has the magic of metal faded for you over the years?

[Cythraul]

Alright, here's something I've been thinking about for a while. I feel that as the years go by the original excitement I had for metal has faded away in a certain sense. It's not that I don't still love metal music or that it doesn't excite me in any way but it seems that metal has lost a lot of the original mystique that it had when I was first getting into it. Let me clarify by giving some historical background.

The first black metal album I ever heard was De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. This was a hugely significant album for me because before that I had only explored thrash metal, heavy metal, a tiny bit of death metal, and I was, well, 11 years old. This album was seriously the most fucked up, dark, frightening thing I had ever heard. And when I looked at the cd insert and saw the picture of Euronymous I thought "This is not some guy who gets up in the morning and eats his Cheerios; this is some kind of seriously demented person." Extreme metal as a whole and black metal in particular had this kind of aura of mystery and esotericism that surrounded it which made it seem strangely fascinating, exotic, and dangerous. Add to this the fact that I got into metal before the advent of filesharing, so I couldn't simply get on my computer and hear whatever I wanted to hear. A lot of the fun of the whole thing was going out and hunting down these strange, obscure albums in the used racks that apparently nobody but I knew about.

Now, given my age, I no longer view this music as conjured from the depths of hell, nor do I regard the musicians making it as anything but people very much like myself; guys who sat for hours in their bedrooms coming up with riffs. Plus it's so easy for me to hear any music that I want to hear these days that there's really no excitement in the search for this kind of music anymore (to defuse any controversy about filesharing I should make it clear that I only sample music through said means, then I buy what I think will be worthwhile). But De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas still evokes a particular feeling in me that I can't really describe. It's the same feeling I had when I first heard it, only tempered by age and maturity.

So what I'd like to know is if anybody has had a similar experience. Has metal lost that mystique that it originally had? Did it ever have that to begin with for any of you? What are some really important metal albums for you personally and do they still evoke the same kinds of feeling in you that they did when you first heard them?

 

[NinjaGeek]

There's never been any mystique with me and metal, but thats partially due to the fact I didn't get into metal until halfway through high school. However the original feeling and "magic" that culture shock of hearing something so much heavier than anything else out there is definitely gone. I remember the first time I heard death metal it was an absolutely amazing crushing feeling. Now it just doesn't have the same impact it used to.

 

[Jean-Pierre]

I completely sympathize, and strangely, I feel exactly the same way about De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas...that must mean it's...really really good? At any rate, somewhere in my top ten.

 

[tagradh]

I've listened to it essentially since I was born (so 18 years) and I still love it. Seem to float slowly between different genres in a big circle. But aye, I guess most the bands don't have nearly as much 'emotional' impact upon me, with a few exceptions, as they used to.

 

[Silent_Scream]

I quite agree with the thread starter.

The first extreme metal records i got were 'The Autophagous Orgy' by Lord Gore and 'Versus the World' by Amon Amarth. I was blown away, especially by Lord Gore. I threw on Morgue Whore and was completely mesmerized by what i was hearing, all i wanted to do was cut off my ex's head. I couldn't believe how fucked up and sick (literally) the music sounded... and how much i loved it. But now, that magic has now gone, don't get me wrong i still love metal though.

heh, how times have changed, i'm such a sellout.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Simple answer: No.

longer answer: To some small extent, but I don't think it really matters to me since I discover a bunch of new bands that excite me each week.

 

[tagradh]

Simple answer: No.

longer answer: To some small extent, but I don't think it really matters to me since I discover a bunch of new bands that excite me each week.

This is possibly a much more succinct version of what I was trying to say. >_>

 

[Mort Divine]

Not really, but then again I've only been listening to metal extensively for about 4 years - going on 5.

I think that overtime though the massive amount of music that is simply available because of the internet may cause something of a disillusionment but for now it hasn't happened.

 

[WNxScythe]

A little bit I guess... I got into metal like 4 years ago with Children of Bodom (so sue me) though the first REAL metal band I heard (apart from Metallica) was I think Lunaris. When I was listening to it I was like "WHAT IS THIS STUFF???" The vocals were a huge turn off but I loved the atmosphere, sucked me in real fast. Anyways, there's not the same sense of "mystery" that it had at first, but I still love it. It just doesn't blow me away in the sense of "WTF" anymore. I'm also discovering far, far less 'new' bands that I like, but that doesn't affect the bands that I already love.

And dude, 11 years old getting into BM, that's pretty crazy. When did you start with thrash/death? Was your dad into it?

 

[DarkBliss]

Yea, I guess many albums in the genre did lose their shine for me over the years. Maybe it's due to the sudden realization that there's a whole world of different music to explore and experience. Perhaps it's just me getting older. I used to be so hung up on old school death metal, trying to download as many obscurities as possible, but through recent listening sessions, I started realizing that many of these records, regardless of their classic status, for me are no more than "well, just another metal album". There are certainly quite a few albums that still retain my interest. as I seemed to have found something special in them that sets them apart from those that kind of faded into irrelevence.

Extreme metal and metal in general to me is/was never about staying "true" or listening to the harshest, most evil, most brutal and uncompromising stuff, that's all nonsense, but listening to music that will excite me and I found that there are not as many metal albums that seem to do it for me anymore.

There is much more to music than just metal: jazz, prog/psych rock, folk, classical, industrial, experimental stuff, etc. I'd still be listening to/buying metal, but in parallel, exploring other genres; apparently, I've been missing out on much. Having various types of music in your collection, to fit a variety of moods is always a good thing.

 

[tagradh]

^ I know the end question wasn't at me but I'm sure I am one of the luckiest people ever for having parents who are into bands like Opeth/Katatonia/Porcupine Tree etc and an Uncle who was into Extreme Noise Terror/Napalm Death/Carcass blabla. >_>

 

[Silent_Scream]

^ I know the end question wasn't at me but I'm sure I am one of the luckiest people ever for having parents who are into bands like Opeth/Katatonia/Porcupine Tree etc and an Uncle who was into Extreme Noise Terror/Napalm Death/Carcass blabla. >_>

Fuck, that's awesome

 

[tagradh]

Shame my uncle drank him self to death by the time I was 12. Woulda been pretty epic going to gigs with him. ;>

 

[skeptik]

Cythraul is an old school Metalhead like myself and Jean-Pierre, it seems. Likewise, I've experienced a similar experience through the course of the years.

Starting off with Metal when you're young and developing your tastes on your own off of message boards is probably a major part of this whole experience. Back when I was 9, Metallica's Ride The Lightning was some pretty intimidating stuff, with the massively heavy riffs, the chants of "Die! Die!", the hellish vocals, and the general aura that it communicated being a bit overwhelming - in a good way.

Though I've only been exposed to more extreme styles of Metal for about 6 or 7 years, I still felt that mystique about it. This was when I was first starting to explore Metal via the internet, and this other kid who was growing on a similar path told me to get some Burzum and Mayhem. So I got the first full lengths of each band, and once I was able to get into them, I was overwhelmed. I felt as if I was listening to things that I shouldn't be listening to. I was innocent then, and these strange, evil men were warping my mind through sound. Going back and listening to these records now, I do not feel that same initial otherworldly shock that I first did, as if I was listening to something wholly unearthly. However, I have built several new connections to them over the years that have replaced that initial aura that originally drew me in. I feel a sense of nostalgia and an image of that first reaction that I had to Ea, Lord Of The Depths and Kaatharian Life Code; it still impacts me, but it does not overwhelm. I feel now that I am a listener outside of the experience, while when I was young, I was a listener inside of it, and felt as though I couldn't get out. It terrified me, and it was good. Today, I still feel the sense of terror, but in a passive, objective, analytical way, and that draws me in more today.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

I definitely got that feeling when I first got into black metal. I remember when I first sampled Mayhem's Live In Liepzig and Deathcrush I felt like I was listening to something that I shouldn't be listening to (kind of similar to looking at porn at an early age). A little later I downloaded a few Emperor tracks off Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk (I think it was the first three tracks) and I felt like I was totally moving beyond my norm. I felt like I had rejected my Christian faith (as I was a Christian back then and you know that guilty feeling you get). Then I went on to buy In the Nightside Eclipse which totally blew me away.

Nowadays, when listening to said albums, I get a nostalgic feeling of my "first discoveries" of such music but, to some extent, the magic isn't there as much.

 

[Life Sucks]

Metal means to me what it always had. It never possessed a magical quality for me. It was simply the only form of music that really clicked with me, and it remains that way to this day. I always viewed metal musicians as everyday humans. Sure, some of them are a bit fucked in the head, but so are many other people, including me. I don't really have one particular album that has meant a lot to me throughout my whole life as a metalhead. I started out listening to thrash, then death metal, moving onto black metal and other forms of extreme metal. Way back in the early 90s, Dismember and Amorphis were probably my two favorite bands, and I still like them a lot to this day. But at the moment (and for the last couple years) Primordial and Mourning Beloveth click with me like few other bands, simply because of the atmosphere evoked in their music.

 

[Matt]

I believe my first black metalish purchase was Bal-Sagoth's The Power Cosmic, and it just blew me away with how impossibly epic it was. I stil get that tingly feeling when I listen to them. The first true black metal album I bought was Emperor's ITNE and it was freakishly awesome. Like many others here I felt like it wasn't something I shouldn't have been listening to, let alone actually enjoying. The magic for that album has all but disappeared. I still love it, but I am no longer 'intimidated' by Isahn's hellish screams as I was when I was about 11. I've been listening to black/death metal since then.

Also, somebody said something about parents into metal; my dad listens to the same stuff I do, for the most part.

 

[ohiogrinder]

not really. music is a journey for me and I love discovering new bands every day.

 

[cookiecutter]

I wouldn't say the magic has faded, but it has changed. I remember being so happy to find even a really obvious band like Hypocrisy and I remember thinking Slayer were really good musicians. Now I find new bands all the time, but I still get that tingle thinking about metal.

 

[ohiogrinder]

Fuck, that's awesome

yeah, I'm pretty fuckin envious myself