Your way in
Traditional heavy metal 1976
The classic form: high vocals, twin lead guitars, choruses to raise a fist to. Leather and studs.
- Heaviness
- 7
- Speed
- 6
- Melody
- 9
- Where from
- UK / USA
- Tempo
- 120-170 bpm
- Song length
- 4-6 min
- Written about
- Defiance, Steel and machinery, Fantasy and battle, Metal itself, as a subject
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Traditional heavy metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| No words at all When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 80% | ×3 |
| Heavy. I want to feel it. How much weight do you want behind it? | 7 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| A steady walk What pace? | 6 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1976 | 72% | ×1 |
| The inside of a head What should the words be about? | Defiance, Steel and machinery, Fantasy and battle, Metal itself, as a subject | 50% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 6 min | 88% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 81% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 10. Traditional heavy metal leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1The one to put on first
Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny 1976
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny. Before the leather, and already perfect.
- 2Then
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5One step further in
The first is Traditional heavy metal's own entry point. After it come Traditional heavy metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Glam rock 80%
Rock in glitter, platform boots and calculated ambiguity. The spectacle is half the music.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from Traditional heavy metal.
The way into Glam rock -
Art rock 80%
Rock made by art-school graduates: concept, image and experiment ahead of formula. It overlaps with prog but cares far less about virtuosity.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 4 steps from Traditional heavy metal.
The way into Art rock
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- No words at all put 33 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Grindcore. Worth 3 of 10.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 10.
- The inside of a head put 88 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Black metal. Worth 1 of 10.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 10.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.