If you talk to enough metal heads, read enough album reviews, etc., you will notice that bands/albums are often classified in terms of how easy or difficult they are to listen to. Bands/albums that don't require much concentration to enjoy vs. bands/albums that require undivided attention. Of course, one person's easy listen may be another's challenging listen, but surely there are bands/albums that generally are more easy than difficult, and vice versa, for the majority of people.

I don't think easy/hard is necessarily synonymous with accessible/inaccessible, but they can mean the same in some cases. Nor does easy necessarily mean catchy and hard mean non-catchy, though it can in some cases, of course. For a band could be super catchy, but just require intense concentration to pick up on the catchiness.

Anyway, when you are in the mood for some easy listening, such as some background music while you read, watch TV, or whatever other activity, or when just don't feel like concentrating too hard, what do you reach for?

And when you are in the mood for metal that requires your utmost attention, where you must be a very active listener focused on nothing but the music, where you are essentially required to get immersed, drenched, in the music in order to really get something out of it, what do you reach for?

For my easy listening, I often reach for Kalmah, or various groovy death metal bands, such as Morpheus Descends. Kroda is another. Yet another would be Katatonia, especially their later, super-catchy stuff. I've found bands like this to be relatively easy listens, stuff I can enjoy without much effort, and are totally awesome.

For my "involved" listening, I usually go for black metal, like Paysage d'Hiver, much of Lunar Aurora's stuff, Evilfeast, and the like. I personally have to concentrate 100% in order to derive maximum enjoyment from music like this, and man is it worth it.

Yours?

Oh yeah I know what you mean. When I'm just sitting back with a bowl of weedo's and trying not to think too hard, I throw on some easy listening Grief or Khanate or something catchy like Ministry. As for music that requires attention, such as when I'm pissed as hell, I enjoy me some Dark Tribe or Watchmaker.

As for the subject, this is true that some bands require more attention than others.... I've noticed it.

???

For easy listening I usually listen to some thrash, old school death or a combination of the two.

For more concentrated listening I prefer complicated death metal like Immolation and Gorguts.

One time I had to turn off Immolation because it was giving me a headache.

I got a Toxic Holocaust CD a week ago and I was trying really hard to identify with all the songs and learn which ones had cool riffs, beats etc., but it was too hard, since all the "songs" were super-short and sounded practically the same, so I just said "fuck it" and enjoyed the CD as a whole. That's what I'd call easy listening.

I'm really glad someone brought up this topic , because I think about this sometimes. For me I can say "easy" listening would be metal thats more doom "ish" , sludge or old school dm. Ex. like Acid Bath , Candlemass , Electric Wizard , Nortt , Autopsy , "Old" - Bethlehem and Samael.

On the other hand the "hard" listening material that requires much more concentration would be metal that is much faster/technical , has lower production or is some what monotonous. Genres like technical dm , some bm and grindcore. Ex. like Wormed ,Gorguts , Demilich , Peste Noire , Ulver , All of the LLN , Xysma and Havohej are some that come to mind.

I can remeber like it was yesterday the first time I had heard Lykathea aflame , I was doing like three thing at once while listening and half way through it I said to myself "Man, I like death metal and all but this is some bullsh*t", then proceeded to turn it off . Then a while later I tried again while just listening.....totally different experience.

The same goes for other genres I listen to like Jazz, if I don't give artist like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk my undivided attention from the start I'll be lost the entire song.

EASY: Decapitated, Carcass, Krisiun, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Rhapsody, Amon Amarth, Amorphis, In Flames

HARD: Weakling, Wolves in the Throne Room, Sleep, Gris, Burzum, Anaal Nathrakh

Those, hard? Medium at best. Hard would be like...

HARD: Portal, Gorguts (Obscura), maybe Paysage D'Hiver and Darkspace

Which one, just out of curiosity?

Also I find that Ensiferum can be just simply listened to or can take concentration and in the case of most of the stuff from the Iron album, you might have to really sit and listen to it, where as stuff from From Afar or Victory Songs can just be listened to as a whole. But that's just my opinion.

I haven't listened to any of those. I will go home and do so. Generally if it's that much of a challenge I don't bother with it as I like my music to be a purely visceral experience with little thought required.

Trust me, it's worth it. The thought required is only initial. After you've listened to something difficult enough times, paying close attention is only optional. Generally music is that more difficult to listen to initially provides a greater experience in the long run.

I find that albums I remember well, or bands I enjoy a lot, are more of an easy listen than bands I'm not completely familiar with. So what I'm saying is that Odious Mortem's Cryptic Implosion is just as easy to listen to as Chimaira's Resurrection, because I know them both very well.

Having said that, 1349's Hellfire, which I know well, is still a hard listen, as I need to be in the mood for the black metal insanity. So it's not quite true in all cases.

For easy listening I prefer stuff like Hypothermia's "Gråtoner" and "Kaffe & Blod", both Uaral albums, Trist's (Cze) "Slunce..." or something by Bohren & der Club of Gore. (Repetive) stuff with a relaxing atmosphere.

For easy: Loudness - For hard: Psychotic Waltz
For easy: Razor - For hard: Mekong Delta
For easy: Witchfinder General - For hard: Confessor
For easy: Vulcano - For hard: Autopsy

And so on..

For easy listening, Fates Warning's "Parallels" and "Inside Out", and any Kamelot or Nightwish. For hard listening, any of Ron Jarzombek's work, Origin's "Antithesis", Black Clouds And Silver Linings, Fates Warning's No Exit, any Dark Funeral, and any Genesis album released from 1970-1977.

Portal lost my attention. It just got tiring, though not without its moments of "this is almost a groove." I'd kill to see em live though, hot damn!

Gorguts (Obscura) was indeed hard. Too jazzy? for me, I'm a neanderthal and I want straightforward groove in death metal.

Paysage D'Hiver - How have I missed this boat? This is right up my alley. Definitely not "easy." Definitely "fantastic."

Darkspace - Yeah, "hard" for sure. I will give it the attention it deserves when I am alone in Siberia someday.

It was An Overdose of Death.

Er, I wouldn't exactly call them easy listening; pretty complex band.

I would also not say Origin is "hard listening." They're just a huge fest of speed and riffs.

Easy listening for me is most Sonata Arctica bar Unia, Edguy is really easy, fun stuff. A lot of Stratovarius is, besides Episode and maybe 4th Dimension. Bands like Winger, Brother Firetribe and Leverage definitely qualify.

Hard listening is dominated by bands like Psychotic Waltz, Manilla Road, early Fates Warning, The Ruins of Beverast and so on. Complex music that you can only listen to in a full album.

Not exactly "hard" either, only their latest couple of albums could you honestly call more sophisticated, where many songs wont click right away.

I agree with you on Origin though, anyone finding that hard to get into must be confusing challenging with brutal/fast/technical/whatever.

But to add to discussion, Monotheïst hasn't been mentioned yet.
It certainly isn't an immediatly appealing album and took me a while to get into, as it did with others, seeing how unbelievably much shit it got when first released and how much praise it gets now.

Any thrash, classic, power, 1st wave black metal, or brutal death metal is "easy" listening for me. I hate almost every other sub-genre besides those, though. Especially anything pretentious with not enough riffs just pisses me off.

Same with me. I guess genres you like are always easy listening, though. But sometimes listening to something like PtK era Kreator gives me a headache and I have to put on Alan Jackson instead

"Challenging" is a euphemism for "shitty".

Entire genres...mathcore...are "challenging" as hell.

a lot of people say they find drudkh quite relaxing, but although its not exactly mayhem or anaal nathrakh I still find it very extreme.

A looming resonance by wolves in the throneroom is my favourite easy listening song

other easy listening i like is less bombastic symphonic/gothic metal/rock, such as evanescence (I actually like their early stuff before fallen), draconian, amederia, lethian dreams, shape of despair, within temptation, some of the gathering's stuff,

chilling out to zepelins rain song, or some floyd is always good.

Any music not immediatly accessible is shitty?

I'd call you a retard or something, but I think i pity you instead, as I would an actual person with down syndrome.

Primal Fear's debut is some good easy listening. It's pretty simple speed metal with catchy hooks and ten bucket loads of Painkiller-worship. I also find thrash like DA's Darkness Descends to be a great, simple listen. Surprisingly, Helstar's Nosferatu is taking me a while to get into, though I love the riffs and solos. I know when I "get" it 100%, it will be very rewarding. The same goes for Kamelot's The Black Halo.

When I first listened to them, I found Atheist's Unquestionable Presence, Dream Theater's Awake, and Mercyful Fate's Melissa (mostly the second half) pretty challenging. When I was getting into extreme metal something as tame as Death's Human seemed impenetrable, and None So Vile was just a wall of noise. Now, those albums are all my favourites and I can listen to them "easily," though they are not necessarily an easy listen.

That's exactly why they are "hard listening" because they are freakin' annoying! I actually like them sometimes, but they are so one dimensional. But that's why it's hard listening, it's "hard to listen to".

And yeah Kamelot are pretty complex, but their execution is less intense generally(not always).

Hard listening doesn't have to mean intensity. It means something that you put your full attention to to catch all of the subtleties and complexities of the music.

There are bands that you can pick up and start listening to and think they are great. There are others that release songs that don't really seem good at first, but they grow on you.

Yes. This is my favorite way to do it.

Also, albums that required a more complex form of listening should draw the listening into that state.

Wow. I must have hit a nerve with you, buddy. But, yeah, pretty much anything that doesn't sound good right away is not worth my time. See, that's the part about not wanting to "challenge" myself with shitty music.

Metal is probably the most visceral form of music. It can be melodic. It can be beautiful. It can be abrasive. It can be shrill. It can be many things. But "challenging" is not really an adjective that describes music. It describes the listener's feeling about the music. The bands I like are not at all "challenging", because it's easy for me to like them. This doesn't mean they aren't abrasive or loud or sick. They all sound good to me. Why should I listen to something that I don't think sounds good? Why would I do that to myself? I don't have time like that to waste. You know, us down syndrome folks have more important things to deal with.

i find drone to be the most hard to listen too easily.
The rest falls into easy/medium and easy.

I think obscura is actually a very catchy album that is not hard to listen to at all.

a lot of stuff i've had to make myself listen to multiple times before i 'got' it, generally all those albums end up being some sort of black metal.

I didn't mean to imply you have down syndrome, but like down syndrome, I consider that outlook a sad handicap.
The idea music that doesn't "sound" good right away isn't worth your while, nevermind the effect or atmosphere the music may reveal only after several attentive listens, or the subtleties and hidden patterns that are not clear right away.

Take Burzum for example, does it sound good?
Fuck no, it's repetetive, the guitars sound like one those plastic toy guitars in a tumbledryer, the vocals sound like someone on the phone is choking on a wet cloth, And just in general sounds like it was recorded in a closet with a casette recorder left outside the door, but thats not the reason people listen to it (or so I assume, i'm not actually a fan) they listen to it for it's bleak atmosphere and hypnotic effect.

Again I actually DIDN'T intend to call you retarded (at the most trying to get you to explain your statement), just sad because most of my favourite bands took many listen to grow on me and revealed so much more any instant gratification band could ever have, in most cases anyway, some bands have you singing along the chorus the 2nd time you ever heard while still revealing new things every time you listen, but i digress.

For me,

Easy Listening: folk/black, viking, certain "dark" metal bands, death/doom (see notes)

Bands like Windir, Moonsorrow, Summonging, Thy Serpent and doomier albums that have minimal sentimental attachment are all easy for me to listen to since its usually pretty calming or very melodic.



Difficult Listening: tech death, grindcore, experimental black or death, death/doom (see notes)

As other have experienced, Gorguts' "Obscura" really requires my brain to have energy, it just is melodically challenging for me. A similar feeling can be said for Immolation as well, though not to the extent of "Obscura"

Grind bands like Morgue(Fra) and Pig Destroyer that don't have alot of death metal elements to add some groove, really get intense real fast for me.

There are several melodic death doom albums that I have to "devote" (little joke here) more concentration to since they have alot of sentimental value to them. Daylight Die's second album for instance and Swallow the Sun's second and third album are ones that make me drop what I'm doing and just listen. If I'm not as attached to a similar album but enjoy the music, it's easier for me to listen to. Make sense?

I don't really have my bands in a category. I can choose whether to relax or give full attention to albums like Gorguts's "Obscura" or Defeated Sanity's "Psalms of the Moribund".

Hard: Silencer.

Well, then. Maybe it would come as a surprise to you to learn that I don't consider Burzum challenging. In fact, I loved Burzum the first time I heard it. Loved it. Instantly. In fact, that was the sound that got me hooked on black metal. Challenging? Hardly.

I dunno, I think lots of people listen to Burzum because they "should." Maybe they know the back story or have seen "Gummo." What if Varg were a normal dude? I don't think it'd be anywhere near as popular as it is.

The line between "hard" and "too hard" - where is it for you?

Speaking for myself, I had know idea what Burzum or really what black metal was the first time I heard it. I only know that I had been listening to Cradle of Filth at the time...well...Burzum put an end to that immediately. I was like, shit, gimme more o' that.

I never called them challenging