In general, I find dark ambient works best when I study, but I'm curious what you studious metal heads have found that works.

Today I tried Ahab, but that didn't work so well, since I ended up just wanting to give the album my full attention and had a few minutes of dilemma as to which of my responsibilities would win. Eventually studying won and I couldn't really find anything that didn't end up being too distracting.

What worked for you?

That's my favorite song to study too, been a while since I did that though. I usually listen to something calm when I read/study, this is explaining my high amounts of plays for Wovenhand/16 Horsepower, amazing stuff.

Hum, for metal, slow stuff is fine, almost anything. Be it Neige et Noirceur, Opeth or trad doom.

I've never been able to listen to metal when I study. I can't have stuff that is too rhythmic and it can't have any vocals either, or else I am quickly distracted.

But you should check out a band like, Earth and their album; 'The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull'. A band that qualify as metal by this site's standards!

On a side note, you should also check out some classical piano composers. Just search for Piano Study Music on youtube and you will find some some great stuff!

Sopor Aeternus, Lycia, Ulver (starting with Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell), Sleep Dealer, Gregor Samsa.. neo-folk, post-rock, ambient

The machine-like repetition and atmosphere of Ministry's Psalm 69 was a big study help, I found.

I've definitely got to second Ministry. Their repetitiveness and catchy riffs make for really helpful study music. I also find Death/Doom metal such as Daylight Dies, Swallow the Sun, and Novembers Doom to be good music to study to. Then, there is, of course, post-rock, ambient, and jazz for me.

The music, for me, also depends on what kind of studying I'm doing. If it's any type of math or science, I can listen to anything. But if it requires writing or reading, most music seems to end up distracting me, and I pay more attention to it than I do the subject at hand.

Yes, Yes and YES. I can't tell you how many times I have studied to that song. As well as "Dogs" and "Echoes." Those are the three songs by the Floyd that get frequent rotation while studying.

To me it depends on what I am studying. If I am reading from a book or taking notes I like a lot of repetitive and atmospheric music. Usually in cases like this I play Lustre, perhaps some Waldgerumque or Njiqahdda's Nji. Njiijn. Njiiijn. album. You get the idea I'm sure. Drudkh, Paysage D'Hiver and the likes as well.

I study math though, and so when I'm working on various proofs/theorems/problem sets I like very fast paced and aggressive music. It get's me in the groove, and it feels like I am able to work at the pace of the song. For this I have recently played a lot of Anaal Nathrakh or Napalm Death. Or even HORSE the Band for some reason.

Listening to Metal unless it's something like Pelican or Isis really doesn't help with concentration. I find Ambient or Post Rock is best for studying as is some Jazz, as long as it's not Bitches Brew or something really, er, spontaneous like that.

I was about to attest to the universal unstudyableness of metal, but then I remembered Celestiial But yeah, there are a few other possibilities....Tyranny, a few Paysage d'Hiver albums, maybe some Profetus or Skepticism/Thergothon...Lustre's a good idea as well. Mournful Congregation or Esoteric on lowered volume would probably work well, too. I guess there are more than I realized!

I have trouble focusing on studying if I'm listening to music with vocals so I usually listen to instrumental stuff. I listen to a lot of Djent like Animals a Leaders, Gru, Soul Cycle, Intervals, Angel Vivaldi, etc. I also like guitarist instrumental music like Gus Drax, Andy James, John Petrucci, Jeff Loomis, etc.

Jesu has some nice ambient vibes which can be relaxing while studying. You could also try ambient black metal in the vein of Drudkh, Agalloch etc. Basically, songs with not much instrumentation for you to not get distracted.

I was just about to suggest Agalloch! Always works well for me.

I study well to metal generally. For some reason, chaotic stuff like Portal and Mitochondrion help me focus, I think; not quite sure why. And my favourite OSDM - Moondark, Nerlich, Undergang, Sanguis Imperem, etc - does well in giving me energy when I get bogged down by the thought of what I still have to do. There's the key for me, I guess - I tend to leave things to the last minute and then spend the whole night writing/reading desperately, which gets rather bleak at times, so having something I enjoy in the background makes it all seem a little more bearable and reminds me that I have a life and things I enjoy outside of my research.

I found Portal to be a good band to listen to as well. It can be so chaotic that it almost lends it self to the background if you approach it that way. I may also put Impetuous Ritual in that category. I get to into Mitochondrion for that to be a useful route for me, but if you find the music to be overwhelming in some way, it might work. Basically, anything over the top chaotic black death can work, I find.

I also enjoy certain Sunn O))) albums for that purpose.

I usually play some Opeth or Blut Aus Nord whenever I find myself doing homework, but when I read I often listen to Ihsahn's solo albums.

Ah. Agalloch is great for times like those. And with regards to chaotic music, it probably works because the music is so jarring that it creates a wall of sound and locks you away from the rest of the world. I do the same too except the stuff I listen to reach epic (subjective) scales of ambient and drone and I quite like that. I can't possibly study and listen to stuff where the lyrics are discernible and the instrumentation is very prominent. Anyway, I haven't studied in close to two years But I follow the same regimen while reading.

I often go for Electric Wizard, but I tend to just listen to whatever albums I feel like listening to - after a song or two, they sink into a sort of secondary place, below the studying, so I can still concentrate.

Usually I find Earth and Sunn O))) good studying music. Basically just something that's drawn out and very minimalistic.

I have the same problemt, but a few band that I can listen to while still doing math

Alcest, Theatre of Tragedy (especially Aégis), Agalloch and ambient/neo-classical/acoustic-stuff in general.

EDIT: Sorry for double post (removed now) and I'd like to add Moonsorrow.

I feel the truth of these suggestions. It feels .. good.

Next semester when I take my science classes, I'll probably end up listening to (marginally) faster, (somewhat) less immersive stuff. That seems like it would be very helpful. Intelligible lyrics tend to fuck with my parallel processing while I'm reading "narrative" text books. This annoys me because I don't get enough doom listened to as it is. But don't let that stop anyone from putting down whatever works for certain contexts. This is a general discussion, after all.

I have a lot of reading to do today, so much of this will be investigated.

On a side note, anyone ever been taking a test and had a fragment of a song come into your head while searching for an answer that ended up giving you the right one?

I find it really easy for me to study to Mastodon's Remission, especially Elephant Man due to its mellow and fleeting nature. I've found Agalloch very enjoyable to study to, as well.

Though I don't consider it metal (though it is on MA), Wardruna is the absolute best album in my library to listen to when needing focus and clarity. I'm a bit older so it's not studying, but more when I need to really focus at work.

More on the metal side, I enjoy listening to psychedelic metal like Intronaut or Atlas Moth...and ambient metal such as Petrychor, Luker of Chalice, or Ruins of Beverast. It puts me into a trance-like state.

Never could study when listening to metal. I always tried, but I would end up being distracted by the music and would want to just either headbang and play air guitar to it, or I would end up turning it off because I couldn't focus on what I was trying to read. If one of my roomates was playing boring shit like the Grateful Dead, or some decent but numbingly repetitive reggae band, I would do fine, though, with that playing in the background. I might take a study break and crank some old-school thrash just to let the tension out and get the blood flowing, but I typically didnt play any music at all when I was activly studying.

For me, its black metal. Averse Sefira specifically used to be my go to music for studying in college. I'm not really sure why, I can just lose myself in my work all the while being into the music.

I find that listening to a drone/ experimental station, my Boris station for me, works great for writing and art classes. Other than that I suppose classical is good for anything, longer bm songs as well, stuff by bands like wolves int he throneroom and peste noir have gotten me into a good mindset for homework.

I like reading to the two Animals As Leaders albums. I find vocals to be distracting, and AAL do not have a vocalist. I don't listen to it very loud, just loud enough to block out the background noise of my room. When I'm not in a metal mood, and I want to study to music, I listen to ambient and dark ambient - artists such as Loscil, Lustmord, Steve Roach, etc.

This one isn't really metal (much more deathcore) but it's still virtually the only heavy thing I can listen to without getting distracted while studying.

The band is Aegaeon and the album is Dissension. They are a mix of heavy, brutal, groovy, catchy deathcore and atmospheric parts. In my opinion, they blend flawlessly. The atmosphere and general mood of the songs are chill enough to relax your mind and keep you from getting uneasy, while the heavier parts on top prevent the music from getting stale.

Just a note. If you don't like deathcore or breakdowns, you won't like this, though I still suggest you try it out. The vocalist has heaaaaaavy lows. Also, Dissension is the only real atmospheric release by them. Their other 2 releases, both EPs, are a bit different in style and not something I recommend for studying.

Try this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4FKSYteuLI

Ditch the metal and listen to some Ennio Morricone. Can be both relaxing and reinvigorating (depending on the track).

Anything with vocals is terrible to study or concentrate to. Something about interfering with the speech centre of the brain.

Truth be told, music degrades study performance. But it does make the process seem less lonely.

Just my two cents.

I would say Earth 2 by.... Earth is probably the best metal album to study to. (I guess that's metal.) Reasons? Because this album is practically like plain bedroom wallpaper, it almost might as well not be there, because you can so easily ignore it and forget that it's even on. However, if you want something on that doesn't distract you, that is the be all and end all option I can imagine. Plus, the album goes on for seemingly forever and there are no vocals.

Perhaps Touched (re-recorded) by Nadja would be a good album as well. I think this album is a bit more interesting and less repetitive (lol) and the riffs are generally better. But yeah, stylistically I guess it's similar to Earth 2 (although less minimal).

I agree with the Pink Floyd recommendation, especially their longer songs like Echoes,the album Animals,Shine On You Crazy Diamond,Atom Heart Mother and The Wall as a whole, they give a nice atmosphere to relax and study.

I can't listen to music while studying, but that might be something with me and my easily broken concentration. I've tried moving from less extreme genres to power and traditional metal but I still find it impossible to concentrate. Even moving to instrumental rock and mostly instrumental post-rock I found it hard to concentrate.

So now it's personal preference to study without listening to anything, otherwise nothing goes in.

Pink Floyd is great for studying, for sure. Their long songs, like Echoes and the one Tony mentioned are great for this. I also like Animals, where three long songs make up the bulk of the album. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is actually one of my favourite songs of all time.

When studying, my go to is the whole post-metal/Neurisis thing is my go-to. Pretty much all the big name bands in the genre, I most recently have started listening to a lot of The Ocean. Mouth of the Architect's 'Quietly' is great for studying. When writing essays, I almost exclusively listen to black metal.

I don't listen to metal while studying. It distracts me and makes me want to rock out instead.

I can't listen to music period because of the distraction. Mind you you'll think you're doing a good job if you are doing math problems or something where you have to answer questions, but reading? Not happening.

This. I love doing math to black metal but it's nigh impossible to absorb information from texts if you're listening to music, especially with vocals.

some bands i used to like doing my school work to (or going to sleep to):

Graveland
Enslaved (Eld was the best)
Agalloch
Insomnium
Lord Wind
Falkenbach
Vinterland
Pink Floyd
Moonsorrow
+ Classical music.

I've found myself studying to the new Om album a lot (Advaitic Songs). Not a big fan of the band prior to that (even if the two first full lengths are excellent for what they are worth), but on that album, the music is nicely chilled and ambiental with an eastern/Indian-like meditation vibe going on, ditching nearly all of that doomy vibe they had on prior albums, apart from the distorted bass riffs. I really can't explain it well, but it just works as BGM when doing something, whilst retaining that mystical aura and some intensity to the music. Good album in general too IMO.

I usuallly study to Lustre, Exiled From Light, When Mine Eyes Blacken or Aeternum Sacris. It has to have synths or strings for me to be able to study to.

I never listen to music when I'm doing something important. Nor did I do that when I was a student. Everything should be done in its own time.