# Opera or Heavy Metal?



## erki (Feb 17, 2020)

I run into intriguing dilemma sometimes: when I want to listen something strong, dramatic and big sound I am going to choose between opera(Rossini, Verdi, Wagner) or heavy metal(Metallica, Megadeth) to get the the same engagement - kind of drowning into the sound.
Have you experienced something like this as well?


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Yeah I see the parallels. Consequently both opera and heavy metal are great weightlifting music.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't know but I get very different things from a good opera to what I get from rock (heavy or otherwise). So, sorry, but I can't relate to the OP at all.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

flamencosketches said:


> Yeah I see the parallels. Consequently both opera and heavy metal are great weightlifting music.


I used to visit a fitness center some years ago, and the music they always played was some kind of electronic techno music. Though I can image the Rocky Balboa soundtrack could do as well


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

A lot of metal singers are very operatic. Rob Halford from Judas Priest could span 6 octaves in his prime and he's still a damn fine singer to this day, even if his voice is worn down from age. The best rock singers actually care about taking care of their voices. He could really to it all in his heyday: sing comfortably in a soprano's tessitura, smooth soulful baritone/tenor legato, and booming bass notes. Really a generational talent.






However, when bands (usually goofy power metal bands) try to just directly mish-mash opera/classical with metal, the end result is almost always pretty cringeworthy. There's countless metal bands with these female singers with gorgeous operatic voices, but the music they're singing over is way too cheesy sounding. There's nothing terribly wrong with it honestly, but it sounds sort of goofy and juvenile to my ears.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I never thought about that, but would go for metal \m/ Opera is once a year maybe...


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Opera or Heavy Metal?*

"Or"? Heck! I always thought opera _was_ heavy metal!!! You mean there's something else?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SONNET CLV said:


> *Opera or Heavy Metal?*
> 
> "Or"? Heck! I always thought opera _was_ heavy metal!!! You mean there's something else?


:lol::lol::lol:


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Can't say for certain but I would guess anyone who says there are similarities between opera and metal rock has never been to an opera.


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## julide (Jul 24, 2020)

i dont get the alleged likeness between opera and metal........... how do you compare 4 instrument rock band with an often amateur singer to an orchestra and singers who sing in an athletic way.......


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

julide said:


> i dont get the alleged likeness between opera and metal........... how do you compare 4 instrument rock band with an often amateur singer to an orchestra and singers who sing in an athletic way.......


the similarity is in the fact that opera can be very loud and in your face and sometimes epic, and some metal goes exactly in that direction. And as "GucciManeisthenewWebern" (interesting nickname) says, there are singers who clearly were influenced by operatic singers, like Ronnie James Dio.






Then of course operas usually have a different level of sophistication but that's another story. 
But that's the reason why so many metal fans are interested in opera and classical music in general.
I don't know how many threads I've seen with fans of metal looking for pieces similar to Verdi's Dies Irae, Nessun Dorma, Ride of the walkyries, the Dance of the knights, O Fortuna, Mars the bringer of War (a piece that has had a big influence on the history of metal) and similar things.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

I love Dio, but in my mind I don't think of him as an opera singer really. I think he has a very powerful, resonant, and charismatic rock n' roll voice, but not the voice of an opera singer like Halford or Dickinson (he doesn't have a particularly wide range). This isn't to say he's somehow inferior to the others simply by virtue of the fact he's not an operatic, I don't think that at all. It's just that to me Dio was born and molded by heavy metal while Halford and Dickinson take more influence from classical training. They're all equally amazing IMO.

EDIT: I always thought Tony Martin from later Black Sabbath was super underrated. Even though some of the material from that period of output was uninspired, you can't deny that dude had some serious pipes. He has that commanding, muscular voice Dio has (probably because Iommi was looking for a Dio deadringer after Dio left), but a little bit more range than him. Though I would be hestitant in calling Martin operatic either despite his impeccable technique.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I do tend to work out to the Anvil Chorus.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

How about both?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Bruckner often reminds me of this:


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> Bruckner often reminds me of this:


This song somehow became the anthem for white-trash in my general area that get belligerently drunk and pick fights with people at sporting events. I'm not sure how that happened exactly but it's made me strongly dislike this song.


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