Metal Reviews

I really don't like political lyrics; they're a great way to alienate listeners. :/

I'm pretty much the opposite and lean towards bands with meaningless/very vague lyrics

I listen to a lot of stuff where the lyrics don't necessarily make much sense, but they can still convey something with the music. And of course i listen to instrumental music too. Even instrumentals can have other dimensions besides just the audial form. (A lot of western classical music is deeply christian, Indian classical music is derived from ancient ritual music, and so on.)

Music made just for the fun of it can be enjoyable, and i listen to stuff like that too, but ultimately i find it superficial and pointless. But well, i've always wanted it all.

I see what you mean. For me I just listen to music for my personal emotional reponse to it, so whether the musician was inspired by his ex girlfriend trying to set his dog on fire out of spite, having too much spare time, the religion-fueled torture of nuns in Mexico, or obscure tabletop roleplaying games doesn't really matter to me, other than being interesting pieces of useless knowledge. Lyrics generally make the actual topic of the song that much harder to avoid... although it only really bothers me if the music is bad enough to let me get annoyed by the lyrics.

Bolt Thrower singing about war is completely different than some anti-war band singing about war. Bolt Thrower describes war and glorifies it but never really presses any agenda.

The thing with religion is most metal bands are athiest, pagan, satanist, or anti-organized religion. All views I could agree with. I don't listen to Christian metal just like I don't listening to music with political lyrics. Expressing views I agree with is fine by me but when it comes to politics things are so complicated and which most people are ignorant to most lyrics fail.

Fair enough. If the music itself is good, I can still enjoy it despite disagreeing with the lyrics (I listen to metal, as well as other forms of music, for the actual music - not for the lyrical messages). But when it seems like all a band can do is rant against republicans, Christians, etc., then I start to get a little tipped off. Just as I get annoyed with how a lot of Christian bands can do nothing but sing about praising God without actually putting much thought or effort into the actual music.

I also get annoyed with metal fans who basically know absolutely nothing about religion and are simply spoon-fed what to believe by bands like Deicide and Exodus. Religion is a lot more complex than many metal bands/fans realize. It's not just about believing in some "invisible being" or "higher power." Nor is it just about believing in a Messiah who came down from heaven and died for our sins. It's also about discovering how everything in the universe came to be (is it physically possible for something to evolve from nothingness, for example?), how order was created, what the meaning of life is, what emotion means, etc. God means different things to different people. To some, a divine spirit. To some, the forces of nature. To some, the human soul. You don't necessarily have to agree with religion, but you do need to at least respect it. Just as I can respect intelligent atheism. And these metal fans that scream "RELGION IZ TEH GHEY!!!1111" just because of what their favorite metal fans tell them to believe are just as bad as those teenagers who spew anti-Bush statements based solely on what Green Day told them to believe in American Idiot.

Just to be difficult, you could argue that by glorifying war Bolt Thrower are pushing an agenda of their own.

And Seinfeld, I think that the religion that bands attack isn't the 'forces of nature' type, which isn't really religion at all but gets lumped in with it, but the intolerant extremists. The fact that the moderates get caught up in it is a side-effect (although you could argue that the moderates make a permissive atmosphere for the extremists to flourish in... ).

You're correct about most bands attacking extremists (and I'll be the first to admit that I find extremists very ignorant and irritating) more than actual religions. Iced Earth, for example, doesn't really bash Christianity itself so much as they bash organized Christianity. But it's still an overdone topic, and it sort of makes it seem like ALL Christians are these wacked out fundamentalists, which is not true.

Let me tell you a few things about Christian Extremists: Many of them are former drug users, criminals, hookers, etc. Because they eventually "found God" and were, thus, "saved"; they feel they must now prove a point to the rest of the world and force everybody into believing what they believe (Dave Mustaine, for example, seems to fit this description right now). Which, while perhaps well-meaning, is very ignorant, narrowminded, and even snobbish.

I may be just being naive, but I don't think there all that many metal fans that are all about the christ hating, simply because metal tells them to. I think the vast majority of metal fans that are anti-religion are that way were already atheists that came to this genre because it shares their disbelief. Not necessarily the other way round.

The "rah I am satanic and I rape christ" metalhead is a cliche that doesn't really exist that frequently in the real world, IMO.

I agree with you on your second thought. I've always believed that most of that is cliche. You do run into the occasional extremist who is over the top and just plain damn scary in their way of thinking.

I personally, was raised a catholic and went through catholic school (K-12) and that is what turned me against organized religion on any scale. I have my own deep-seated positions on the subject. So, yes metal does offer a place for the jaded and disenfranchised. I was already 10 years into metal before I switched my position on religion and metal had absolutely no influence on that decision at all.

Those type of extremists are probably bred from newer music like Marilyn Manson. Most metal bands are to low key to be protested by churches unlike Manson. A friend of mine had stagnant holy water thrown at him by Christians while standing in line for Manson's concert. Marilyn Manson's fans are targeted by Christian extremists breeding extremist hatred for Christians.

My atheism grew alongside metal not from it. I was dissatisfied with church way before I got deep into metal.

I seriously wonder when these extremists are going to realize it's actually they who are keeping Manson popular in the first place.

That's very true because Manson's music isn't keeping him popular by any stretch of the imagination.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28771

Ha ha ha. On a related note his new album is the worst music I've ever heard.

Actors/Actresses who think they can do Hard Rock/Metal when they simply can't (Jada Pinkett-Smith, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp anyone?).

i musr digest my pizza and this discussion, and maybe i'll be able to say something useful.

Prog bands trying to imitate bands before them. *coughDreamTheatercough* I don't mind it when Spock's Beard or the Flower Kings do that sort of thing, but when Dream Theater does it, I get all vexed.

Now I'm goign to turn this around and say that Christians who think any secular music is "evil/Satanic" bother me. I mean, seriously. If these people actually took the trouble to LISTEN to the music they're protesting and actually learn about what the artist was trying to convey, they'd probably think a lot differently. Unfortunately, many of them don't. They basically protest bands they've never even listened to before. With absolutely no critical thought behind their often-incorrect and insanely biased arguments (many hardcore Christians, unfortunately, are not critical thinkers).

Meanwhile, some teenagers are actually scared to listen to secular music because they think any music that isn't about glorifying God must be "evil/immoral" (because, as we all know, any modern secular music must be evi/immoral - because you can only be morally sound if you sing about glorifying Jesus in every song you write ). This is because they blindly follow what some self-righteous pastors tell them (all secular music is about killing people and rejecting God - so you're a bad/evil person if you listen to secular music), without actually listening to the music and forming their own honest opinion of it. Why? Because if it's a Pastor who's one with God, he/she is always morally correct and is never wrong about anything.

Talk about naivity.

Think yourself lucky you haven't encountered the orthodox Jewish approach to music. Music can affect the soul (metaphorically speaking, of course) or the body, and only music that is good for the soul is good to listen to. Anything else is harmful.

Don't, I mean, do not seek out any of the orthodox-sanctioned Jewish music. Even Mattisyahu is superior, and that's a barrel of shit, right there.