r/MetalForTheMasses

The first metal song I ever heard was “People = Shit” by Slipknot.

I was literally shocked when I heard it for the first time. I had never heard anything like it before, and it completely blew me away.

That was about four years ago, and it honestly feels crazy to think about how much my taste in metal has changed since then.

What was the first metal song you ever heard?

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A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a musician I know from a small metal band in a small country.

At some point, he described something that sounded less like his personal frustration and more like the pain of an entire scene: bands want more visibility, but musicians often barely share each other’s releases, shows or projects.

So I decided to bring the question here and see what this looks like in other countries and scenes. And since this subreddit is literally about getting metal to the masses, I figured I came to the right place:)

There’s another side of this I’ve been thinking about too.

I’ve noticed that one particular black metal promotion channel on YouTube has a much larger audience than most other channels in the same space.

That isn’t necessarily a problem by itself.

But when one platform becomes so important that bands and labels start to feel they need it in order to reach people, does that create a risk of gatekeeping?

In a way, it reminds me of how major music publications could function before the internet. The format has changed, but attention can still become concentrated in very few places.

Bands want reach. Labels want reach. Listeners go where discovery is easiest.

So naturally, attention keeps flowing toward the same large platforms.

Individually, every choice makes sense.

Collectively, those choices shape the scene and make those platforms even harder to avoid next time.

Maybe a scene can be underfunded, underexposed, but also under-connected.

Community is built through small repeated actions: a repost, a comment, a recommendation, showing up, sending attention toward someone else.

Everyone wants a stronger scene.

But a scene is partly made of where its members choose to place their attention.

Maybe the question isn’t only: How do we get more attention?

But also: Where are we already choosing to put it?

How does this work in your local scene? Are there a few platforms, publications or channels that everyone feels they has to go through, or is attention more distributed?

And, as usual, if this is too much thinking about metal for one post, the downvote button is always within reach. 😄

Sometimes I feel like this album, despite how highly regarded it is within the metal community, is actually still underrated. Most people only point to Angel of Death and Raining Blood as the good songs on the album, but in reality, every song fucking rips and is memorable in its own way. The sheer speed of Necrophobic. That cool slow down section of Altars transitioning into Jesus Saves which has one of the heaviest intros ever and even a 9/8 riff stuck in there. The iconic drum intro in Criminally Insane. Non stop killer riffs. Also if you thought Raining Blood is awesome, try listening to Postmortem + Raining Blood, one of the best 1-2 punches in metal music. The whole album is just a crazy energy bomb, the production is top notch and shit is fucking relentless from start to finish. Also it's one the most influential albums ever, in many different genres. It even has, at least in my opion, the first real hardcore breakdown, in Raining Blood. Oh and I didn't even mention Dave Lombardo and his amazing drumming performance. Anyways, yea, I'm kinda drunk and I just wanted to share my love for this album wirh you guys, I could ramble on for hours but I better stop now. Hope some of you share the same feelings.

Incredible melodic black metal with lots of heavy metal undertones in the riffing. The second track also contains some undeniable power metal influence executed to perfection. Great riffs, phenomenal leads, and a couple fantastic solos. This is one of my favorite releases of the decade so far, and I highly recommend it to any black metal fans.