So, Metal music.

Finally, a non-political post. Hurrah!

Anyway; those who know me personally know that I am a HUGE metal fan. I love metal, from slow, melodious doom metal, to funky progressive metal, to my favorite, makes-you-want-to-punch-a-dragon POWER METAL. In my eyes, metal is not a Satanic mismatch of evil lyrics, screaming/growling, and violent themes, unless the metal band specifically goes for that set of themes (admittedly, some do that, and I prefer not to listen to them). Metal, like all music, is simply intended to evoke a emotion out of a listener.  To me, metal's greatest strength is it's ability to do that. I have alternatively cried, laughed, pondered, and gone out to do something with my life after listening to metal.

The themes used in metal are almost as intriguing as its ability to inspire emotion. One day you could listen to a band singing about fighting dragons and elves, another day you could listen to a band about the legends of ancient Egypt, on a third day you could listen to a technological-based album, and on the fourth day you could hear another band sing about how great it is to be a pirate. I have never seen such a diversity of themes in any kind of music besides metal. The writers for metal bands have such a variety of thoughts on various matters that you can point to a group of bands and say "they're the pirate metal guys", to another group and say "They're the guys who did albums about Lord of the Rings", and to a third group and say "They do Viking Metal". All of this, and it is still fundamentally the same kind of music.

All in all, I think metal taps into an energy that most kinds of music leave alone. Sure, hip-hop/rap can tap into the energy of hating injustice/growing up, classical can tap into a sense of majesty, country can tap into a sense of the laid-back attitude of rural regions, and other sorts of music can tap into their kinds of energy, but I think metal is alone in capturing the idea that music can not only tell a story, but be a book in music form, evoking whatever emotions the author wants you to feel. Metal can switch between emotions, and I feel other genres of music cannot.

So there's my thoughts on metal. I'll leave you to to a link to the metal band Sonata Arctica's cover of "Wind Beneath My Winds", which I think nicely proves my point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5pY-_e8znE