Genre organizations can be quite arbitrary sometimes and when we look at it, it is kind of hard to detail how the genre is evolved because, in the past, heavy metals used to be a very broad term that during the 70s, it meant anything that nowadays is considered hard rock.
So, what makes Heavy Metal different from Hard Rock?
Metal is based on classic music, Hard Rock is based on blues
Comparatively, Metal and Hard Rocks are totally different things. One is based on classical music and the other is based on the blues which is why they are somewhat varied from each other.
Every genre of music is peculiar in its own kind, so why not try metallic or hard rock a few times? you’ll instantly feel the difference in it. Despite the fact that metal is strictly based on classical music it doesn’t mean that you have to hear it directly.
In a sense, metal songs use scales that are typically found in classical music rather than itself being classic songs. It also uses the same template as classical music which is the structure of metal songs, simply backbone in other words.
Moreover, metal music progresses the same way as classical music does which is the main reason why they are absolutely compatible with each other.
While at the other side, Hard Rock uses blue scales. It is an accepted fact that several heavy-sounding bands are not metal and it is only for one reason, it is based on blues.
Most people still think of Guns n Roses, Whitesmith, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motorhead Led Zeppelin, and so on as metal bands but they are misunderstood.
However, there might also be possibilities that led to this outcome because very often, heavy metals are confused with heavy blues.
Even though old-school heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath started out as blues bands thus, Metal owes just as much of its origin as Hard Roxl does to the aforementioned genre.
The primary difference in our honest opinion is that Hard Rock grasps its roots while Metal is hell-bent on typically straying from its roots or evolving and amusing us with the release of new ones.
Metal is more complex than hard rock musically
It is not surprising to ask whether the metal is more complex than rock since rock tends to be an umbrella label covering multi-tentacled sub-genres. Both of these branch out from the usual minor and major scales however, metal is more likely to.
This doesn’t make any individual metal music more complex but considering the collection of metal songs entirely could prove it to be spread out in its use of modes.
Even in the case of structure, metal songs have likes of Pink Floyd around it and I for one explores an entire album created to be highly complex as a single piece.
However, metal music way more usually crowbar long middle sections into or else short fast songs. Most metal songs tend to be faster which is also a reason why it seems to be more complex than hard rock.
History and Musicology
Starting off in different eras, there’s variation in the history between hard rock and metal. The roots of the metal can be trailed back to blues in the early 1950s when guitarists kicked off the research with harsher tones; music like the Kinks’ 1964 You Really Got Me centered near two heavily-warped guitar chords.
While the roots of hard rock can be trailed the back to mid-1950s, especially electrifying blues that settled foundations for key components like heavy guitar riffs, strong beat, harsh declamatory vocal style, thick riff-laden texture, string-twisting blue-scale guitar solos, and posturing performance.
Stating taxonomically, the variation of rock songs has existed longer than heavy metal although not by too much. Led Zeppelin is most appreciated as the origin of the hard rock band, followed by such moves as Cream, Deep Purple, and The Who.
Despite both of these being familiar with each other in sound, and ranges and being influenced directly by hard rock, the root of heavy metal music trails back to 1970s bands like Steppenwolf and Black Sabbath importantly.
The explanation of the period marked a turn to a more mesmerizing hard rock genre into precisely what the name “heavy metal” indicates: darker themes and hefty sounds.
As the blues, genre primarily influenced hard rock, its main factors consist of virtuous guitar riffs. We can also realize it with swaggering bass and loose drum lines.
When it comes to musical tempo, hard rock is slower than heavy metal because it leans more on being slow and sexy likewise rock n roll during the 60s.
Their pace is the most precise element to differentiate them because of the extreme sound. But the fact is that there is a misconception among some people that underneath the hellish, there are slow riffs that are as good as a dead giveaway.
Created to extremely brutal, heavy metals are irrational. If a song details sex and love, possibilities are it is hard rock. And if it demonstrates blood and death, it is most likely a heavy metal track.
Many of the hard rock compositions like Ace of the Spades by Motorhead and Casino Boogie by The Rolling Stones are motivated by casinos and gambling.
Fan following and commercialization
Despite the fact that rock has a humongous share of devotees, its fans deprive of the madness that is frequently demonstrated by metal fans.
Numerous metal bands are designated a “cult level” therefore making most of their fans, in exchange, do facto cult representatives who adopt lifestyles opposite to that of the bands’ pictures.
The fan base of heavy metal, often regarded as a ” subculture of alienation” hugely constitutes young white males who embrace an individual fashion and boast of dispersion from the rest of society.
Few bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath mostly find themselves indulging in both of these genres which have caused a misconception among the ones who are struggling to differentiate hard rock from heavy metal.
To get rid of this confusion, taking a look at the other side, non-musical elements can provide some help in the variation of one genre from the other.
Numerous heavy metal bands rarely find commercial success due to their less-accessible musical characteristics with an achievable band like Metallica.
However, the same philosophy doesn’t go for the multiple other hard rock bands, like Aerosmith and Van Halen, two of the largest artists of any musical genre that have succeeded to earn fan bases wider and much more mainstream than those typically enjoyed by metal bands.
