Seriously, does Heavy Metal ever sound better on better speakers?

[q3cpma]

There are people on this site who are such productive contributing members most of the time, but something comes up and they can't help but disrespect everyone else for no reason. It really grates on me. You don't get it? Cool. Move on and stop wasting everyone else's time with your ignorance.

Well, even some well intentioned people like our host don't seem to care about exploring metal at all, which is quite sad, especially for those who genuinely like music. The thing is that saying "I don't like metal" is like saying "I don't like electronic music", it's just wrong, everybody likes a bit of Alphaville or Depeche Mode, same way that I've yet to encounter someone into music who really dislike Black Sabbath.
I'll probably make some people sneer, but I claim that extreme metal as a whole is the popular (as in not classical) genre who went the furthest into experimentation and creativity, becoming in the process completely inaccessible for the profane and maybe the reason this stereotype exists: you just CAN'T go from AC/DC and Witchfinder General to Bethlehem or Demilich and expect to "get it", you simply won't. You need some gateway drug like melody or rhythm oriented subgenre variants before (maybe) getting to the esoteric stuff; something like Amorphis, Gehenna or Blut Aus Nord's melodic stuff.
I guess being a musician or having a state of mind compatible with the music can also help big time.

 

[MattHooper]

Exactly. Runnin with the Devil (and the rest of the album) sounds great on a good system. When I was younger, it was one of the songs I used to always use to demo speakers and headphones. Even to this day, I usually give the intro to the song a listen with new equipment.

Yeah, I just listened to Van Halen's Mean Streets and it was killer. Rush's Tom Sawyer is a classic demo rock track as well.

 

[EJ3]

If you are looking to do an A/B type of comparison I would use digital FLAC files or a lossless streaming service. It's much easier to cue up the two and see what you prefer.

Sorry, I did not fully explain myself: I cannot stream (the internet drops out, cellphones work intermittently, etc). And I will likely never permanently live where there is city water (and wouldn't want to). So any kind of streaming service is out (unless someone wants to pay for a SAT service for me). But FLAC files I can do. I can obtain things like that when I am close enough & take them with me.

 

[q3cpma]

Yeah, I just listened to Van Halen's Mean Streets and it was killer. Rush's Tom Sawyer is a classic demo rock track as well.

Ah, finally someone who gets it. Fair Warning is their most interesting album by far; it's a bit like Slayer's Hell Awaits for me, their most technical and daring release that got overshadowed by more conventional (but still good) material.

 

[richard12511]

I actually kinda think it's closer to the opposite. I don't really like most of it all that much, but I love it for weeding out bad speakers. Most of the stuff from Tool(my usual go to) can be very discriminating(ime).

 

[Sal1950]

There are people on this site who are such productive contributing members most of the time, but something comes up and they can't help but disrespect everyone else for no reason. It really grates on me. You don't get it? Cool. Move on and stop wasting everyone else's time with your ignorance.

What did I miss? I didn't hear anyone make any negative remarks towards metal?

 

[SIY]

What did I miss? I didn't hear anyone make any negative remarks towards metal?

Ok, Boomer.

 

[Promit]

In the interests of contributing something positive, I'm going to post some metal tracks that are well regarded music - but I'm going to handicap myself and post strictly music released from 2000 onwards. I'm also going to skip posting covers. Not going for strictly audiophile, max DR recordings here though, and trying to get a good range of material. Really, just tracks I like. Tool's already been shared so I'll skip that one. As always, YT may provide comparatively meh quality.

 

[Sal1950]

Ok, Boomer.

Oh now that made it all perfectly clear.
NOT ???

 

[dfuller]

Yes. Good transient response is crucial to everything not turning to absolute mush. That means if you have a bass reflex system it should really be good - I've heard less-than-amazing ports totally screw up time domain response. My current speakers are passive radiators which are slightly tighter sounding than ports IME.

As far as good sounding albums:

 

[NDC]

The guitar tone on Nile’s ‘05 album, Annihilation of the Wicked, sound incredible on a good set up. One of my favourite tracks off that album for testing mids is “Von unaussprechlichen Kulten”.

 

[dfuller]

But, whenever i play some rock from 70s and 80s, the bass is almost non existent compared to other genres like soul, funk or rnb nowadays. Even jazz from the 50s have more bass, lower bass to be exact.
I have a feeling that all guitar rock was mixed either intentionally to have no bass below 100 hz, or they mixed on giant speakers with extremely high bass output.
Maybe people didn't like too much bass then? Or didn't care much.
I was a kid in the 80s and had a crap stereo, anyway. Cared more about the content then frequency response. Now i know better Now all i listen are test cds.... kidding.

Probably a vinyl limitation for a lot of the earlier stuff before CDs took off. With vinyl you either get loudness or you get low end, not both. By the time CDs were mainstream (late 80s) a lot more low end started showing up. Check out Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood compared with Van Halen 1 or Metallica's self-titled with Kill 'Em All, it's not a subtle difference.

The guitar tone on Nile’s ‘05 album, Annihilation of the Wicked, sound incredible on a good set up. One of my favourite tracks off that album for testing mids is “Von unaussprechlichen Kulten”.

That guitar tone is so goddamn scooped - I'm surprised that's a reference for mids!

 

[richard12511]

After playing my usual classical tracks through speakers demoed at audio stores, I liked to play some highly distorted metal riffs and watch the salesman frown. It was so revealing of the speakers' true nature. All those speakers sounded "great" when playing classical, jazz, and vocal music because most audiophiles listen to these stuff. Yet metal riffs on these speakers often sounded so disingenuously filtered. It helps me see these speakers' "great sound" was in no way a neutral reproduction but merely deceptive coloration.

This has been my experience as well. A lot of the typical classical/jazz stuff you here at shows tends to sound good on most any system.

 

[richard12511]

Well, even some well intentioned people like our host don't seem to care about exploring metal at all, which is quite sad, especially for those who genuinely like music. The thing is that saying "I don't like metal" is like saying "I don't like electronic music", it's just wrong, everybody likes a bit of Alphaville or Depeche Mode, same way that I've yet to encounter someone into music who really dislike Black Sabbath.
I'll probably make some people sneer, but I claim that extreme metal as a whole is the popular (as in not classical) genre who went the furthest into experimentation and creativity, becoming in the process completely inaccessible for the profane and maybe the reason this stereotype exists: you just CAN'T go from AC/DC and Witchfinder General to Bethlehem or Demilich and expect to "get it", you simply won't. You need some gateway drug like melody or rhythm oriented subgenre variants before (maybe) getting to the esoteric stuff; something like Amorphis, Gehenna or Blut Aus Nord's melodic stuff.
I guess being a musician or having a state of mind compatible with the music can also help big time.

I've never been able to get into "Electronic" music. Probably just never had the right gateway drug, as you say, but I hope to someday.

 

[NDC]

That guitar tone is so goddamn scooped - I'm surprised that's a reference for mids!

Haha! There are definitely some higher guitar tones throughout the track in combination with the organ-type sounds in the middle. Definitely gets my head nodding.

and that solo around 5 mins... Hoo boy

 

[Beershaun]

Sorry, I did not fully explain myself: I cannot stream (the internet drops out, cellphones work intermittently, etc). And I will likely never permanently live where there is city water (and wouldn't want to). So any kind of streaming service is out (unless someone wants to pay for a SAT service for me). But FLAC files I can do. I can obtain things like that when I am close enough & take them with me.

Ah. Check out hdtracks.com to purchase albums in full lossless quality as FLAC files and download them when you are in a location where you can download things and take them with you. This is the most personally flexible digital medium if you don't have a regular internet connection. These are not DRM'd so you can copy them to your home computer and stream them from your home computer and back them up etc. You can also put a copy on a thumbdrive for local storage on a given DAC/AVR.

 

[Colonel7]

Tool- Fear Innoculum.

I played this for a couple of 20-somethings we had over for dinner the other night. They were... astonished.

Thank you for this - hadn't listened to it before and wow...

 

[Sal1950]

Now available in 24/96 Ultra High Resolution download at HDTracks.com

 

[MattHooper]

I've never been able to get into "Electronic" music. Probably just never had the right gateway drug, as you say, but I hope to someday.

I've always liked electronic music in various forms. And at 56 I'm probably more in to it than ever. I've also taken heavily to listening to production music or "Library Music" from the 60's to 80's. I've realized that one of the attractions is....no singing.

It's not that I've grown to fully dislike singing. Far from it, there's plenty of music I like with singing. But I guess I find myself less interested in lyrics, and hence singing. At this stage in life, a lot of popular music have lyrics that speak a lot to the various pangs and problems you think a lot about when young, so they don't hold much interest for me. And most lyrics aren't terribly interesting or compelling. At this point, I've lived my own life, done a lot of thinking about stuff, come to my own conclusions, and I feel less like I need some song lyricist to open my eyes to stuff. So I've tended to go more straight to what I like - just music. Electronic music is often undiluted by lyrics and singers. (Exept for the genre of the electronica with inevitable highly-processed-breathy-female-vocal. Had enough of that!).

 

[Beershaun]

Now available in 24/96 Ultra High Resolution download at HDTracks.com

Agreed! A glaring omission in my previous list. Paranoid is a fantastic album.

Planet Caravan on that Album is spectacular! War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid. Love it!