Metal is Romantic art, much as the novel Frankenstein or the opera Parsifal are: discovery of transcendent meaning in life by embracing its struggle and suffering as means to a higher end, an idea beyond material satisfaction or fear. To those who see the greatness of this idea, it is a worldview and a life-philosophy, and metal is one of its voices.
When we say metal expresses this idea, we are speaking only secondarily of imagery and lyrics (which mainstream academics prefer to study because they're easy). We speak of the music and the spirit it evokes. Much like songs can convey sadness, fear, anger or hope, like the leitmotifs of Wagner different impulses are encoded in metal music that together suggest a Romantic worldview.
As art, heavy metal music is unique among popular genres for this viewpoint. What makes sonic art "metal" is its expression of this spirit more than any dogma or musical conceits; after all, other bands have appropriated metal riffs for years but without grasping this idea, much like innumerable Hollywood soundtracks have borrowed from Wagner without capturing his ideal.
When a metal band ceases to make Romantic art and becomes another voice for the easy, non-transcendent answers of life -- material comfort, self-satiation, revengeful morality or simply self-obsession -- it is no longer metal, but an imitation of metal, much like advertising jingles often "sound like" a genre without having its artistry or ideas. When this happens, we erect the tombstone () over it and leave it to those who want mainstream music that "sounds like" it is on the "other side," rebellious and presenting a different way of life. It doesn't.
We do this to avoid the most common type of assessment given of art, which follows this form:
Let us look at the typical metal review:
Where Cannibal Corpse is praised for being a member of the easily identifiable genre, and being "brutal" or exhibiting the traits of that genre, Black Necrosodomy is lauded for having a trivial distinguishing factor to its outward appearance. In both cases, the art and what it communicates are meaningless, so there is nothing to discuss but how it accessorizes. Art is a communication between artists and listeners. Fake art is a product to decorate one's life.
If you want to know why a band's CD or performance is referred to this page, it is because the above is the best that can be said about it, and we do not wish to be ironic or condescending to you, our reader. We are here to praise the art in the genre and its best incarnations, and we treat you and the artists with greater respect by having such reverence for the art.