The Story Of The Heavy Metal Music

Heavy-metal, popularly known as metal, was evolved in the early 1970's. This was the period when the world witnessed to the music of some of the greatest heavy-metal bands. Led zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Van Halen, U.F.O., are few to be mentioned. Unlike a typical orchestra group, the band line-up includes a lead guitarist, who in many cases will be the vocalist himself; bass guitarist, a rhythm and a lead guitarist, and the drummer will comprise the complete band. But, there are few bands which may have a different line up. Some are a three-member band, whilst others have keyboard instruments, which will be used to enhance the fullness of the sound. Most of their songs will be predominantly based on guitar, which are normally amplified through gadgets. They are often played with distortion pedals.

Metal songs have been disliked by many. But, over the years, the numbers have been steadily decreasing. The demand for rock and metal concerts among youth have obviously encouraged event management teams to organise a lot of concerts focusing on the genre. There have been performances by some of the top-most metal bands from abroad. One of the recent one's is "Rock in India", which had Megadeth and Machine Head performing live in the city. Then there was 'The Rock In India' featuring Iron Maiden for the second time. Nitin, another rock enthusiast admits: "It was a dream come true for me to have seen Dave Mustaine performing live in India." He adds, "I am a guitarist myself, and we've a band of our own. I have been a lot more influenced by their performance. Dave Mustaine had been like an idol for me."

Metal songs may have high pitch but in reality, it looks a lot more different. Regular practices, which goes for hours; a firm devotion; confidence; right attitude are all that goes into making the right kind of sound. "We practice four to six hours in a day. I have been playing with this band for two years now, and it needs a lot of practice before we plan for a stage performance," says John, a band member. Accuracy seems to be the name of the game. One miss in nod in the guitar fret, and the complete song may be ruined.

A central element of any heavy metal song is the guitar solo , a form of cadenza. Over the years, the genre has developed to a great extent, and more intricate solos and riffs have become an integral part of the style. Guitarists use sweep picking, tapping (a way in which the guitarist uses fingers of one hand to tap the strings against the fingerboard of a guitar), and other advanced techniques for rapid playing. And all this comes with great devotion for music. "It's nice to listen to prodigies like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Michael Angelo. But, we know the kind of effort goes behind their skill for all these years," says Pratish who himself is a lead guitarist. Rather sourly he admits, "There had been a pretty bad scenario for metal-bands in the country for all these years. But now people are realising it, which is definitely a good sign."

Organisers, too, believe in the same, and, in days' to come, they hope to organise some of the concerts that will be completely based on this genre. "We are planning to have metal festival in the city which will be similar to the one we had on jazz music last year," says Manoraj, who head an event management company in the city. He explains: "There is a good crowd for metal's and rock in the city. Hence, organising a two-day metal concert that caters to this crowd won't be a bad idea, at all."