Metal vs. Metal

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If you enjoy music as much as I do, you notice the differences from band to band, from genre to genre, and from era to era. Metal has changed over time as much as the people who listen to it. The guitar riffs get heavier and the screaming gets louder, but what else has changed since the birth of metal to make the "new metal" of 2011? There are many different aspects to metal as a music genre, instruments, vocals, and lyrics are the main parts to music in general, but metal has a special way of using each of these parts to make the sounds that only metal has.



Prince of Darkness



The band that really began metal has been debated over the years, as a listener and metal genre enthusiast, I've also debated this. A fact of the matter is that metal began in the late 1960’s to the early 1970's and the most well known metal band to release a self titled album in the era, Black Sabbath has been called the band that started it all. Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath's lead singer, has been called the Prince of Darkness and is known to be the Father of metal music by many "metal heads". From Ozzy, came the inspiration of "Satan music" and "Christian metal", one could say metal has the best of both worlds. Today, metal sounds quite different from the controversial lyrics and rough voice of Black Sabbath and the other 70’s and 80’s metal bands. New bands, such as Slipknot, Five Finger Death Punch, Himsa, and Avenged Sevenfold now plague the scene.

What makes new metal sound so different compared to old metal, also known as classic metal? Lyrics are what make up the majority of songs. Lyrics hold the power in metal to those who listen to them and can understand them. While listening to Black Sabbath's self titled song off of their self titled album from the approximate beginning of metal in the 70's, one hears what sounds like a story being played out in the music, a struggle of a man faced with being the "chosen one" (Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath).  Stories were a popular way for many metal artists to really work themselves. The idea of a story in the lyrics of metal is still prominent, but it's more of a personal story than a made up or historical one. Looking at the lyrics of a newer metal band called In Flames , "But we're here today, Alive" is about the everyday challenges and living in the moment instead of an epic battle with the devil or some giant beast from history (Deliver Us by In Flames).

Joey Jordison of Slipknot

Randy Rhoads Flying V

While listening to the lyrics, one cannot help but notice the instrumental differences in the two songs, but just for the sake of comparison, let us compare two different songs from the same times. Listening to Judas Priest's "Rapid Fire", one can hear that the guitar, specifically, sticks out along with the drums (Rapid Fire by Judas Priest). The beat to this song, like many metal songs, is fast. The majority of the song is compiled of simple instrumental techniques, but it carries the gallop of the guitar, which is a trick that guitarist use that make the guitar sound somewhat like a horse galloping, along with the elaborate guitar solos of early metal. Lots of early metal songs have solos that are fast paced like the ones in this song. Bands such as, Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Megadeth have been known to carry solos that are fast paced and use the same high drop tuning, usually drop D, as Judas Priest. As a guitarist, I have used these drop tunings while playing songs from these bands and notice how different the tuning is from the metal of today. The Agonist, which not only demonstrates that females are more likely to be found in new metal compared to the old metal, but also demonstrates the instrumental differences and vocal differences. The Agonist is a wonderful example of the instrumental differences in new metal. One can hear that the music is still fast paced and the guitar and drums are still the most prominent instruments in the music, but the guitar sounds much "heavier" than that of the old metal. This heavy sound is what gives Heavy Metal its name. The guitar in this song,” Business Suits and Combat Boots”, is in a lower drop tuning, probably drop C or B, than that of the guitar heard in “Rapid Fire”(Buisness Suits and Combat Boots by The Agonist). Much of today's metal has this low drop tuning and the songs can get lower. The development of guitars with more strings allows the guitarists to tune the guitars lower. It's more common, today, for a metal band to have a guitar with seven or more strings, for example: Suicide Silence's guitarist is known for playing with a seven string called the SC-607 made by ESP, which is a popular guitar company(Unanswered by Suicide Silence -time:0:34 there is a nice shot of the ESP). Aside from the general guitar work, sweeping, which is the extremely fast sound heard in the beginning of Outworld's Riders, performed by Rusty Cooley(Riders by Outworld -listen to guitar not vocals, the sweeping is awesome-).

Rodney James Dio (R.I.P July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

Another way, and possibly the most drastic way, old metal and new metal are different is through the vocal styles. If you have followed the songs listed and listened to them, you can hear the vocal differences. VH1 named Ozzy Osbourne the greatest metal vocalist of all time, but third on the list of ten is Ronnie James Dio who, in my opinion, has the most unique vocal style for old metal. Dio's song Holy Diver, which is still a popular song, features Dio's unique vocals(Holy Diver by Dio -R.I.P-). One can hear that it is more of a singing type of style than the screams and growls of today. Metal of this era often carried more of this singing style which was smoother, although still coarse sounding, than that of todays. Much of today's metal vocalists prefer to growl or scream rather than sing, even the female vocalists, as heard in the Agonist's “Business Suits and Combat Boots”. It's common for the vocals to go as low as the instruments, although some types of metal vocalists like to scream, screech, or squeal as well as growl and sing. Cradle of Filth has the deep growl mixed in with screams in many of their songs. In their song, Nymphetamine, they mix a gentle female voice with the growl of their lead vocalist and the screaming vocals of their second vocalist(Nymphetamine by Cradle of Filth). Job for a Cowboy has the typical new metal sound with a lot of growling and some pig squeals thrown in some places of their song, particularly speaking of "Embedded" (Embedded by Jod for a Cowboy - about 18 seconds in is a pig squeal-).  A lot of bands also combine all vocal stylings in one album at least, but not all bands do this.

In my own personal opinion, I feel that old metal and new metal are almost completely different, if it weren't for the aggression in almost all of metal music, I would not be able to classify the music as metal. The differences between the old and new are obvious if one listens to the music, but if not, maybe this essay has sparked an interest at least to experience the power found in many metal songs. Whether it is Metallica or Bring Me the Horizon, the differences are clear, new metal and old metal have different lyrics, instrumental tuning and style, and vocal styles.

Works Cited

Black Sabbath. “Black Sabbath”. Black Sabbath. CD.Trident Studios, London: Rodger Bain. Vertigo. November 1969. Released: 13 February 1970.

In Flames. “Deliver Us”. Sounds of a Playground Fading. CD. IF Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden: Roberto Laghi, Anders Fridén. Century Media, Razzia. October 11, 2010–January 25. Released: June 15, 2011 (2011-06-15).

Judas Priest. “Rapid Fire”. British Steel. CD. Startling Studios, Ascot, England: Tom Allom. Columbia. January–February 1980. Released: 14 April 1980.

The Agonist. “Business Suits and Combat Boots”. Once Only Imagined.  CD. West West Side: Chris Donaldson, Alan Douches.  Released: 2007.

Outworld. “Riders”.  Outworld.  CD. Spyder Studios, Texas: Outworld. Replica Records. 2006. Released November 2006.

Cradle of Filth. “Nymphetemine”. Resident Evil: Apocalypse Soundtrack.  CD.

Job for a Cowboy. “Embedded”.  Genesis.  CD. Phoenix, Arizona: Blue Light Audio Media, Cory Spotts. Released: May 15, 2007.

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