What do you love about metal music?
F.e. I love metal music mainly for heaviness, and being un-commercial. Also i like the idea of omitting themes about sex, drugs(in most metal songs, not all omitt these boeing lyrics), and for variery of metal music and lyrics. We have slow Doom metal, fast thrash metal, heavy groove metal, Melodic power metal. Also the lyrics. One band talks about egypt(Nile), another about sci-fi(fear Factory), another about satanism(early sepultura) or about paganism(early Behemoth).

The same thing I like in my day to day life. Big tits.

The potential for transcendence and the acknowledgement of negativity.

Give me all the melodies. The sad ones, the happy ones, all of them.

It pulled me out of a lonely place into a magical new world back in 1988.
That's what I love.

I can't think of a better genre to lift weights to. 90s rap may be a close 2nd

Good answer. My thoughts exactly.

It gives me strength and good vibes. Old heavy metal that is, which is what I listen to in mornings when I want to get going. There are other emotions that metal can channel, but that's the most important to me.

Metal is my music coz' I'm sadistic bastard who hates Christ and wishing to die!

Distilled into simplest terms, Metal most accurately portrays and expresses the realities of the human condition. It does so more aptly than other art forms. The highs and lows, the good and the bad, etc.

And I fully support your stance on how much (bore-to-)death metal era Napalm Death sucks.

I think I see what you're saying - metal can deeply resonate with the listener, in ways that seem less available and less fitting to other genres, and it has much wider emotional range than it's often given credit for, hitting all the extremes - but I'm not sure how much this serves to differentiate it from other people's preferred genres. I tend to think it just scratches the same itch (or a lot of the same itches) for me that other genres scratch for other people.

Like, classical/orchestral doesn't do a whole lot for me personally, but I imagine a lot of its aficionados would find it as rich, energetic (in darker ways or in more positive ways), imaginative, powerful, etc. as I find my favorite metal.

And while I could see metal as capable of being uniquely ugly (I think of the classic description of Cannibal Corpse as the "soundtrack to vomit"), or maybe uniquely "aggressive" (in a peculiarly adventurous/grandiose way - can't quite think of the right word); I also tend to think there are some feelings that fall somewhat outside of metal's expressive range, and are probably better evoked or captured by other genres - like serenity, tenderness (as in, say, a mother holding her newborn), cuteness (playing with a kitten...) - maybe I just haven't heard enough, I dunno.

I don't know if it articulates the human condition more than other genres, but it can certainly do it in its own way... I think metal just scratches an itch for big, powerful, dramatic music. Cool aesthetics and sounds enhance the experience too. Plus it just has the cult appeal. Fans really like it and want to keep finding more, chasing the high of finding something individual and cool that not everyone knows already.

The riffs.

The aggression.

Theatricality, and over the top nature in many cases.

A harmonized guitar solo.

The fucking power behind it. There's a mastery of the music found almost exclusively in metal that can't be touched by any other genre or style, and I don't mean technical ability. Metal takes the very concept of music by the throat and makes it bend to its own whims and desires, regardless of subgenre or style.

Not disagreeing but curious how it serves to transcend negativity. Because it seems to me it can also reinforce it, depending on how you approach it in the way you listen. Or is that what you mean by potential?

When I was young I like movies like Star Wars, Clash of the Titans and was generally interested in adventure, fantasy, sci-fi and eventually horror. A lot of metal share these subjects. Musically the guitars especially twin guitar harmonies, high pitched vocalist, not to mention the rhythm section. I aslo enjoy some well played keys. I love music that has the sensation of speed and or crushing heaviness.

Leather, spikes and Satan.

What I like most about metal is the aggression. It's as simple as that.

It's true that metal incorporates influences from many other genres, expresses a vast range of emotions and can be quite subtle but, at the end of the day, metal bands are bulldozers and the equivalent of beating somebody up or getting beaten up, sadism and masochism, respectively. It's debatable whether this makes metal a lovable phenomenon but, as a matter of fact, you don't get this kind of (cathartic?) aggressiveness (which is a part of life) anywhere else in music. When metal was born, it sort of bridged a gap in the market.

The main difference between metal and other genres… when I think about it, I don't really get why I like metal at all because there's an aspect to metal that is diametrically opposed to how my brain sees itself. The main difference, uhm, … wait for it…

Metal is not "grace under pressure", to borrow a Rush album title, i.e. it's not a portrait of the human spirit trying to cope with the modern world. Rather, it's grace within pressure.

In other words: I think albums like Metallica's "S&M" illustrate the main difference between metal and other genres best: on the left side (the orchestral side) there are the ups and downs, intrigues, secrets and quiet mountain streams, on the right you see construction (or destruction) sites, production lines, technocracy, conservatism and a strict discipline that subordinates every emotion to the pulse of the machine – and glorifies this constellation by means of its self-celebratory existence.

Maybe that's why I need most other music genres to counterbalance the world created by metal, a world only few would want to live in.