Listening Club November 2022: Intro to Metal
It’s back, Wellesley!! WZLY’s MD Committee is ecstatic to present the return of Listening Club, your regular opportunity to explore new music and discuss your thoughts. This month, we present an “Intro to Metal,” courtesy of Charlotte Adams ‘25, who compiled the playlist and the following short facts on each artist and track. Check it out! If you’re a member of the Wellesley community and you’re on campus, stop by the WZLY station on Sunday, November 6, from 8:30-9:30 PM, for a discussion led & presented by MD Committee.
Guts - Budgie
This piece represents some of the earliest examples of proto-metal. Much like recognized bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Budgie pioneered the heavier sound of metal with its familiar riffs and harsh vocals. This track’s bassline is iconic and influenced a lot of later power metal artists.
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
This early track really shows the influence of genres like blues on metal. It’s interesting to consider how Black artists’ work contributed so much to a genre that's very heavily white dominated. Mississippi Queen was actually a commercially successful song and paved the way for later bands that received more radio play (think Metallica).
Hell Bent for Leather - Judas Priest
Getting towards the 80s, metal became more mainstream. Bands like Judas Priest became wildly popular and playing their new brand of harder rock even received some commercial success. This brand of metal combined with contemporary genres like punk to create a faster sound with greater energy.
Endless Pain - Kreator
Some might argue that thrash metal isn’t “real metal”, but its development is important in influencing later more extreme subgenres like death. Speed and aggression characterize this genre, and its “big four” (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) achieved great popularity.
I Want Out - Helloween
More melodic and upbeat, power metal entered the scene almost as the antithesis of black and death metal, which were gaining popularity around the same time. Soaring guitar and vocals in this track evoke a sense of strength - it’s almost empowering. There’s also more symphonic compositions in this genre, which is actually a similarity with some death and black metal.
Lack of Comprehension - Death
Death is, aptly, chiefly a death metal group. Its contributors Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinhart are known for their work in defining the genre as well as being open about their sexuality as gay men. This is relatively big for the genre, as names like Rob Halford (of Judas Priest) are generally associated with the queer community, but few others are known. Death metal employs speed, aggression, and outright weird vocals including growling and screaming.
Buried by Time and Dust - Mayhem
Black metal is often confused with death metal, and the genres are similar. Black is a little different, though, in its use of distortion and very rapid guitar. Both genres are known for distinctive dark themes as well as growling and rasping vocals. “Death growls,” however, are unique to death metal.
Stinkfist - TOOL
Prog metal is an evolution of progressive rock, which makes it a little more accessible as a metal genre. The complex, mathematical compositions are often longer and more melodic. Bands combined influence from death and black metal as well as punk and rock subgenres to create a more experimental sound. These bands pull from several influences, from classical to electronic.
Dragonaut - Sleep
This track is technically, most specifically, “stoner metal” but this is a subgroup of the more popular doom metal. These brands of metal are kind of throwbacks, employing a “retro” sound that harkens back to pioneering groups. The songs are slower and more melodic than the fast paced tunes of death and black metal.
Cursed to Die - Lorna Shore
This new release is from a deathcore group. Newer groups combine metal with more contemporary genres of rock and hiphop to create a sound that’s a little closer to 90s numetal than anything else. There’s elements of death and black metal in the lyrical stylings as well as the speed, but the melodies and basslines definitely come from more recent influences.
Kevorkian Times - Darkthrone
This black metal release is from genre giants Darkthrone, a cult favorite group that employs symphonics as well as traditional black growls and screams. This album feels a little more like contemporary metal than their earlier releases which pulled more from Viking metal. It has a faster pace and more melody than previous recordings from the group.
Elvis is Dead - Living Colour
This track emphasizes the feelings of rage often displayed in metal. The feelings expressed here are intense, and inspire anger in the listener as well—it's an energizing song. The group also incorporates influences from and references to several genres, most noticeably punk and hip hop, to create a unique brand of nü-metal.
Freedom of Speech - Body Count
Ice-T is not generally who comes to mind when one thinks about metal artists, but his work with Body Count contributed greatly to the rap-metal combination genre. It’s influenced many other artists in the nü-metal scene and has been known for its incendiary themes and powerful political statements. Hardcore groups that incorporate more contemporary pop into their music make metal much more diverse and accessible so more people can be introduced to the genre.
