Metal Reviews :: View topic - Enslaved article in NYT

Metal reviews in the mainstream media tend to be nothing short of pathetic.

The Metro (a free paper given away on public transport that has delusions of being some wildly alternative left wing powerhouse) did a review of System of a Down's Mesmerize and said (and I quote) "they're leagues ahead of any other metal band," but then proceeded to say it wasn't that great an album and have it 3/5.

So the best 'metal' band in the world only do ok albums. Right.

But what passes for metal now seems to have retreated from its natural points of reference – fantasy, antiquity, night-time, the countryside – and has taken up the themes of punk. It is about urban modernity, personal angst, teenage concerns and incoherent rage at society. Funeral for a Friend, Evanescence, Linkin Park and so on – their basic message can be summed up with the phrase: ‘Why haven’t I got a girlfriend?’

This is why the BBC was wrong to feature Judas Priest in the latest programme. Judas Priest are not heavy metal. They are hard rock. This is because they sing about girls, getting drunk and about themselves, whether it being ‘living after midnight’ or ‘breaking the law, breaking the law’. That’s why Motley Crue, AC/DC and Guns ‘n’ Roses are also hard rock. They don’t do songs about wars and killing people. And Judas Priest were not, as it was claimed, responsible for introducing twin guitar harmonies to metal; Thin Lizzy did this in 1973 with their version of the Irish folk song Whiskey in the Jar.

In stark contrast to this fine article by the NYT, I thought I'd dredge up the thread to post another article about metal "from outside". This time it's a goofy one from a crappy pseudo-Marxist webzine called spiked-online

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php? ... icle/3488/

Quote:

Some dodgy argumentation here, imo...

You mean you emailed the site?

Good work Zad you are the proactive sort

Maybe they will hire you to replace him.

Holding up the likes of FFAF and Linkin Park as Metal bands is ridiculous. All over the world, from the more commercial likes of Lacuna Coil (http://www.lacunacoil.it/) and In Flames (http://www.inflames.com/) to underground, sometimes rather scary bands, Metal is making a major comeback. Over 60,000 tickets have been sold to this year's Wacken festival (think Download's meaner brother) which features many a fine Metal band - many with long hair. Don't accept what the mainstream tells you is good music, do a little digging! You'll be rocking out to Swedish Viking revivalists Amon Amarth (all with long, fine, manly hair) - http://www.amonamarth.com/ - in no time...

WISHBONE ASH HAD GUITAR HARMONIES AND SANG ABOUT WARS AND KILLING PEOPLE BEFORE THIN LIZZY

PWNED COMMIE BITCHES

We were reminded how the bassist Tony Iommi was inspired to create Black Sabbath’s sound having worked in one

Author:	Goat [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:53 am ]
Post subject:	Enslaved article in NYT
Short and snappy, but cool to see one of Norway's best bands getting this sort of exposure. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/arts/ ... =permalink

Author:	Azrael [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:54 pm ]
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nice article. it's good to see an article on heavy metal that doesn't sound like the reporter was doing it as and "oddity" piece.

Author:	Dylan@Metalreviews [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:11 pm ]
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Sweet!

Author:	Mintrude [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:15 pm ]
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The NYT seem to cover metal a lot more than other papers. I once read an Anaal Naakrath review in the Guardian, that was pretty surprsing. Oh, and The Axis Of Perdition got mentioned in The Telegraph. That's about it.

Author:	rio [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:56 pm ]
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Yes, that is a good article, managing to tone down the OMG factor surrounding BM, and actually talks reasonably intelligently about Enslaved's music as well. Sorry to say bu I don't think the Guardian is likely to produce a metal-related article of this standard in the forseeable future.

Metal Reviews https://www.metalreviews.com/phpBB/

Enslaved article in NYT https://www.metalreviews.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10424	Page 1 of 2

Author:	Stefan [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:56 pm ]
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Was it in the paper edition of the NYT or just on their website ? Anyway, I'm pretty impressed with thus article. I don't think I'll ever read something that good in any of the major french newspapers...

Author:	Cú Chulainn [ Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:29 pm ]
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Actually recently the NYT has surprised me by featuring many articles on metal bands... Last year there was one Pelican, this year they had a review of the new Moonsorrow, then there was a review of a Finntroll concert/new album.

Author:	hellraiser_xes [ Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:08 am ]
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It's pretty cool to read an article about metal on a major newspaper. I enjoyed the article a lot.

Author:	OldSchool [ Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:30 am ]
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Very well written, and it was obvious the author knows his metal. That's a first for me, in mainstream media. np: Enslaved - The Sleep Floating Diversity <- the article made me crave for Monumension

Author:	Radagast [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:08 am ]
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Metal reviews in the mainstream media tend to be nothing short of pathetic. The Metro (a free paper given away on public transport that has delusions of being some wildly alternative left wing powerhouse) did a review of System of a Down's Mesmerize and said (and I quote) "they're leagues ahead of any other metal band," but then proceeded to say it wasn't that great an album and have it 3/5. So the best 'metal' band in the world only do ok albums. Right.

Author:	Goat [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:47 am ]
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Radagast wrote: Metal reviews in the mainstream media tend to be nothing short of pathetic. The Metro (a free paper given away on public transport that has delusions of being some wildly alternative left wing powerhouse) did a review of System of a Down's Mesmerize and said (and I quote) "they're leagues ahead of any other metal band," but then proceeded to say it wasn't that great an album and have it 3/5. So the best 'metal' band in the world only do ok albums. Right. I love the 'Metro Sexual' section where they send some token twenty-ish girl to some outrageously kinky do and then she writes about how embarassing it all was.

Author:	rio [ Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:09 am ]
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Metro? Do I not like that. Still, better than some of the bilge they give away free over here. The Washington Examiner reads as if someone had read the Daily Express and thought "Hm, it's ok, but what it really needs is more ranting". The upside is that there's lots more marginal freebies that span the scale all the way back to wacky 9/11 INSIDE JOB lefty papers. Plus the Onion is free

Author:	rio [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:10 am ]
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In stark contrast to this fine article by the NYT, I thought I'd dredge up the thread to post another article about metal "from outside". This time it's a goofy one from a crappy pseudo-Marxist webzine called spiked-online http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php? ... icle/3488/ Quote: But what passes for metal now seems to have retreated from its natural points of reference – fantasy, antiquity, night-time, the countryside – and has taken up the themes of punk. It is about urban modernity, personal angst, teenage concerns and incoherent rage at society. Funeral for a Friend, Evanescence, Linkin Park and so on – their basic message can be summed up with the phrase: ‘Why haven’t I got a girlfriend?’ This is why the BBC was wrong to feature Judas Priest in the latest programme. Judas Priest are not heavy metal. They are hard rock. This is because they sing about girls, getting drunk and about themselves, whether it being ‘living after midnight’ or ‘breaking the law, breaking the law’. That’s why Motley Crue, AC/DC and Guns ‘n’ Roses are also hard rock. They don’t do songs about wars and killing people. And Judas Priest were not, as it was claimed, responsible for introducing twin guitar harmonies to metal; Thin Lizzy did this in 1973 with their version of the Irish folk song Whiskey in the Jar. Some dodgy argumentation here, imo...

Author:	Goat [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:39 am ]
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rio wrote: In stark contrast to this fine article by the NYT, I thought I'd dredge up the thread to post another article about metal "from outside". This time it's a goofy one from a crappy pseudo-Marxist webzine called spiked-online http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php? ... icle/3488/ Quote: But what passes for metal now seems to have retreated from its natural points of reference – fantasy, antiquity, night-time, the countryside – and has taken up the themes of punk. It is about urban modernity, personal angst, teenage concerns and incoherent rage at society. Funeral for a Friend, Evanescence, Linkin Park and so on – their basic message can be summed up with the phrase: ‘Why haven’t I got a girlfriend?’ This is why the BBC was wrong to feature Judas Priest in the latest programme. Judas Priest are not heavy metal. They are hard rock. This is because they sing about girls, getting drunk and about themselves, whether it being ‘living after midnight’ or ‘breaking the law, breaking the law’. That’s why Motley Crue, AC/DC and Guns ‘n’ Roses are also hard rock. They don’t do songs about wars and killing people. And Judas Priest were not, as it was claimed, responsible for introducing twin guitar harmonies to metal; Thin Lizzy did this in 1973 with their version of the Irish folk song Whiskey in the Jar. Some dodgy argumentation here, imo... That is indeed a crap article. I sent a reply, wonder if they'll get back to me...

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Author:	rio [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:45 am ]
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You mean you emailed the site? Good work Zad you are the proactive sort Maybe they will hire you to replace him.

Author:	Goat [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:53 am ]
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rio wrote: You mean you emailed the site? Good work Zad you are the proactive sort Maybe they will hire you to replace him. Yes. Heh, then I too can write for a site that is 'personally endorsed by Karl Marx, and not by Stalin! Or would be if they were alive to read it!' Haw haw. What I sent, in case you're wondering: Zad wrote: Holding up the likes of FFAF and Linkin Park as Metal bands is ridiculous. All over the world, from the more commercial likes of Lacuna Coil (http://www.lacunacoil.it/) and In Flames (http://www.inflames.com/) to underground, sometimes rather scary bands, Metal is making a major comeback. Over 60,000 tickets have been sold to this year's Wacken festival (think Download's meaner brother) which features many a fine Metal band - many with long hair. Don't accept what the mainstream tells you is good music, do a little digging! You'll be rocking out to Swedish Viking revivalists Amon Amarth (all with long, fine, manly hair) - http://www.amonamarth.com/ - in no time...

Author:	rio [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:00 pm ]
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Right on. I'm not actually sure how much Marx would have liked the site. No doubt he would have considered Judas Priest to be metal, at any rate.

Author:	noodles [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:39 pm ]
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WISHBONE ASH HAD GUITAR HARMONIES AND SANG ABOUT WARS AND KILLING PEOPLE BEFORE THIN LIZZY PWNED COMMIE BITCHES

Author:	Radagast [ Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:40 pm ]
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noodles wrote: WISHBONE ASH HAD GUITAR HARMONIES AND SANG ABOUT WARS AND KILLING PEOPLE BEFORE THIN LIZZY PWNED COMMIE BITCHES Yeah fuckin' a-right. Priets really more pioneered twin rhythm guitar, if such a thing exists. Anyway, what a shit article, and thanks for making me remember that shokcing Metro review. God I hate the fucking Metro and it's "*randomness*".

Author:	hellraiser_xes [ Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:56 pm ]
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WTF?! Priest aren't metal? So this guy is thinking of rewriting 30 years of history? Pfft. Well the article had some points which were totally shit and I really don't see the flow and continuity in this one. First, it's about lyrical themes being punk-ish, then the demise of denim and leather, to imitating factory sounds and etc. Oh, I'm pretty surprised nobody commented on this: Quote: We were reminded how the bassist Tony Iommi was inspired to create Black Sabbath’s sound having worked in one Yes, yes, and Lemmy was the Duke of Windsor.