A genre vs genre comparison
So, a Metal Archives user has taken some research from the site and produced the below site that shows the trends in genres over the past few decades. By no means an empirical list given the limitations that MA imposes on genres and also the fact that not all albums are listed anyways. Still, thought it was interesting, and might trigger one of the more nerdy types here to do something similar.
I don't know if I might do something like this someday, but if I do, I'll make sure to include every metal genre in the book, including the ones that are absent in that list (alternative metal, symphonic metal, industrial metal, etc.).
I have been interested in this sort of genre popularity data for a while. Obviously the number of total metal releases has greatly increased over the years so I think the best indicator of genre trends would be when compared as a percentage of total metal releases, thus better reflecting what metalheads are listening to. Earlier years, such as the very early '80s would be almost 100% heavy metal which would then decline as each new genre assumes its presence and increases. This would also show if a particular genre enjoys a renaissance or resurgence within the overallcmetal community.
Completely meaningless I know, but I thought I would push a bit of a talking point and, as a bit of a stat nerd, I thought I would look at each of the Academy genres and compare the number of releases that have been rated by more than one person compared to the total number of releases within said genres and see which genres fared better. The results are seen below and are quite interesting (well I think so anyway).
Whilst most sit in a 10-15% spread, there are a few interesting outliers. The most obvious being the relatively lofty 20% coverage of power / symphonic metal. I was surprised to see grindcore at the bottom of the list with a measly 5% coverage as I always felt that grindcore fans were fairly rabid. Death and black metal, whilst having the actual highest number of releases with 2+ ratings score relatively low due to the huge total number of releases in each. If the overall totals are calculated then the average for Metal Academy as a whole is 11.2%, so it is easy to see how your favourite genres compare to the average. Unsurprisingly I suppose it looks like the more 'palatable' (to the wider public) genres have generally fared better.
I know that the premise that releases with more than a single rating indicate popularity is flawed and I will probably have a look at varying numbers when I am at a loose end again, but I still feel the results are probably valid.
Most still hold up when you go to a 5+ rating with Metalcore experiencing the biggest drop off. Here the site average is 3.3%:
Using these stats it seems that the demographic of the wider Metal Academy members' tastes is quite different to what I would have guessed.
Guess I'm gonna have to work double time to boost those Gateway reviews up. LOL
I don't find it terribly surprising to see the genres at the top of the list as they align closely with the listening preferences of one of our most committed members.
I don't find it terribly surprising to see the genres at the top of the list as they align closely with the listening preferences of one of our most committed members.
That is still only one person, though. What I take away from these results is that there are a number of 'silent' members who are fans and raters of those genres.
I also think it shows that there are probably a lot more obscure releases in death and black metal on the site as both of those have a significantly greater number of entries than any others, but that sheer breadth of releases make it more difficult for consensus listening and rating.
This actually does check out in that Power Metal folks LOVE listening to every single Power Metal album that comes out. I'm not that rabid but I'm definitely helping these statistics with my ~300 Power Metal ratings hah.
Power/Symphonic, especially more modern Symphonic Metal, is extremely palatable so it's pretty easy to get through a ton of it, and I would say that fans of Power Metal are more likely to be in the demographic that would post and rate on music sites, but that's obviously projecting and assuming a bit.
It's CRAZY to me how many Black and Death Metal releases there are though. I've never thought to crunch the numbers like this and it's starting to make sense as to why I get the feeling that I can't get away from Black and Death Metal releases when trying to vary it up when checking out new albums each year. Obviously Death and Black Metal cast a wide umbrella that encapsulates so many other genres with modern trends, but man, Death/Black Metal makes up more of the share than Power/Progressive/Heavy/Thrash/Metalcore combined.
It's CRAZY to me how many Black and Death Metal releases there are though. I've never thought to crunch the numbers like this and it's starting to make sense as to why I get the feeling that I can't get away from Black and Death Metal releases when trying to vary it up when checking out new albums each year. Obviously Death and Black Metal cast a wide umbrella that encapsulates so many other genres with modern trends, but man, Death/Black Metal makes up more of the share than Power/Progressive/Heavy/Thrash/Metalcore combined.
Yeah, to have rated only 10% of the death and black metal releases on the site you would have had to have listened to almost 3000 releases from those two top level genres alone!
For completions sake, here is the table showing the results for releases with any ratings at all.
A big jump for Metalcore from the 5+ rankings when it was next to lowest to top 5 - largely thanks to Andi's efforts I should guess. A relative improvement for doom metal into second highest, so all those endless obscure doom bands I have had Ben adding over the years has finally had some impact after all!!
A big jump for Metalcore from the 5+ rankings when it was next to lowest to top 5 - largely thanks to Andi's efforts I should guess.
I would suggest that Andi's tendency to rate band's entire back catalogues is largely responsible for symphonic metal & industrial metal being up near the top of the list too. Those aren't high volume genres so if you're gonna approach their major artists in that fashion then you're likely gonna cover a large percentage of the releases they encompass over time.