Heavy metal slang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metal slang is the slang used by fans of heavy metal music. Many of these terms are used for musical techniques or musical genres, though some are used for other purposes. Some of these terms are only used in certain communities, while others are very widely used. Note that heavy metal slang is different from goth slang or grunge speak.
Below is a list of slang terms and a brief definition.
[edit] Slang terms
- Clean sound
- Non-distorted use of instruments. This term is usually used for guitar.
- Clean vocals
- Melodic and clear use of the voice. Often used in contrast with the death grunt and other vocal techniques.
- Cookie Monster vocals
- Humoristic term for the death grunt vocal technique.
- Devil sign
- Corna (also known as Devil horns, metal horns, metal sign and goat horns).
- Doomer
- A fan of doom metal.
- Dursted
- Being Dursted is used by certain metal fans in the same way as being dissed. The word came from the website Encyclopaedia Metallum, where a banned member would be labeled as Dursted (after Fred Durst). An example of its use would be "I got Dursted" after receiving a particularly humiliating comment or having been in a humiliating situation. The term Dursting is rarely used.
- Hair metal
- Derogatory term for glam metal.
- Gothenburg metal
- Term (sometimes derogatory) used to describe melodic death metal or more specifically melodeath bands from Gothenburg and bands with a similar sound.
- Harsh vocals
- Term used to describe vocal techniques including the death grunt and other similar techniques such as shrieking, screaming, and growling. Also referred to as "death" vocals alluding to its prominent use in death metal. Another definition is the "rasped" vocals of the black metal movement, while not as low and gutteral as the death grunt, many feel it to be harsher in the sense of the damage than can happen to vocal chords if done incorrectly.
- Headbang
- Movement consisting of shaking the head in rhythm with the music.
- Mallcore
- Term used by some heavy metal fans refering to diverse genres of rock music that are often grouped with metal by the mainstream audience, but that, in the opinion of the person using the term, are not part of the metal genres. Encyclopaedia Metallum is known for its usage of the term. Glam metal, nu metal, and metalcore are sometimes labeled mallcore by some metal fans.
- Mallcore kid
- Insultive term used by certain metal fans to describe a person that thinks he/she is listening to metal when he/she is actually listening to what the user of the term judges to be mallcore. Another use of the term is to describe a person who listens to metal music but is only in awe to the brutality of certain artists and seeks to shock his/her environment by listening to such music. Encyclopaedia Metallum gives all new members the rank of mallcore kid in order to motivate them to submit bands and thus gaining a less humiliating rank.
- Metalhead
- A devoted fan of heavy metal. Often used interchangeably with the term headbanger.
- Pommesgabel
- Corna
- Powerfag
- A derogatory term used by fans of black metal, death metal, or other more extreme metal subgenres to describe the people in the metal scene who listen to exclusively power metal.
- Pseudo-metal
- Used by certain metal fans refering to what they think is fake metal in opposition to what is true metal. This term is sometimes used by metal fans who judge the modern subgenres of heavy metal music too different (whether in the music, the lyrics or the attitude) from the original movement to be recognized as metal. For example, some more traditional black metal fans do not consider symphonic black metal or melodic black metal as true black metal because it does not have some features of early black metal such as blast beats.
- Shred
- A guitar playing style that focuses on speed and virtuosity demonstrations, generally in a neo-classical framework. A shred can also be a segment of a song that shows particular speed or virtuosity. The term shredder, in a metal context, means a guitarist who shreds.
- Thrasher
- A fan of thrash metal.
- Throwing the goat
- Making the corna
- White metal
- Term used to describe Christian metal or unblack metal putting emphasis on it's opposition with traditional black metal.
