Hevisaurus is a band with a specific target audience: young children. All of the band members dress up as dinosaurs, even for their live shows (I am not entirely sure how they manage to play their instruments while wearing those ridiculous costumes). They often play at fairs and amusement parks and what not. It is about as campy and ridiculous as it gets . . . until you hear them play that is. Then you stop laughing: These guys are really good. I am not even kidding. Check out their official website: http://www.hevisaurus.com/

This is seriously awful. I bet Flower Metal would dig it though.

I really doubt they actually play themselves, in those suits. In studio, perhaps, but I bet all their shows utilize playback. I am not intimately familiar with their biography, but they seem to be nothing but a marketing program of Sony Music Entertainment.

There's a lot better kid metal band in Finland, called Moottörin Jyrinä. They mostly play covers of classic metal songs, with Finnish lyrics aimed at children. The difference between the two is that these guys are a sincere band that's not part of any marketing scheme, their music is quite superior, and the band seems way more skilled musically. Definetely the singer, at least.

Is this just a Finnish thing? Never heard of metal aimed at the youngsters.

Heh, I guess heavy metal is not exactly my thing then. It sounded OK to me, but I listen almost exclusively to heavier stuff so my ear might not be properly educated. You can find videos of their live shows on youtue while wearing the absurd costumes. The sound quality is bad enough to make me believe they actually play live. Anyways, you definitely will not beat hevisaurus *cough* metal Barney *cough* for campiness anytime soon.

They do have "great" marketting strategy... I once saw the Havisaurus video, I think they do a great Dino Metal and love it honestly:love:!

Garbage

Is it band what in MA who's pics are some kind a turtles like Hannibal Smitt weard in A Team
Such imidge is reaosn why I hate this band ,

Written by R'Vannith on 21.10.2011 at 12:50

Is this just a Finnish thing? Never heard of metal aimed at the youngsters.

I think so... It might probably be sparked by the "heavy" being the new Finnish Nokia, especially after Lordi won Eurovision Song Contest and Helsinki hosted the following event, then Finland was presented to the entire world as the absolute rock/metal paradise. In a way, yes, Finland does have some good world famous rock acts, however, the Hevisaurus concept is in my eyes a bit tacky... I heard it's organised as a musical for kids...

I wouldn't mind my kids listening to metal/rock... however, it depends on the age and until a certain age I'd like to keep my kids away from more harsh sounds because kids are tender and thus it's best to introduce them to nicer things at first. If I have a choice between having Slayer or Enya sounding at the house where a small child is growing, then I'll go for Enya. I know... I'd make a completely boring conservative kind of parent.

It's not just a Finnish thing. On this side of the ocean we have heavy metal lullabies for babies and toddlers.

Written by Ernis on 27.10.2011 at 01:56

Written by R'Vannith on 21.10.2011 at 12:50

Is this just a Finnish thing? Never heard of metal aimed at the youngsters.

I think so... It might probably be sparked by the "heavy" being the new Finnish Nokia, especially after Lordi won Eurovision Song Contest and Helsinki hosted the following event, then Finland was presented to the entire world as the absolute rock/metal paradise. In a way, yes, Finland does have some good world famous rock acts, however, the Hevisaurus concept is in my eyes a bit tacky... I heard it's organised as a musical for kids...

I wouldn't mind my kids listening to metal/rock... however, it depends on the age and until a certain age I'd like to keep my kids away from more harsh sounds because kids are tender and thus it's best to introduce them to nicer things at first. If I have a choice between having Slayer or Enya sounding at the house where a small child is growing, then I'll go for Enya. I know... I'd make a completely boring conservative kind of parent.

Yeah I agree, it just seems unnecessary to introduce metal to them when they're at that early age. I mean it's not as if they won't become aware of later on, especially in that part of the world. This whole thing seems completely gimmicky to me, just some average band targeting an audience which hasn't really been covered yet in the metal market. Though I guess if they really enjoy playing this stuff for the kids I wouldn't be against it.

Personally I'd go with Enya too

Written by R'Vannith on 27.10.2011 at 04:49

Personally I'd go with Enya too

Yep...

Did you know about the Japanese who did experiments with ice crystals? They asked people to say phrases such as "I love you." "You are so beautiful." "You are so good and nice" to water, then they froze the water and when they examined the ice crystals, the crystal structure was in beautiful shapes and very regular. When people said phrases such as "Go eff yerself!" "I hate you!" and whatnot to water, then after freezing this water, the ice structure was irregular and uneven.

The same thing happened when they exposed water to classical music (regular patterns). The ice crystals from water that had been exposed to, for example, death metal, was irregular and disturbed. I learnt about that from my physics teacher, btw, so it shouldn't exactly be a "new age" thing. That basically makes extreme sounds like drinking alcohol or smoking. It can have negative impact on you when consumed in excessive amounts. That's why I would definitely let my kids hear something aesthetically beautiful. You might imagine that a lot of the pop music played on radios and on MTV is not beautiful. I bet it'd disturb the ice crystal structure just the same way as death metal.

And I do agree that you can't be all grim, wear black, listen to harsh music all the time. It'll have an impact on your brains eventually. For example the keyboardist of an Estonian extreme metal group admitted that she prefers to wear white/light clothes while with family and listen to "nice" music because it would be stressful to wear black all the time and be amidst harsh sounds, therefore, extreme music and black outfits are exclusively for stage. I somehow also have a feeling that many metal musicians have a very modest appearance off-stage.

And me... well... I never was a fan of extreme metal anyway. If there's no melody, it's just boring noise for me.

Written by [user id=111172] on 27.10.2011 at 20:34

Hevisaurus are Tony Kakko, Marco Hietala, Jarkko Ahola, Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto & Alexi Laiho dressed in dinosaur costumes

Try again...

Personally, I intend to play early Earth records to my kids as lullabies. Maybe some Merzbow too.

I just looked into this thing, at it appears there are two basically identical bands: Hevisaurus and SauruXet. The record label, Sony Music Entertainment Finland, got into a quarrel with Mirka Rantanen (drummer of the band, also played in Thunderstone and stuff) over the rights to the brand. Sony wanted it all, Rantanen didn't agree. So basically, Rantanen formed a new band called SauruXet, claiming to be the original band with a new name and record label - partly true, I suppose. I am not sure about members jumping ship: Wikipedia states the live lineup of the band went over to SauruXet, and some articles I read said original members/inventors Pasi Heikkilä, Nino Laurenne and Olavi Tikka stayed with the Sony incarnation of the band.

So there are two bands who look exactly the same and have the same stage names but are in fact different bands. Pretty exciting!

SauruXet has a better singer, but it's still rather bland music:

As for how "Finnish" this phenomenon is, I don't know. Tory already covered some of that. And I'm pretty sure there are bands playing children's music all around the world. Metal is just another genre of music, no different from other styles. For at least a decade now, it's been perfectly normal and carried with it hardly any social stigma at all. In fact, with the international success of Finnish metal acts (HIM, Stratovarius, Nightwish etc. but lately Lordi too, as mentioned) it's become somewhat of a thing to be proud of. So it only makes sense that you'd have bands like this. I hardly think metal being mainstream makes Finland a paradise of metal though; I rather like my music to be underground so I can feel like the unique snowflake I am.

Viggo: I wouldn't make practical conclusions from obscure research. I should hope that we are capable of appreciating art above and beyond its direct causal effects on our brain. Nowadays people seem to obsess over the connection between music and brain chemistry, but I think the connection between music and the developement of taste is more important. Furthermore, "harsh music" is hardly a scientific term. The kind of music Hevisaurus play is harmonious and regular, without dissonance. I assume its causal effect on the brain would be similar to Mozart. On the other hand, you will find dissonance, atonality and all those awkward things in a lot of of modern classical music. Not that the effect of these traits would be bad; quite the opposite, it might cultivate our taste to rise above empirical determinism. But it's of course true that people of any age shouldn't listen to certain types of music (no matter how much they enjoy them) on the background simply as a means to improve study performance, for example. But fortunately music is still sometimes listened to as music, instead of used for another purpose.

^ Exactly

Written by [user id=111172] on 27.10.2011 at 20:34

I Love Children's Metal, Metal was created for everyone to listen to it

Is there Power metal aimed at children? Stuff like Hevisaurus sounds like standard heavy metal to me.

@Hobbit Viggo: that does seem a bit far-fetched to me, but if it's accurate its definitely interesting. As for the need of a balance between 'nice' stuff and that which is less so, I can only agree.

In retrospect how is this any different really than other music targeted at children. I mean there's kids rock out there as well I think. And they always bring out those compilations of contemporary 'adult' pop hits which can be appropriate for a young audience.

Written by IronAngel on 27.10.2011 at 23:45

On the other hand, you will find dissonance, atonality and all those awkward things in a lot of of modern classical music.

I can say Alban Berg's "Lulu" is not exactly an aesthetically pleasant listening. It's a natural procession of art. From styles that appreciate beauty to abstract and deconstructive styles and then back to the beginning again. Such as the abstract and "heavier" art of the German peoples replacing the realistic and perfectionist style of Greeks and Romans.

Written by [user id=111172] on 27.10.2011 at 20:34

Hevisaurus are Tony Kakko, Marco Hietala, Jarkko Ahola, Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto & Alexi Laiho dressed in dinosaur costumes

That's the Raskasta Joulua project for you. Along with some other people ofc.