Metal Reviews

Or any other genre for that matter.

It's how we know to put them in the genres in the first place. Imagine if everything sounded different, how weird would that be?

If you look at it a certain way, everything does sound different. Death, black, power, doom, etc. bands all sound different from each other, just like metal, industrial, indie rock, pop, polka, etc. bands all sound different from each other. The only way for every single band on the planet to sound different would be for every single band to have its own genre. It's human nature to encounter something we like and then start doing it ourselves. It's how civilization happened.

True. But some bands/styles are more similar to each other than the rest, ie melodeth.

You all are just racists. Melodeath racists. :roll:

It's like Christian black metal. Black is Satanic, Christian is kind of the other way. Death metal isn't melodic. Forcifully grafting melody to Death won't make it good. You could say the same things about rap metal, Jewish NSBM and English and Welsh people marrying, but I'll leave that to your imaginations.

Not that I'm against death metal with melodies, it's just got rather tiresome as a genre.

I was being a bit facetious (damn the lack of a facetious smiley), but I can understand what you mean. I love it, but that's just me. Although I disagree with some of your analogies - there's nothing inherently Satanic about the musical component of black metal, so although screeching about Jesus is very unexpected, it's not like the music itself is changed.

Satanic per se no, but it is definitely dark and evil sounding, which makes non-dark/evil lyrics sound stupid. Imagine the music of Transilvanian Hunger with lyrics like: "O' mighty Jesus Christ you're so pure, you're love!". It's just stupid.

It's like all those screamo faggots who growl: "THANK YOU for making this THE BEST DAY of my life..." (Taken from Funeral for a Friend - Rookie of the Year). Why would someone wan't to fuckin' growl a love song for your girlfriend? It's stupid. If I want a love song I'll grab an acoustic, add some strings and make a powerfull epic chorus indie rock style (E.G. The Decemberists - Bagman's Gambit).

True, it would sound quite out-of-place (personally, I think Christian metal of any kind is silly) but there's a difference between trying to marry lyrics about Jesus to music like Transilvanian Hunger and writing black metal instrumentation with gospel-esque melodies woven in and then keeping the blasphemous lyrics. (Hm...I think I just proved Zadster's point. I rebut myself by saying that there's a big difference between putting a bit of melody into death metal and trying to put gospel swells into black metal.)

well BlackMetal doesnt have to be Satanic,it could be just Pagan,like believing and promoting other believes than the christians,but yes i beleive christian black metal its out of place,but in theory it could be a Budist BlacK Metal genre :shock:

It's interesting -- if you listen to say Obituary and Morbid Angel then listen to At the Gates and Arch Enemy, you might be hard pressed to call both types of bands "death metal". But that's what has happened.

It's almost like 2 tribes that once had the same common language but have somehow diverged to the point they don't sound the same. Check out the difference between British English and American English. Maybe the basic elements are the same, but they sound different.

Going back to the subject at hand, while I thought Doomsday Machine was really good at first, upon repeated listenings, it's lost some of it's luster. Some of the "melodic" sections sound a bit lazy or a bit cliche. I think Wages of Sin was a lot more of a straightforward melodic death album, maybe more consistent than this newest one. I still think Angela's vocals are great, even though there's a little too much reverb on them.

Currently hammer-smashing my head to the latest Bloodbath album... Whoa, if I'd realized it was this good, I woulda bought it when it came out.

Exactly.

Sadly MeloDeath is just so easy to bash (and it isn't my favourite genre).

Well I don't really wanna get into the whole 'melo-death rules VS melo-death sucks' because no side will ever win this arguement. However I will give my thoughts on the album...

I've only listened to it start to finish once but ive heard each song 2 or 3 times, I rather like the album, while it is not as good as Wages of Sin in my opinion, it is alot better than what I have heard from anthems... The melodies are strong, the heavier bits are brutal as hell, not the most brutal I've heard, but plenty good enough for my liking, it does seem 'darker and heavier than anthems' as the band claimed it would earlier this year and overall I reckon it's a pretty damned good effort. Admittedly Angela uses alot more effects but she still puts in a great performance and seems to sound more like a man with every album, but that is not enough to bring down my opinion of this album.

YEAH! we want Johan back. Not that Angela is not a bad vocalist but Wages of Sin notwithstanding I fail to be impressed like the Johan era. As far as him being a "Shitty vocalist" I for one miss that ranting, slightly insane voice and the music that went with it. We want another Stigmata!(I can still dream right?)

After a couple listens I don't seem to be drawn back to it. it's not bad but it does absolutely nothing for me. Wages of Sin was by far superior and Anthems had more memorable moments ( Dead Eyes See no Future for example). I'm much more inclined into listening to Nevermore's This Godless Endeavor and Darkekane's Layers of Lies.

At The Gates riffs don't even sound similar to Maiden riffs.

.

Very true... BM is definitely anathemic to christianity.
I believe a lot of the ethos within BM is based on Neitzschean thought, as well as Paganism, more than anything.
Christian Black metal is an oxymoron, just as common sense or common courtesy are oxymorons.
V.

The riffs, admittedly, no.

But everyone knows what I meant. The melodies.

Anyway, Arch Enemy playing Glasgow at the end of September. In amongst it.

These Guys are never original..
Anthems they ripped off many Megadeth riffs
And in this album they ripped off maiden..