Your opinion of metal...

[Leaper]

Melodic Death Metal? Give me an example. Do any of the bands in this genre sound like the Melodic Non-Death Metal band Nightwish?

Here is some awesome melodeath:

Insomnium - Since the day it all came down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEd04x70AOo

Dark Tranquillity - Format C for cortex:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cx0WMH24J0&feature=related

Eluveitie - Inis Mona: (One may argue that this is folk metal, but nowadays folk metal is basically melodeath with some folk instruments and lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijKLHCQw5o&feature=fvst

Disarmonia Mundi - Oceangrave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYgVtN-rWiA

Scar Symmetry - The Illusionist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_7DE9tEqNs

I could go on and on...

And anyone who badmouths In Flames should go and listen to their first 4 albums right now, songs like "Moonshield" and "Dead eternity" should be teached in schools.

 

[Wilbot666]

Metal *can* be great. The finest examples of it (eg Opeth) are filled with magesty and make us feel more powerful and better than we are. The shittier examples of it incorporate a turntable and halloween masks. Yes I'm looking at YOU Slipknot!

 

[clicketycrack]

I'm not really into it, but I can see where other people would be. I guess it kind of depends on if you see music as an artform, because metal seems kind of uncreative to me. Kind of like rap, you hear one song, its pretty good, but soon you realise that it sounds exactly like every other song that the artist has ever done.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Quite a fan here, though I tend to listen to a spread across the sub-genres (much like I do with all music). Power Metal (Edguy, Stratovarius, Dragonforce), slower, darker stuff like Black Sabbath, Industrial and technical (Rammstein, Ministry), some of the more rock-ish stuff (Kamelot, Distrubed), Death metal (Queens of the Stone Age), and even a bit of Darkwave with Therion.


Anyway, yeah, I like it, and anyone who hasn't at least tried it should be quiet.

 

[konkwastaken]

I love metal, what i dont love is people who shun you for liking anything else if you are a fan.

Yeah, i like metal, i like everything from cannibal corpse, decapitated and suicide silence to trivium, dreamtheatre, Alestorm, Despised Icon to Enter Shikari...the list could go on and on but the point i am trying to make is i like pretty much every sub-gengre of metal too...I also like Lily Allen, Skrein, Pendulum and Showtek (this list could also go on for a while).

Its just another genre, it doesnt have to be isolated all of the time, if you like metal you can't like any other kind of music! whats up with that bullshit? (mostly heard from whiney pussy metal fanboys/girls)

 

[Lukeydoodly]

Awesome, has something for almost everyone.

 

[Socius]

If youre a metalhead and you know it clap your hands

 

[bobknowsall]

Metal is just like all other genres of music: There are some bands that truly shine and give the genre a good name, and others that are a horrible waste of time. The only problem is that metal is so much noisier than the other genres, so the bad songs are that much more obnoxious to listen to. Bad pop music is inane. Bad metal is ear-splittingly terrible.

With that said, I do like a few metal bands.

 

[Tonimata]

I'm an outspoken fan of the metal genre, especially Scandinavian bands and Disturbed. I've been listening to metal since the first time I watched The Matrix and heard Rob Zombie's Dragula during the club scene. Since metal is getting back into the mainstream for the first time since the 80s (thanks primarily to bands like Disturbed), I want to hear your opinion of the genre.

Yes, metal might be getting back into the mainstream, but I now ask, is it the mainstream it was on the 80s, or in fact, a mainstream the most purist metalists want at all? Don't forget that it's because many metal bands are selling easy that we're getting back somewhere, and that's essentially what all these lame pop rock bands have done in the first place. I think we have to support the olden bands that are still going, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Van Halen, so on, so forth. THOSE were the real definers of what metal is today, and who set the record high. We seriously shouldn't sink to the depths of some of today's metal bands. AND I AM NOT POINTING FINGERS!

And I am metal on fire

 

[Tonimata]

I dislike Metal intensely it all sounds like mindless thrashing and bad lyrics, I can just about stand hard Rock like Motorhead but thats the utter limit. I like my tunes like I like my women, groovy swinging and with a guitar in them.

MUST... RESIST... URGE... TO... BE... A... SMARTASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
GNYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGGGHHHHH *Brain snaps*
I'm sorry, I did try to resist, but Motörhead are undoubtedly metal. In fact, they're one of the hugest metal bands in history, as well as the main source of inspiration for bands such as Metallica. Lemmy is even referred to as the Godfather of metal. So yeah, what you're basically saying is you don't like nu-metal, or modern metal, which fits perfectly into the description you gave of the genre. I understand and agree, there is very few new metal bands that are actually worth a damn.

And I do believe Lemmy is on fire.

 

[AvsJoe]

And anyone who badmouths In Flames should go and listen to their first 4 albums right now, songs like "Moonshield" and "Dead eternity" should be teached in schools.

I'm a huge In Flames fan and have said so quite often but I dislike both of those songs if you can believe it. Dead Eternity is okay, but I like 4 other songs on that album a lot more than it (Subterranean is one of my favourites by them).

 

[Leaper]

And anyone who badmouths In Flames should go and listen to their first 4 albums right now, songs like "Moonshield" and "Dead eternity" should be teached in schools.

I'm a huge In Flames fan and have said so quite often but I dislike both of those songs if you can believe it. Dead Eternity is okay, but I like 4 other songs on that album a lot more than it (Subterranean is one of my favourites by them).

Well ok, I exaggerated a little. But the point is, that people judge them by their latest work, which is mediocre in my opinion. Their ealier work is a lot better.

 

[karpiel]

Metal was fun in the eighties but ever since its basically just social ineptitude in musical form.

 

[Inverse Skies]

I'm repeating myself a lot lately... but I don't believe it is as good as classical (my own, subjective personal opinion). However! The flipside is I also believe a lot of the bands are very talented musicians and it takes a lot of skill and practice to be able to play what they do, so in that sense I respect them a lot more than some silly pop song. I just don't like the music they produce sorry.

 

[mojopin87]

I try to get into metal and every time it just doesn't grab me. Not sure why. One possibility that I have considered recently is that most metal is very emotionally one-dimensional. Anger is interesting only if there is contrast and context as well as at least some attempt at subtlety occasionally. Also, although many musicians in the genre are extremely gifted, just because something is technically difficult it doesn't automatically become good, nor is speed always a virtue. Most shredding is either just so many accentless notes that I tune out or shameless guitar wankery (IMHO of course). I can respect the musicianship of the genre but I just can't bring myself to really embrace it.

EDIT: Also, when the vocals are nearly indistinguishable from white noise such that the words are impossible to distinguish or the mix is so muddy that it becomes white noise... it really makes me want to hit the mute button.

 

[AvsJoe]

Shameless plug: If you enjoy listening to the more metallic forms of music, join the metal group! It's a good place to discuss favourite sub-genres, songs, bands, etc.

Also, I need a new favourite band. I grow tired of Children of Bodom and Nightwish et al and I am looking for suggestions. Does anyone have any? I'm desperate here; listening to my MP3 player is almost a chore these days.

 

[AndyVale]

I'm an outspoken fan of the metal genre, especially Scandinavian bands and Disturbed. I've been listening to metal since the first time I watched The Matrix and heard Rob Zombie's Dragula during the club scene. Since metal is getting back into the mainstream for the first time since the 80s (thanks primarily to bands like Disturbed), I want to hear your opinion of the genre.

I disagree with your "Back into the mainstream... thanks to Disturbed" comment. Look up The Black Album, Nu-Metal and UK Xmas Number 1 2009. All examples of metal very prominent in the Mainstream since the 80's. Come to think of it I haven't seen Disturbed as real movers or shakers in Metal, especially with regards to getting it into the mainstream. Never really got into them though, think they're more of a US thing.

Onto the actual point, I love metal but it was almost all I listened to for a couple of years. Since then I've found a lot of other stuff and truth be told I listen to other stuff more now. I view Metal in the same category as Slipknot and Bill Hicks. I love them but I cannot stand a lot of the other fans. I know Slipknot are metal, but they deserve a special mention because of how much I detest most other Slipknot fans. Hicks was a very clever man, but not a God. He was excellent but I hate how his every word is sacred and not up for debate, yet his whole message was about freedom of choice.

Anyway, I'm off topic. Metal is great, I'm all for it and will hopefully see all the UK guys here at Sonisphere.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

i like very much, but i wouldn't listen to it all the time, cause my head would blow up.

 

[AndyVale]

although many musicians in the genre are extremely gifted, just because something is technically difficult it doesn't automatically become good, nor is speed always a virtue.

Something I have often tried to tell music students who lament how the latest hit single actually uses the same chords as blah blah blah and that anyone who can't pick out the note progression in a Ywengie Malsteem piece is a fool. Most people don't care, they want something that sounds good and sums up how they are feeling. For example listen to the solo in Comfortably Numb (by Pink Floyd, taken from The Wall) there are many moments when he just picks out one note at the precise moment you want to hear it and holds it before hitting another. I'm sure he could stick 24 notes and a whammy bar fiddle in there if he wanted, but that one note is all that's needed.

An interesting point in my eyes, glad you bought it up.

 

[sokka14]

it's a'ight. i used to be really into it but my musical tastes broadened.
a lot of people on here love it because they are at that sort of age.