Metal Reviews

Aw, don't feel bad. A debate on the internet is nothing to get upset over. And, as I think we've seen from the News forum, it's much better to apologize for misunderstandings and move on with our lives.

I've listened to them, and kept an opened mind, and I can say I just don't like them. They're just not my thing.

Oh, well. There is good Nu Metal out there, but, if you ask me, SOAD isn't one of them.

I've learned to avoid all nu metal, but SOAD is some fun listening .

Bah i dont seem to get much into this album... I give it a 45/100 but my rating might change..

I agree that niether band can be categorized, we should create ANOTHER sub-genre of metal called system of a tool specificially for them

but seriously I think it's a pretty damn good album, much better than steal this album, on par with toxicity and not as good as self-titled. musically it is amazing, Serj really does have a unique voice (not a huge fan but i think Serj is the vocalist...) which will unfortunatly scare people from doing SOAD covers in the future i think. the political messages in the album are very dodgy, i think all bands should try to stick clear of political stuff cos its a garunteed way to get uneeded criticism...

explain???


going more mainstream is good? [/quote]

see i wouldnt say they are mainstream at all, just cause mainstream teeny boppers like them doesnt make them mainstream. their music, in my opinion, couldnt really be considered mainstream, they dont have a rapper or 5 sissy little boys as their marketing gimick, they dont follow the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus formula the way nearly all mainstream bands do, to me they are no more mainstream than dark tranquility or children of bodom or early lamb of god

Uhm, you seem to have a very different view of mainstream... I consider everything that a normal metalhead has heard of, including Dark Tranquility etc. to be mainstream. Or are you talking about mainstream music and not mainstream metal? Anyways, everyone has heard of SOAD, and since they have been on MTV, they are mainstream. I use MTV as a measure to see if a band is mainstream music (so I'm not talking about mainstream metal here).

by metal standards they are definatly mainstream. although they are popular i wouldnt consider them to be mainstream, to me mainstream is more of a music and image formula than how popular a band is, system's music certainly has alot of underground influences even if it isnt what metalheads would consider underground, their image certainly isnt mainstream - you wont see them looking like the latest pop rock sensation anytime soon, so imo although they are popular i wouldnt call them mainstream...

Yes you will, I've seen them on MTV even if I never watch MTV. This means they are in musical terms completely mainstream. They are a pop rock sensation, not the latest, but they were one. But pop rock as in nu-metal of course. They are not bad, pretty good for nu-metal actually...

There's no doubt that on this album they have gone a lot more 'mainstream' (to me, that means toning down harsh/weird aspects of the music so that a greater audience will enjoy it). The keyboards have become a much greater part of the mix, Daron does more singing (which removes the quirkiness of Serj's voice :evil: ) and he wrote more as well, leading to lyrics like:

There's nothing wrong with me there's something wrong with you there's nothing wrong with me - there's something wrong with you

from 'This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song' (crap title), which I find very annoying, and when it's one of the better tracks I've heard...this doesn't bode well for the album.

BYOB simply isn't a good enough song and doesn't stand up to repeated playing. When playing 'SOAD' or 'Toxicity' you are immediately grabbed by the first song, and with 'SOAD' especially, the songs seem to flow into each other naturally.

I don't plan to be getting Mezmerize, and if this is SOAD's 'Load', god only knows how shite 'Hypnotize' will be.

'You must enter a room to destroy it' indeed. Face facts people : SOAD have sold out. And no-one's more pissed off than me. :evil:

true...

Daron's voice sucks. its too whiny and compared to serj he just sounds silly. a tiny bit here and there like in needles was ok.

the lyrics are indeed rubbish, which of course is a natural side effect of going mainstream.

well you guys will disagree with me, but i like daron"s singing. It adds nice contrast to Serj. i don';t find it annoying it all. Times when he screams in BYOB add a nice element to the song.

serj's voice actually adds some uniqueness to SOAD. daron's is quite whiny

Daron in small doses is good for the music. As a lead, it's a bit of a letdown. Especially knowing how good Serj is.

yeah putting him as lead was a bad desicion.

Saw them live a couple of days ago, it's ridiculous music, completely random and zero sense of dynamics.

just like 99,9% of BM !

Make it 75% and know that I listen to the other 25%

I make it 90% and I know you're listening to 25% thus 15% crap !