Metal will always exist, but the bands that you've cited, this post-hardcore/metalcore trash, is what's killing the genre. I was excited to see the metal section in my local record store was growing, but then destroyed when I found that the vast majority of what they were selling was this modern Dillinger Escape Plan-derived fodder. Sure, they still cater to some niches, but bands like Avenged Sevenfold are selling seventyfold times the albums bands with far, far more artistic integrity and musical talent are, and it's disgusting.
Metalcore and its offshoots are a trend today, which I think is starting to dwindle as pop music comes back into the mainstream (nu metal was very popular a few years ago but I think is nearing death right now). It seems like every time I meet a "metal" fan, turns out that it's just some slobbering teenage whackoff who wouldn't know good music if it hit him in the side of the head with a sledgehammer (as it should in many cases), and is too busy beating off over how "heavy" the stuff is, the novelty of it all. What frightens me the most is that this new generation who are born in and raised on crap will be producing music with that influence in mind. It tarnishes the names of all the amazing metal bands out there, across the whole spectrum of genres.
Also, some of my opinions on individual bands as mentioned in this thread.
Cradle of Filth are complete fucking shit, pop-goth masturbation of the highest order. They have nothing to do with black metal and everything to do with Marilyn Manson. Dimmu Borgir has more integrity and are much more listenable, but they're still pretty much trash outside of one or two albums.
I don't understand why Fear Factory are still alive. The band hasn't made a good album since ever, and even their best stuff is only "best" relative to the rest of the shit they've produced. They're still quite popular, despite that. Ugh.
Opeth have become very mainstream these days, which is good because they're one of the few bands in the progressive metal scene that has some sort of lasting integrity. Unfortunately, most of the new fans listening to it only do so for the novelty that comes out of the "oh my god did he just growl, I think he did, you can't do that, there were acoustic guitars like five seconds ago" sensation upon first hearing such a style of music. Opeth are the most well-known and accessible band to play extreme metal combined with acoustics, but nowhere near the best, and the fans of the band need to look past them a little. I have nothing against the band and I love Mikael, but the listeners tend to be pompous shits who gobble up whatever they put out, without critique or judgment.
Metallica started sucking after Ride the Lightning. Period. They fucking blow, end of discussion. There are a billion thrash metal bands who beat the living shit out of them. They're a bunch of fucking hicks and hacks riding on twenty-year-old praise and money they don't even understand the origin of. The typical Metallica fan can be easily identified by asking said fan what other bands aside from Metallica he or she listens to: the response will invariably be "uuhhhmmm..."
Slayer are okay, but haven't made anything good in twenty years. As a thrash band they have far more integrity then Metallica, and I recognise their influences on bands like Morbid Angel, who went on to solidify the death metal movement in its early days. However, every single cover of a Slayer song I've ever heard has been better than the original.
Strapping Young Lad is... well, alright. I mean, it's not bad music, though a tad repetitive. What annoys me is more the image around the music; the band has this whole "look how metal we are, we are so metal" complex that I think is detrimental and cheapens the music. There are far heavier, abrasive and "metal" bands out there, and they don't go around with their wagging cocks in their air about it. I think if you make good music, you should be proud of it, no matter how heavy or mellow it is, and sell it as good music, not on some false idiom of heaviness or metalness.
Metalcore and its offshoots are a trend today, which I think is starting to dwindle as pop music comes back into the mainstream (nu metal was very popular a few years ago but I think is nearing death right now). It seems like every time I meet a "metal" fan, turns out that it's just some slobbering teenage whackoff who wouldn't know good music if it hit him in the side of the head with a sledgehammer (as it should in many cases), and is too busy beating off over how "heavy" the stuff is, the novelty of it all. What frightens me the most is that this new generation who are born in and raised on crap will be producing music with that influence in mind. It tarnishes the names of all the amazing metal bands out there, across the whole spectrum of genres.
Also, some of my opinions on individual bands as mentioned in this thread.
Cradle of Filth are complete fucking shit, pop-goth masturbation of the highest order. They have nothing to do with black metal and everything to do with Marilyn Manson. Dimmu Borgir has more integrity and are much more listenable, but they're still pretty much trash outside of one or two albums.
I don't understand why Fear Factory are still alive. The band hasn't made a good album since ever, and even their best stuff is only "best" relative to the rest of the shit they've produced. They're still quite popular, despite that. Ugh.
Opeth have become very mainstream these days, which is good because they're one of the few bands in the progressive metal scene that has some sort of lasting integrity. Unfortunately, most of the new fans listening to it only do so for the novelty that comes out of the "oh my god did he just growl, I think he did, you can't do that, there were acoustic guitars like five seconds ago" sensation upon first hearing such a style of music. Opeth are the most well-known and accessible band to play extreme metal combined with acoustics, but nowhere near the best, and the fans of the band need to look past them a little. I have nothing against the band and I love Mikael, but the listeners tend to be pompous shits who gobble up whatever they put out, without critique or judgment.
Metallica started sucking after Ride the Lightning. Period. They fucking blow, end of discussion. There are a billion thrash metal bands who beat the living shit out of them. They're a bunch of fucking hicks and hacks riding on twenty-year-old praise and money they don't even understand the origin of. The typical Metallica fan can be easily identified by asking said fan what other bands aside from Metallica he or she listens to: the response will invariably be "uuhhhmmm..."
Slayer are okay, but haven't made anything good in twenty years. As a thrash band they have far more integrity then Metallica, and I recognise their influences on bands like Morbid Angel, who went on to solidify the death metal movement in its early days. However, every single cover of a Slayer song I've ever heard has been better than the original.
Strapping Young Lad is... well, alright. I mean, it's not bad music, though a tad repetitive. What annoys me is more the image around the music; the band has this whole "look how metal we are, we are so metal" complex that I think is detrimental and cheapens the music. There are far heavier, abrasive and "metal" bands out there, and they don't go around with their wagging cocks in their air about it. I think if you make good music, you should be proud of it, no matter how heavy or mellow it is, and sell it as good music, not on some false idiom of heaviness or metalness.
