Does listening to metal have any negative effects?

[Night Owl]

In my opinion there is 2 kinds of music. Music to let it in and music to let it out. Or at least it will have that effect depending on who's listening to it. And so I would think it depend on what you need at the moment. Sometimes you need something that understands what you're going through to let it out and sometimes you need something different or opposite to influence you into changing your mood. Metal can have tremendous positive effects in both those areas. I listened to a lot of metal for most of my life but I must admit I have a secret. I simply don't bother with lyrical content at all until I have absorbed the instrumental first. Sometimes I have listened to entire albums and discographies for hundreds of times before I felt like looking into them, and when I do, it's usually on the side that I look into it as text and words. I still enjoy it a lot, but it's like a bonus for me, not a central theme. When I'm listening to the music, it's all about arrangements of sounds and so you could say that it is some kind of shield from other people's energy to a certain extent, or at least to the literal context of the words. As long as I can find something that makes me feel good about it, that's what's gonna happen.

If you listen to angry music and you feel good about it, maybe you just have anger to let out, and so that would be a good thing. If you listen to metal and it makes you more angry then that would be a problem. But be careful not to put all of metal into the same basket, metal has so many genres that it's basically not realistic to even compare them together.

It sounds to me like you are a little bit like me in that you like how it sounds but not necessarily what is being expressed. You are maybe getting to the point where your anger has lifted and now you absorb a little bit of negativity. That may simply be an hint that you need to change the bands you listen to, and while listening to other genres of music is a very good idea, it doesn't necessarily mean you should 'get rid of metal'.

With experience I have personally give up on most popular genres of metal to focus more on progressive metal as I feel it is more focused on the music itself rather than the angry projection you seem to talk about. It's not necessarily better but I guess I have grown a little tired of most of metal. It kinds of becomes very similar once you know a lot of bands. It happens in pretty much every style of music too, thats why change is a good thing.

I used to have lots of anger myself that I would let out by playing metal on the drums, but I always thought it would be better to just let it out by jamming with friends or alone with music than putting out records about it so that people receive that. I now much prefer to listen to people who are simply interested in the music and have all their thoughts put into making good rhythms, good melodies, good harmonies and good progressions. I think it's more inspiring that way, and I always feel good about the music because I know it's been done out of love, even if it's very heavy. If what you like most are riffs I suggest you find bands that center their compositions around the love of riffs rather than anger. And sometimes good riffs can sound angry, but as long as it's just riffs, there's no personal projection its just put out as raw emotion that you can express through it. It's kind of like an image or an archetype of that said emotion that you can experience as love rather than the anger it may portray. At least that's how I see it personally.

One of the thing I usually see as a hint that the people who produce a certain kind of music have found the love in their music is that it usually grooves. Now that's entirely subjective and personal but that's how I experience it. I have found so many different genres of music and of metal that groove even if it's very fast, very dark, very technical or even very slow and ambiant that I now see no reason why there would be no groove. It is totally possible to write kickass riffs that are very angry and heavy and make it groove, and it just happen that when it doesn't i kind feel like the musicians are just saying that they're angry rather than portraying that anger into a good riff. I hope you understand what I mean by this.

The element of groove might also be very subjective, but I usually make the distinction between rhythm and groove and I think not many people understand the difference. All music has rhythm. Not all music has groove. My understanding of groove is that it is built out of at least two rhythmic elements that are 'different' and often creating off beat accents or counter rhythms that are usually called syncopations. You usually get a sense that it's very alive when it happens, and not even a very bombastic brutal riff can make you stop from moving along the music. The way I see it, people may react differently depending on different rhythms, but nobody can stay still under serious groove. We are just built to react to it. It just so happen that even outside of metal, I think people as they get older unconsciously tend to move towards that feel naturally as it just seem to get under their skin no matter what. Even if we stay inside the metal circle, I heard many people say something like " I didn't think I could like metal but this is so good" it's usually because there is a good groove under the music.

So I'm thinking maybe that's what you need. Metal based around kickass grooving riffs so that you feel good and let out anger at the same time. That totally exist and it's totally good for you. But maybe you are very different from me and have a lot of attachment to the lyrics. Then I would say in that case there is no other way than to find bands that talk about something you enjoy. But again most metal I have known that have tackled spiritual grounds was mostly progressive or at least very melodic. Probably not the kind of subject you will find among music that is centered around anger. I would simply say trust your instinct and follow your mood. If you're in for a change just go with the flow. If you feel good about what you listen to, don't bother so much about it. Change will happen naturally.

And sorry for the long post.