Not a Metallurgy class! This veteran crash-course is coming back in full force and will have you head banging, air guitaring, and devil horn raising in no time! Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Heavy Metal, including how Metallica tries too hard to be cool, why Lemmy IS God (RIP), and why you might already be a metalhead and not even know it.
WARNING: This series most definitely goes to 11! Earplugs optional.
We'll look at metal cultures, explore the fringes of the most extreme forms of metal, and, of course, listen to some SCREAMING HEAVY METAL! This is guaranteed to be the most BRUTAL class ever offered at MIT! Anyone is welcome to join, and since we're remote this year, seating isn't limited. More details to come on how this will look this year. Learn more about this series' past at metal.mit.edu.
This year's flyer design was created by artist Kari Bijou. Check out more of her work on her Instagram page, @corvidlux!
Full 2021 Schedule of Events Below! (All events start at 6:30 PM ET, and links to the Zoom rooms that will be used are listed below. Keep in mind these times may shift depending on outside factors.)
Heavy Metal 101: Music and Culture
Tuesday January 5, 2021
An introduction to Heavy Metal. Topics include the musicology of Heavy Metal as well as an examination of Heavy Metal culture. This multimedia extravaganza covers everything you ever wanted to know about Heavy Metal!
History of Heavy Metal, Part I
Thursday, January 7, 2021
A seminar examining the history of Heavy Metal from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. Topics will include Hard Rock, Archetypal Heavy Metal, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), Power Metal, Thrash Metal, and the Big 4.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Metal Yoga with Tina Moroney-Ebarb of Black Widow Yoga
Tuesday January 12, 2021
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Tina Moroney-Ebarb. Always wondered how to stay healthy & mobile while staying TRVE to your metal self? Tina, owner and creator of Black Widow Yoga will introduce you to her style of metal yoga so you can begin to explore the darker side of wellness!
History of Heavy Metal: Part II
Wednesday January 13, 2021
A seminar examining the history of Heavy Metal from the early 1990s to the present. Topics include New American Metal, Metalcore and Grindcore, Black Metal, Death Metal, and Extreme Metal.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: The GUTS of Heavy Metal: Metal Music Theory with Colin Brumley
Thursday January 14, 2021
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Colin Brumley. Titled "The GUTS of Heavy Metal: Metal Music Theory," join us for an evening of metal music theory and songwriting with Colin Brumley of Dormivore and Noctobre. This presentation will be a deep dive into how metal is made and how it works, from the granular to the bird’s-eye view. Topics will include foundations in classical music theory (no prior knowledge needed), scales and modalities utilized in different types of metal, how to expand your listening, and how to use all of this to make your own home-brewed tunes.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Vocal Technique with Paul Buckley
Tuesday January 19, 2021
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Paul Buckley. Paul's talk will discuss how to develop and maintain a harsh vocal style as well as some examples of different harsh vocals used in metal.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Concepts, Story Building, and Promoting Your Work with The Beast of Nod
Wednesday January 20, 2021
MIT's Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturers from the band, The Beast of Nod. This talk will discuss the process of creating story-based music as well as how to produce, release, and promote music as an independent artist.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Modern Metal Guitar: Form, Function, and Fissicks with Görebläster Körpse-härvest Lunden
Thursday January 21, 2021
MIT's Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Görebläster Körpse-härvest Lunden. Görebläster’s session will focus on the role the guitar has played in shaping the sound of heavy metal. He will demonstrate how the mechanics of the instrument have led people to utilize it in specific ways in various genres of metal, how the characteristically “flashy” lead guitar sounds are made and how they’ve evolved over the years, and how modern equipment and production are used to mitigate some inherent limitations of the instrument when it’s used to play some specific styles of metal. Explanations will be accompanied by some (loud) performances.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Progressive Metal with Kelly Phillips of Tapestry Music Podcast
Tuesday January 26, 2021
MIT's Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Kelly Phillips. Kelly will focus primarily on Progressive Metal, namely what it is, what elements make music "progressive," where its roots lie, and a smattering of examples of how progressiveness has infiltrated the different kinds of metal music.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: AI and Metal with CJ Carr
Wednesday January 27, 2021
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, CJ Carr, who will share his journey into Neural Metal that began in 2012 at MIT.
History of Heavy Metal: Part III
Thursday January 28, 2021
Friday January 29, 2021 DATE CHANGE
This will be a seminar examining the many of the remaining genres of Heavy Metal. Topics will include more obscure genres of Metal Fusion, Experimental and Avant-Garde Metal, and really whatever else we missed so far. It's going to get weird.