Let's talk about sound decay.
That's what happens when a band tries to modernize and fails completely, either by incorporating the worst elements of contemporary music in a trite effort to emulate a commercially successful sound or through failing to understand the logical progression of their original style.
Some bands successfully complete the transition to a more modern sound - sometimes even improving on their old sound.
E.g. Tiamat: while I have nothing at all against their early old-school Sunshine Studios death metal sound - in fact, I'm a major fan of bands like that, I strongly prefer their newer gothic metal material, even if it has more in common with Type O Negative or Woods of Ypres than the band's own, older material.
Compare and contrast:
to
Katatonia made a similar transition, and again, I prefer their new, modernized material, though both sounds are excellent.
Again, compare and contrast:
to
Both bands progressed from their original sounds logically: Tiamat from a mysterial, ethereal death metal to a mystical, ethereal gothic rock approach; Katatonia from a reactionary, archaic (in the best possible way) approach to a modern, urban musical setting. Neither instance feels like a sell-out, or as though they forgot the thrust of their original artistry.
Some bands, on the other hand, absolutely cannot manage the transition between old and new sounds.
The worst offender, to my mind, is Queensryche. I adore their old stuff, even the Empire record, which some of the elitists on the Metal Archives dismiss as pop material. But I absolutely cannot defend anything they've released since the mid-1990s. And I think it's a great thing that the band kicked Geoff Tate out; he's the worst example of a prima donna vocalist in any genre that I can think of, single-handedly ruining the band simply because he hates metal.
Check out the decay.
to
This latter track shouldn't exist. It was a product of the decadence and decay of contemporary music - though the direct blame for it can be leveled directly at Tate, he wouldn't have been led down this path in the first if modern music weren't so materialistic and superficial.
In Flames is just as bad. Gone are the titanic, superhuman harmonies of a track like "December Flower":
In their stead are the dumbed-down, palm-muted mallcore riffs over piss-weak screaming of their most recent release, Siren Charms.
Like Katatonia, In Flames ditched the mythological feeling of their earliest music in favor of a more contemporary, more urban setting. And as I've said, I'm not at all opposed on principle to this change; I fully enjoy albums like Colony and Clayman that hint at a more pop-oriented direction while retaining death metal riffs and vocals. I'm even willing to defend Reroute to Remain as an interesting experiment, as much as it may have produced the most annoying track in the history of metal [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39lMf8FNOYE]. I even go to bat for a couple of the tracks on Come Clarity; there were a few gems in that otherwise fecal pile of Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace throwaways.
It's the execution that fails on almost all levels in this latter attempt. I'm not at all surprised that the YouTube url for this video begins with 'gAY'. It sucks on every level. Fuck this band; In Flames needs to pull a Queensryche and evict Anders Frieden from the ranks.
Seriously, the same individual is singing on both of the following tracks.
The riffing in this song is mighty; the vocals in full-force; the lyrics as profound as a band whose first language is not in English and yet who nevertheless insist on singing in it have ever penned.
So what the fuck is this?
"The whole world can go to Hell"? Which one are you, Eric or Dylan?
There's a whole school of thought now that In Flames always sucked; I think it exists in order for old-school fans of the band to cover their asses. I've got nothing at all against their early and middle periods. But Goddamn they've turned into embarrassing emo shit.
That's what happens when a band tries to modernize and fails completely, either by incorporating the worst elements of contemporary music in a trite effort to emulate a commercially successful sound or through failing to understand the logical progression of their original style.
Some bands successfully complete the transition to a more modern sound - sometimes even improving on their old sound.
E.g. Tiamat: while I have nothing at all against their early old-school Sunshine Studios death metal sound - in fact, I'm a major fan of bands like that, I strongly prefer their newer gothic metal material, even if it has more in common with Type O Negative or Woods of Ypres than the band's own, older material.
Compare and contrast:
to
Katatonia made a similar transition, and again, I prefer their new, modernized material, though both sounds are excellent.
Again, compare and contrast:
to
Both bands progressed from their original sounds logically: Tiamat from a mysterial, ethereal death metal to a mystical, ethereal gothic rock approach; Katatonia from a reactionary, archaic (in the best possible way) approach to a modern, urban musical setting. Neither instance feels like a sell-out, or as though they forgot the thrust of their original artistry.
Some bands, on the other hand, absolutely cannot manage the transition between old and new sounds.
The worst offender, to my mind, is Queensryche. I adore their old stuff, even the Empire record, which some of the elitists on the Metal Archives dismiss as pop material. But I absolutely cannot defend anything they've released since the mid-1990s. And I think it's a great thing that the band kicked Geoff Tate out; he's the worst example of a prima donna vocalist in any genre that I can think of, single-handedly ruining the band simply because he hates metal.
Check out the decay.
to
This latter track shouldn't exist. It was a product of the decadence and decay of contemporary music - though the direct blame for it can be leveled directly at Tate, he wouldn't have been led down this path in the first if modern music weren't so materialistic and superficial.
In Flames is just as bad. Gone are the titanic, superhuman harmonies of a track like "December Flower":
In their stead are the dumbed-down, palm-muted mallcore riffs over piss-weak screaming of their most recent release, Siren Charms.
Like Katatonia, In Flames ditched the mythological feeling of their earliest music in favor of a more contemporary, more urban setting. And as I've said, I'm not at all opposed on principle to this change; I fully enjoy albums like Colony and Clayman that hint at a more pop-oriented direction while retaining death metal riffs and vocals. I'm even willing to defend Reroute to Remain as an interesting experiment, as much as it may have produced the most annoying track in the history of metal [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39lMf8FNOYE]. I even go to bat for a couple of the tracks on Come Clarity; there were a few gems in that otherwise fecal pile of Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace throwaways.
It's the execution that fails on almost all levels in this latter attempt. I'm not at all surprised that the YouTube url for this video begins with 'gAY'. It sucks on every level. Fuck this band; In Flames needs to pull a Queensryche and evict Anders Frieden from the ranks.
Seriously, the same individual is singing on both of the following tracks.
The riffing in this song is mighty; the vocals in full-force; the lyrics as profound as a band whose first language is not in English and yet who nevertheless insist on singing in it have ever penned.
So what the fuck is this?
"The whole world can go to Hell"? Which one are you, Eric or Dylan?
There's a whole school of thought now that In Flames always sucked; I think it exists in order for old-school fans of the band to cover their asses. I've got nothing at all against their early and middle periods. But Goddamn they've turned into embarrassing emo shit.
