Characteristics

Heavy metal is typically characterized by a distorted guitar-led sound, morbid themes and lyrics, straightfoward rhythms and classical or symphonic styles. However, heavy metal subgenres have their own stylistic variations on the original form that often omit many of these characteristics.

According to Allmusic.com, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality. There are numerous stylistic variations on heavy metal's core sound, but they're all tied together by a reliance on loud, distorted guitars (usually playing repeated riffs) and simple, pounding rhythms."

Instrumentation

The most commonly used line-up for metal is a drummer , a bassist , a rhythm guitarist , a lead guitarist , and a singer (often one of the instrumentalists). Keyboards are used in some styles of heavy metal and shunned by others, although as the styles of subgenre develop they're becoming increasingly popular. Guitar playing is central to heavy metal. Distorted amplification of the guitars is used to create a powerful or 'heavy' sound. The result is simple, although some of the original heavy metallers joked that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation. Later, more intricate solos and riffs became a big part of heavy metal music. Guitarists use sweep-picking , tapping and similar techniques for rapid playing, and many subgenres are now praising virtuosity over simplicity.

Metal vocals vary widely in style. From the classically trained singing of Iron Maiden 's Bruce Dickinson , to the intentionally gruff sounding vocals of Lemmy Kilmister from the band Motörhead .

In terms of the live sound, volume is often considered as important as anything. Following on from the lead set by The Who and Jimi Hendrix early Heavy Metal bands set new benchmarks for sound volume during shows. Tony Iommi , guitarist in Heavy Metal pioneers Black Sabbath is just one of the early Heavy Metal musicians to suffer considerable hearing loss due to their live volume. Heavy Metal's volume fixation was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap by guitarist " Nigel Tufnel ", who revealed that his Marshall amplifiers had been modified to "go to eleven."

 

Themes

As with much popular music, visuals and images are integral to metal. Album covers and stage shows are almost as important to the presentation of the material as the music itself, although they seldom exceed the actual music in priority. Thus, through heavy metal, many artists collaborate to produce a menu of experiences in each piece—offering a wider range of experiences to the audience. In this respect, heavy metal becomes perhaps more of a diverse art form than any single form dominated by one method of expression. Whereas a painting is experienced visually, a symphony experienced audibly, a heavy metal band's "image" and the common theme that binds all their music is expressed in the artwork on the album, the set of the stage, the tone of the lyrics, in addition to the sound of the music.

Rock historians tend to find that the influence of Western pop music gives heavy metal its escape-from-reality fantasy side, as an escape from reality through outlandish and fantastic lyrics—while African American blues gives heavy metal its naked reality side, focusing on loss, depression and loneliness. Heavy metal has a relationship with spiritual issues in both symbol and music theory, as heavy metal chords and harmonies emphasize the use of open fifths —drawing ironic parallels to harmony changes in Christian Sacred Harp singing.

If the audio and thematic components of heavy metal are predominantly blues-influenced reality, then the visual component is predominantly pop-influenced fantasy. The themes of darkness, evil, power and apocalypse are fantastic language components for addressing the reality of life's problems. In reaction to the "peace and love" hippie culture of the 1960s, heavy metal developed as a counterculture , where light is supplanted by darkness and the happy ending of pop is replaced by the naked reality that things do not always work out in this world. Whilst fans claim that the medium of darkness is not the message, critics have accused the genre of glorifying the negative aspects of reality.

Heavy metal themes are typically more grave than the generally airy pop from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s—focusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, political, and religious propaganda. Black Sabbath 's "War Pigs," Ozzy Osbourne 's "Killer of Giants," Metallica 's "...And Justice for All,"as well as "Disposable Heroes," and Iron Maiden 's " Two Minutes to Midnight " are examples of serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of heavy metal deals primarily with very clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, good and evil, which do not make much room for complex shades of grey. One exception to this are certain power metal bands, whose lyrical and musical tones are often bombastic and optimistic. Many power metal fans and bands, most notably Manowar , believe metal should be inspiring and upbeat music.