The University of Michigan has made the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach available for free download. The works were recorded by Dr. James Kibbie on original baroque organs in Germany. So, while it’s not quite the full discography this article’s headline advertises it’s certainly a significant portion of it.

What, you were expecting a post about Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer? Pshhhhhh. Mere child’s play when compared to the masterful works of Bach.

I’ve said it many, many times on this blog before: the roots of many elements of modern-day heavy metal, especially the more technical varieties, can be traced back to classical music. Just listen to that new Human Abstract song Axl was [rightly] raving about last week; the way those rhythm guitars move underneath the leads and the way the whole song is put together, it’s basically a fucking classical piece as arranged for a metal band’s instrumentation.

I find the organ to be a particularly dark and haunting making this post even more pertinent to a metal blog. But by now you’re either sold or ya ain’t; go and download Bach’s entire organ discography for free in 256kbps AAC format. I just download the entire Preludes and Fugues collection… can’t wait to dig in. Big thanks to longtime MS supporter Hibernum for the link.

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A favorite topic of mine when discussing metal with non-metalheads is that I love to harp on the myriad similarities between metal and classical music (“Metal is SMART music for SMART people.”). I’ve written about it before in this space, and now The Deciblog has joined in on the debate with a guest entry from Rachel Barton Pine. Pine can now add “violinist of Earthen Grave” to her already impressive musical resume, and as a self-professed metalhead despite having been classically trained, she’s got some very strong opinions on the metal / classical music correlation.

In her guest blog for Decibel, Ms. Pine chooses her Top 5 Most Metal Pieces of Classical Music, describes why she believes they’re metal, and even includes sound samples in the form of mp3 and YouTube clips. Beethoven = doom metal? Fascinating. Check it out at Decibel’s website.

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Rather than the usual aural assault, this morning I decided to tune my radio to 89.9 FM (WKCR here in NYC), who are celebrating the life of Johann Sebastian Bach all week during their annual “Bach Fest.” And it hit me: this man may single-handedly be responsible for heavy metal, having composed the blackest of black music some 250+ years before Black Sabbath.

I’ve been trying to convince metalgf for some time that modern metal (much of it, anyway) is an extension of classical music, and listening to Bach this morning drove that point home. Bach — even moreso than many other classical composers — is the quintessential forefather of metal. His shit is just so raw, evil-sounding, and full of emotion, and because his pieces are primarily solo works on the organ you can hear the melodies front and center. To further support my claim, I paid a visit to the bedrooms of America via — where else — YouTube, to find some modern metal renditions of the most famous tunes by our favorite Baroque composer.

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