Metal Reviews

I love bands to change, actually, I don't want bands not to change. Their next album will either have to be different from the last, or better, for else I consider it a disappointment. Truth is, I don't want a band to sound more accessible, because I like difficult music. Art is not an easy subject, and I want it to stay art. Now most metal is far from art, but at least it could try not to drift away any further. Bands can sell out if they want to, but they're not getting my respect for it.

I dont think the question is whether bands should change or not. Of course they should change and they should grow as musicians and artists and do wherever their creativity takes them. The problem comes in when you stand behind a band and they change their sound out of a desire to make commercially viable music. Metal cant be commercial. I dont want every kid in the mall knowing the same music as i do. That is what makes the music special. I like that I have to go out of my way to find something new and different and that my music isnt spoonfed to me. I like that average musicians cant play the technical music that i listen to. Commercial generally means simple music that you dont have to invest time into. When a band i listen too starts to make simple music i just dont buy it anymore. It isnt metal anymore. Metal is as much an attitude as it is an artform and when you are making the music for the money than that attitude goes away. There are plenty of bands who havent changed their overall style and "simpled it up for the simpletons." Maiden never changed, Manowar never changed, They live pretty good lives. Dream theater doesnt sound like they did on Images and Words but they still put out 15 minute long songs. They live pretty well. Bands like Pain of Salvation are probably making pretty decent money and yet they are certainly doing new things and growing. You can make money and not sell-out.

Interesting...I'd be perfectly happy for everyone to listen to the music that I listen to.

I'd probably freak out a little if my grandma was listening to Satanic Warmaster. Now that she's dead and stuff..

Well, OBVIOUSLY there are exceptions to that, you know what I mean.

I know. Just... Grandma & Satanic Warmaster. Spooky. :shock:

I meant that, while i would love for more people to be aware of the music I listen to, in a very elitist way I feel that they dont deserve it. I found metal around 8 years ago because i just wasnt getting any enjoyment out of music on the radio anymore. I found it dead and empty and pointless. If someone is fulfilled by that I consider that sad. These people should desire to find something more meaningful. If they dont - then they dont deserve to listen to real metal. Part of the appeal of metal to me, no matter the genre, is that good and great metal usually takes an investment that most people arent willing to make.

Well, there are two main points: first, is very cool (or trendy) to say "art have nothing to do with money", but if your work is being a musician, you need money to live. You have to sell, records or tickets, in order to keep going. But one thing is to earn money and another one is to betray your music to made it more radio-friendly.

The other point is to change. I think change is good in music, you can't copy the same record one time and another without stagnate, and become boring. But changes can alienate a part of the fan base. The main point is the direction of the change, and how affects to the music, and if the change is just for selling more copies.

One example of good changes is Rush, for me. They change a lot of things, but not trying to sell more (they don'y need it) and without alienate the fans. By the other side, we have Metallica. I really don't think the changes were done to sell more, but were in a wrong direction, betraying the most of the legacy they had before. And every step is even worse.

Different here, yet the same. I listen to music people generally don't listen to, but I don't consider the "normal" true metal to be so absolutely different when compared to pop. Most true metalbands still use catchyness and chorus-based songstructures, like pop does. It's a different thing for more extreme and experimental genres though, as well as bands that are puching boundaries in the general metal genres. I'm thinking of real prog, drone, some doom, some black, some death, and bands like Sigh, Sólstafir, Agalloch etc. Overall, metal is good for a "fun" experience, but most of it is not adequate when you want more. And I don't want everyone to listen to that very "more". I like being an elitist.

Most of the bands I listen to simply do not make money from their music. Discounting the Iron Maidens of the world, these guys obviously have day jobs.

I'm glad you mentioned song structures. I bring this up constantly. For example, do people really think they are listening to something that different from pop music when they play Soilwork or Lamb of God or whatever? It's got the same verse/chorus structure and production as pop music basically. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad music, but it tends to bore me.

I agree with you of course, but I also think you can take it a lot further than Soilwork and Lamb Of God. How about adding Kreator and Sodom for a start? I don't think people shouldn't like them (I like em quite a lot), but I do think people shouldn't consider them sooo much more innovating than some pop.

You are absolutely right. I like them too, but all that stuff is basically just heavy pop-rock. I don't mean to say that that stuff can't be good, but I too want the "more".

double post ftw

No pop drummer can do what Dirk Veurberen can do!

Personally i don't like it when bands change. When they evolve to newer & better things its cool, but when they go from making interesting music to making boring 4/4, predictable crap that I can't stand it's quite lame.

Pop does not necesasrilly equate to chart music.

Every form of popular music is 'pop' of some kind.

What, a song has to be in 7/8 before you can feel guiltless enough to enjoy it?

Well its not so much time signatures as bands that pretty much do everything in sets of four (see Soilwork's new album for an example of this)

Eh, it doesn't bother me. Just don't pay attention to it. Enjoy what comes first and then what comes after.

Great editorial, Ben!

I feel like you nailed my feelings on this.