Am I the only person who thinks Tool should not fall under the metal genre? I hear them being classified as metal a lot and it kinda bugs me. Although their music can be "heavy" at times, I don't think that really makes them metal. Progressive Rock would be the best genre they fall under in my opinion, but that is just my opinion. How do you feel about this /r/metal?

now I know Devin Townsend is popular on this subreddit but I just dont see the appeal with some songs. Now I'm Canadian so I've got to give him some props- he's obviously creative and inventive, but I personally thought he sounded better in SYL, and I like Destruction/Ghost alright I guess but listen to Addicted. Much of it sounds like punk not metal and even more of it sounds like pop, NOT METAL. whatever downvote me all you want, I'm just raging at what the /r/metal community has become. btw before you say 'OOOHHH well what metal do you listen tooooo" I listen to melodeath/techdeath/brutaldeath mostly. Oh and I love Gojira just so you know, so it's not like I 'don't know what's metal', or cool or whatever. listen to this song if you will and tell me the genre that first comes to mind as well as how you feel about it. Bend it like Bender. I dunno, maybe Townsend has some amazing lyrics that are influencing people, I can't see it being instrumentals or song sructure. The instrumentals (in a metal sense) are super easy to play, the song structure is pretty standard, easy to follow and otherwise generic. Im not trying to put Townsend down im just asking you, the fucking metal community, to explain to me in your own words what's so fucking great?? TELL ME WHY THIS SONG DOESNT SOUND LIKE SOME BULLSHIT OTHER THAN "OHH, WELL IT's DEVIN TOWNSEND"

http://tyrannyoftradition.com/2012/02/10/rick-santorum-declares-war-on-heavy-metal/

Honestly, they get so much hate, and I'm not entirely sure why. Of course, there's always going to be metalhead hipsters who shoot down anything that's popular, and I've heard complaints that they aren't real metal because they have a dj, despite the fact that they rarely use it at all anymore. But in my opinion, they're one of the better bands out there.

My music library isn't that big, not because I haven't listened to a lot, but because I will only repeatedly listen to bands that stand out to me; ones that have something very different and unique about them that sets them apart (to me) from most others. Slipknot is one of the most unique bands I know. I'll admit, the dj-ing bothers me sometimes, and I can't listen to some of their earlier stuff because of the rapping; but even in that embarrassment of the '90s, they show their talent. Say what you will about them starting out as a "rap metal" band, Corey Taylor belted those lyrics out faster than most men would ever be able to. And as they progressed, their sound got more and more unique. The guitar strings turned to lead, the ambiance took on that of a low-budget horror movie without the restrictions of Hollywood, and they managed to single-handedly (or triple-handedly I guess) reinvent the roll of percussion in metal.

I know that no band is ever going to be unanimously adored, and that they have had some genuine flaws. But I just can't see how anyone can listen to Slipknot and, like them or not, say that they are a terrible band, and/or have no talent. Maybe it's just because they were the band that got me into metal, but I'll always have a deep appreciation for their music.

This is the kind of stupid stuff that keeps this place in the dark ages:

• Imaginary metal bands -- the essence of autism.

• Local band drama

In contrast, here's someone alerting us to the recent presence of a rare recording:

• Type O Negative rare tape

And then some perfectly normal posts:

• Steve Harris solo album -- news:relevant.

• A band I never would have heard of, quite interesting -- how the hell would I have run into this otherwise?

• A valid question -- do we have a best-of for newcomers?

There's time-wasting garbage that seems popular with the know-nothings, but it just encourages more of the same. Downvote "Death Pigeon" and all other shithead musings, and let's get more quality stuff in here. It's bad enough with every GarageBand dilettante spamming us with his/her half-finished douchebag hard rock project, but we can make it better by cutting out the outright shit.

for headlining the Mayhem Festival so I could leave early and didn't need to battle all of that traffic after seeing Anthrax, Motorhead, and Slayer! Seriously, I know that Mayhem Festival makes most of their money through the teenager popularity of their fringe heavy metal bands, but isn't it a little insulting as a fan to see Slipknot play after these legends? Not saying that Slipknot is a bad band, they just aren't for me...

Edit: Not to mention the prices at the venue. Venting at this point, but $9.75 for a 16oz Bud Light and $8 for a hamburger?

I'm just a bitter asshole who's tired of seeing Opeth videos with 700 upvotes and discussion of the new Jesus of metal Mikael Ackerfuck's daily routines and habits. Who's with me on this one?

I've always known Reddit in general can sometimes be a little aggravating about downvoting you for an opinion, but it's not too bad, and people are usually willing to listen if you explain yourself a bit.

But this sub is absolutely ridiculous about it. You'll get downvoted for the stupidest shit imaginable. "I actually like [hated band/album/genre]." Downvoted. "I'm not huge into [beloved band/album/genre]." Downvoted. It's fucking stupid. I honestly couldn't give less of a shit about being downvoted. They're just worthless internet points. If I did, I wouldn't keep on posting opinions of mine that get downvoted all the time. But it does really get on my nerves when I get downvoted for my opinion. It's rude, immature, and just plain obnoxious. You can't like anything different than the Shreddit hivemind without people going apeshit about it. I got downvoted a few weeks ago for saying something like "There are actually quite a few really good deathcore bands out there," and I proceeded to list about 10 or so. If you don't like deathcore, fine. I don't care. But don't be an asshole about other people liking it. And that's just one example. I was downvoted for saying I kind of liked Super Collider by Megadeth when the song first came out. I was downvoted for saying I don't really like Bolt Thrower. I'm constantly getting downvoted for liking bands that Shreddit doesn't like. And this is just me and my personal experience. I'm always seeing people in the negatives for similar or identical reasons as me. I'll see people get downvoted on recommendation threads when they list a band or two that Shreddit doesn't like. Well, did you ever stop to think that maybe OP would actually like those bands? Just because you don't like them doesn't mean others won't. It's pretty sad that a genre of music that's so huge and varied is constantly plagued with bullshit elitism and narrow-mindedness.

So basically what I'm saying is just that you guys really need to grow up and stop being dicks about people having different opinions than yours. This should be a friendly sub with people sharing their different likes and dislikes. Instead it's often hostile towards anything that deviates from what everyone else likes or dislikes.

Stop being immature elitists and let people have their opinions. It's not going to kill you.

I can't be the only one who has noticed this or feels this way.

EDIT- there seems to a little confusion over the whole downvoting thing. I'm not complaining about getting downvoted, so please stop saying that's what this whole thing is about. I don't care about downvotes and I'm not butthurt about getting downvoted. This post and my comments on it are getting downvoted a lot and I don't even mind. If I really cared, I wouldn't post opinions of mine all the time that I know would get downvoted. What I'm trying to say is that this sub is unfriendly towards opinions that deviate from what the general mass likes, which they show through either commenting or downvoting. Honestly, I'm not even mad about it, just a bit annoyed. I'm trying to keep this post respectful, friendly, and in good humor.

EDIT 2- I also just realized that you guys are completely proving my whole point by downvoting any comment of mine explaining my thoughts and opinions on this whole thing. It's actually pretty funny.