Posts: Music / New found respect for heavy metal

Ive always listened to a lot of metal, but I've never really tried to make any before.  With punk (and its derivatives) the rhythm chord progressions really protect you from being overexposed musically.  You can put little thises and thatses on top of whatever and it adds to the whole in a safe way.  With metal you really have to centralize the lead lick.  Ive been paying close attention to what metal bands do  now and the lead lick is really all thats there.  Other than the bass, theres nothing there to hold it together and if it cant stand on its own, its for the most part bad.



Listen to Metallica "one" for example.  That opening riff is really providing the foundation for the entire song at least until the song transitions to the thrash sound.  In my head, power chords step in and take over at some point...but that never actually happens. 



Same thing with living colour "cult of personality". That opening riff is the entire song.  they sneak some rhythm guitar into the chorus but otherwise, it sounds full without being full.



So i have this track im working on now and I am using a lick to hold it together. I am managing to  figure out how to get it to carry the song...but damn its hard.



So yeah. go heavy metal bands.