Classification of Metal music genres: Thoughts?

United States
November 2, 2009 5:32pm CST
Since I was just a wee little metal kid, drinking up all the Maiden, Priest, and Wasp I could, I have heard over a thousand difference genres of metal. I'm wondering how many we can come up with that actually hold some substance. For example, you can't say Iron Maiden is Bruce Metal, er, well you can, but it might be a bit too silly. It would also help if you could list a band attached to your genre. And these are all I'm surely debatable. Power Metal - Maiden? Speed Metal - Stradivarius? Death Metal - At the Gates? Epic Metal - Rhapsody? Viking Metal - Turisas Even mine are up for debate heh. Thanks!
3 responses
thezone
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
2 Nov 09
Hi AlkaiserMO, I never paid much attention to metal genres. Once it is loud that is all I care about. Metal is metal that is all I need to know, so I don't worry about the pigeon holes that the media put them in
thezone
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
2 Nov 09
I know what you mean every kind of music needs to be classified for what reason I do not know lol. There are so many sub genres of so much metal it gets confusing Turn it up to 11
jjw0911
@jjw0911 (6)
• United States
3 Nov 09
Trying to classify metal has ups and downs, but overall I think a band can't really fit into one exact genre. For example, Metallica and Megadeth are both thrash, but quite different in their later years. Compare Head Crusher with Sad But True and you'll know what I mean!
thezone
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
4 Nov 09
Hi jjw0911, That is a very good point and a very good example with both bands.
mor
@stringer321 (5644)
• Kiryat Ata, Israel
24 Feb 12
I know there are many subgnres of metal music and someone told me that some bands are probabely not sure what their style is. When the style is not pure , one has to describe some elements of their music like what the music instruments they play , subjects they sing about , music styles they combine... Thanks to that so much variety of metal and combinations of other music styles , I got to listen to some jazz , blues , folk music ...metal can combine them all. You better go to wikipedia to see the metal genres and some representative bands of them. I remember there is a website that is called "pandora.com" and it can search for songs that you might like if you give them the song that you like. They analyze the song's properties and the music properties and they start playing songs that have pretty much the same properties. Unfortunately , it is unavailable at my country anymore.
Fantageroiche
@Fantageroiche (93)
• Bulgaria
21 Mar 10
Well you're all right. There are lots of genres and lots of bands that change their own style of playing and writing music through the years. I classify some bands just as "metal" and not a definite kind of it. On the other side there are many bands that save their unique style and change nothing which works better sometimes. For example AC DC - they are classic rock and they will not change ever. Playing one song more than 40 years already and still relevant and loved. Motorhead are the same story - New wave of british heavy metal.. it's not "new" anymore but they just keep it that way. Slayer play classic thrash metal too and do not change much like Metallica and Megadeth for example. The last two bands are one of the best out there because they dared to experiment and cared not about the public opinion but about the music. They are just metal bands - not thrash like in the early 80s, not heavy like the early 90s, not hard rock like in the mid 90s. Now they are making some return to their thrash roots and it works. They didn't forget how to write such music, they just developed themselves through the years.