EU Metal vs US Metal

So I have been listening to power/traditional heavy metal quite a bit lately and I started wondering why this style of metal is not as popular in America as it is in Europe.

I came across this article: http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2009/08/eu-metal-vs-us-metal/

The article is not just about power metal's popularity in Europe vs lack of in U.S. It focuses more broadly on the European metal scene and the metalhead culture within the European scene.

To that extent, the article breaks down some of the crucial differences between the U.S. and European scenes. My overall impression (if correct) is that due to the close geographic proximity, and the sort of collective / communal European spirit, there is a stronger bond between the fans, the music and the musicians. If this is true, then to the extent of the Australian scene I can definitely see some aspects of the European culture and attitude in the metal scene but to an extent also the more individualistic - kinda self-aware vibe that the article is talking about in terms of the U.S. scene / fans.

In that regard, in Australia I have seen it go both ways. At a show you can have a really good night where you and your group of friends meets a whole new group of people for the first time and there is a bonding experience around heavy metal, or the reverse where everyone keeps to themselves and won't make the effort to get to know / bond with new people.

I think the article is on to something, but at the same time it is written from a mans viewpoint of todays scene. One must remember that Europe was a far cry from the EU of today when metal was at it's peak during the '80's

Another large factor that he doesn't even mention is the industrial feel in most of Europe. These are the conditions under which heavy metal was born, and it is largely still very much alive today. Us is, for the most part, a farmers market.

The tolerance for cheese is interesting, because any nation having multiple annual beer fests, with big breasted waitresses and lederhosen, are bound to tolarate cheese. Still, the US has a lot of hillbilly mentality that would also fit right in. Just look at some of the tv shows coming from the us today, with your american pickers, hoarders and honey boo boo!

The difference, pure and simple, is irony. America is awash in it, and one is not allowed to enjoy cheesy things unless it's in an ironic way. Europe doesn't seem to have that problem.

Ther's that and really we just don't "get it" over here in general. I could write a book on this.

Maybe we in Europe are more into traditionals, also into traditional influences in music. All those euro power metal bands are influences by traditional heavy metal bands, not by modern and/or alternative sounds like many of the US NU METAL/METALCORE bands. Still in the USA you have many cool real heavy metal bands but less melodic than most of the euro power metal bands. Just to name some cool ones: PREMONITION, OCTOBER 31, SKULLVIEW, GOTHIC KNIGTS, TWISTED TOWER DIRE, SPELLCASTER, etc....all heavier than SONATA ARTICA, EDGUY or STRATOVARIUS. But then again, in Europe we also have some heavier power metal bands around of course.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but, going along with the irony, it seems that America is a much angrier nation than Europe. Where power metal and traditional metal tend to bypass angry sentiments by some margin, here you have popular genres from thrash to metalcore that display aggressive, negative, and hateful emotions in a very obvious manner. Perhaps it's our political frustrations, repressive fundamental standards, high-pressure capitalist practices, inequality etc that bring these out, but it also makes me wonder why Europe has always been a ringleader for heavy metal's origins.

From my perspective/speculation:

Europeans have roots...America is barely over 200 years old. We don't have thousands of years of history in our blood. We tear things down here and replace them with something else we think is better...everything from buildings to music. Small factions of people fight hard to prevent old structures from being torn down and replaced with shopping malls, but overall most Americans are not like that. We're very "shallow" in that way.

Europeans are raised with a sense of history...they're surrounded by it...they cherish it...they take pride in it. There are structures and art and musical styles that are upwards of thousands of years old in Europe. Being enveloped in history and having roots thousands of years deep has to come into play in terms of loyalty to art and musical styles.

I think Shawn nailed it.

Attaching that to what I was saying, whereas Europeans are proud of their history, we seem to be very cynical about our own. This is why Revisionism is largely a US trend. Vietnam, corrupt politicians, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Great Depression, counterfeit religions and their brainwashing, L.A. riots, racial inequality, and our captivation with violence and warfare in general are all things to be angry about. Thus the irony, and thus the preference for angry, violent, irreverent music.

I almost hit 'send,' and the Sex Pistols came to mind, creating a plausible challenge to my theory here. Crap.

corplhicks wrote:

I think Shawn nailed it.

Attaching that to what I was saying, whereas Europeans are proud of their history, we seem to be very cynical about our own. This is why Revisionism is largely a US trend. Vietnam, corrupt politicians, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Great Depression, counterfeit religions and their brainwashing, L.A. riots, racial inequality, and our captivation with violence and warfare in general are all things to be angry about. Thus the irony, and thus the preference for angry, violent, irreverent music.

I almost hit 'send,' and the Sex Pistols came to mind, creating a plausible challenge to my theory here. Crap.

None of this makes sense if you think of Germany, for instance. From what I've talked to Germans, they are certainly not keen on discussing history. Very future-oriented people. Yet, the country is at the forefront of melodic metal.

I like these....

Now are those hillbilly or cheese?

Lari wrote:

Very future-oriented people. Yet, the country is at the forefront of melodic metal.

That's the difference though. America is becoming dominated by a sense of cynicism--borderline absurdism in this age--where a majority prefers to look at our past, the blood on our hands, and shake heads. Germany prefers to move on, but keep in mind that not all of their past is an ugly thing.

But all lazy cynicism. We're not disciples of things, we're fans of them. We're fans of Jesus, we're fans of protesting the Benghazi scandal, we're fans of being against cover-ups, we're fans of being angry. We wanna show everything outwardly with our big trucks and love for growled annnngrrryyy vocals to let everybody know we mean business, when in reality most of us are a bunch of chumps and are too busy being *fans* to LIVE whatever it is we do or don't believe - if anything.


It's embarrassing and weird to be a disciple, and when it comes to art - which even the socialist countries such as France hold in HUGE regard compared to us - a lot of stuff is embarrassing to like. If it sounds positive, if it suggests objectivity, victory, discipleship, anything beyond sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, we either stamp it parody or deem it cheesy. We have no idea how to listen to or absorb music because our personalities are so screwed up from cradle to grave, thanks to Big Pharma, public school, relativist tradition, and generally just decades now of softening up our @$$holes for the next big government screwjob, so we care less and less each time.


Now, that's the Sparknotes diet version of what's going on. Any Europeans wanna chime in?

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

But all lazy cynicism. We're not disciples of things, we're fans of them. We're fans of Jesus, we're fans of protesting the Benghazi scandal, we're fans of being against cover-ups, we're fans of being angry. We wanna show everything outwardly with our big trucks and love for growled annnngrrryyy vocals to let everybody know we mean business, when in reality most of us are a bunch of chumps and are too busy being *fans* to LIVE whatever it is we do or don't believe - if anything.


It's embarrassing and weird to be a disciple, and when it comes to art - which even the socialist countries such as France hold in HUGE regard compared to us - a lot of stuff is embarrassing to like. If it sounds positive, if it suggests objectivity, victory, discipleship, anything beyond sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, we either stamp it parody or deem it cheesy. We have no idea how to listen to or absorb music because our personalities are so screwed up from cradle to grave, thanks to Big Pharma, public school, relativist tradition, and generally just decades now of softening up our @$$holes for the next big government screwjob, so we care less and less each time.


Now, that's the Sparknotes diet version of what's going on. Any Europeans wanna chime in?

Well said; how I've felt for years.

Just to augment this with a very personal opinion of mine, I believe the evangelistic (read: mega) church has contributed to this by way of personality/identity disorder. Walk into a church today--and I had been for 15 years--and you get this faceless mob who can't control their enthusiasm. As you put it, fans, not disciples, very little knowledge of what they believe. If you show any contradiction in tact, you don't belong. There are a lot of people who hate this behavior, and I am one of them, and if anything its abundance pushes people away and turns them into cynics. Same could be said about the overly red ultra-right "let's go start a militia cause Obama is killing the American dream on purpose" crowd.

It's hard not to go off on a tangent about this, but I agree let's here some Europeans weigh in on this.

My two cents

I feel that the need to "progress" in music has been sold to the youth culture very sucessfully in the USA. It's the idea that newer is always better, and it is the prime marketing tool over here. I know grown people that still eat that ethic up. Some of the worst insults one can hurl at a music fan are "stuck in the 70's" or "that's so 80's" etc. In Europe (and Japan!) they appreciate how great that old stuff was and still celebrate it while continuing to inovate (flavors of death metal for example). USA music fans have been sold a bill of goods to drive the marketing machine. There are many exceptions of course, but I think music goes "out of style" faster in the US. People here love to think of themselves as "edgy", see for example Mike Patton's views on Wolfmother.
On a more positive note, it's been great to see so many classic bands return to their roots, as well as the retro fad. Things like that give me hope.

"Stuck in the 70s" I view as a high compliment.

"that's so 80s"....hmmmm....not so much.

I think that the pressure of being the one remaining true 'Superpower' on the planet has something to do with it. Whenever you guys do something it HAS to be bigger, badder, edgier, newer, more extreme than the rest of us because you are the U.S.A!!!!!!! Leading the world! Maybe the pioneer spirit has become part of the psyche always moving forwards doing things bigger better, don't look back, innovate!

Europe isn't even a nation, it's a long, long way off ever being comparable to the U.S, what we are in reality is a loose collection of small nations who will never be the biggest, baddest or ever feel any pressure to lead the way (Okay, the British and Roman Empires did, but that was a long time ago) So in a lot of ways this frees us up to do just the things that we enjoy, and if that involves cliched singalong music, beer, sausages, large breasted barmaids, lederhosen and occasionally dressing up like a Viking then so be it.

I think that it's true that we have a history that goes back further than yours and we are connected to it (good & bad) I feel something when I hear traditional Irish music that's hard to explain, a connection to MY people through a turbulent history, but I see that in plenty of American music too, and the American Outlaw is one of the most enduring themes of U.S music.

I'm not going to comment on the various damning critiques of your society other than to say I have found that part of the discussion interesting.

Then again, the Americans have Manowar!

kmorg wrote:

Then again, the Americans have Manowar!

Yeah, let them try to explain Manowar!

I don't really see 'progress' in its objective meaning being part of the mindset here. Dumping old for new or new for old based on the fact that something is new or is old is not 'progression', it's sort of just this half-ass attempt to do something else for fear of becoming boring. There's not a lot of logic in it, but that's what we do, in everything from music to technology. Movement for the sake of movement. It's like we're shooting for the Singularity, but end up in the Cave.

Boris2008 wrote:

kmorg wrote:

Then again, the Americans have Manowar!

Yeah, let them try to explain Manowar!

And just look how big Manowar are in Europe, especially Germany, compared to their popularity in the US!

I thinks it's all been pretty much said on this topic already (and very eloquently I must say). I agree that Europeans are connected very much to their history and if you look at most power metal and trad metal bands they have themes and lyrics for the most part connected with the past, maybe with a fantasy twist but certainly very medieval. Any US bands that I've ever come across that play power/trad metal tend to be very open about being influenced by European bands and traditions.

Having said all that I find it strange that the UK pretty much shuns power metal. It thrives everywhere else in Europe but the British don't seem to tolerate the cheese aspect of power metal any more than the Americans. Yes we are littered with trad metal bands, maiden, priest, Saxon and we had the whole NWOBHM at the end of the 70's and into the 80's but it seems like if a band wants to sing about historical themes then to be accepted in the uk it has to be done with a sense of seriousness. Start singing about dragons and wizards and your done for lol. We have the odd few exceptions like dragonforce and one or two others but power metal is really a niche thing in the uk.

Because, relating to some of what I said, DragonForce is so goofy that it becomes 'acceptable' because then you can laugh at it and not worry what the neighbors think. I don't really like this...we're having a laugh just like you are, at this silly, emotionless, non-artful metal music..see?


If it weren't for the Russian Roulette fashion that trends work, how that worked in the 80's, the heyday of Priest, Maiden....the big metal/pop metal/whatever snowball effect, I would very much wager those bands would have little U.S. presence today as well. Because they've gained "made it" recognition, a lot of people figure that's slightly beyond being embarrassed over....it becomes "legit"...it becomes "known"...... sort of how current events are only 'real' here if they're the top spot on Fox or CNN. But even with those type of bands, the average person still has the "80's band" idea stuck in their head.


Not coincidentally, a lot of metal fans over here who are really into the underground, of all genres, also tend to be more critical and observant of our government, news sources, et al.

I think most people are missing the obvious here. Many European countries have a tradition of hanging out in a beer hall and singing cheesy music with friends. European Power Metal is the modern equivalent of this, and thus acceptable and comfortable. The US has no tradition of this and thus European Power Metal sounds ridiculous, overwrought, absurd and cheese-tacular. European Power Metal is European music for Europeans.

All this talk about the US having a short history or anger or blah,blah,blah are tangential at best.

Case in point, is Country Music popular in Europe? Of course not, it's American music for Americans.

Witchfinder wrote:

I think most people are missing the obvious here. Many European countries have a tradition of hanging out in a beer hall and singing cheesy music with friends. European Power Metal is the modern equivalent of this, and thus acceptable and comfortable. The US has no tradition of this and thus European Power Metal sounds ridiculous, overwrought, absurd and cheese-tacular. European Power Metal is European music for Europeans.

All this talk about the US having a short history or anger or blah,blah,blah are tangential at best.

Case in point, is Country Music popular in Europe? Of course not, it's American music for Americans.

But country music is the Americans way of singing about there own history, to a certain extent. American history only goes as far back to the Wild West and its this theme that country music is all about so the point about American history only being short is valid.

Wayne wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

I think most people are missing the obvious here. Many European countries have a tradition of hanging out in a beer hall and singing cheesy music with friends. European Power Metal is the modern equivalent of this, and thus acceptable and comfortable. The US has no tradition of this and thus European Power Metal sounds ridiculous, overwrought, absurd and cheese-tacular. European Power Metal is European music for Europeans.

All this talk about the US having a short history or anger or blah,blah,blah are tangential at best.

Case in point, is Country Music popular in Europe? Of course not, it's American music for Americans.

But country music is the Americans way of singing about there own history, to a certain extent. American history only goes as far back to the Wild West and its this theme that country music is all about so the point about American history only being short is valid.

My point was that Country Music is inherently American. It deals with American themes from an American point of view. As such, it has little appeal to other cultures. European Power Metal is somewhat similar in that it is written in a fashion that appeals to a European mindset and tradition. The respective age of the cultures has little to do with why something is popular.