Metal is Not to Be Taken Seriously

Metal, like many other niche products, does not take itself seriously. People who bother to find and listen to it obviously already like the product, so there's no need to impress anyone. Musicians can just relax and release what they enjoy making. Since we're such a great community of people, this usually leads to carefree and humorous music.

A good place to start is with Dragonforce. I've had countless people ask me how I can listen to them. They've called Dragonforce garbage, untalented and unoriginal. But they're just taking it too seriously. How can you honestly look at a group of guys with their hair down to their anus and analyze every single note they're playing? Sure, every song sounds the same, they constantly mention fire, ice, and dragons, and they have 5 minute solos, but that's what makes them funny! Dragonforce is literally the epitome of lulz when it comes to metal. They've unfortunately taken a more "we're going to actually play music now" approach with their new album and vocalist though. Despite that, the music they make is still pretty epic and retains the laser-powered guitar solos that they're known for. It's just now backed with real power metal.

Sure, there are many satanic, political and generally antisocial bands out there, but it's just to scare away the mainstream. When a typical person looks at black metal, they see Gorgoroth, Burzum and Taake scowling back at them (my post on crazy black metal musicians is here). A trve metalhead though (see what I did there?) knows that just under the surface lies Immortal in all their panda-faced glory. And who can take Immortal seriously? They don't even take themselves seriously.

I'm being so serious right now!

Anybody who just generalizes metalheads into one big group of no-humour satanists is dead wrong. Metalheads are the nicest people ever (why else would we help people up who fall down in mosh pits?) who don't take their music too seriously. We're just here to have fun. Anyone who gives you the wrong impression is probably either a genre whore, 12 year old, or a scene kid.

-Zombie Viking