What is Heaviest?

[ibanezjunkie]

in metal, what speed/tone do you think is 'heaviest' ? fast/shred and lots of treble, or slow and chuggin' with hell loads of low end?

[pes_laul]

all depends on the bass, drums, and singing.

[FrankenFretter***]

Melvins!

[tunghaichuan***]

This is the heaviest album I've ever heard:



Praxis Sacrifist

That album is like a jackhammer pounding a hole in your skull. It makes Slayer sound like John Denver. :

tung

[Plank_Spanker]

This is the heaviest album I've ever heard:



Praxis Sacrifist

That album is like a jackhammer pounding a hole in your skull. It makes Slayer sound like John Denver. :

tung

The brootalz?

[tunghaichuan***]

The brootalz?

Teh brootalz.

[Tig***]

Why, The Heaviest Matter in the Universe, of course!
OK, there's plenty heavier in various forms, but between the title and the depth of metal, I had to nominate this Gojira song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEy2ZwzOu2w

[marnold***]

Teh brootalz.

Hehe. You beat me to the punch, Tung.

[just strum]

I was going to say Gibson LP. Maybe not the heaviest, but heavier than it should be.

[marnold***]

heavier than it should be.

Which would make a great name for a metal album.

[Plank_Spanker]

Teh brootalz.

I stand corrected!

[just strum]

Which would make a great name for a metal album.

Hey, it would!

[Spudman***]

Dream Theater's "Train Of Thought" is the heaviest I have in my collection.
For me I need melodic to go with my heavy or I get unhappy.

[Suhnton]

all depends on the bass, drums, and singing.

Well put Kris. I don't think Guitar plays much of a role in determining heaviness.

[ibanezjunkie]

ahh but...heavily distorted, slow palm muted chords are pretty heavy...along with the right bass and drums...but clean fingerpicked fills even with metal backing wouldnt seem heavy

[Tig***]

Well put Kris. I don't think Guitar plays much of a role in determining heaviness.

...unless you're playing 8-string beasts

like Meshuggah.

[marnold***]

In a lot of really heavy bands these days, the bass player is almost superfluous. When the guitarists are playing in drop-D two steps down, there's not much sonic room for bass. Some songs that define "heavy" for me wouldn't necessarily for others. Here's a few from my list:

Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath"
Judas Priest "The Sentinel"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Megadeth "Wake Up Dead"
Dio "Last in Line"
Anthrax (with Public Enemy) "Bring the Noise"

I've never been much into black/death/doom/"Hi! I live in Norway!" metal, which is usually what I think of when "teh br00talz" are mentioned. Cookie Monster vocals are usually mandatory. I'm more of a power metal guy (even though none of those tracks I listed are power metal). I much prefer my metal with the mids intact. That along with a good bass player has more sonic impact to me than the whole downtune/scoop thing. But to each their own.

[ibanezjunkie]

i go my own way with my metal...like Marnold i like my mids pretty high

[Suhnton]

...unless you're playing 8-string beasts

like Meshuggah.

See that's the thing. I think Meshuggah are quite brutal, but "heavy", I'm not too sure. I'm an old fart, but to my mind, heavy means "slow and plodding".