Metal Breakup Songs?

QUICK NOTE: The subject matter of this post is not meant to be taken as any sort of clue into what is going on in my personal life.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  My wife and I have our first wedding anniversary coming up in June, and I could not be happier.  This post was inspired by a song that has been stuck in my head for some time.

Metal frequently depicts the darker side of the human experience.  It is stereotypically about the negative parts in life.  Anger, sadness, and all the other nasty stuff that happens to us all.  So of course there are a few breakup songs in the heavy metal canon, despite the emotional nature of the event.


WOODS OF YPRES: "SHARDS OF LOVE (HURT FOREVER)"
This is the song that influenced this post.  I have no idea why, but this song really gets to me.  The song is about the narrator (possibly even the singer, I am not sure how personal this song is) finding his significant other in the process of packing all of her things and moving out.  An argument ensues with the narrator pleading with her to stay.  It's heart-wrenching really.  The song culminates with the woman telling him "No, I have to go.  It's too late, I'm going away and there's nothing in the world you could say to make me stay."  The music is extremely somber with some very impressive horn lines.  Unfortunately, singer David Gold recently passed away.


MEGADETH: "1,000 TIMES GOODBYE"
Megadeth wrote a breakup song?  Yes they did.  The song deals with the pain of moving on and finding peace in the breakup.  But it is kind of funny in a way because the song incorporates some samples or recordings of a woman explaining the reasons for the breakup, which run the gamut from "I don't feel the same way about" to "I met someone else" to "I still want to be friends" and culminating with the hilarious "I love you like you're my brother".  Someone has been friendzoned.


BLEEDING THROUGH: "LOVE IN SLOW MOTION"
This is a bit of a guilty pleasure album for me.  Bleeding Through is a metalcore band with some black and death metal influences.  This track is also for the most part about the lead character finding peace in moving on with his life.  Obviously a lot of the typical emo tropes are present in this song, complete with faux-deep lyrics about pain and suffering.  Nevertheless, for some reason, I really like this song.  Sue me.


SONATA ARCTICA: "TALLULAH"
I first heard this one at a time when I was dealing with a breakup of sorts.  It starts out with the closing moments of the breakup.  The last embrace, when there is one, is often very painful and that pain is exhibited here.  The song continues and finds the narrator seeing his former lover with a new flame and all of the pain that comes with that.


DAYLIGHT DIES: "ALL WE HAD"
In a song with very few words, Daylight Dies still manages to pen an absolutely devastating song.  As I said, there are not a lot of lyrics here but the pain of a lost relationship is clearly evident here.

So there's a few songs.  Obviously there are more, but I feel pretty good naming off five.  It all makes me very happy to be in the stable relationship I currently have.

Initial Impressions: Woods of Ypres: IV-The Green Album

I was recently in Omaha and stopped off at the local music store. I picked up this album partially on the strength of Patrick's ranking them so highly in his Top 25 bands here. I was very surprised by the sound of this band as I expected them to be more of a melodic black metal band. Perhaps this album is different from their earlier material, I am not sure as I am not overly familiar with this band.

I would classify this album as doom metal with some progressive and black metal influences, but it is definitely more of a slower, doom metal album than black metal. The album opens up with a somber melody delivered by a wind instrument that is either an oboe or a french horn, I am not up on my musical instruments lately. The first song is a heart-wrenching ballad about a breakup and the vocalist's girlfriend packing up and leaving. It sets the tone for this sprawling slow-paced dirge covering heartbreak and suicidal thoughts and finally acceptance and moving on.

The lyrics do get a little cheesy at times and some of the backing vocals break up the mood, such as when they repeat something delivered by the lead vocals that is particularly poignant. The lyrics have been criticized for being somewhat emo, but I do not think that is the case. I think the lyricist is fairly brave for dealing with subjects that most of us can relate to. We have almost all been through a particularly crushing breakup at some time or other.

The band is at their best when they are dealing with slow and heavy songs. Tracks like "Everything I Touch Turns to Gold (Then to Coal)" is a devastatingly powerful song. Some of the tracks are short experimental songs that are at best forgettable, such as "You are Here with Me".

This is an interesting album. It is a little on the long side though, being nearly 80 minutes long. I am not sure yet how much I like it. I think it needs some time to sink in more, but it is an impressively melodic album with a lot to offer musically.