The heaviest you can like..

In terms of pure violence, my extreme would be Messhugah.. Well, WHAT THE HELL could be more violent than Messhugah? (other than hell itself).... But in terms of "death-iness" or pure heavyness, i can take whatever is thrown at me as long as it has at least something resembling a melody, some structure. I even liked a couple grindcore songs. I used to like Benediction, Carcass, Pyogenesis, and even a couple songs by Deicide. Maybe today I wouldn't like them that much if I heared them, but then again, maybe I would. Messugah was too much for me even when I was comfortable listening to Morbid Angel, so maybe things stay the same. But I don't feel the urge, the need to actually find out about this. It's the interest that has fallen a bit, not the capacuty of my ears to absorb pain.

To be honest, heaviness in metal and in grindcore has been around for so long that it ceases to have much impact. When you've heard Wormed, Origin, Worship and any generic grindcore or raw black metal band there doesn't seem to be anywhere else to go.

I find a band like Shellac or Big Black much more brutal than any metal band just because of the delivery of the lyrics (if there was no irony I'd probably be deeply offended!)

All that said, there are no limits for me. That's not to say heaviness can't be used to cover up the fact that a band has rubbish songs, though

If I think about heavy as opposed to light, Merzbow is the heaviest "music" I've ever listened to.

DUN - Eros

BaldJean wrote: Philéas wrote: laplace wrote: micky's right in that Bronzo are heavier than most black metal bands. you need bass to be heavy, and what black metal usually is, is HARSH. ;) I like drone and funeral doom so there's no limit to my love of heaviness. but I can't stand the Flying Luttenbachers for very long because free jazz mixed with noise is too much for me - I like heavy but not harsh if that makes sense. I agree that heavy and harsh are two entirely different things! It's good to finally see someone who shares this view. Heaviness is no problem for me either, but I don't like overly harsh music. I don't quite understand what you mean by "harsh". do you perhaps mean "dissonant"? if so, I disagree. heavy music without dissonance is like a barking dog without teeth

what I mean is sounds at a certain register... noise/power electronics ensembles enjoy making music based around metallic percussive sounds or blasts of pure white noise. black metal bands usually employ high, shrieking vocals that are often distorted and pair that with ringing guitar riffs played very high on the neck.. a lot of free jazz involves someone strangling a reed instrument to death. these sort of sounds are what I term harsh.

dissonance is a different thing, of which I enjoy a certain element of in my music - I'm a KC and chamber fan after all.

edit: my mistake, the free jazz skronk does fall under the definition of dissonance but I'm referring to the sheer noise value rather than the disjointed melody and lack of continuity.


Edited by laplace - January 31 2007 at 02:18

Visitor13 wrote: Are we talking about heavy or about, for want of a better word, brutal? If it's the latter, then I have no limits, although I rarely listen to death metal or grindcore nowadays.   If it's the former, well, I like Sunn 0))), Burning Witch, Thergothon etc. And is anyone here familiar with Brian 'Lustmord' Williams? Here's what I found out about him:   Lustmord's sound investigations are exquisitely crafted manifestations of horror that balance sublime sound references with the body's natural queasiness about ultra-low frequencies (infrasound -- frequencies below 20 hz -- has been known to cause vomiting, permanent hearing loss, and even death).   Now that must be heavy. Does anyone here know how often he goes for infrasound on his albums?

Edited by Mascodagama - January 31 2007 at 10:31

You know, heavy and "heavy: are different things; Cannibal Corpse is "heavy", which means its brutal, gory, wild, noisy, an assault to ears and mind. "The thing that should not be", by Metallica, in MASTER OF PUPPETS, now that's heavy: heavier than that riff is difficult to get. Sad but True is another example of a heavy, stomping riff. And really, Black Sabbath was the source of so many heavy riffs and music.... so sometimes noise and violence could be confused with heavyness. So I rephrase what I said earlier: the most violent music I can take os Messhugah, the most noisy some grindocre and death, the most heavy, bring whatever you want, as long as it's good.

How heavy can you make it?

I am still not "into" the cookie monster growls, no matter if the band is considered "prog" whatever. THe heaviest bands that I have in my collection are Pantera & Phil Anselmo's side project - Down. I consider System of a Down heavy, but with more twists than other "metal" groups; although it has become a pattern. I do agree that among the usual progressive rock groups, King Crimson is the heaviest, with Rush being able to outriff if they wanted to. Unfortunately, for this to happen we would need to find a time machine & send Neil, Geddy & Alex back to 1978 ...

prob Green Day