Rock vs Metal
Rock music or simply rock is one of the most revered music genres especially in the west. It evolved from a combination of earlier genres among which is rock and roll and rockabilly in the 1950s. Folk rock emerged in the 1960s as a result of blending folk music with rock, and blues rock was created by mixing rock themes with blues as was jazz rock from the fusion of jazz with rock. Moving into the 1970s rock incorporated traces of soul, funk and Latino music and during this time too, rock evolved into various subgenres including hard rock, heavy metal or metal, soft rock progressive and punk rock. The 1980s rock evolution produced subgenres like alternative rock, hard-core punk and synth-rock with grunge rock, Britpop and nu metal coming in the 1990s.
Metal rock or sometimes referred to as hard metal rock has its roots in the blues and psychedelic rock subgenres. The typical metal rock’s theme is revolves around a thick, heavy electric guitar and drums sound characterized by highly amplified distortion and rapid guitar solos. It’s referred to as the most extreme in terms of machismo, volume and theatricality of all rock subgenres and its fans are known as headbangers.
Difference in sound
Rock or may be plain hard rock utilizes the classic overdrive sound created when the tubes on an amplifier or specific part on it like the drive knob have been pushed to the limit. This creates a long sustained sound with a twang and the distortion is light. As for metal rock the distortion is strong as the overdrive is sustained longer creating a deeper, heavier sound. With plain hard rock a classic drum set with no double bass pedal is used. Double bass pedal is when you have got two pedals or just one with two separate mallets attached to a double chained rod. Heavy metal utilizes plenty of these. Some early metal rock artists include Led Zeppelin, deep purple and Black Sabbath and all these got huge fan followings.
Summary:
1. Rock is the main music genre while metal is a sub genre of rock.
2. Rock sound’s overdrive has a lighter distortion than metal rock which has strong distortion.
3. Metal rock has a deeper, heavier sound than plain rock or simply rock sound.
4. Rock uses classic drum set without double bass pedal while metal uses double bass pedal for the drum set.