Previous Thesis

Heavy Metal is a genre of music that includes a multitude of heavy metal styles and sub-genres. (Avant Garde Metal, Black Metal, Celtic Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Grindcore, Hair Metal, Metalcore, NWOBHM, Nu-Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Etc.) It encompasses styles of music that are melodic and mainstream, as well as others that are extreme and underground. The backbone of heavy metal is the electric guitar. Every heavy metal band has at least one guitarist and many have 2 or more. Within some genres the guitar is quiet and mellow, however most are loud, powerful, speedy and aggressive. Debates continue, though most consider groups such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple to be the first Heavy Metal bands. From there the style evolved and branched into the numerous subgenres. There are numerous histories involved with the evolution of the differing genres, many of which are reactionary. Metal means different things for different people and in different areas and situations around the world. For example, in Brazil heavy metal is very popular, this is because it often viewed metal as a way to express freedom. Having been under dictatorship for much of its history, when democracy was finally re-established in Brazil, appeal for heavy metal soared. Metal also comes out of suppression. For example, the Viking culture was pushed out of Norway by Christianization, Norwegians were no longer allowed to speak the language or practice the former religion. Black Metal within Norway in many ways speaks as a rebellion against the church and in some ways attempts to bring a new sense of passion for the age-old disappearing culture. Within Architecture many eras seem to have reactionary pieces that form genres of modernism and/or post modernism. Brutalism, deconstructionism, and constructivism are three styles of architecture that relate more directly to heavy metal and how it came to be widely popular in the same respect, and subsequently fell out of favor from the masses. Certain movements in Architecture speak as a reaction to the time, either by being “honest” as brutalism tries to be with its bare concrete, functional as in functionalism, or in reaction to the pure forms of these as deconstructionist. Both music and architecture are forms of art, and reflect values. Whether it is against a globalization of style and conformity, or in accordance with this, these art forms are telling us a story. They exist between culture and counterculture as an honest dialogue that continues to evolve.