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Brutality_Junkie
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:04 am
Posts: 102
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:21 pm 
 

As metalheads, it's a near impossibility that the genre/sub-genre of metal music we prefer hasn't been misconstrued, misinterpreted or just plain shit on. I'm curious to see what stereotypes/generalizations about the kind of metal you prefer are the most infuriating.

A huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to brutal death metal is labeling any and all bands that use slams as slam bands. Dying Fetus is usually the band people who make this mistake keep bringing up. I don't see why it's so hard to understand; if a brutal death metal band's slams are not the primary focus of their songwriting, they aren't a goddamn slam band.

Another really unnerving mix-up that happens way more often than it should is calling slam bands 'goregrind'. How the hell do people fuck that one up? You have to be a complete moron to think bands like Catasexual Urge Motivation, County Medical Examiners and Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis are exactly the same as bands like Cerebral Incubation or Devourment. That doesn't mean there aren't bands that mix both sounds (XXX Maniak, Purulent Jacuzzi) but bands like that are clearly different than the average goregrind band.

The biggest misconception is thankfully the one I run into the least, probably because I don't associate with people who think like this;

"Everyone who likes brutal death metal is a wigger, meathead moshpit commando, retarded or all three."

Now that's not to say that those kind of people don't gravitate towards brutal death metal but ultimately it's like throwing a picnic at the beach and getting pissed off when the seagulls show up. The vast majority of brutal death metal fans I've met and talked to have been kind, articulate, good-natured people. Besides, I can't get too upset about wiggers in slam because plenty of wiggered out bands make excellent music. Soils Of Fate, Epicardiectomy, Kraanium the list goes on and on.

Anyways, go ahead and let me know what mindless falsehoods about your favorite genre/sub-genre of metal are most aggravating.

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:26 pm 
 

The one that probably bugs me the most is how just about any recent atmospheric black metal band will get tagged with either "shoegaze" or "post-rock" as being part of their sound by someone or other. I've even seen people recently refer to some black metal/shoegaze type stuff as straight "shoegaze" as if they're utterly unaware of the actual genre this stuff's influenced by.

It just kind of shows a widespread ignorance of these two non-metal genres in the metal community that normally wouldn't bother me in the least if people weren't so quick to use these genres inappropriately.
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Syntek
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:14 pm
Posts: 655
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:07 pm 
 

I have little major gripes with the inner metal community, but in terms of your average plebians:

When any subgenre that isn't heavy metal is referred to as heavy metal and not its correct subgenre. This also applies to the rather vague "electronica" and "rap" pseudonyms as well.
When people refer to any genre that uses harsh vocals as "screamo", despite the fact that it's already an established offshoot of hardcore punk. The equivalent would be me going up to them and obnoxiously declaring "DO YOU LISTEN TO SINGO PLS".
When every genre and its dog that somehow utilises a guitar is dubiously referred to as "rock music", and not its correct genre.

Not that this has ever really happened to me since upper school, nor are any fucks given even by chance when it does, as trying to convince people otherwise is essentially worthless. At worst it might provoke a disapproving tut from me. Just the most common examples I've noticed over the years, though.


Last edited by Syntek on Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TheDefiniteArticle
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:50 am
Posts: 469
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:13 pm 
 

The biggest one is when people call people who don't like later Death/Opeth/Pantera/whatever their favourite or near-favourite but ultimately crap band is an 'elitist'.

Edit: just realised I missed the point, I don't really get pissed off by genre misconceptions, I don't see genre as a badge of quality.

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Oxenkiller
Veteran

Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:42 am
Posts: 3613
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:33 pm 
 

I dunno, I don't get really THAT pissed off at genre misconceptions. For one thing there are so many sub-genres now that honestly it's hard to get them straight if you don't actually listen to that style of music in the first place. And different names may mean different things to different people; for example the term "metalcore" has evolved quite a bit since the 1980s (along with the music itself.)
So to the OP: I apologize if I mis-categorize some band as "gore grind" when they are really considered "slam" "Noisegrind" or whatever- I know I have done this in the past and been called on it. I don't listen to either genre enough to know the distinction, being mainly into thrash, speed, and classical heavy metal (so I guess the key is to educate one's self, or if you are on the other end, what I would do, is patiently explain to newbies why Iron Maiden aren't "doom metal" for example, instead of getting pissed off at them.)

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Indecency
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:15 pm
Posts: 1165
Location: Edmonton, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:09 pm 
 

That all Tech is just widdly doodledee. Yeah, there's a lot of random tech bands out there. But most have some melody or structure to them. just because they're playing twice as fast as your average band, doesn't mean the notes they choose suddenly become random.

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Brutality_Junkie
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:04 am
Posts: 102
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:17 pm 
 

TheDefiniteArticle wrote:
Just realised I missed the point, I don't really get pissed off by genre misconceptions, I don't see genre as a badge of quality.


Oxenkiller wrote:
I dunno, I don't get really THAT pissed off at genre misconceptions. For one thing there are so many sub-genres now that honestly it's hard to get them straight if you don't actually listen to that style of music in the first place.


Neither of these two things were the idea behind this thread. You're right DefiniteArticle, genre is not indicative of quality. Never once said that or alluded to it.

Oxenkiller, not knowing enough about a genre of music because you don't listen to it is one thing but to make completely asinine, ass backwards comments on said genre is another. That's what I was driving at, the kind of assumptions or characterizations about music that are so wrong they're just inexcusable.

Oxenkiller wrote:
And different names may mean different things to different people; for example the term "metalcore" has evolved quite a bit since the 1980s (along with the music itself.)


True, the term metalcore has evolved since being coined. It still isn't very confusing though. Hatebreed, Converge and Killswitch Engage are all metalcore bands but more often than not two people talking about Hatebreed style metalcore are not the same people that gush over Killswitch Engage.

Oxenkiller wrote:
So to the OP: I apologize if I mis-categorize some band as "gore grind" when they are really considered "slam" "Noisegrind" or whatever- I know I have done this in the past and been called on it. I don't listen to either genre enough to know the distinction, being mainly into thrash, speed, and classical heavy metal (so I guess the key is to educate one's self, or if you are on the other end, what I would do, is patiently explain to newbies why Iron Maiden aren't "doom metal" for example, instead of getting pissed off at them.)


My slam/goregrind point was not to deride people like yourself who aren't really into either. It was meant for people who SHOULD know better, like the folks that regularly listen to Cephalotripsy on YouTube and still call them 'goregrind'. Maybe this example would make more sense in the context of what you like; suppose two people are listening to 'Darkness Descends', which is clearly a thrash record. Then one of them calls the album 'groove metal'. That kind of mindlessness is pretty goddamn unacceptable, don't you think?

Indecency wrote:
That all Tech is just widdly doodledee. Yeah, there's a lot of random tech bands out there. But most have some melody or structure to them. just because they're playing twice as fast as your average band, doesn't mean the notes they choose suddenly become random.


^ This really pisses me off too. I understand not liking stuff like Brain Drill (even if I do) but OBVIOUSLY not every tech-death band is like that.

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Nochielo
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:20 am
Posts: 2388
Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:38 pm 
 

There's this thing in my country (though I will assume it happens everywhere) where people mistake rock and metal up to the point where they think the words mean the same thing. Even the music journalists, you know the people that should at least check their fucking facts. If heard/read terms such as "música metálica" (metallic music, though implying that the band Metallica is a genre) and "metallic rock" (which you may notice makes no fucking sense). It makes me want to strangle them with dental floss.
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ObservationSlave
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 6:27 pm
Posts: 1110
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:18 pm 
 

I really don't care when everyday people refer to all metal as heavy metal. It made sense before all of these sub genres developed anyway. While the early metal bands also had different sounds (doom, prog, etc) they all had "heavy" aspects. What I dislike, however, is that people will refer to anything with screaming as death metal whether its death/black/doom/thrash/grind/-core. I tell people I listen to metal and they ask me if I like A Day to Remember because they think that any band that has ever screamed in a song is metal and that anyone who listens to metal will like anything with screams. I have condensed my explanation of metal to a very short list of attributes that separate different genres from others when talking to people who make silly misconceptions, but I don't think they care.

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Oxenkiller
Veteran

Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:42 am
Posts: 3613
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:24 pm 
 

I guess I'm just more laid back and nonchalant about that shit. Sure it is annoying when for instance someone mistakes Dark Angel for "groove metal" but to me, that's just an opportunity to educate the poor misguided sap. Not everyone is as knowledgeable about certain music, but why not educate them, explain what "groove metal" truly is for instance, instead of getting all pissed off for no reason? I dunno, I'm just not as hung up on that stuff I guess.

It is more annoying though, as Nochelo said, when journalists get it wrong, especially with the more mainstream genres as opposed to the more "niche" obscure genres like slam-death and the various grind sub-genres. A journalist has the capacity to misinform a lot more people than some "mallcore kid" spouting off on how Cannibal Corpse are "black metal." They should get their facts right at least.

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Filosofuck
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:19 am
Posts: 75
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:49 pm 
 

This thread makes me want to kill myself.

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NARAKU666
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:43 pm
Posts: 1097
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:11 pm 
 

Here in my country there was a time when people used to call Power Metal to all the Groove bands from Pantera to Chimaira
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failsafeman
Digital Dictator

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:45 am
Posts: 11852
Location: In the Arena
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:13 pm 
 

Filosofuck wrote:
This thread makes me want to kill myself.

Might be a good idea to take a short break from the forum then. I'll help.
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