As far as most people s usage of the term goes heavy metal refers to all brands of metal The whole concept of restricting it to mean classic metal is absurd and confusing and seems like a fairly modern development to me I may be wrong here but that s what it seems like How is death metal not heavy It sounds pretty heavy to me As far as I m concerned there is simply no debate here either Metal music is merged into this article or deleted 00 11 19 January 2006