Has anyone hear heard bands that aren't Metal but would still be classified as 'heavy'? And if so, what genres do they usually fall under?
The two bands that I'm aware of that fit this label are Wreck and Reference and Swans. Swans is a pretty obvious example when you listen to their older stuff off Filth or Cop, and Wreck and Reference's new album No Youth is absolutely crushing.
I've noticed that a lot of harder non-Metal music usually has some Industrial or Noise elements to it.
Discuss.

One album I've been listening alot to that exemplifies heavy and pessimistic in theme but very prog/folk rock with only a smudge of heavy metal is Stormwatch by Jethro Tull. It's overlooked in their discography and the last of the of the classic era-some would say the last 'true' Tull album before they became little more than a glorified Ian Anderson solo project from then on (although Roots to Branches was a comeback album of sorts imo with it's Middle Eastern sound and pessimistic themes). But yeah Stormwatch has some very eerie folk melodies about the modern deterioration of the environment and how it relates to times past. It's pry my third or fourth favorite record by them.

I think a lot of classical music is heavier than what is typically called 'heavy'. The below three tracks are exemplary.

Bela Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Mov. III:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9LWHEf0VFo

Sergei Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBsKplb2E6Q

Gustav Holst - Mars: Bringer of War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8EwBTQhl3Y

there are tons of "heavy" bands, whole genres of music that are "heavy" like metal: industrial, noise, power noise, power electronics, breakcore, technoid, drone, no wave, noise rock, RIO (rock in opposition), etc; even sub-genres of jazz and classical music, like free/avant-jazz (Brotzmann, Zorn's Naked City/Painkiller, etc) or avantgarde/electroacoustic (Stockhausen, Xenakis, Ligeti, etc)

it also depends on what you mean by heavy/harder music
I mean, even blues can be "harder music":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5I-Xq54FT4

Well, of course, some classic rock can be classified as heavy. As well as other forms of old rock. I've always felt Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing had a pretty heavy feel to it.

There are mainstream alternative bands who can be quite surprising sometimes. I ended up attending a small Smashing Pumkins show in 2000, around the time of Machina. I didn't know that band other than hearing a few songs on the radio and was blown away by the heaviness. This is the event I was at and this is the song that really sold me on them. I remember thinking: Jesus fucking Christ, this is heavier than a lot of current thrash metal releases! The last minute alone is heavier than a lot of metal out there and Jimmy Chamberlin runs circles around most heavy metal drummers:



Also, a lot of post-rock is incredibly heavy. It isn't surprising that a lot of metal artists (especially in black metal) are now taking large cues from post-rock.

Swans. Man. Fucking Swans.

Combat Astronomy are a good shout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1_vrrBXlH0

For me, "heaviness" wouldn't just be about the jarring distorted or fuzzy noises that one can create with your instruments, it's more about the atmosphere. In that sense, I think if electro/synthpop/dreampop is done right, it can be quite heavy as well. Stuff like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Ladytron is pretty sweet. Or maybe being stoned would help to feel the same way I do



And yes!

I'd say the hip-hop duo Dälek is pretty heavy music with all the Godflesh and noise influences. Especially on their second album 'Absence'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXgM9T4mFbQ

Absence is insane, I love it. As soon as I heard Distorted Prose I went nuts.

Really any number of bass-centric electronic genres/acts fit this criteria. The one that's most likely freshest on people's minds is dubstep, which while initially a very heavy, bass-oriented genre, has taken a turn in recent years for really extreme, exaggerated heaviness with a new emphasis on crystal clear, stadium-large production, and just these massive grooves and bass drops. Some may call this heaviness "superficial" in relation to the genre's more understated roots (I tend to think of the difference as similar to that between old school and modern death metal, with Skrillex and all that electro-house ilk rounding things out as the Deathcore of the genre, lol), and certainly much of the genre is quite tacky these days, but I think there is good stuff in modern and older dubstep. I'll post some links at the bottom.

Certainly this tradition of heaviness in EDM extends much further back than dubstep, unfortunately I've yet to familiarize myself with older drum'n bass, grime, etc. acts outside of a few select names. I would like to bring some attention to an artist called Scorn (in particular the "Zander" album), whom some around here may be for familiar with for reasons not limited to the fact that the creative force behind the act is none other than Mick Harris. I'd rather not say too much about him, and let the music speak for itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-41NhkNY0E

A popular early dubstep act: Caspa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUWAFfJhDsc

New, popular example of "heavy", "mid-range", "flithstep", whatever-you-wanna-call-it dubstep: Flux Pavillion -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3cE9iXIx9c

Cool, heavy stuff that fit in neither category: Mensah -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMn6TGwoWFU

Crust can be incredibly heavy. Bands like Stormcrow are practically Death Metal.

Yeah, Swans fucking annihilates. I'm still looking for something similar to Public Castration, but have yet to find anything that reaches that level of savage immensity.



From what I have heard, this sounds interesting. I appreciate that they allow this album to be freely downloaded. I'll have to listen to it.

??????? What? No. I love all three bands, but none of them are anywhere near "heavy", by any definition.

Obligatory angelic process mention here.. Borderline metal, hugely dense and heavy, with quite a few riffs to boot. My favourite band and certainly one of the heavier bands in the world.

Powerviolence! Man Is The Bastard is heavy as fuck.

Well, Ladytron's songs have strong bass lines which gel well with the synth-atmosphere thus causing some heaviness, no? Songs like 'Ghost', 'I'm not scared' etc. I've only listened to their 'Velocifero' album and love them quite a lot. To be honest, I was trying to think of artists who are not heavy in the conventional sense and tried to look at it from a different angle - the atmosphere (but definitely not the whole drone/postrock/outrightly-heavy kind). With regards to mentioning Slowdive and CT, as you probably are more aware, are older and more influential to many artists out there spanning across genres. I crank up Slowdive's '40 days' and it seems pretty heavy and not just loud. Do you know of more artists which sound like Ladytron or heavier perhaps?

Despise You as well. Hugely heavy and metallic.

something something "heavy is a state of being" that everyone's heard before: There's genres like hardstyle, hardcore, and gabber in electronic music that in some cases are 20 years old but plenty heavy. Obviously industrial was generally pretty extreme and heavy. A lot of southern hip hop was and is "heavy" - hell you had Lil Jon sampling Slayer for one of his records. The snare and gun sounds stuff Lex Luger has popularized is "heavy" as fuck IMO, probably the heaviest and most flat out aggressive music in existence right now.

Both Swans and Scorn mentioned. I approve.

I forgot The Angelic Process, but add them to my list as well. Especially songs with legitimate riffs like We All Die Laughing.

dark, disturbing ambient metal-ish sounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27LFm9zHhp8

elend puts forth some dark/heavy tracks as far as classical goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_idNE-oZBZA

darkpsy (electronica) tends to be wicked, but an acquired taste for those unfamiliar with the style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v16q4szy-MI

Merzbow anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYLCZaYo ... lts_videof

As Swans has been mentioned previously I'd say Killing Joke, specially their newer materials. Listen to Hosannas from the Basements of Hell. Heavy and creepy as fuck. Many death metal bands would pale in comparison to the sound of that record.

That's Killing Joke!? No way, I only knew there 80s stuff!

A bit more on topic, System of a Down? They've got energy you can't compete with, i'm very much looking forward to seeing them at Leeds Fest this year. Just worried I won't be able to find my teeth afterwards

also, Ghostship. Imagine At the Drive In + Protest the Hero. but better than PTH

Raw d-beat. Good shit.

Some classical that I think is incredibly heavy.

I enjoy Industrial / Electro / EBM like the following:

yelworC


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Tyske Ludder

Dissonance doesn't necessarily mean "heavy."

Stravinsky did start a riot though. Which is pretty fucking bad ass.

I was going to mention darkpsy. It, to me, is about as heavy as electronic music can get.

There is also quite a bit of modern dubstep and drum and bass that many consider to be heavy, and while I don't disagree per say, I do feel like even the heaviest of either aforementioned genre don't hold a candle to how powerful and heavy darkpsy can be.



This mix gets insane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZjStuQ7zfU

Tom Waits - Goin' Out West
http://youtu.be/27LLPANAgzw

That song that Di3inpain linked is heavier to you than industrial, power electronics and noise?

Anyways, deathcore can be pretty heavy-as, particularly the kind with little to no actual metal influences involved. Take, for example, early Carnifex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16n3wh1tBAY

Also, whatever you want to call Admiral Angry, their music is heavy near to the point of absolute ridiculousness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER_hM6hOylA

I used electronic music a bit too loosely. I was referring specifically to electronic dance music. Because within that realm you have gabber, hardstyle, dubstep, drum and bass, etc. which can all be pretty heavy, darkpsy just feels more powerful, heavy, and mind-boggling than any of them. Subjective opinion, of course.

To mention something in a different direction than most of what's been brought up so far I'd say Weezer's Blue Album. Hadn't listened to it in years and got talking about it at practice one day and sat in the drummer's car to listen afterwards and was struck by just how heavy it was. That guitar tone is fucking incredible.

Jazz can be pretty heavy. Especially in 7/4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FZzhMCymI

I've always considered Today Is the Day metal, though MA disagrees. Regardless, In the Eyes of God is really heavy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVZPGd8mjts

Diamond Head's "Am I Evil" was based on Mars.

You forgot Wagner.

The "Predator" theme is pretty heavy, by this thread's standards.

For me the breakcore/noise genre can be heavy if not moreso than Metal depending on which artist you follow. Merzbow, Venetian Snares, Electric Kettle, Datachi, and so on have all had the desired effect of making people react in disgust without ever including a guitar or drum note in them.