You are right, I didn't phrase myself correctly. Metal points the finger at what is wrong and describes why it is wrong so you can say "this has to change somehow", whereas most of the other types of music just ignore this fact. Metal is inherently positive because it makes us dislike the many things in the world that are wrong. As for the last couple of sentences, metal helps me let out my rage and frustration without bombing a mall, if you will. I hope I am making sense this time.

i'm starting to listen metal since at junior high school. the 1st metal album that i've bought was a local indonesian band called Boomerang (well it's not very metal, it's rock but they have some sort of metal attitude). at that time i was an atheist, and enjoying to blaspheming every god and religion, so it leads me to Marilyn Manson (Holywood album) and SlipKnot (Iowa), well you can say that my taste of metal very lame at that time hahahaha.... but it was just a start, then i'm listening to Metallica (i bought all of their album with my savings, start with Re-Load, then get back to midst of 83 with Kill em All til Mettalica symphonic with michael kamen, and that was the starting point for me to get thrashed by those thrash metal legend, such as megadeth and absolutly Slayer \m/
thanks to Slayer, they leads to a more and more extreme metal (supported by my attitude that time, which is God hater, religion, people, and myself) and it leads me to some sort of blaspheming metal music and satan worshipping, and it starts with gothic black metal Cradle of Filth (nymphetamine), and the unholy priest of death metal Mr. Glen Benton of Deicide (all of Deicide album), and then it leads me to the legends:
Burzum, Marduk, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, dark Funeral, and another Swedish or Norway black metal. oh, and Bathory video One Road to Asa Bay (i guess that was the name of his song) that told to the world about how other religion despising the Norse Gods and Goddesses.
and that was the beginning and the basic of my favorit metal music which is blaspheming, hating, and anger!!! and now even though God has show me his path (hope), i'm still in darkened metal path alongside with the legends of Black metal.

-open your mind for a new music, different genre, coz it will feeds the demon of metal inside you-
-best regard and salute to all of underground and metal musician all over the world, especially the one that not being devoured by some shit new metal trends.

Most people are surprised to find out that I listen to metal because I'm quiet, and generally a mild-mannered person. Although, I know myself and can say that metal fits me very well. I didn't listen to much music until I found it a little over a year ago. The first song I heard that had harsh vocals was Still Fly by The Devil Wears Prada. (I know what you're thinking. I don't listen to TDWP.) The harsh sound intrigued me and I began looking into harsh music by using Youtube to listen to songs. By doing this, I discovered a lot of metal bands and was surprised at the diversity in metal. All other forms of music seemed dull and lifeless compared to metal. It had an energy and a "realness" that I'd never heard before. It expressed true emotions. Rock started to seem quite phony in comparison. These emotions and ideas expressed in metal, I found, appealed to thoughts and feelings that I've been having my whole life. It's hard to explain. I grew up with an underlying hatred of the modern world. I found black metal and was stunned that it expressed these feelings that I've had my whole life, and had been unable to express to people. Black metal became an outlet for me. It was very cathartic and even enlightening to listen to it. It opened my eyes to many things about myself and where I fit in the world. Metal got me thinking about things, which is another reason why I like it.

Also, you can't ignore the clear musical superiority of metal over all other forms of music.

Usually people blame the music im listening to for the changes i've made in my life. They say i became arrogant, selfish and unfriendly. Lol, that's me since kindergarden.I have all the reasons in the world to hate humanity, as a race we suck badly, being destructive and self-destructive.
One of my friends, Alice Axe , guitarist of Sonicide, says that black metal has "bad vibes". Eh well, i don't really feel that, it's more like enjoying the entire thing without thinking too much about the message or story.

When I started to listen to metal, I didn’t expect that it’ll be my favorite music style. Well, I started with Sonata Arctica and I still listen to them. After a while, it didn’t take much time, I became what I (probably) am now - a metal "addict".

So, I listen to metal because it is the best (and so on) and it became a part of me. I cannot live without metal, it’s just like some people need air, I need music.
I’m not like most metalheads which wear shirts with names of bands. (Because I didn’t managed to buy them - yet.) So, most of people look pretty surprised, when I tell them what kinda music do I prefer.

And, I forgot to mention, how they (after being appalled) start with sentences like "I thought you were a nice girl. You don’t look like that. (You know what they mean with "like that".)

Shortly, peple think that we’re bad people which have to be converted into "normal" music ...

Although I don't consider myself part of the metal(head) sub culture by any means, my interest in certain metal bands probably has a lot to do with how I'm attracted to things that are difficult to understand, my passion for political incorrectness, and the general unconventional nature of extreme metal forms in terms of song structure, lyrical themes, etc. I see no challenge in appreciating things I comprehend immediately. I have to make an effort in order to get that rewarding feeling of using your intellect to grasp new ideas. It's probably a personality trait as I am similarly attracted to obscure video games and movies. Conventional, simple stuff has never managed to excite me.

That probably sounded more pretentious than I intended, but screw it.

I got into metal about 5 years ago. It felt like a natural result of where my musical tastes were going. Consider: I started out as a sheltered religious kid listening to country and church-y stuff. By 5th grade or so, I was getting tired of that song-and-dance and switched over to soft rock (I convinced my mom to do it too). In my mid-teens I got into harder rock and nu-metal, like Linkin Park. It was catchy, but even then I realized there was a shallowness about the music. It was a watered-down pose of something bigger and more meaningful, something I was tempted to hear. For whatever reason, the first metal albums I ever bought were Dissection's "Storm of the Light's Bane" and Nevermore's "This Godless Endeavor"--still among my favorite albums to this day.

As I kept experimenting, I found I liked death and black metal the most. I had worked out my teen anxieties long ago, but the sound still intrigued me and satisfied needs I didn't know I had. It was angry and aggressive without being narcissistic and irresponsible (i.e. rap), and it embraced heaviness with morbid, rebellious themes instead of pandering to the masses with whiny screeds (i.e. nu-metal). It was right up my alley. At the same time, I'm not what you'd call a stereotypical metalhead. I don't blast the stuff at top volume, I don't headbang a whole lot, and I don't have "metal-ish" clothes or hair. To look at me, you'd never think I was into that kind of music. I'm not sure what being a metal fan says about my outlook on life; just that it helps me deal with my less productive emotions and see the stark reality of the world I live in.

I'm into metal because I'm a pissed off white 20-something kid from a middle class family. You know, the same reason 90% of people are into metal. I could provide a ton of philosophical explanations but I'm not entirely convinced those are anything but a bid for an appearance of intellect. I'm an angry and depressed person and a lot of metal is angry and depressed, which makes me paradoxically feel less angry and depressed. Plus I have a fascination with morbidity. That's about it.

nothing paradoxical about catharsis

It's just good music.

My father is a big fan of bands like the rolling stones, red hot chilli peppers etc etc. So when I was little that was all I heared. The first "heavy" band I discovered was Disturbed. And from that point on it only got better. I dont know if I listen to metal because of my world views ( which are generally pessimistic) I mostly listen to metal because I just like the feel of it, the complexity and the pure emotions ( or pure insanity).

it started with the brutality, which is why i basically went straight from slipknot, disturbed, etc. to black and death metal (1349/celtic frost started it all). then over time i accepted the other genres as i began to enjoy the emotions that metal can evoke. now it can be for any reason, dependiong on my mood

I definitely identify with Metal in large part due to my sort of negative, "dark" nature. As others have said, a large part of my love for it is due to the catharsis it (and any other extreme, dark music) it provides. I also love the textures and such, especially in Black Metal, I love walls of sound, and, like others I think I have some mild synesthesia. And, on that note, the contrast that can be found in a lot of Metal is amazing too; going from blast beats, snarls, and staccatto/tremolo riffs into beautiful acoustic/clean guitar or synthesizer sections and such. As far as my outlook on life goes, I lean pretty much entirely on the Crusty, Anarcho-Punk outlook (though, by extension, that fits perfectly with the RABM and such that's around now; hence why I make some myself haha). Honestly I can't even think of any ideology that really fits Metal as a whole anyways, so I don't know what a "Metal" outlook on life would be...

It's an escape from your normal, everyday life. I get off work, put in a Brown Jenkins, Burzum, Bethlehem or Xasthur record and crawl inside my own little world, if only for an hour or two. Isn't that the whole purpose of music?

Without metal I wouldn't have as much comfort in my contemplative, pensive time here. It provides a mental and emotional shield against the common culture working to woo me to inanities and compromised ambitions. Metal provides me with talismans to defend myself, artifacts uncovered or crafted in distant experiments by often anonymous people communicating a fragment of their life of uncommon and remarkable choices. And, like all good epics, the material grows with the reader.

My outlook relaxed under the light of the Ibex Moon. Its ghoulish cast has a potent vibrancy lacking in sun-worshiping sub-cultures. I've always felt out of step with the rhythm of modern life. Odd, but fitting, that the blast beat and riff would set my clock to the proper time, and I would walk more slowly still, with my eyes part closed, thoughts afield from contemporary life, dwelling instead on introspections, visions, and the immersive. Only classical music and dark ambient have provided anything like it.

With metal my outlook is able to grow freely according to its nature.

Am I the only one who finds the number of posts by people admitting that they like metal primarily because they are "angry, lonely, depressive, nihilistic" etc to be extremely disturbing and quite sad? Because honestly, if that's the biggest reason why you like the music, then it's easy to see why metal culture is so easily stereotyped as negative.

I will stress here that I USED to listen to metal almost only for this reason, until I discovered just how much I loved the genre not for any one particular reason but for all of its awesome strengths. In those days, I only listened to doom, death, black, and extreme thrash. Nowadays I'll listen to anything (including all other forms of rock), from Maiden to Sabbath to Zeppelin, Purple, Rainbow, Metallica, Megadeth, Dio, Accept, Scorpions, plus all the old classic rock such as The Doors, Hendrix, The Beatles and The Stones - pretty much any and all rock and metal.

Back to the "darkness" thing, it's ironic because despite stereotypes to the contrary, metal never used to be that way, and the reason for this is that NONE of the classic bands of heavy metal were ever like this. (When I say classic bands I mean classic traditional heavy metal, not black or death metal) Heavy Metal's fascination with darkness is not unique in rock music - Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures is probably one of the darkest albums ever recorded, and it has very little (if anything) to do with metal - conversely, the majority of metal's most beloved records, such as Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Master of Puppets, Paranoid, Heaven & Hell, Stained Class, Painkiller, Holy Diver, Peace Sells, Among the Living, etc, with one exception - Slayer's Reign in Blood - are FAR FROM utterly barren, nihilistic wastelands of suffering, hatred, and negativity. Even Reign in Blood isn't so much those things as much as it is a musical backdrop to hell and all things bad, but is also extremely entertaining. It's certainly not depressing nor filled with all this pseudo-philosophical horseshit that seems to have taken over the extreme metal scenes these days. So no, metal isn't defined by being "dark"; moreover, darkness is just a part of its greater whole.

As for me with regards to this topic: I do not define myself by the music I listen to at all, outside of the masculine qualities of it, and my outlook on life has very little to do with the negative side of metal. The positive side, on the other hand, is something I quote a great deal of times and have great admiration and respect for, namely most of Dio's more uplifting songs. However, I fully admit that heavy metal is my favourite genre of music (along with rock music at large and classical) because a large number of its greatest bands exude extreme machismo. This, despite its often negative qualities is something I often admire. That aside, I am far from a stereotypical metalhead. I have short hair, an average beard, and I'll just as often wear dark blue jeans with a smart shirt and jacket as I will wear black denim, leather, a band-shirt and a studded belt and boots.

For the record, the only "depressive" bands I like are Candlemass and a couple of other doom metal bands.

^

I have to agree with that. A lot of heavy/power metal seems uplifiting but even the angriest death metal bands out there make me feel good and have a very good positive energetic feeling in their music. There's just a few songs in metal that really sound sad (or better said, make me feel said) but most sounds either very uplifting or energetic, wether it sounds heavy or not.

Indeed, Another reason I like metal is because the music can be uplifting/energetic while the lyrics can be serious and dark. For example Dark Tranquillity's newest album, its very energetic but at the same time dark and serious. Symphonic black metal has this effect on me to. The lyrics are very dark but the music itself makes me feel energetic and happy.

i like guitars and power back in the day it was led zeppelin, black sabbath and deep purple. now things have changed and progressed. guitars with killer riffage and time and tempo changes are killer.

As i progressed through life strange experiances and events made me think about the grey areas in of which i had no precious knowledge of and thus from a very young age i had an odd or unusual outlook on life this coupled with the events in my life i found that emotionally i could really relate to the dark/melancholic lyrics and angst filled heavy music and as i explored such music soon i arrived at the doorstep of metal and i have been exploring its depths eversince,metal has an adventureous feel to it.Plus i never found my thinking to be compatible with other musical genres [specily popular music] and i have always found metal imegary to be appealing to me.

I listen to Electronic/instrumental music aside from metal and on rear occasions appreciate some special songs from my childhood.

The best way I can describe why I listen to Metal is because it opens my imagination telling me all types of stories. Also, metal is a way of life, not only a hobby.

Before I started listening to metal, I listened to shitty music from the radio and like 2 years ago I decided to find good, meaningful music that would create intellectual curiosity in me. And metal was the obvious choice. Lyrics which are relevant to society we live in today helps attract me to metal. Anti-religion also intrigued me on who the fuck God actually was and I still enjoy criticisms on religions from death and black metal bands.

Also there are so many genres of metal, my favorites are thrash and death but there is really more than one genre for a certain mood I'm in. Metal can be fucking extreme and yet be so fucking beautiful for me.

The world sucks, relationships suck, and people suck.

Man is an irrational being who is driven by emotion, and no matter how many elitists in the Ayn Rand vein argue that irrationality is bad are just uptight people with no vision of creativity.

When your in the real world, there's a very thin line of survival, a very thin line between life and death. During your 40 hour work week, your always on the verge of messing up and being fired if your not being the most effective you can be, and if you don't do what you can to get a job, be an effective worker, make a living then you'll have nothing, you'll rot away on the streets homeless and unemployed. I can't stand uptight assholes, or working with them in general. No matter how much people piss you off though, you have to work with them, because getting along with people you don't like is part of living. I went into a depression for a month when me and my last girlfriend broke up, no matter what any player says that women "aren't worth being sad over" just thinks they are above emotion.

Metal is a nice escape from reality with the anger, angst, and emotions. I'll listen to Saturnus when I'm upset over a woman, and I'll listen to Agalloch whenever I'm just depressed about life in general. Metal is intense with how artists convey their feelings, and having something I can relate to makes me feel better about life. I can't really stand indie, or alt rock. Metal has something for anything, there's ambience, fantasy, depression, love, and feelings. The intensity of it all just relates to how I think and feel sometimes, and it does it on a level that mediocre indie bands can't do for me. Indie/alt rock bands try to be like the "academia" of rock/metal, and I don't think that music should be all about thinking or intelligence.

Metal for me just makes me feel VERY alive. I guess it's the fast paced aspect of the music that makes me feel calm and at peace. Maybe it's some odd subconscious thing due to my mother being a very devote fundamental christian and trying to shove her religion down my throat, thus making metal an escape. Quite personally, I think it's a compilation of many things, both noticeable and unnoticeable.

I could talk about enjoying metal because it tends to be no-bullshit when it comes to facing conflict, internal or external. If there's one thing I believe in, its honesty, including and especially with one's self. I could say that... but I won't, because 1.) Not all metal deals with socio-political topics or internal strife, and 2.) I know that isn't the core reason I got into metal. The most fundamental reason I like metal: I just like rocking the fuck out. The rest of it is icing on the cake.

i think metal uses negativity because its realistic. most people wouldl ike to see the world as all fun and games and be happy all the time but overall metal uses heavy guitars and aggession as a means to be one with others and show them we are not alone. lol sounds like a call to arms. the guitars and aggression and variaitons of time sigs and dynamics make this music appealing .

Pretty much this. I could try and come up with something deeper, but this is really all there is to it for me.

I've also always had a craving for intense and extreme music, and metal satisfies that.

I wasn't a popular kid back before I started metal, and I'm not popular now (I'm in my last year of school). What metal changed in me was how I dealt with the ostracism, occasional insults and whatnot. I used to be angry and wish for better, and withdraw into myself. Now, I have learned to regard most of these people as the dirt under my feet. I have close friends both in and outside of school, and they are the ones I will stick with and place value on their words and actions. I would say the empowering nature of metal has somewhat made me apathetic to insults from others, ostracism, even personal attacks. I find it amusing to see the girls in my class who hate me stare coldly at me while I walk pass, and it is all the more amusing to talk about them to friends and say all sorts of insulting stuff, especially when they can hear it. Call me an asshole, but I truly regard them as worthless.

I believe the intellectual nature of metal has also appealed to me. We are all familiar with the lyrics of numerous metal songs, and I'm sure we all know at least one with lyrics filled with interesting subject matter (Nile - Egyptian mythology. Iron Maiden - varied etc). This is a source of tangential learning for me, I have expanded on my scope of knowledge greatly since entering metal, and have learned things I would have otherwise never known. The lyrics themselves are also (usually) highly intellectual, and interpretation of these lyrics opens up great thoughts, or visualizing what they describe (Deathspell Omega, anyone?)

And, of course, like every kid who joined the ranks at 13, there is some degree of anger and aggression that grants metal so much appeal. As I have mentioned, I was ostracized back then, without a truly effective way to handle it, and so I was pretty pissed. Metal gave me an outlet to open the valve and "depressurize" my emotions - catharsis. When I was mad at my parents or anyone, I would use metal to calm down. It allowed me to analyze the situation logically with a cool head, without the interference of emotions. I must say, I am satisfied with the results. I could go into a long description of my character and outlook on life, but I'll skip all that and just say that I am contented with what I am right now.

I'm attracted by darker subjects....the occult, satanism, aggression, being an outcast, etc.

Metal is easily the best expression of these ideas that I've found, at least in the realm of music.

That's not to say I take it to heart and believe in those things. Not at all. But I'm attracted by the expression and exploration of things that aren't.....happy.

And I enjoy the release that metal gives me. I can let out all my frustrations, without actually harming anything or anyone.

People who don't find a harmless way to let out their darker emotions are the ones who eventually wind up getting into trouble. Usually when they can no longer control the anguish and anger that are a natural part of everyone's life, and they haven't found a way to release these things other than actually harming someone else.

So in that sense, I view metal as a very positive thing. It's no different than any number of other ways people find to let go of their cares and their troubles.

And I never dwell on the things I listen to in metal. I listen to it, say "cool!" and move on with my life.

I'd say metal complements my views, not really defines them. I have very low tolerance for sex, drugs, and rock and roll mentalities. I come from a family with severe drug and abuse issues, so I can't really enjoy it the same way. Admittedly, I really dig Korpiklaani's drinking songs, so I'm not a total dick about it.

But I like metal because of the musicianship, the intensity, and the dedication. It can be outspoken against society, it can tell a story, and it can just be about the music itself. It has no real limits, though there are certain expectations. You can have large symphonies, small folk interludes, or just straight forward guitar-oriented metal. It's pretty open to experimentation.

Plus it helps me focus and keeps up with my train of thought. Not that I'm trying to look particularly thoughtful, but I've noticed I get really fidgety and almost panicked with slow paced music when I'm thinking and it can't match with my thoughts.

Moreover, it's inspired me to write and it's inspired me to create a few game ideas. I'd love to do a game and movie with a metal soundtrack to tie into the story I'm writing. Something to match the mood and tell a story without explicitly stating the character's mindset. And it's something that is all intricately linked to metal, so it's directly related to my mindset.

I don't consider myself an angry person. I'm calm but I have a short fuse. I listen to metal because of the emotions, atmosphere. Metal has a song for every mood you're in, every emotion known to man is in some metal song. Metal makes me feel a certain way I can't really explain, no other music has ever made me feel like metal ( Even though I listen to a lot of other genres). I love the free-spirit in it.

I guess its hard for me to put into words why I listen to this music, but I know it will stay with me 'till I die.

EDIT: Now when I think about it more, metal changed me as a person. Before metal I was a bit of a geek and nolifer. I was too immersed into various video games (which only got worse when I discovered WoW). I had friends but I rarely went out with them. I first discovered extreme metal through a WoW PvP video, where there was a Disarmonia Mundi song (still one of my favourite bands). It had such emotion in it and what I will later identify as honesty in music. Metal made me feel comfortable with myself. It inflated my ego and made me notice positive things about myself, rather than dwelling on the bad things and making an elephant out of a mouse. It made me more confident and outgoing. Because of metal I don't give a shit about how you're "supposed" to dress, act, think, and feel about stuff. Metal made me disregard whats "normal" and truly made me into an individual. Now I got a bunch of friends, go out a lot and just enjoy life.

Being sad or angry wasn't the reason I got into metal. I heard my first metal record at the age of 4 in the Soviet Union. It was Black Coffee's (Cherniy Kofe) self-titled debut, which is an absolutely classic metal record on par with Dio Sabbath. My dad also often listened to his 70s records by bands like Zeppelin and Deep Purple. I wasn't into metal at the age of 4, but I'm sure that this was what helped me make the transition to it much easier.

I was mainly attracted to the fantasy aspects of it initially. Being really into fantasy books, movies and games I was easily drawn to bands like Dio and Iron Maiden. I was actually drawn to folk music at this time as well, mainly because one of my first bands that I was seriously into was Rainbow. So my tastes split off into two directions... Blackmore's Night and Dio/Black Sabbath. Dio was what did it for me... I branched out into many other bands after listening to his albums non-stop for at least a year. The sheer emotive power his voice had and the strength behind it really appealed to me. It made me feel empowered, but really I was just impressed with his powerful voice.

I've since branched out into all the metal sub-genres and have simply learnt to love metal for the music and the art. I've been listening to a lot of local pop, indie, hip hop, blues, jazz, alternative and ska bands lately and I love them. But, it's those classic metal albums by bands like Priest, Dio, Maiden, Sabbath, Riot, Satan, Black Knight, Metal Church etc. that will always make me sit back and go wow. It's made me appreciate them a lot more I think.

When I first got to real metal it was the lightning fast drums and virtuosic solos that fascinated me. Me and my friends would play mp3s from our phones or watch videos from Youtube, as we didn't have that many albums back then, just to hear all hell break out. Metal musicians were some people I deeply admired. They were the guys who just didn't give a shit and were free to say whatever they wanted to. I myself grew long hair, which is short by now, it seemed such an awesome goal back then. I bought band tees, yet I never went to shows. Whenever I was feeling down and pissed off I could just play some metal albums for music and lyrics I could draw energy from and relate to. Metal taught me to ask questions about life, happiness and daily standards. I picked the right questions and built an ideology on that. Anyway, my confidence and self-esteem were pretty much shit back then. Then they got tremendously better as I started going to shows. I realized the fun aspect of metal, mosh pits and brotherhood. I don't have the stereotypical metalhead appearance anymore, but I'm now much more healthier inside. I still buy albums and go to shows. Live shows are the main reason I still like this aggressive style of expression. No other musical genre has better live shows. Today, metal constitutes only a fraction of what I listen to but that fraction does really stand out.

never asked why i like metal, i just like it. the music and ideas seem to generally be made by people that have the same perspectives as me on the majority of lifes subjects and possibilities.

that and leather is awesome, so are spikes, and so is frostbitten kingdoms of blackened thrones and vile demonish trolls..........on paper anyways.

Metal is a nerdy genre. I am a nerd. Makes sense?

it did seem like a rather fitting choice after star wars and turning 6.

Finally, I found a fitting sound track to Baldur's Gate! *puts on Pagan Altar*

as soon as i discovered the cheat codes, that was the day i was no longer a party of characters, but one god with every weapon, and thus i have been looking for the cheat code in life ever since too.

have not been able to summon lightning and shoot from my fingers yet, but i can release a noxious cloud of fumes from my inner depths. possibly able to ignite it with a external source too. never tried yet, fire scares me.

Metal is nerdy. By and large. The though guy striking fear into the hearts of mere mortals is rarely seen these days. Mostly just dudes singing about religion, fantasy, science, whatever. Definitely more nerdy than let's say hardcore music or pop.

I've had some bad times in my life, metal has helped me get through them. I see it as something that converts negativity into positivity.