Toward a Systematic Understanding of “Heaviness” in Metal Music Production
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: “Heaviness” has been one of metal music’s defining features in three decades of metal scholarship. Research acknowledged its essential quality, but no comprehensive definition of musical heaviness was developed. This article, therefore, elaborates a preliminary framework of musical heaviness by identifying its constituent production, performance, and compositional components, including their relationships. The findings suggest that while structural and performative components provide the necessary foundation for heaviness, metal has been increasingly driven by its production. Since musicians reach limits, technology has become one of the primary means to produce ever heavier metal music in the genre-defining quest for greater heaviness.
Source: Rock Music Studies
Authors: Jan-Peter Herbst, Mark Mynett
Institution: University of Huddersfield
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4291238049