Esa Lilja

• PhD
• Associate Professor of Music Theory at University of Stavanger

This study looks into heavy metal harmony from the point of view of music theory and analysis; the main focal point is the era that has been called classic or traditional. This era ranges roughly from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s, including bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. The study illuminat...

Guitar distortion used in rock music modifies a chord so that new frequencies appear in its harmonic structure. A distorted dyad (power chord) has a special role in heavy metal music due to its harmonics that create a major third interval, making it similar to a major chord. We investigated how distortion affects cortical auditory processing of cho...

This article explores harmonic function, modality and guitar distortion in so-called classic heavy metal. I suggest a dual framework for analysing heavy metal, including such mirror-symmetries as ‘major’/‘minor’, ‘sharp’/‘flat’, ‘bright’/‘dark’, ‘dominant’/‘subdominant’ and ‘authentic’/‘plagal’. My central aim is to demonstrate that heavy metal har...

Because of the use of guitar distortion, chords used in heavy metal are much more complex than the fingered guitar positions would indicate. Due to harmonic partials generated by distortion most chords have a major quality. However , heavy metal is mostly constructed on minor modes regarding the scalar construction. This creates an apparent modal d...

The digital music theory admission test for higher music education in Norway uses two alternative symbol systems for harmony analysis. In the view adopted here, both systems are unnecessarily complex for an admission test, where a lower level of theoretical knowledge would suffice. In addition, both systems focus on the so-called Euroclassical musi...

This article discusses the benefits of applying heavy metal repertoire when teaching general aspects of Western music. Many young people frequently listen to heavy metal and subsequently have much of its repertoire in their auditory memory. Since heavy metal is tied to the fundamentals of Western tonal music tradition, it can be employed when the b...