What makes heavy metal heavy?

[MadAsAHatter]

Thought this was a rather interesting video

 

[Fiesta Red]

What makes heavy metal heavy?

The metal

 

[Ben Waylin]

The metal

 

[SpiderWars]

Fifty thousand watts of power
And it’s pushin over load

 

[7704A]

The metal

 

[RevDrucifer]

I just skipped around the vid due to lack of attention span and he seemed to be hitting on everything that people would submit for answers to that question.

For me it's the feel of it.

Pantera- "I'm Broken" = Heavy
Pantera- "Walk"= Not Heavy

Dream Theater- "Lie" = Heavy
Dream Theater- Anything After 2003 = Not heavy

Metallica- "Battery" = Heavy
Metallica- "Enter Sandman" = Not Heavy

Pink Floyd- "Empty Spaces" = Heavy
Killswitch Engage- "My Curse" = Not Heavy

I don't mean the groove as much as I do whatever emotion I'm getting from the song, I can't even really put it into words. It's the same shit that makes bands like Five Finger Death Punch not heavy at all to me. It doesn't matter how much shit you do to intentionally be "heavy", if it ain't fuckin' heavy it ain't heavy.

There's Zep albums that are 100x heavier than a shitload of modern metal, IMO. And I'm a huge fan of modern metal.

 

[japetus]

If it sounds badass

 

[acceptance]

The metal

The Satan

 

[skoora]

Whatever it is, Randy found it…

 

[JimAnsell]

Attitude, energy, aggression makes heavy metal.
layered distorted guitars, heavy insturment attack, and crafty eqing techniques tend to make for a "heavy" sound.

 

[cobrahead1030]

You just know it when you hear it.

 

[homespun]

It all started when they stopped using the hi hat as the beat count and used the bass drum instead.

 

[rsm]

the costumes, for example:

 

[Dan Gleesak]

Babies

 

[Beyond Black]

I just skipped around the vid due to lack of attention span and he seemed to be hitting on everything that people would submit for answers to that question.

For me it's the feel of it.

Pantera- "I'm Broken" = Heavy
Pantera- "Walk"= Not Heavy

Dream Theater- "Lie" = Heavy
Dream Theater- Anything After 2003 = Not heavy

Metallica- "Battery" = Heavy
Metallica- "Enter Sandman" = Not Heavy

Pink Floyd- "Empty Spaces" = Heavy
Killswitch Engage- "My Curse" = Not Heavy

I don't mean the groove as much as I do whatever emotion I'm getting from the song, I can't even really put it into words. It's the same shit that makes bands like Five Finger Death Punch not heavy at all to me. It doesn't matter how much shit you do to intentionally be "heavy", if it ain't fuckin' heavy it ain't heavy.

There's Zep albums that are 100x heavier than a shitload of modern metal, IMO. And I'm a huge fan of modern metal.

Trampled Underfoot is one of the heaviest tunes EVAR.

 

[Beyond Black]

Heavy is a feeling, not a sound.

 

[Rex Rocker]

Pink Floyd is not heavy, LOL.

They're good, but they're not heavy.

Empty Spaces is kinda dark and almost NIN-ish, but it's not heavy.

 

[Tone Monster]

It’s like when the Supreme Court justice answered what the definition of porn is. He said “I cant define it, but I know it when I see it!”

 

[romanianreaper]

Black Sabbath "Into the Void", when that verse riff kicks in, is the heaviest sound known to man.

 

[thegame]

The question was, what makes heavy METAL heavy? I agree that non metal artists can evoke a 'heavy' feeling in their music but in a different way that doesn't necessarily come across as metal.