Metal Heads of DoomWorld, what was your introduction to metal?

My older brother introduced me to a lot of metal since i was something like 8... first bands i liked were Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil), WASP (s/t), Accept (Metal Heart) and Twisted Sister (Stay Hungry).  i think the first metal tape i owned was Dio's the Last in Line.  First LP i owned was King Diamond's Abigail, and first metal shirt i had was also that album tour's promo shirt (i've still got them all.) 

Oh, that's a tough one.

Back when my oldest brother was a metalhead, there was a band called Skinny Puppy. There were others, but they may have come and gone.

My oldest friend's brother liked Iron Maiden, Metallica and Motorhead and I found his CD collection fascinating. I also had a book about rock music which had biographies of all the big metal bands and highlights of their discographies. 

And Vision Thing is an album made by The Sisters of Mercy, a band that played in HellFest in Clisson.

Pantera & All That Remains is what got me into metal in general but grew to like even more bands like, Scar Symmetry, Threshold, Trivium, Orden Ogan and more. My introduction game-wise was from Doom & Quake II.

My big bro was into some mainstream metal/rock of the early 2000. My first band was System of a Down and toxicity was the first album I listened ever. 

He showed me Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Radiohead, Muse blah blah.

Later, I began listening to some old heavy metal. Like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. And so, I started expanding my taste and got into heavier stuff like thrash, Doom, black and death.

My father was actually a metal singer back in the day, and at a time he was considered for vocals in the band Queensryche.  So needless to say I had a bit of a head start early on.  If I can remember the earliest (pure) heavy metal bands I listened to, it would probably be Armored Saint from my father as well as Queensryche.

Big bro introduced me to Slipknot, from there, it was a wild ride. Darkthrone, Belphegor,  Blodsrit, Mayhem, Slaughter To Prevail, Pantera, Mudvayne, Coal Chamber, Black Sabbath, Lich King, Slayer, Suicidal Angels, Sepultura, Sodom....

Discovered my dad's vinyl records by the age of 5. Found Def Leppard, ZZ Top and Deep Purple first. Shortly after I discovered Dio - The Last In Line amongst his records, and that was it. That music, that cover, that feeling of heaviness, mystery and just plain awesomeness ... I'll never forget!

My dad found out I had been listening to that record a lot and he recommended me a band called Judas Priest. We went to the record store and he bought me the Painkiller album on cassette (it was brand new, so I guess this was in 1990). When I got back home I ran to my room and played the cassette. I was so amazed I had to go call my friends to come over and listen to it. Damn, those time were magic.

I never turned back and I've listened to metal for 33 years now. Mostly into old school heavy metal/epic heavy metal, black metal and some death metal (Autopsy!). 

Not a fan of death/black metal at all. Prefer Power metal, melodic metal, symphonic metal stuff like that. Probably my first introduction to metal in general would have been the Black Album, but for death/black metal was Sepultra and it's probably the reason I cannot take it seriously to this day. A friend recorded an album I wanted to tape then randomly stuck some Sepultra at the end of side one. I thought "Wtf is this?" or whatever the 12 year old me equivalent of that was. It was a bunch of cacophonous vaguely musical noise followed by a series of what sounded more like grunts than actual words followed by "BLAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!" or some similar outburst. It cracked me the hell up and still does to think of it all these years latest. Still respect the craft though. Takes massive energy and talent, just not for me I am afraid.

@Murdoch - give this a listen and tell me what you think, I'd be very curious. 

It was 2003, I was 14 and I grew up without internet (I fell in love with DOOM thanks to PSX DOOM as a 8 years old kid watching my father playing it), so I used to spend entire afternoons at my local music store in a corner listening to music and often leaving with a smile and a CD.

It was my first year of high school and I had just discovered rock/grunge/punk music thanks to a classmate, the only girl with decent taste about music as well as the only person I was comfortable with. One evening, I decided to give that album a try. I didn't know what to expect. Actually, I was uncomfortable and afraid to be overwhelmed by disturbing walls of noise and agonising screams.

And then.. the intro guitar riff of the first song had me.

One hour later (yes, I actually listened to the whole album there, I couldn't stop) I was running home with my copy of Brave New World by Iron Maiden to listen to it again. And again.

1 hour ago, hybridial said:

give this a listen and tell me what you think, I'd be very curious. 

Instrumentation is superlative. Was really enjoying it but maybe with a minor complaint of the drums sounding a shade on the flat side (though well played). I loved the general feel of the song - proggy but still with a unifying melodic flare that holds it all together well. Some prog stuff to me sounds too meandering and unstructured to really enjoy. But then the singer started and it lost me. I don't mind a little bit of growl and/or scream to emphasis a few points here and there, but when it is the entire vocal of a song it just begins to grate on me or if it's particularly over the top, make me laugh my ass off. This song was more the former. Example of the latter was this cover of TNT by AC/DC I heard about a year ago. I love the heavier guitar and that bass tone is glorious. But then the singer starts up and it sounds like Cookie Monster with a throat infection. Kills me every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBFbeUEQqkQ

Here's an example of a screaming/growl piece I like. Emphasizes a moment of darkness in the song nicely but doesn't overstay it's welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WvWbUgCcJw

1 minute ago, Murdoch said:

 

Instrumentation is superlative. Was really enjoying it but maybe with a minor complaint of the drums sounding a shade on the flat side (though well played). Then the singer started and it lost me. I don't mind a little bit of growl and/or scream to emphasis a few points here and there, but when it is the entire vocal of a song it just begins to grate on me or if it's particularly over the top, make me laugh my ass off. This song was more the former. Example of the latter was this cover of TNT by AC/DC I heard about a year ago. I love the heavier guitar and that bass tone is glorious. But then the singer starts up and it sounds like Cookie Monster with a throat infection. Kills me every time.

Did you listen to the whole song? Just because it's not accurate to say it only has growling vocals, and well, I want to make sure you didn't just shut it off the moment the first verse started :P 

1 minute ago, hybridial said:

 

Did you listen to the whole song? Just because it's not accurate to say it only has growling vocals, and well, I want to make sure you didn't just shut it off the moment the first verse started :P 

Ah, my bad. I will listen to the whole thing tomorrow, promise. Way passed my beauty sleep time here in NZ. Went to play a quick game of Speedball 2, played all the way through the knockout section and finished the game. Woops.

Just now, Murdoch said:

Ah, my bad. I will listen to the whole thing tomorrow, promise. Way passed my beauty sleep time here in NZ. Went to play a quick game of Speedball 2, played all the way through the knockout section and finished the game. Woops.

Thanks for admitting it, it's interesting you bring up Kamelot, because for a while Kamelot was my favourite band, mainly more for the Roy Khan days for sure, I listened to The Black Halo recently and it does hold up, it's really good. It's more clear to me now though that the band just got worse with each release afterwards. Tommy Karivek is a good singer and it's probably not his performances that are lacking, just the song material in general. 

But Ne Obliviscaris I think, especially once you hear the other singer because they do the duet thing, is the best successor to Kamelot. They just happen to be partially a death metal band, but the strength of the song writing, the creativity of the instrumentation, the epicness of their arrangements, I really do feel a lot of the positive and memorable elements of a lot of the power and symphonic metal bands I listened to is in their makeup. Wilderun similarly made maybe the best Symphonic Metal album of the last few years with Veil of Imagination. 

I had a few years to get used to the idea of what death metal is, since Epica and After Forever definitely had elements of that, I got kind of into early Therion, it really clicked for me by the time I was listening to In Mourning, Insomnium and bands like these and believe me, when I started out at the beginning, I would never have thought I'd totally 180 on that. 

But I am music first, the main thing about all these bands is I do think melodic death metal is at a creative high right now. I found it fresh and invigorating. 

As far as I remember I listened to We Die Young from Alice in Chains, and then I liked it. And Doom introduced me Metal-styled MIDI, which made me like metal songs more, also, I was aware of Power Metal (and its "Extreme" variant) and now it's one of my favourite metal genres.

My Dad playing Helloween - Keeper of The Seven Keys Part 1 and 2 while I was playing games on the family computer when I was a kid was my introduction to metal

First exposure (and finding joy from) was an old Twisted Sister album (Stay Hungry?) on a cassette tape when I was about 10 or 11.  Good times, good tunes.

Slightly odd place to start, but if I ever do become a metal head, I might have to say my introduction to it was @Velvetic's band Isotype, whom I listened to because I liked the MIDI versions :).

Silly music videos of Twisted Sister in 1984. No escape since then.

Radio in the 70's and 80's but mostly it was the metalheads taking control of the school bus's tape player on the 50 minute trip to school each day when I was a freshman.   It just did it for me.   

On 10/14/2021 at 11:37 PM, hybridial said:

give this a listen and tell me what you think, I'd be very curious. 

OK so had a listen as promised. So the song overall is one of extremes to me. Patches I really really like, and patches I don't. I do not like the sound of the drums at all as mentioned, they sound very thin to me. The female vocalist is very good, as is the bass player, guitarist and (I think) cellist. The initial "prog but with a strong anchor" that is present at the beginning seems to get a bit lost in some places. The relatively slow strummed rhythm in places clashes with the frantic, thin drums and creates in a me sense almost like I am listening to two different songs being played at the same time. From about 3:45 is my favourite part. Nice bit of lead guitar and then what I am guessing is the cello coming in and shredding too. Then the quiet interlude before building up to the power chords and cello again. The drum sound works better here. Then the growl comes in, things go a little bit nuts, and it loses me again.

An undoubtedly talented group of people, but I like music with a bit more... form I guess. I don't mind prog but it needs to still feel cohesive. I really like Sons of Apollo for that reason. They bring the technical prowess needed to pull off prog type playing, but with the rock roots of many of the members you still get a sense of cohesiveness and structure that rock typically brings as well which suits my tastes more. It's a nice melding of the two styles.

On 10/15/2021 at 1:38 AM, hybridial said:

Thanks for admitting it, it's interesting you bring up Kamelot, because for a while Kamelot was my favourite band, mainly more for the Roy Khan days for sure, I listened to The Black Halo recently and it does hold up, it's really good. It's more clear to me now though that the band just got worse with each release afterwards. Tommy Karivek is a good singer and it's probably not his performances that are lacking, just the song material in general. 

Tommy is a VERY good singer. Roy is a bloody tough act to follow though and Tommy manages to be a stylistic fit without being a total copycat. I do agree "The Black Halo" is their creative high point especially "The Haunting". Fantastic composition, playing and vocals. Some of their later releases have some standout songs (I am particulary fond of "Veritas" on "Silverthorn"), but also a lot of stuff that's just kind of there. I don't hate it by any means, it's just not super duper memorable.

47 minutes ago, Murdoch said:

So the song overall is one of extremes to me.

I think that is precisely what attracts me to it, and the general idea of the music. To sound harshly chaotic and then just as easily slip into beautiful harmony. I would say I connect with music based on the emotions it makes me feel because though I do understand your technical descriptions of things, or individual criticisms, that would never be how I would express my feelings about any particular piece. I don't call the drums "thin", because I honestly don't have a preconceived idea of what they should sound like, it's more just, does it fit with what the whole is? I liked power metal before because it was simply uplifting and epic. But I guess what I'm looking for now is a little more complex than that, because for me if this didn't have cohesion, if it wasn't perfectly cohesive to my ears, I wouldn't like it. 

I did like Dream Theatre and Sons of Apollo but then... kinda don't now, I think because outside of the Twelve Step Suite songs (which I consider to be far and above everything else Dream Theatre did), their music is kinda bland.

I suppose you could say my introduction to the genre was my mother blasting Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" while I was in the womb, or so I've been told. Also had a father who was into the likes of Tool and a number of the nu metal bands of the time, so really it's a genre that's been part of my life since day 1. Metallica was a big one for me early on, particularly their S&M concert which introduced me to symphonic metal (or thrash with symphonic backing in this case, close enough). The idea of combining such a harsh genre with the expressiveness of classical instruments was a huge mind-blower back then.

Every few years I'll decide to check out a certain artist, and inevitably I get obsessed with their work for a time, which makes me appreciate another subgenre I didn't pay much mind to before. Dream Theater and Scar Symmetry for prog, Meshuggah for djent, Code Orange for metalcore, Dark Tranquillity/In Flames for melodeath, the list goes on. My interest in any one of them comes and goes, but I seem to find things I like in all of them.

Seeing all those crazy Korn videos on MTV as a kid, no doubt (particularly "Blind", "Shoots And Ladders", "Make Me Bad" and others). Hadn't had contact with atmospheric music before. Later I managed to borrow some CDs from library and read a website of a favourite reviewer. It covered tons of atmospheric extreme metal too. Hearing metal at a concert and loud on speakers at home solidified my love for the genre. Even though I currently listen to other genres more often, Anaal Nathrakh is probably my favourite metal band.

Doom Soundtrack mostly, but I'm more of a Grunge head, rather than a metalhead.

I started with Slipknot in 2002, then got cable internet and KaZaA in 2003 and quickly moved onto shit like Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, and Brutal Truth. Almost 20 years later, I'm now listening to the most degenerate porngrind and goregrind out there. I just wanna shake my bawlz to some tupa tupas and slams.

Slipknot. I don't remember why I got it, I saw people in class in middle school have these patches of the "S" logo and then these SlipKnoT patches.

I remember the first one I got was SlipKnoT IOWA, the first two songs gave me a headache and I had to turn it off (keep in mind... I had NO IDEA WHAT they where saying in the songs! but now i do because google)  After 7-8 years I gave It a go again because I was soo over-weight and I needed some music to help me lose weight while I try to get better at cardio running.

I did and would run 1hour nonstop on the treadmill with slipknot music on.  Got self-titled, vol. 3, all hope is gone, and even the disasterpieces dvd.

Offcourse I don't listen to them anymore, but this is my story how the first time in my life I got skinny.  Because of slipknot.  Now... the only thing I own from metal is a slipknot iowa cd in the silver case in japanese.  I wanted the silver case because thats how I first got it last time in middle school.  Only ones they had left where imported sadly.  But in that nice silver holographic case!

Memory purposes only.  The only music i listen to these days are in doom custom mods or commercial doom music from the 90s.  Some video game music and break dancing beats.

I also own a iron maiden shirt but its for display only.  Got it because I saw somebody online break bricks online wearing that shirt.  I thought wow... I got to get me that shirt!