Some curious stuff: On the proliferation of heavy metal

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

This is a map showing the density of heavy metal bands per capita: source.

Your mission, should you choose to take it, is to tell me of your experience with heavy metal. Do you like that sort of music? If yes, which bands have been your fave? And which bands do you remember having seen live? Which was the best gig of them all?

Comments

[cypukambl.livejournal.com]

So, there are heavy metal bands in Saudi Arabia... The World is full of wonders.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I've lost count of the gigs I've been to. The Wacken Open Air in Germany is usually the best event in the field. It's essentially a three-day rock&metal orgasm. The latest metal fest I was to actually took place on a cruise ship, the so called 70,000 Tons of Metal event. I've had many periods: from hard-rock and classical metal to black metal, gothic metal, progressive, power, Viking folk metal, even hardcore and nu metal, etc. Now I relish the immensely diverse mixture of styles of harder music that I've experienced. You could call me a connoisseur :)

As for more obscure metal bands, the Namibian metal scene (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/africa/africa-botswana-metal-heads/) is quite a fascinating story, by the way. Some acts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNV6yUhV7uc) are really very good.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

My fave ones? The Finnish bands, basically all of them. And I'm not only talking of Folk metal, which they obviously excel at.

Best gig? I dunno, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani and Children of Bodom usually do some great shit on stage. I also love Amorphis (they're Swedish).

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Is there a tiny speck of concentrated metal in Bhutan (http://www.metalunderground.com/bands/country/Bhutan/)?

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

I suppose not. The map shows Bhutan as grey, which means "no data".

But they're arguably the happiest nation, and heavy metal is quite a happy music. ;-)

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

It actually is (http://www.hellou.co.uk/2015/06/listening-heavy-metal-reduces-violence-makes-feel-peaceful-49878/) :)

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Interesting (if unsurprising) that Cambodia and North Korea don't have any... one might say that it is a bit telling that metal seems to be a phenomenon almost exclusively found in the so-called "Global North." So much of Africa, and other "less" developed nations really have no use for it, and among those nations who do, it's only really prevalent in the "North."

I'd love to see a similar map that shows how the different sub-genres break down: like Black Metal being so large in Norway, whereas old-school Heavy really was a product of the UK (and somewhat the US.)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Also gothic metal in Sweden, symphonic metal in the Netherlands, folk metal in Finland, progressive metal in Italy, etc. There's also good meal tradition in Greece (a southern country), and Spain. Germany is much into industrial... France in symph and prog...Am I missing something? Oh, Japan and that weird version of baby metal, or was it schoolgirl metal, or I can't put my finger on what the fuck that thing really is...

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

You mean this?

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It's truly mind-boggling. But then again, it's Japan that we're talking about here.

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Japan's metal has always been kind of fun. There was the semi-serious visual-kei phenomenon but now there seems to be a lot of bands willing to just have fun with it.



And of course, there's this amazing thing:

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Catchy.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

a good case of Romanian metal

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

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[peamasii.livejournal.com]

May their dark name never be mentioned here again ;-|>

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Not really a fan of metal...though for a number of years Zeppelin and Purple were my fave bands after the Beatles and Stones. Saw Sabbath, Zep, and Purple in the '70's. I gave up with the genre after the '80's. Bits of Metallica are interesting, as are bits of many post-'80's bands, but nothing that would make me want to buy an album.

Back in the day, thanks to my then management, I auditioned for Whitesnake, and a few others, but I guess they noticed my, um, er....lack of commitment to the genre. (I'd rather have been in King Crimson, but Mr Belew did rather a better job than I would have...not that I was ever given the opportunity.)

I'm with Brian Eno on the genre. Heavy Metal is music with not enough Africa in it. It rarely swings (Purple being the notable exception) and the sophistication of syncopation, never mind counterpoint, seems beyond most practitioners.

Rather listen to Miles, Bach, or Ludwig these days. But that could be because I'm old and past it. Mind you, I rather like Sigur Ros, but I doubt they count.