Diving into the Stereotypes of Heavy Metal/"Screamo" by Bobby McNamara

              One of the many misconceptions about heavy metal, or in laymen's terms, screamo, is that there aren't any real lyrics, its just guttural screaming and yelling. Being an avid listener as well as a very passionate about that genre because it helps through some difficult times, it really irks me that people can be so narrow minded about it and not budge on their opinions. The most misconceived thing is that the lyrics are like devil music, but not very many people know that there are actually Christian heavy metal/screamo bands.
                       
               There is a band called For Today(see first link), and all the members are avid followers of God and Christ, but they express it in a a very different way than most people would, through a different kind of music than most. There is no Gospel like influence in their music, its just chugging guitars and screams, but beneath all of that is a deeper meaning. When someone finds out that a heavy metal band is Christian, the first reaction is no they aren't, no way josé.
Granted there are a lot of heavy metal bands that are on the completely different spectrum, but people tend to be right with their assumptions about that music.

           
               One of my favorite bands is Asking Alexandria, and with their recent album, they received a  lot of hate because they changed their sound, but i still loved it. While they lost a lot of fans due to sound change, they also gained a lot. The most important thing to me about it though is that they are still doing things their way, rather than letting ignorant "fans" dictate how they make their music.

                When someone I know found out that I liked heavier music, they told me that I didn't look like the stereotypical metal head. I wasn't wearing all black or have any chains on me like you would think. That is just one of those stigmas people place on others, that if I listen to heavy metal i have to be ll goth an grunge. Now with that being said, I am not in any way mad at that person, because they weren't rude or mean about it. It is just what happens, with expectations of others and just common similarities of the usual way of life, when someone is the so called black sheep, they are ousted to something they might not be.

                I'm your usual college student, they fact that I wear band shirts like its my job might be the only way you can tell that I like a different style of music than most. I don't look any different than the next guy. No telltale things about me to how what I like and dislike, and it still shocks people that the music I listen to is something that I don't portray.

                I've been asked by several people about why I listen to the music I like, and my response is that it is usually about a hardship, or overcoming something. Their next response is usually "But doesn't the screaming annoy you?" I always follow with the answer no. To be honest it really blows me away with how the vocalists can manipulate their voices in such ways to sound inhuman. Granted, there is a point to where I cant understand what they person is saying, but at that point I try to focus on what happens in the background rather than the front, meaning the instruments and breakdowns and patterns of how it was compiled.

                So with that, I hope to have been able to shed some light on the fact that just because people see things for what they think they are, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily right 100% of the time. The band names with the grey are links you can click and see what I was trying to convey with this, so give them a listen, and hopefully you can change your mind a little bit on the differences you have with music. I will link below some of my favorite songs if you care to listen to them, if not, it won't offend me.

Crown the Empire
blessthefall
Of Mice & Men
The Browning
Beartooth