Welcome to the fist entry into Metalution which will track the evolution of heavy metal, part of the systematic study of heavy metal music known being dubbed as Metology. This section may be updated from time to time as needed to better convey the knowledge here.

Before There Was Heavy Metal

The techniques and style that make up heavy metal existed before the birth of metal, but not until heavy metal were these elements combined together. These elements are important, but equally important are certain musical aspects disregarded by heavy metal musicians. Certain ways of playing were abandoned creating a generally heavier style of music.

The Trinity of Heavy Metal Guitar Playing

Heavy metal guitar has three main styles of rhythmic picking, at least one of which is required for any song to be classified as heavy metal (although there will be exceptions to the rule discussed later).

Chugging

Chugging is the rhythmical picking of a single palm muted string, or chord. (This can also be used with pedal point which will be explained)

An example of chugging prior to the birth of heavy metal can be found in the verses for Seppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”

Driving Metal Chords

Driving Metal Chords are the the use of chords, commonly power chords or other dyads or triads, but excludes large open chords.

At 1:36 (this particular live version) of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” he will go into the bridge which could be categorized as driving metal chords. Note that although whole and half note progressions are commonly used in early heavy metal, more complicated rhythms making up countless classic riffs which can all be considered driving metal chords.

String Riding

String riding is the rhythmic picking of a single string, or the use of pedal point which is when a root note alternates with other notes typically used as a melody. Unlike chugging, string riding is not palm muted, otherwise it functions similarly.

The Rolling Stone’s “Paint it Black” makes use of string riding in two different manners demonstrated here both with pedal point at 0:39, and with trill picking a single string at 1:04. Rhythmically both manners can be much more complicated.

The Rule of Heaviness

Obviously it’s called heavy metal so it must be heavy, but heavy is a relative term. Comparing a 70’s heavy metal song to a modern death metal song, the “heaviness” would be vastly different. For our purposes, heaviness will simply mean a heavily distorted guitar is required. The heavy metal level of distortion was a new and prominent part of what are commonly referred to as acid rock bands of the late 60’s. (I will call this style heavy rock or heavy hard rock and also note that Tony Iommi has referred to Black Sabbath a heavy rock band). This level of distorted guitar outside of a broken amp or something simply wasn’t part of music until the end of the 60’s

Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” is sometimes cited as the first heavy metal song because of it thick distorted sound for the time. Other “acid rock” bands had a similar sound but for reasons that will be addressed, this song is not heavy metal and instead Heavy Rock (Note a heavy rock band is a rock or hard rock band with the heavier distortion of heavy metal but stylistically play in a rock style)

The no no’s of Heavy Metal

Strumming and Big Chords

Alternate strumming patterns are standard for any guitar playing outside of heavy metal. When Black Sabbath emerged, Tony Iommi was not using alternate strumming patterns and instead used down picking exclusively for the first few albums. In later albums he would use this otherwise standard way of playing guitar from time to time and doing so would designate those songs in the rock rather than metal genre. This however was not until after establishing his down stroke picking style which became the foundation for much of heavy metal guitar playing.

The Who’s “My Generation”, although not exclusively down picked is predominantly down picked. Without being palm muted, this would be considered driving metal chords although the heavier distortion is lacking. With that said, for their time they were on the harder side of rock music. Predating the Who, The Kinks released “You Really Got Me”. Along with songs like “My Generation” they had driving chords and were more distorted than what was previously mainstream rock. These bands were still lacking the heaviness of the “acid rock” bands, but used alternate strumming to a lesser degree.

Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” is a good example of a hard rock band using riffs that would otherwise be considered metal if not for other aspects of the song. The opening/verse riff could easily be in a heavy metal riff, but the chorus uses alternate strumming which is stranded in hard rock but generally a heavy metal no no.

Another great example of alternate strumming is the opening of AC/DC’s “High Voltage”. It is a simple burst of an alternately strummed chord. This simple strummed burst is iconic in hard rock and the consistent use of such a burst would often disqualify hard or heavy rock songs from being metal.

The second no no, open chords sound big and are often used in hard rock, but good luck finding their use in heavy metal. Such chords sound big, but they sound far less heavy as your standard power chords or other smaller chords. The use of such chords without some exceptions designate a rock genre.

Again a great example of big non-metal chords can be found with Hard Rock icons AC/DC with “Highway to Hell” as the example. Note the use of open chords with these particular chords using all six strings of the guitar including open notes.

(In general AC/DC is the most quintessential hard rock band. Everything from their strumming patterns to use of big chords with mildly distorted guitars are pure hard rock. With little to no exceptions do they make use of any heavy metal style of playing or level of heaviness derived from any distortion or tone combination.)

The Speed Exception

By taking an otherwise hard rock song and speeding it up it can become metal. Because of the faster tempos, the strumming rule gets thrown out. This exception became standard use during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but occurs much earlier. Nearly all the metal songs of Sir Lord Baltimore make use of this exception and they are cited as the first band to be referred to as heavy metal. They essentially sound like a more raw Led Zeppelin with a general tempo boost. To make a clear cut-off line, 145 bpm seems to be a good standard to use when deciding if this exception applies. (Edit note: 145 bpm is somewhat arbitrary, slightly slower tempos might be considered depending on the over all feel and style of the song.)

No more Rock ’n’ Roll

The Rock ‘n’ Roll style was in part defined by shuffle rhythms and blues progressions. These are abandoned by heavy metal (excluding some possible future exceptions that may be expanded on). The use of either would generally designate a song something other than metal. The speed exception can be applied to shuffle or swing rhythms (there will be examples of this in later sections), but there is no speed exception to the chord progression as rock 'n’ roll was often fast already. Despite the yelling of “Rock ‘n’ Roll” by those such as Ozzy, Heavy Metal makes very little use these rock ‘n’ roll characteristics, otherwise it wouldn’t be heavy metal.

Note the chord progression of “Jonny B Goode” by Chuck Berry, although I could have picked nearly any rock in roll song and found the same or similar 12 bar blues progression. This sort of progression is rock ‘n’ roll, blues, or occasionally country, but not used in early or traditional heavy metal.

Again the same sort of progression but with the distorted guitar of nearly 20 years later added to change Rock ‘n’ Roll into Hard Rock with Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”. Note that despite the tempo being well above 145 bpm at 170 bpm it is still undisputedly rock.

if you thought I was done with AC/DC examples, think again. This time AC/DC’s “Ride On” (one of their few non hard rock songs) is a great example of blues rock making use of a shuffle or swing rhythm. Such rhythm would designate blues rock as with this song, or if in a song with more distorted guitar or quicker temp, hard blues rock. The main take away here is that these type of rhythms would likely designate an otherwise heavy metal song as a rock genre unless at or above the 145 bpm mark.

In 1975 Montrose covered the rock ‘n’ roll song of Eddie Cochran “Twenty Flight Rock” giving it a more modern feel with chugging sections that could be considered heavy metal if not for following the rock ‘n’ roll chord progression.

Demonstrated here with Rainbow’s “Starstruck”, despite what otherwise may be considered a metal playing style and a decent amount of distortion, this song is not metal due to the bluesy swing beat. In this case the song would be categorized as hard blues rock.

Song Domination Exceptions

Our last important thing to note when categorizing a song is that classification should be bassed on the sections dominating the song. Essentially the main sections of a song are what should be judged to designate genre. This means there can be sections to a metal song that might break the rules of metal. Hard Rock songs similarly might have heavy metal sections while overall not being metal. Intros and outros as well as backing sections under solos are sections that generally should be excluded when categorizing a song. Bridges or interludes that are unrepeated are also sections where that a song my stray from its core sound. These sections can sometimes be used to designate subgenres. Generally these sections in any song of any genre would be ignored when when determining the core musical genre of the song.

Although I write with a presumed authority on the subject matter of heavy metal, I will confess that this example here is among the most difficult songs I’ve classified and in part lead to the domination rule. If there is a riff that has both the style and heaviness to be classified as heavy metal prior to what I recognize as the first heavy metal song, it exists within Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused”. Yes it should be noted that they outright ripped this song off of Jake Holms, however the riff in question is unique to the Zeppelin version, that is until Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” which begins with a strikingly similar riff. Ultimately, this song should be classified as Psychedelic Hard Rock because of the dominance rule. Simply, the riff (first played at 1:12) is repeated a few times through out the song but is a miner interlude between long sections that are non-metal. Secondly the solo section meets the speed exception noted earlier, however with this rule, solo sections are generally exempt when categorizing a song. There are many otherwise heavy metal songs that would be disqualified due to backing guitar under a solo using alternate strumming. In fairness it is applied to keep those songs categorized as metal and songs like “Dazed and Confused” as rock

Summery

In summery this outlines the primary elements of metal, particularly in the early days, as well as primary elements that would disqualify a song from being considered metal. Examples of such elements were given using songs predating the birth of metal as well as some examples of non-metal characteristics from some heavy metal contemporaries. The next entry looking at the evolution of metal will kick off at the birth of heavy metal.

Part 2