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Heavy metal (music)
The term heavy metal can have several meanings depending on the context in which it was used.
* 1. In the original context, it is used as a synonym for Hard-rock
* 2. In a second sense, the term refers to the traditional heavy metal aesthetic trend that, over the years 70 and 80, stood out of the Hard Rock, away from its roots blues.
* 3. In a general sense the heavy metal or metal (short) means all the music down from the heavy metal (meaning second) and hard rock. It is in the latter sense, the widespread sense that the term used here:
The heavy metal (or commonly metal) is a type of rock published in the United Kingdom and the United States in the late 1960's. The heavy metal draws inspiration, between 1969 and 1974, in groups of hard rock, combining blues and rock, have created a hybrid sound heavy and thick, focused on the pulse of the drums and the guitar at the very distortion amplified.
Over the years, heavy metal has given rise to various sub-genres, and although they are usually called "metal" by the general public, the term "heavy metal" now has two different meanings: either gender and all its variants is the original style groups between 1970 and 1980 - sometimes called "traditional" heavy metal. Therefore, the definition of the term tends to be ambiguous and not according to the same period in the history of rock to which we refer.
* In the 1970's, the term "heavy metal" (popularized by the critic Lester Bangs) was synonymous with hard rock, the genre to which he still sometimes popular in the unconscious. The first groups - like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly - were indiscriminately regarded as groups of heavy metal or hard rock.
* In the early 1980's, the term has been redefined by Lester Bangs shortly before his death: there is a subtle difference between hard rock and heavy metal, residing mainly in the fact that the heavy metal tends to get rid blues roots while hard rock keeps them. With this definition, which prevails today, only groups of traditional heavy metal Black Sabbath and Judas Priest can be regarded as precursors of aesthetics and the sound of heavy metal specific.
The heavy metal was popularized in the 1970's and 1980, as the emergence of its sub-genres, and it still results in the years 2000 a strong enthusiasm on the part of its fans around the world .
Characteristics
The heavy metal is characterized by the dominance of the guitar and drums, as well as a powerful rhythm. It draws its influences in the rock, classical music and to a lesser extent, the blues. However, as it encompasses many sub-genres that have stepped back from each other through their own stylistic variations, there is now a wide variety of sounds and styles within the genre called "heavy metal".
According to the All Music Guide site, "the myriad of musical forms generated by the rock'n 'roll, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo and theatrics."
Instruments and sounds
In its instrumental configuration is the most frequent, a group of metal consists of a drummer, a bass player, a rhythm guitarist, a "lead guitarist" and a singer (who can play or not an instrument). The keyboards - especially the organ and sometimes the mellotron - were relatively widespread in the first groups of heavy metal but, gradually, their use has become less and less frequent. Within groups of the years 2000, keyboards are popular (especially synthesizers) in some sub-genres, as they are rejected by others.
The Guitar
The guitar, combined with the sound propels it through the amplification, is the key to the heavy metal. The distortion guitar sound is used to create a more powerful and heavier. Throughout the evolution of the genre, the solos increasingly complex and the riffs become the hallmark of heavy metal music. For a game fast, guitarists use, among other techniques learned, the techniques of sweeping and tapping, particularly since many sub-genres encourage virtuosity at the expense of simplicity. In addition, as technological advances, new techniques for transforming the sound of the guitar are adopted by the musicians.
During the first half of the 1970's, beginning to emerge groups consisting of two guitarists "lead" - including Wishbone Ash, The Allman Brothers Band, Scorpions, Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest, all famous for their pairs of guitarists capable of assuring both solos and melodies that the harmonies and accompaniments. Many groups as Iron Maiden, then in the habit of rotating in a single piece games of their two guitarists, which in turn endorsed the roles of rhythm guitarist and lead guitarist ".
The bass
In the metal, unlike styles such as jazz or funk, the bass tends to assume the traditional role of a registry serious. Indeed, the lower is generally used to double octave to the lower parts of the guitar to highlight the basis of harmonic riffs. As such, the report of the bass and rhythm guitar can be to some extent compared to the bass / cello instrumental ensembles of classical, where the bass most often aims to double in the octave line with the cello.
In this role base lining of the guitar, bass sometimes also add notes or memos ornaments en route to enrich their lines. The bass is also often used to play pedal harmony in the background, while the guitars played by different harmonies.
Apart from the traditional role that is most often assigned, sometimes the bass plays a more autonomous and independent of the guitar. This is particularly true of the style of Cliff Burton in Metallica, where the bass sometimes could play a game of dialogue with the guitar (example: For Whom the Bell Tolls or Orion). The independence of the bass is often a recurrent element in the alternative metal and a fundamental role in the style known as Funk Metal, which reflects the importance attached to the bass in the funk, as in the case of a group as Red Hot Chili Peppers, who often plays lines completely different from those of the guitar.
The bass lines are normally played through frôlements fingers on the strings (some play two fingers, index and major, the other adding annular). But in the lines demanded by the rapid style, some bass prefer to use the pick to increase their speed of play In addition, it gives a more incisive and metal in his usual round of the bass. There is also a slap, rarely used in traditional fields of metal, but largely in the alternative metal.
The voice
The vocal techniques used in the metal varies greatly from one group to another. The skill voice singers can be seen in the theatrical voices covering several octaves Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) than in the vocal techniques of voluntarily bourrues Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead). In sub-genres of heavy metal, there are also often vocal technique death grunt popularized by Jeff Becerra of Possessed and practised by many groups of death, grind, doom and gothic metal or singing éraillé, common in the black Metal. In mid-1990, there has been an evolution of singing in groups of metal / nu metal. Thus, for many groups, the song becomes alternately; it is to move from voice-clear melodic singing éraillé. This type of voice appears with singers like Johnathan Davis (Korn) or Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory). More recently, some groups (especially those of symphonic metal) tend to integrate singers who have mastered the techniques of singing opera, as Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) or Sarah Jezebel Deva (Cradle of Filth, Therion).
Battery
The original percussion side, the heavy metal included the playing techniques of traditional rock. But many sub-genres have subsequently popularized some specific techniques such as double pedal, skank-beats and, in particular, the blast beats. These techniques allow gambling to create dynamic and rhythmic phrases that emphasize blazing and punctuate the dynamics of guitars.
* The double bass drum pedal was introduced into the heavy metal with the first tests of speed metal - Judas Priest with "Exciter" (1978) and Accept with "Fast as a Shark" (1982) - and then endorsed by the first groups to thrash in the early 1980's. This technique is frequently used in the speed, power metal, thrash, death and black metal. It is characterized by the use of a playing technique synchronized feet in which pulses are divided on two pedals alternately, to create rhythmic phrases blazing to the bass drum.
* Skank-beats, popularized by the hardcore and adapted by the first groups of thrash, are to play off over two-time rhythm of a sentence of four classic rock, which gives an illusion of acceleration of music by two although the tempo has not increased. This is the typical pace of thrash metal.
The blast beats, features groups of black metal, death metal and grindcore, designate a technique and a very fast rhythmic motif to play off rhythm on one time a sentence rhythmic rock classic four times (two successions bass drum / snare duplicate croche), which gives an illusion of acceleration of music by four. The effect creates an impression of "wall of sound". This technique was used for the first time in the Hardcore punk by the group Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI) in 1983. It was introduced in the metal by Charlie Benante group SOD And Mick Harris of Napalm Death.
Volume
The volume produced in concert is often regarded as an integral part of the folklore of heavy metal, like all the rest. Based on the live arrangements of Jimi Hendrix and the Who (who were awarded the distinction of "the loudest group in the world" by the Guinness Book of Records), the first metal bands have pushed the limits of reference terms of volume at performances. More recently, Manowar, a group famous for its volumes game out of the ordinary, has been listed by Guinness as the band playing the strongest in the world, at a concert in Hanover in 1994, with 129.5 decibels measured . This group has the particularity to successfully combine the sound to the preservation of an audible sound of a high quality, through the use art equipment.
Tony Iommi, guitarist for Black Sabbath, is one example among many others musician who suffered from hearing problems related to the excessive volume of its own concerts. Thus, the American rocker Ted Nugent and guitarist Pete Townshend of the Who are almost deaf. Many artists, as virtuoso guitarist Eddie Van Halen and Joey DeMaio of Manowar, among others, go up on stage with earplugs, a practice that is widespread in the public.
Rhythm and groove
In terms of rhythm, the heavy metal is characterized by:
* A specific groove frequently based on phrases in staccato rhythms (through an extensive use of palm mute). Sentences based on rhythmic short rhythmic figures equal binary or ternary (usually double or croche croche) in a position 4 / 4 in most cases. In metaphorical terms, it means that the metal is often characterized as a whole by rhythmic dynamic and jerky, made from small cell rhythmic dry juxtaposed to each other. Many groups return to the basic fabric of the various variations agrémentant through melodic ornaments or syncope.
* A recurring use long rhythmic values (round or even spanning several measures), in slow tempo songs: in other words, oppressive agreements that reverberate through the length amplification.
In sub-genres of metal, groove base remains frequent but there are variations according to the types: the power metal, thrash and death with the accelerated pace in tremolo, while groups of black metal tend to neglect the staccato in their tremolo to play legato (without palm mute). In the doom and gothic metal, but rather the use of values in the long round, which will be exploited further. The progressive metal bands also often have the basic groove but adapt it to other measures (5 / 4, 7 / 4, 5 / 8, 7 / 8, etc..).
Themes
As is often the case in popular music, imagery and appearance are among heavy metal groups oriented. The album cover and benefit concerts are as much a part of the image of a group that the music itself. Through the heavy metal, a number of artists working in collaboration with the aim of producing all the elements of an album, each contributing to the work of his talent, in order to offer the public a product artistically rich. In this, the heavy metal is perhaps now more an art form protean, for the manifestation of a particular universe, rather than a singular form dominated by a single mode of expression. In fact, while the music is still the main component of the world of heavy metal, but it was not the only, the image of each group also embodied through the artwork (blankets albums and images in books), the staging of concerts, the tone of the words of her songs and style of dress of its members. The illustrator of heroic fantasy Ken Kelly, who works mainly with Manowar in the field of music, has created a character muscular, dark and vengeful which illustrates the albums of Manowar and which is now an integral part of the image of the group. The illustrations are involved in the general atmosphere of albums in the strengthening of a very important visual aspect, through which the public can delve more quickly into the world of each group. Other well-known figure among fans of heavy metal, Eddie, the mascot of Iron Maiden, appears on the cover of nearly every album the group.
The rock historians tend to view that, while the contribution from Western popular music gives the heavy metal fanciful turn, through words of inspiration fantastic at the same time, roots blues in which this type is anchored it with a touch more realistic, more cathartic, focused more on subjects such as the loss of their loved one, grief and loneliness.
While the hearing and thematic elements of heavy metal are mostly influenced by the blues realism, the visual components are mainly from the imagination of popular music. The themes of evil, dark, the strength and the apocalypse are used to express the real problems of life. In reaction to the hippie culture "peace and love" of 1960, heavy metal is growing as a counter-culture type expressionist in which the light is smothered by the darkness and where the end joyful pop songs gave way to expressing the sad reality of this world, where things do not fall forever. Although, according to some fans, the message of heavy metal is not bleak, its critics accuse the kind of glorify the negative aspects of reality.
Apart from the fantastic, the themes addressed by the heavy metal are generally more severe than those of the pop-1950's, 1960 and 1970. They revolve around much of the war, the nuclear threat, environmental problems and the political and religious propaganda. Among other examples of songs related to these topics are War Pigs from Black Sabbath, Killer of Giants of Ozzy Osbourne, ... And Justice for All Metallica, 2 Minutes to Midnight Iron Maiden and Balls to the Wall Accept for.
Classical Influence
The heavy metal has inspired many composers of the baroque, romantic and modern as Johann Sebastian Bach, Niccolò Paganini, Richard Wagner and Ludwig van Beethoven. The famous triton agreement, for example, was exploited by Romantic composers or post-romantic as Liszt, and especially by modern composers (like Bartok, Stravinsky or Schoenberg's tonal works). They, in fact, used it both for its connotations to sound dark and disturbing than for its function as structural instability tone.
Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist of Deep Purple and Rainbow, for example, by the early 1970's, incorporated melodic figures borrowed from the so-called classical music. " After Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads and Uli Jon Roth, the guitar playing 1980's was influenced by the music of the early eighteenth century, regarded as a model of speed and technique. Yngwie Malmsteen is another notable example of guitarist inspired by classical music: its technical prowess also inspired a number of players whose neo-classical Michael Romeo, Michael Angelo Batio and Tony MacAlpine.
The music of the end of the Baroque era Western was also resumed in a Gothic, as in Mr. Crowley (1981) of Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads. They used the sounds of organ and solos inspired by Baroque music to create an atmosphere in relation to the words of Osbourne, dealing with the occultist Aleister Crowley. For the introduction of Diary of a Madman (1982), Rhoads has been borrowed from the composer of classical guitar Cuban Leo Brouwer and, in particular, his "Study No. 6.
Some groups have gone even further, by occasionally playing with orchestras in its entirety. Yngwie Malmsteen and Ritchie Blackmore were among the first to write orchestral music suited to their style. Then the generations that followed, from the power metal, metal and gothic black metal (including groups like Nightwish, Therion, Symphony X, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir) have pushed its classical influences to systematize the use of more environment symphony or less through the use of synthesizers, some as Therion even afford the services of orchestras and choirs in each record.
However, it is true that these musicians were inspired by classical composers, it is important to note that despite the popular notion among some fans, the metal would not descend to the extent of the classical music. The "classic" is a musical while the metal remains above all gasoline People.
Indeed, the musicians of metal focus and borrow generally superficial aspects of the classical music (memorandum, melodies and lines, and even at best an orchestral), the practice of reuse of a musical material was indeed Traditional and running in virtually all genres. But they rarely seek a true exploitation of depth and compositional complexity of the classical music (and, even within the sub-genres of metal so-called "neo-classical" or "progressive", despite their musical erudition). For example, guitarists supposedly inspired by Bach rarely use contrapunctiques complex structures that are so central in the compositions of the latter.
In addition, the widespread use of power chords in the heavy metal (involving countless consecutive octaves and fifths goes against the fundamental principles of writing for classical music: the use of any consecutive quints particularly constitute a violation of a rule of fundamental harmony between its aesthetics. Finally, the fact that many groups call themselves "symphony" using synthesizers in place of orchestras would, in the eyes of the classical world, seen as a heresy or the pure innocence. Indeed, poverty artificial sounds of a synthesizer can in no way match the richness of the sound spectrum of a symphony orchestra.
The complexity and richness of messages in music, social and philosophical heavy metal reside elsewhere than in the loan of stamps.
History
The origin of the term used in heavy metal music is uncertain. This expression, used for centuries in the chemical and metallurgical industries, is listed under this meaning in the Oxford English Dictionary. One of the first uses of the word in popular culture underground returns to the American writer William S. Burroughs, who in his novel The Soft Machine (1961, The Soft Machine in french), refers to a character named "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid." In his next novel, Nova Express, published in 1964, he developed the theme still further by making the term heavy metal a metaphor of psycho-active drugs. This term can also mean "heavy artillery".
The first use of the term in a heavy metal song recorded dates back to 1968, in the phrase "heavy metal thunder" contained in the song Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf. According to the book The History of Heavy Metal, the term was borrowed from "hippiespeak" (jargon of "hippies"), heavy (heavy) for anything that can generate an intense mood and the mood metal qualifying potentially sharper, or severe, such as metal. The word heavy (in its meaning "severe" or "profound" in American slang) had entered some time earlier in the jargon of the counter-culture, especially that of the Beat generation, and there were already common references the heavy music, this expression designating a music variations slower and more exaggerated than those of popular music standard of the time. By way of illustration, we can cite the group Iron Butterfly, who made his debut in San Diego in 1966, its evocative name (literally, "Iron Butterfly") is explained on the cover of one of his albums: " Iron symbolized something heavy in the sound and Butterfly was light, engaging and versatile ... An object freely usable by the imagination. "Moreover, the first album of this group, released in 1968, entitled Heavy. Finally, the fact that the very name of Led Zeppelin, partly inspired by Keith Moon, which had declared that the group would "fall like a lead balloon", has incorporated into its sound the name of a heavy metal (heavy metal) - lead, "lead" in English, delivered led - could have sealed the start of the consecration of this expression.
Another hypothesis: in the late 1960's, Birmingham, which was still a mecca for the industry in England (in metallurgy, in particular), saw its environs gravitate many rock bands like The Move or Black Sabbath , and some suggest that the term heavy metal could be linked to the activities of the industrial Britain. Thus, the biography of The Move said that his group was due to its use of guitar riffs of "heavy" (heavy in English), which were popular in the Midlands "metal" (central part of England, covering Birmingham). [ref. Required]
Sandy Pearlman, producer, manager and writer of songs started the band Blue Öyster Cult, contends that he was in the years 1970, the first to use the term heavy metal in the context of rock music. And it is true that he was at that time one of the pioneers of rock criticism, as a Friend of the American magazine Crawdaddy!, where in 1971 he published a review of the album The Notorious Byrd Brothers of the Byrds in which he used the term heavy metal to describe one of the songs on the disc, Artificial Energy. Other relationship between Sandy Pearlman and the meaning of the term heavy metal: its design, as part of the development of imaging own group, a symbol inspired by the alchemical symbol of lead, one of the metals the heaviest. Instinctively, he then forwards this term to describe the style of music of Blue Öyster Cult.
One hypothesis late, but disputed, regarding the origin of its kind was made by "Chas" Chandler, manager of The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969 1995 to the Rock and Roll issuance of a string American network PBS. According to him, "the term" heavy metal "became apparent in a New York Times article about a Jimi Hendrix performance." It reported further that the article's author wrote listen The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "this was ... Listen to the heavy metal (heavy metal), which falls from the sky. The precise source of this statement has not been found, and its authenticity is in doubt.
It seems that the first well-documented use of the term heavy metal precisely to describe a style of music has appeared in the May 1971 issue of the American magazine Creem, in a review of the album Kingdom Come Sir Lord Baltimore. In this review, the author, Mike Saunders, said that "Sir Lord Baltimore appears to perfection control most of the heavy metal strings". Thereafter, it is the critic Lester Bangs, a leading figure in rock critics including the monthly Creem, which was awarded the popularization of the term heavy metal, in the early 1970's, to describe the style of bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
If Originally, the term heavy metal has sometimes taken on a pejorative connotation from the pen of some critics, the fans of the genre will soon be appropriate. In the same way, groups already well established, such as Deep Purple, who came from the pop or progressive rock, were immediately claimed the heavy metal, seizing the opportunity to embrace a more aggressive approach to their music, maximises distorting effects and amplification.
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