[ImbecilicSage]

I originally searched for a thread with the search query "NFs and metal", though nothing showed up beyond that search, and while generally searching for heavy metal titles the thread most comparable to this one specifically referred exclusively to ENFPs, so I don't believe this thread is all that redundant, though if it proves to be I apologize, as I don't post here very frequently and I don't wish to make anyone angry and/or annoyed with me.

I believe it's also necessary to state that despite posting within this forum sub-category, I'm not completely sure I'm an NF type myself. I usually define myself as "INxx" whenever I'm asked what my type is now, as I'm really unsure whether I'm a thinker or feeler or judger or perceiver. I usually score highest within Ni whenever I've taken functional tests though, so IN_J seems more likely. My interests and academic aptitude also correlate more with NFs for sure too, with the most notable exception being video gaming, so of the four types I think I could be INFJ does seem most likely so I think it's acceptable for me to post here and about this topic.

With all that out of the way, I was curious if it's generally conventional for most NF types to have an interest in metal. Only referring to "true" metal (most metalheads don't encompass glam metal for instance, or any metal subgenre that isn't characterized by dark and/or violent lyrics) most of it is characterized by really aggressive lyrical content and/or vocal styles, which probably is very contrasted with most of what NFs are connotated as liking/being. Of the NF types I think it would make the most sense for INFJs to be least bothered by metal, as some metal bands' lyrics feature really socially conscious themes, which correlate well with a lot of INFJs' personalities, but as for the rest of the NF types that still doesn't correlate much with them, and even correlating INFJs with having an interest in metal definitely wouldn't seem universally applicable to me either.

That might come with the territory of my type as I've already made some vague reference to, though I'm a bit of a paradox as far as music goes (I could link my last.fm page if anyone wants further insight into my taste, though I think I'll probably only do that on request). I definitely like some sensitive and/or introspectively themed lyrical music - for instance, if I had to name a single favorite solo musician, that's probably Duncan Sheik, who by no means could be encompassed by the definition metal either musically or lyrically. Presently though, if I had to name a single favorite band that would probably be Anthrax. I actually just referenced what I like about them within another thread, so this might seem a bit redundant now, but I enjoy how socially conscious their lyrics are, I like their vocalist's voice, and their bass is always really prominent within their music (I'm really into bass lines so that's definitely an important factor for me). Although I like them a great deal, I'm not a universal fan of thrash metal for instance though (the only one of the big four I like other than them are Metallica, as I'm not into the vocals of either of the other two bands encompassed by that definition). I'm generally pretty picky when it comes to both vocals and lyrics as far as metal goes (I'm really only a fan of Pantera's debut for instance for that reason, as I didn't like the direction they took both vocally and lyrically beyond that album). As a whole though, I like most metal bands' music composition, which is still characterized by aggressive nature in spite of whatever the lyrical content might be, which again defies the conventional nature of most NF types (at least based off the overviews of those types within MBTI related articles).

In acknowledgment of everything I've stated, I was just curious how frequent it is for most NF types - especially non INFJ types when I consider things as a whole - to like metal? I guess acknowledging my own preferences, I'm also a decent deal curious if NF types are pickier/more discerning when it comes to the metal they like as opposed to the general populace of metalheads, provided our types can provide an objective assessment of that of course?

Hoping this thread's met with positive reception, I look forward to everyone's responses !

 

[Zeta Neprok]

Well I'm an INFP and I'm a huge metal fan. My favourite subgenre is doom metal (which is like slower, more depressing metal) but I generally like all forms of it. I've been a metal fan for over 10 years and counting. I just find that the music makes me feel really empowered, you know?

Although I don't think metal necessarily appeals to any one type. I'm sure there are people of all types who enjoy metal.

 

[MuChApArAdOx]

Interesting. I can't say I know any NF's who are inspired in any way listening to heavy metal, Including myself. I'm only speaking on my behalf here, I like soulfood in terms of music. Heavy metal in my mind is loud, annoying, screaming, yelling with absolutely no substance of any kind. My fav is alternative rock, rock then everything else in between. I've never owned a heavy metal CD , or have been to a club, outside venue or anything related to listen to heavy mental.

When I say soulfood, like mostly everything in my life, music has to be relevant to my spirit, my soul. And because I'm a quiet person by nature, I can't handle all the banter that heavy metal brings, instant headache with no substance.

That said I don't believe type is related to music, it could depend on mood, what makes you come alive, what makes your heart sing. NF's I know love feel good music, like the hippies we are we don't stray far from what hippies looked like years ago. Heavy metal reminds me of passive aggressive people who feel like misfits and use this type of music to release anger and hostility.

 

[ImbecilicSage]

Like I referenced within my original post, there is a thread specifically dealing with ENFPs who almost unanimously/unambiguously disliked metal, so I don't know if for whatever reason INFs are more inclined to like metal than ENFs (although Ni might have some inclination to like metal, I don't think Fi probably would, which I believe INFPs are, so I'm not sure if there is much merit to this hypothesis, but I actually posted within another thread about metal and the person that succeeded my post also liked metal and was also INFP, so so far there are three INFs including myself who like metal, and all ENFPs who have made reference to it don't from what I've seen). I guess I would like an opinion provided by an ENFJ to further draw a conclusion tied with the hypothesis I proposed, as I haven't seen anyone of them make reference to this topic at all yet.

@ MuChApArAdOx: Substance of lyrical content varies heavily upon subgenre as far as metal goes. Death metal is exclusively limited to references of rape and/or murder generally speaking, so that's one of the worst subgenres to look to as far as lyrical substance goes. Some thrash metal (early Metallica, Anthrax, and although I'm not much of a fan of them Megadeth) feature really socially conscious and/or introspective lyrical themes despite what you might expect from metal based off your previous experiences with it (as far as the former goes, one Anthrax song deals with mental insanity, another the homeless, another general racial prejudice, another specifically referring to a racially motivated murder and condemning the person who committed the crime, as far as the latter goes, one Metallica song deals with a person's thought processes who's still conscious inside their mind, but they have been made an invalid due to having stepped on a landmine in a war, so they actually hope to die to end their state of limbo that they're stuck within). A lot of power metal also has generally uplifting lyrical content, although I can't cite many examples there being honest as I'm not a huge fan of the subgenre excepting a few bands. They're definitely on the lesser end of the spectrum as far as extremity goes, but one of Black Sabbath's most famous songs is also a war protest song with decently written lyrics by my standards. Generally speaking, a person just has to be pretty discerning about what bands they look into to to discover which bands have lyrics with a decent amount of depth versus the bands that do nothing but make reference to unmerited violence.

If you're even mildly interested into looking into metal, I'd definitely recommend checking out pretty much any of Anthrax's albums, though if you listen to just one you're probably best off listening to Persistence of Time if the most important thing for you is lyrical depth. Any of Metallica's 80's albums are also really great excepting maybe their debut (that's actually got the most hostile title correlatively I suppose, which is "Kill 'Em All") though my personal favorite is "Ride The Lightning", though the song I made explicit reference to is encompassed by the album "And Justice For All", and that song's titled "One". They're met by derision by some people as their debut was unambiguously glam, though Skid Row's second album "Slave To The Grind" has a great deal of lyrical depth too, particularly referencing the song "Quicksand Jesus" if you listen to only one - Sebastian Bach might also be my very favorite vocalist, at least limited to his time with Skid Row within the era of their first two albums.

 

[MuChApArAdOx]

@ImbecilicSage, Metallica for me is an exception to the rule, I love Metallica, or at least many of their tunes. This band doesn't ring heavy metal in my mind, however they are. At this stage of my life I'm not really Interested in reviewing what type of mental I may enjoy, mostly because it was all available to me growing up and I decided then I didn't like XXXX, music needs to touch me, metal doesn't have a way of doing this. I am very opened to new music , pop, classic, rock, Jazz, I even love violin, bagpipes, the flute, harp, harmonica +++....Mental seems to be in a bracket of its own, one that doesn't give me that feel good jive.

XNFJ in my life would rather saw their arm off then listen to metal, like me and my other NF's friends, they are into soulfood music, metal makes them crazy.

 

[Doran Seth]

I love metal and I made an INFJ friend who loves it as much as I do, albeit somewhat different sub-genres. He likes it for the same main reason I do, the empowering nature of it. His favorite band is Gojira.

 

[fair phantom]

I'm an INFP and I've been listening to metal for over a decade now. I love it! Not every subgenre, but many. Doom metal is probably my favourite. I think listening to metal is a really great way to work through some of the darkest wildest emotions. It also energizes me, stirs my imagination.

I've been to a few metal shows and they have all been positive experiences. Some people seem to think metalheads are more violent than most people but that simply isn't true! My favourite concert was probably High on Fire. Sooo heavy. Completely lost myself in the music.

My INFJ boyfriend is a bigger metalhead. It's by far his favourite genre of music. I also have two INFP friends and one ENFP friend who all enjoy at least some subgenres of metal (though the ENFP is the most particular).

 

[Hiraeth]

I do enjoy listening to metal, but not that much heavy metal. I'm mostly into other subgenres.

 

[ElliCat]

I'm an INFP and I've been listening to metal for over a decade now. I love it! Not every subgenre, but many. Doom metal is probably my favourite. I think listening to metal is a really great way to work through some of the darkest wildest emotions. It also energizes me, stirs my imagination.

Me too! Even when I'm in a better, more hopeful state of mind, there seems to be something about darkness and intensity that is aesthetically and emotionally pleasing.

I've been to a few metal shows and they have all been positive experiences. Some people seem to think metalheads are more violent than most people but that simply isn't true! My favourite concert was probably High on Fire. Sooo heavy. Completely lost myself in the music.

I do find them tiring but at the same time, I agree that they're much less violent than people expect! At my first show I had a couple of guys who really looked after me and tried to protect me from people accidentally crushing me (I'm quite small). My only complaint is when I'm at the front, some people get really drunk and obnoxious and try to push me around, but I think they're just so focused on getting as close to the stage as possible (OMG! A MUSICIAN MIGHT TOUCH ME!!!) that they don't realise they're crushing the tiny person that needs to be that close to actually see anything. XD

But actually being there and hearing and feeling the music in the flesh.... it's incredible. If the music is good, that is.

 

[ImbecilicSage]

@fair phantom: I'm thinking you're probably already aware, and I've made this somewhat implicit within my other posts, but violence amongst metalheads does vary heavily among subgenres and/or fan bases of specific bands. From what I know I think Pantera attracted some of the most violent crowds, though that's somewhat to be expected if anyone has even any vague knowledge of their lyrics, as everything beyond their debut is pretty much about nothing but assault and/or general tough guy routines (I referenced earlier I'm really only partial to their debut of their major label releases, though I also own and of course have listened to their last independent release which is really high quality by my standards too, though it's really obscure/expensive generally so I'm not sure if you would be able to obtain a copy in spite of me praising it). I just recently watched Anthrax's Behind the Music episode, and I was surprised to learn that they attracted relatively violent crowds at least within their earlier years. Although some songs are about mindless violence (the most notable example I could cite is "Caught In A Mosh" which portrays enough hostility in its title ) a lot of their songs are about general social commentary, and my personal favorite even denounces violence, especially racially motivated violence specifically (I made implicit reference to that before, though if you're unfamiliar with their work that track is titled "Keep It In The Family"). Although I'm a big fan of their music I'm actually a bit reluctant to go to one of their concerts after learning what I did within their Behind The Music episode, though it's still a possibility (I'm not a frequent concert goer by any means, and although I'm a bit ashamed of that I've never been to an unambiguous metal concert in case I'd need to make that explicit).

Within this thread every NF type has been encompassed here within some fashion other than (once again) ENFJs, so I'm really curious what at least one of them might think of metal. It was my presumption that the NF type that would be most averse to metal if only one would be characterized by that idea would be INFPs, though it seems like they make up the majority of metal's fan base as far as MBTI NF types go based off the responses within this thread as well as the most recent post within the other thread I posted in that was about metal, so that definitely comes as a surprise to me. I would think that could probably be inferred, but if anyone here has an ENFJ friend(s), they're definitely welcome to invite them to post in this thread if they think they would have something worthy to contribute to it.

 

[Aelthwyn]

I'm not particularly well acquainted with the genre, but my impression of what counts as metal music tends to be grating/exhausting to me. I can only stand what i call very 'dense' or very loud music a little at a time and then I begin to feel worn out. I am also very uncomfortable with an angry atmosphere unless I'm actually angry about something myself at that moment, so hearing music that feels charged with aggression is usually just oppressive and uncomfortable to me. Plus most of the time I'm not very fond of the sound of distorted electric guitars which appear in lots of music (though I'm really not familiar with genre names) - it tends to sound more like 'noise' than music to me. Also, I don't really listen to music for the message in the words, so... what they're trying to communicate isn't really something that would attract me to any genre, actually I find most of the things people sing about annoying regardless of genre.

 

[Superfluous]

 

[bigstupidgrin]

@<span class="highlight"><i><a href="http://personalitycafe.com/member.php?u=228218" target="_blank">fair phantom</a></i></span>: I'm thinking you're probably already aware, and I've made this somewhat implicit within my other posts, but violence amongst metalheads does vary heavily among subgenres and/or fan bases of specific bands. From what I know I think Pantera attracted some of the most violent crowds, though that's somewhat to be expected if anyone has even any vague knowledge of their lyrics, as everything beyond their debut is pretty much about nothing but assault and/or general tough guy routines (I referenced earlier I'm really only partial to their debut of their major label releases, though I also own and of course have listened to their last independent release which is really high quality by my standards too, though it's really obscure/expensive generally so I'm not sure if you would be able to obtain a copy in spite of me praising it). I just recently watched Anthrax's Behind the Music episode, and I was surprised to learn that they attracted relatively violent crowds at least within their earlier years. Although some songs are about mindless violence (the most notable example I could cite is "Caught In A Mosh" which portrays enough hostility in its title ) a lot of their songs are about general social commentary, and my personal favorite even denounces violence, especially racially motivated violence specifically (I made implicit reference to that before, though if you're unfamiliar with their work that track is titled "Keep It In The Family"). Although I'm a big fan of their music I'm actually a bit reluctant to go to one of their concerts after learning what I did within their Behind The Music episode, though it's still a possibility (I'm not a frequent concert goer by any means, and although I'm a bit ashamed of that I've never been to an unambiguous metal concert in case I'd need to make that explicit).

Within this thread every NF type has been encompassed here within some fashion other than (once again) ENFJs, so I'm really curious what at least one of them might think of metal. It was my presumption that the NF type that would be most averse to metal if only one would be characterized by that idea would be INFPs, though it seems like they make up the majority of metal's fan base as far as MBTI NF types go based off the responses within this thread as well as the most recent post within the other thread I posted in that was about metal, so that definitely comes as a surprise to me. I would think that could probably be inferred, but if anyone here has an ENFJ friend(s), they're definitely welcome to invite them to post in this thread if they think they would have something worthy to contribute to it.

My wife (ENFJ) likes Rush, if that's within the umbrella of heavy metal then there you go .

As for myself: I like a ton of different genres (7w6 thing?). Within metal, I like thrash (early Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament although I can't say I've listened to much. I love progressive almost anything, so that means Tool, Meshuggah, Dream Theater. I'll put on the classics from time to time (Black Sabbath, Venom, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden). For just raw anger and emotion, I like Deftones. If I have a bad day at work I'll blast Adrenaline in my car. I like Amon Amarth even though I'll never be Viking enough for them .

 

[Arzazar Szubrasznikarazar]

I prefer extreme metal.

My favourite bands are:
MasseMord
Furia
Burzum
Night of the World
Nagual
F.D.S.
Emperor
Kriegsmaschine
Mgła
Plaga
Cssaba

 

[Mac The Knife]

IM A HUGE heavy metal fan and was actually the front-man of a heavy metal band for a long time.


I've been into these guys lately (Thy Art Is Murder), exploring some newer metal bands as well.

 

[ImbecilicSage]

@Mactheknife: I assume I could just message you with this question, though what subgenre of metal best encompassed the band you performed with (I don't mean to seem excessively superficially rooted, but based off your photo you definitely don't seem like someone who'd be performing death metal for instance, hence the question on my part)?

This is blatantly redundant me saying this, though it's still a major surprise INFPs seem to make up the majority of the NF type grouping that's interested in metal. I don't know if I might prove annoying stating this again, but with the hope of keeping this thread active to attract at least one of them, once again, ENFJs are still welcome to post if they come across this thread, even if they're not really heavily into metal.

 

[Mac The Knife]

@<span class="highlight"><i><a href="http://personalitycafe.com/member.php?u=178666" target="_blank">Mactheknife</a></i></span>: I assume I could just message you with this question, though what subgenre of metal best encompassed the band you performed with (I don't mean to seem excessively superficially rooted, but based off your photo you definitely don't seem like someone who'd be performing death metal for instance, hence the question on my part)?

This is blatantly redundant me saying this, though it's still a major surprise INFPs seem to make up the majority of the NF type grouping that's interested in metal. I don't know if I might prove annoying stating this again, but with the hope of keeping this thread active to attract at least one of them, once again, ENFJs are still welcome to post if they come across this thread, even if they're not really heavily into metal.

Haha No worries I mean I am covered in tattoos/ have inch and half stretched ear lobes. The band I preformed with best comparison to bands you may know would probably have been a mix of say In Flames *influenced* guitar drummer was super into Mudvayne I was vocally influenced by a band called Heaven Shall Burn, not tooting my horn in any way here but my 'scream' sounded insanely similar to his at the time. So imagine the singer from HSB singing with In flames ( that's the closest to the sound we had honestly )

for vocal reference if you don't know HSB

Btw I'm not personally satanic lol Just throwing that out there because of the band names ect.

 

[Blessed Frozen Cells]

I used to be obsessed with metal which was unfortunate because I turned into an elitist and looked down on other genres. Then, I ran through all of metal sub-genres and like 2 years later I was extremely bored with all of them. Only then I began expanding to other genres and realized I was being a close-minded idiot and missing out on tons of variety in music.

I still listen to some Black Metal and Post-Metal from time to time but for the most part I'm done with metal. Heard all of it and left feeling meh Now when I hear 99% of metal music, I hear the same format. It's like listening to the same two beats repeated over and over again and not in a good way like in drone music. It's not intriguing anymore.

P.S. Black Metal is one of the most beautiful genres created if you looked pass the most famous acts cuz they are the worst lol

 

[Bluehealer]

I think I heard satan singing :crying:

 

[Sygma]

I kinda really like Viking Metal like Amon Amarth (if its the correct appelation, I have no idea) and Pirate Metal like Alestorm. Other than that I was kinda into Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down, Metallica and some other bands when I was younger, now Im kinda heavily into indie rock / grunge / stoner.

Not for the lyrics or anything mind you (the metal period that is), but because the energy of the songs felt just right as in, it was an incredible amount of raw shit that allowed me to go wild and not think about anything