Black Metal vs Death Metal. Which is Heaviest? Which is Better? — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00today we're going to be discussing a
2. 0:03highly debated Topic in the middle
3. 0:04Community death metal versus black metal
4. 0:07which is better which is heavier which
5. 0:10contributes the most artistically I'm
6. 0:13gonna make my arguments here on this
7. 0:15episode of heavy metal philosophy
8. 0:18welcome metal heads I'm the host of
9. 0:20heavy metal philosophy and writer for
10. 0:22metal digest John barvis make sure you
11. 0:25stick around to the end of the episode
12. 0:26for this week's riff of the week and my
13. 0:29conclusion on which genre is better
14. 0:31death metal or black metal heavy metal
15. 0:35philosophy is an extreme Metal Show and
16. 0:38therefore we talk a lot about black
17. 0:40metal and death metal and that's because
18. 0:42these are the fonts from which all other
19. 0:45extreme metal genres spring now of
20. 0:49course they both come from thrash metal
21. 0:51and heavy metal before it punk rock
22. 0:53before it but all the extreme metal
23. 0:56genres afterwards all come from Death
24. 0:58Metal and black metal now most of us
25. 1:00metal heads we like both Styles but
26. 1:03amongst us there can sometimes be a
27. 1:05healthy and friendly and not so friendly
28. 1:08debate about what genre is cringier what
29. 1:10genre is heavier which genre is better
30. 1:13who has the better aesthetic and a host
31. 1:15of other factors let's do some
32. 1:17background setup up on the two different
33. 1:19genres and then I'll give you my
34. 1:21arguments about which one is better and
35. 1:23my final opinion
36. 1:25first let's talk about death metal it
37. 1:28emerged in the late 80s and early 90s
38. 1:29with bands like death possessed and
39. 1:32obituary and in my opinion it's just
40. 1:35bands after thrash trying to make it
41. 1:38heavier and more brutal and it's that
42. 1:40pursuit of brutality which makes death
43. 1:43metal often themed lyrically around
44. 1:45horror murder Gore things of that nature
45. 1:49it's fast it's aggressive and of course
46. 1:52coming from thrash it's also very
47. 1:54technical with a lot of virtuoso guitar
48. 1:56playing and if you consider death metal
49. 1:59the logical progression after thrash
50. 2:01then black metal would be the antithesis
51. 2:04of that now we all know black metal
52. 2:07originated with the first wave with
53. 2:09bands like Venom and Celtic Frost but it
54. 2:11evolved in the early 90s into the black
55. 2:14metal that we know today in Scandinavia
56. 2:16with bands like Mayhem and dark throne
57. 2:18and where death metal is mostly focused
58. 2:21on brutality black metal is more
59. 2:23concerned with atmosphere an emotion
60. 2:26instead of the heavy Rifts and guitar
61. 2:29virtuosity it's a more stripped down
62. 2:31sound with your mellow picking and
63. 2:34Screech vocals instead of the good rule
64. 2:36death growl and because black metal is
65. 2:39about objection and being antithetical
66. 2:41to society the lyrics are not going to
67. 2:44be so much about Gore and horror it's
68. 2:46more going to be about evil Darkness
69. 2:49nature and anti-christianity but it's
70. 2:53not just the styles that we need to talk
71. 2:55about we need to talk about where they
72. 2:57diverged both death metal and black
73. 2:59metal came from thrash whereas death
74. 3:01metal came from thrash and traditional
75. 3:03heavy metal black metal came from thrash
76. 3:06and punk rock and they both had very
77. 3:09Lo-Fi sounds poor production quality in
78. 3:12the beginning but for black metal it was
79. 3:14by choice for death metal they didn't
80. 3:17really have a choice in the beginning
81. 3:19Studios didn't know how to handle them
82. 3:22sonically this was Uncharted Territory
83. 3:24and it wasn't until Morris sound in
84. 3:27Tampa Florida figured out the techniques
85. 3:30that we use today on how to properly
86. 3:32record death metal that we get the high
87. 3:34production quality that we're used to
88. 3:36today and now that the background is out
89. 3:38of the way that leads me to my arguments
90. 3:41about which one is better we'll start
91. 3:43with the cons of each genre then we'll
92. 3:45go to the pros and then we'll end with
93. 3:47my conclusion and the Riff of the week
94. 3:50and speaking of Lo-Fi production value
95. 3:53that's my biggest con with black metal I
96. 3:57hate that it sounds bad and it sounds
97. 4:00bad on purpose I get it in the beginning
98. 4:03with black metal they were doing it DIY
99. 4:06punk rock style minimalist approach they
100. 4:10didn't want the Grandeur and the pump
101. 4:12they were just trying to get their
102. 4:14emotion and their message across and
103. 4:16that's fine for the early bands in the
104. 4:18second wave but nowadays I hate it it's
105. 4:212023 you can record music on your phone
106. 4:24now there's no excuse for it to sound
107. 4:27bad sonically you can get a good sound
108. 4:29now without spending a bunch of money
109. 4:31which leads me to believe that they're
110. 4:33doing it on purpose now one of the big
111. 4:36cons of both genres is they can easily
112. 4:39be the campus of any genre in metal
113. 4:42outside maybe power metal they're both
114. 4:44easily caricatures of themselves it's
115. 4:48easy to make fun of both genres for
116. 4:49being ridiculous death metal with its
117. 4:52focus on violent murders can often be
118. 4:54the B movie slasher flicks of the metal
119. 4:57genre just laughable and black metal
120. 4:59with its focus on Satanism and worship
121. 5:02of Darkness can really be juvenile at
122. 5:05times it's often the Hot Topic aesthetic
123. 5:08of the metal community and as you all
124. 5:11know death metal and black metal both
125. 5:14have criticisms of each other death
126. 5:16metal fans and bands will say that black
127. 5:18metal doesn't have riffs and oftentimes
128. 5:21they're right black metal fans will say
129. 5:23that death metal is full of cavemen and
130. 5:25it lacks atmosphere and emotion and
131. 5:28oftentimes they're right when they're
132. 5:29both speaking about each genre's lowest
133. 5:32common denominator of course they're
134. 5:34right but at the upper limits of both
135. 5:36genres neither one of those criticisms
136. 5:38is true but I guess when you're taking
137. 5:41everything as a whole I can see the
138. 5:43generalization now we can't talk about
139. 5:45the cons of black metal without talking
140. 5:48about the big one
141. 5:50black metal has a Nazi problem and black
142. 5:53metal fans will call me a scene tourist
143. 5:55for bringing that up they'll say that
144. 5:56black metal is supposed to be about evil
145. 5:58and asking for virtue out of these bands
146. 6:01is antithetical to that ethos but here's
147. 6:03the thing though you can only separate
148. 6:06the art from the artist if you're white
149. 6:08let me explain before you get your
150. 6:12hackles up and call me awoke liberal let
151. 6:14me explain what I mean and if this one
152. 6:17argument doesn't convince you fine call
153. 6:20me what you will you can say I'm just
154. 6:23here for the riffs but as a minority I
155. 6:27can't say that I can't show up at your
156. 6:29Nazi parties in your clan rallies and
157. 6:32then when the whole crowd turns around
158. 6:34and looks at me I can't say don't worry
159. 6:36y'all I'm just here for the riffs nope
160. 6:38they will call me slurs and if I'm lucky
161. 6:41they will remove me from the venue if
162. 6:44I'm unlucky they'll beat my ass or
163. 6:47probably kill me so that's why I can't
164. 6:50get down with the Nazi stuff but don't
165. 6:53worry black metal fans Death Metal's not
166. 6:56a shining Beacon of virtue either it has
167. 6:59its own problems that I will address now
168. 7:01since death metal is mostly about murder
169. 7:04death horror and Gore there's probably a
170. 7:07lot of bands out there who as
171. 7:09individuals hold retrograde views and I
172. 7:13simply don't know about it because that
173. 7:15topic is not front and center in their
174. 7:17music I'm sure that's true for just
175. 7:19about every music genre that exists but
176. 7:22death metal has a problem a big one just
177. 7:25like when you think about black metal
178. 7:26you wonder if that band you just
179. 7:27discovered might be a Nazi death metal
180. 7:29has a problem like that too death metal
181. 7:32has a misogyny problem and just like
182. 7:35black metal fans will get mad at me for
183. 7:37talking about the fact that there's
184. 7:39Nazis in your genre death metal fans
185. 7:41will get mad at me for criticizing the
186. 7:43misogyny they'll call me a woke
187. 7:45snowflake they'll say look it's just art
188. 7:48Bob Marley didn't really shoot the
189. 7:51sheriff and these bands didn't really do
190. 7:53those things to those women and that's
191. 7:55cool but just like with the black metal
192. 7:57thing just hear me out one time there's
193. 8:00lots of reprehensible acts performed in
194. 8:03the lyrics of death metal music that's
195. 8:05why we like it I don't want virtue out
196. 8:09of my metal that's not what I'm asking
197. 8:12for at all but when the entirety of your
198. 8:15album or worst catalog is about
199. 8:18performing the r word on women and
200. 8:21brutally murdering exclusively women
201. 8:24that feels weird to me let's talk about
202. 8:26what I love in Death Metal when corpse
203. 8:29Grinder says bring on the Bloodshed that
204. 8:32pumps me up that feels good that's fun
205. 8:35but another band that I won't name when
206. 8:38they say her eyes roll back in her head
207. 8:41can't remember the fun we had
208. 8:44that doesn't pump me up that's not fun
209. 8:47that's not fist pumping hell yeah let's
210. 8:50do this thing that's not even like B
211. 8:53movie horror slasher fun that's just
212. 8:56gross and look people can write songs
213. 8:59about every subject Under the Sun you
214. 9:02know one song I get it but when it's
215. 9:04your whole album when your whole back
216. 9:07catalog is about that I'm beginning to
217. 9:09wonder about you as a person and it
218. 9:11makes me hard to enjoy the quote
219. 9:14storytelling it's 2023 y'all death metal
220. 9:19should kill people of every gender
221. 9:24and now that I've gotten my criticisms
222. 9:26out of the way let's talk about the pros
223. 9:28of both genres let's talk about what I
224. 9:30love about both genres the good thing is
225. 9:33those criticisms are I hope the minority
226. 9:37obviously not all black metal bands are
227. 9:39Nazis and not all death metal bands are
228. 9:42misogynist you wouldn't know it from
229. 9:44reading the lyrics but corpse grinder
230. 9:47and finriz are two of the most wholesome
231. 9:50men in all of metal and every band that
232. 9:54I've ever interacted with in person
233. 9:55they're always nice to me it's always
234. 9:58all in good fun that's what I love
235. 10:01that's what this music is all supposed
236. 10:03to be about I love this music I love
237. 10:06death metal for its brutality in my
238. 10:08opinion it really doesn't get much
239. 10:10heavier and I love black metal for its
240. 10:12atmosphere and its emotion its pursuit
241. 10:15of the abstraction I love it so that's
242. 10:18where we come with the conclusion here's
243. 10:21where I give my opinion on which is
244. 10:23better those of you that have been
245. 10:24listening to this podcast for a long
246. 10:26time will know that I'm a huge death
247. 10:28metal fan and I'm obviously biased but
248. 10:32with that in mind I think my answer
249. 10:34would actually surprise you I think that
250. 10:36death metal on balance is more
251. 10:39consistently good than black metal but I
252. 10:42think black metal has this one aspect
253. 10:44that makes it have a much higher ceiling
254. 10:47than death metal overall I tend to
255. 10:49prefer death metal better I think the
256. 10:51floor is higher for death metal when
257. 10:53it's good it's good and when it's meh
258. 10:56it's like a b horror movie slasher okay
259. 10:59I can have fun with this no problem and
260. 11:01on the other hand when black metal is
261. 11:03bad it's real bad but when black metal
262. 11:06is good y'all
263. 11:09it's high art black metal is capable of
264. 11:13an elegance and a Grandeur that death
265. 11:17metal will never be able to touch by its
266. 11:21very nature now two of my favorite
267. 11:23albums of all time would be rivers of
268. 11:24Nile the work an Opeth Blackwater Park
269. 11:27and those are kind of Death Metal but
270. 11:30those are progressive death metal when
271. 11:32I'm talking about pure death metal it's
272. 11:34just not capable of reaching that high
273. 11:37art status the way that black metal is
274. 11:39and that pursuit of high art is what
275. 11:42makes black metal insufferable at times
276. 11:45you know dealing with artists like that
277. 11:47and the weird things that they say it's
278. 11:49like get out of here with that
279. 11:50pretentious nonsense but when they pull
280. 11:53it off black metal is
281. 11:56undeniable and to understand what I'm
282. 11:58talking about you need to look no
283. 12:00further than bands like white Ward that
284. 12:02album they put out last year was a
285. 12:05masterpiece look at bands like Imperial
286. 12:07triumphant look at bands like black
287. 12:08Black Parade look at bands like the area
288. 12:11they are putting out high quality art
289. 12:15would you consider really anything that
290. 12:17Cannibal Corpse has done High art
291. 12:20now I know I prefer to listen to
292. 12:22Cannibal Corpse it's more fun it's
293. 12:25heavier it makes me want to head bang
294. 12:26more but what I really consider it high
295. 12:30art
296. 12:31no not really so there it is there's my
297. 12:34arguments which one is better black
298. 12:37metal or death metal well the answer for
299. 12:40me is
300. 12:42blackened death metal let's have it both
301. 12:45y'all my album of the year last year was
302. 12:48hath all that was promised black and
303. 12:50death metal and had the evil in the
304. 12:52atmosphere of black but it made me want
305. 12:55to headbang so hard that's high art and
306. 12:59speaking of high art that's going to
307. 13:02lead me to this week's riff of the week
308. 13:05since we're talking about the genres I
309. 13:07love for this week's riff of the week
310. 13:09I'm picking the Masterpiece
311. 13:12autonoesis Moon of foul Magics this is a
312. 13:17thrashy black and death with lots of
313. 13:19Guitar heroics and that's why I love it
314. 13:22it's the best of all the three best
315. 13:25genres you'll love it too if you check
316. 13:28it out but now I need to know what do
317. 13:31you think which genre is best in your
318. 13:34opinion tell me in the comments and give
319. 13:36me your Arguments for why you think that
320. 13:39if you're listening Audio Only instead
321. 13:41of YouTube you you can hit my social
322. 13:43media all the links are in the
323. 13:45description below I hope you enjoy the
324. 13:48Riff of the week you need to click right
325. 13:49here for more heavy metal philosophy if
326. 13:52you're on YouTube but most importantly
327. 13:54read philosophy listen to metal I love
328. 13:58you
329. 13:59[Music]