zep’s "What Is and What Should Never Be" -- way more contrast and variation in textures, dynamics, timbres. Not saying one is better -- just trying to explain what my preferences are.

it’s not that I don’t enjoy rockin’ out -- "Warrior" and "The King Will Come" from Wishbone Ash’s Argus are examples of what I like. Notice how they vary more hard driving riffs with more lyrical passages.

All three tunes display the influence of British Folk music. I like this, but no doubt there are those for whom this just comes across as "light-weight". Fair enough. Each to his/her own.

@larsman

Much of Maiden’s more wonderfully melodic stuff always struck me in a similar way to Wishbone Ash, with the guitars intertwining in and out....

Can you recommend a particular album that exemplifies the above?

@deep_333

Many metal bands are not unidimensional...

Right... I don't doubt it. I've heard very little. 

I enjoy the music of those two Opeth tracks. The lyrics, not so much. Perhaps because I’ve experienced depression and anxiety, music that evokes what feels like a familiar emotional weight is difficult to listen to dispassionately as entertainment. This is not to say I only listen to happy music. Far from it. I saw the comment from the homeless suicidal guy, too. Just goes to show a given piece of music can elicit differing reactions from different listeners.

Personally, I think D. Krall is vastly overrated. I’m mystified as to why many audiophiles focus on her when there are, IMHO, far better Jazz singers out there, but that’s a topic for another day. I agree with what you assert about emotional connection and gear. My parents had a pretty good system for the 60’s but played strictly Classical and Broadway musicals. I didn’t dislike such music but hearing the Beatles and Motown on my cheap transistor radio in bed made a much deeper impression on me. And it had absolutely nothing to do with fidelity! I feel sorry for guys whose appreciation for music is dependent upon the sonics.

@stuartk - not so much albums as individual songs; wish I could find that list I made up a few years ago of 'prettier Iron Maiden songs' as I had 6 or 7, but two I could suggest right offhand would be 'Still Life' off of the 'Piece of Mind' album, and 'Infinite Dreams' from 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'....