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Metal's Becoming a Cliche

I was huge on metal back when I was 15 to 21, and still like a bit now, but I think you have to be VERY fussy. Also you have to remember that there are so many styles within metal that you can go to a metal gig and hate every band there (even if they're good at what they do). I'll never tire of the classic Australian stuff like Gospel of the Horns, Destroyer 666, Grenade and Destruktor though! I'll pass on any of this modern rubbish with it's chug chug breakdowns and ridiculous circle pits.

I hate those breakdowns. I like maybe one in 20 because they're actually used well. But I always tell my band that if they want to use a breakdown, it better be a damn good one. No half-time chugs and it needs some sort of melody or something over it at least part of the time. Anything else bothers me.
 
Man, the op described my local Music scene pretty darn well.
I'm into a lot of that progressive stuff (all the bands listed in the op plus between the buried and me, the human abstract, porcupine tree, etc). The problem is all of the other teenage musicians in my area who play 'metal' are into all that cliche metalcore crud (think 'a day to remember').
I like progressive metal because not only is it heavy, but it's musical and technically challenging to perform. Part of why I study theory as extensively as I do (passed theory 3 with an A- last year as a sophomore) is so that I can get a better handle on all of the complexities of melody and harmony, etc.
But sadly, all of the local 'talent' will only play power chords, will only play in dropped tunings (to quote my ex guitarist 'you can't play metal in a standard tuning') and love those breakdowns where everyone plays their lowest open string in unison in an un-syncopated rhythm.
Sorry for the mini-rant/ derail.
But OP, your not the only one frustrated by this. I feel ya man.
 
I love Porcupine Tree. Somehow neglected to mention them. I even love straight up metal. Slipknot, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Avenged Sevenfold, Stonesour, Disturbed, all of that. Because they all know what they're doing and it's still music. And it's touching, angry, thoughtful, and everything in between. Not "chug-chug-chug 'I want to die' chug-chug-chug"
 
I won't say the genre sucks. I will say that it probably has the highest ratio of terrible bands to decent ones. There are a couple bands I like that could be called hardcore, but more often I find them listed under something else (mathcore? Artcore? What do those even mean?)


Oh, and coming here is Suicide Silence, a band I really can't stand. They're really a tight group, so I can't get them on not being skilled, I just can't stand listening to them. And I have to go with my girlfriend, who has tonsil surgery two days before and will be spitting up blood and on Loritab (sp?) so she needs someone with her. I'll let you know how that goes...

There are so many good quotes in this thread, hahaha, I want to click the quote button for literally every post I read, but I promise I wont.

Anyway, good luck with that oniman... on the upside, at least your girlfriend will be the bad*** mother****** spitting up blood, and she'll be high on loritabs to boot, so she wont mind at all! Not to mention, her voice will be scratchy as hell, so her gang vocals will sound great in the crowd! Now if she can just lend you some of those tabs so you can make it through the night, then you will be all set!
 
There are so many good quotes in this thread, hahaha, I want to click the quote button for literally every post I read, but I promise I wont.

Anyway, good luck with that oniman... on the upside, at least your girlfriend will be the bad*** mother****** spitting up blood, and she'll be high on loritabs to boot, so she wont mind at all! Not to mention, her voice will be scratchy as hell, so her gang vocals will sound great in the crowd! Now if she can just lend you some of those tabs so you can make it through the night, then you will be all set!

No can do. The doctors are giving her enough for 3 days so she's not in terrible pain until they have time to heal over a little bit. What kind of cold hearted b*st*rd would I be if I stole them form her?

On the other hand, it would be pretty metal....
 
You should move to Europe.

At the gigs I play/see, there's about a 50/50 split between chicks and guys.

Good times...

Europe is the continent that had enough audience for something like Black Metal .... so i can imagine, you guys must have a really good metal scene there.

given my situation, its more cost effective to not play in a metal band, than make a full scale move to europe and form an extreme death metal band there.

i really dont hate metal ... i just dont like our local scene and the people who end up promoting it as "music for meatheads"
 
Europe is the country that had enough audience for something like Black Metal .... so i can imagine, you guys must have a really good metal scene there.

given my situation, its more cost effective to not play in a metal band, than make a full scale move to europe and form an extreme death metal band there.

i really dont hate metal ... i just dont like our local scene and the people who end up promoting it as "music for meatheads"

Are the promoters actually marketing it as that? That sounds terrible.
 
Metalcore is just the new Nu-Metal, utter crud with a few exceptions. I could say the same for Deathcore atm too, there are a few guys out there doing it well but most of it is crap too. IMO of course :D

I've noticed that there are a few bands that write the 'cliche' and are great bands. Then everyone who likes them carbon copies these bands and then suffer epic fail.

For my Metalcore dose all I need is Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage. For Deathcore just As Blood Runs Black, Burning the Masses and Here Comes the Kraken.
 
I feel the same way. I used to listen to alot of metal, now I rarely do. It all just started to sound the same to me and nobody seemed to be doing anything original or unique. They don't seem to understand that nobody really cares how fast you can play or how deep and guttural your vocals are. Play something utterly yours and unique, with meaning and feeling in the music. Instead of playing for entertainment and self expression, They're just playing to impress others who listen to the same music that they do. Again, I love metal, but it's hard to stick with it if everyone is just copying everyone else.
 
I could not agree more with this thread. So I thought id ad my opinion. I have been listening to whats considered 'metal' for about 2 years now, a small list ov bands I listen to daily are: Iron maiden, Children of Bodom, Svartsot, Megadeth, Metallica and Cannibal Corpse. Now this is were my true opinions come in, I hate the band Avendged sevenfold I think they have no musical talent what so ever. And when the general public (being people who generally dont listen to metal) look at or look for metal bands Avendged Sevenfold is usually always are the top ( beside Slipknot black sabbath ozzy and metallica ). Once a person listens to Avendged Sevenfold they either go Ohh sh** metal music sucks or this band is really good. That is why I hate Avendged so much they listen to Avendged once then asume every metal band is like or similar to them. Slipknot is the same way but, they are better then Avendged IMO. Sure they are the top metal band right now and a lot ov people listen to them but what the hell? Why must every one judge some 43 'Sub generas' on one band? Pathetic if you ask me :bawl: /endrant
 
I could not agree more with this thread. So I thought id ad my opinion. I have been listening to whats considered 'metal' for about 2 years now, a small list ov bands I listen to daily are: Iron maiden, Children of Bodom, Svartsot, Megadeth, Metallica and Cannibal Corpse. Now this is were my true opinions come in, I hate the band Avendged sevenfold I think they have no musical talent what so ever. And when the general public (being people who generally dont listen to metal) look at or look for metal bands Avendged Sevenfold is usually always are the top ( beside Slipknot black sabbath ozzy and metallica ). Once a person listens to Avendged Sevenfold they either go Ohh sh** metal music sucks or this band is really good. That is why I hate Avendged so much they listen to Avendged once then asume every metal band is like or similar to them. Slipknot is the same way but, they are better then Avendged IMO. Sure they are the top metal band right now and a lot ov people listen to them but what the hell? Why must every one judge some 43 'Sub generas' on one band? Pathetic if you ask me :bawl: /endrant

I don't think that's a fair claim. That whole band's talented. Johnny Christ is an under played bassist, so I can see from that angle, but everyone else has amazing musical talent. I absolutely hate, for instance, Cannibal Corpse, but I have to admit they're a talented group. That's something you can't take away from either. Plus, what does it matter if people want other metal like Avenged Sevenfold? Then they go out and find other similar stuff. Discovering good new music is never a bad thing.
 
I don't think that's a fair claim. That whole band's talented. Johnny Christ is an under played bassist, so I can see from that angle, but everyone else has amazing musical talent. I absolutely hate, for instance, Cannibal Corpse, but I have to admit they're a talented group. That's something you can't take away from either. Plus, what does it matter if people want other metal like Avenged Sevenfold? Then they go out and find other similar stuff. Discovering good new music is never a bad thing.

I dont see talent at all in this song

Invalid Link Removed

Any guitarist can make riffs like that any guitarist can hold the sweetnotes and any band can make a bassist play like that, any person can scream and hold notes& any one can swear. How is that talent?

Cons about the song Nightmare: ( sorry if this sounds like a review :p )
Bassist is playing just to keep a beat, Witch in its self is not the worst thing ever.
Guitarists are really putting there soul in the song/solo ( if they are thats dissapointing :rollno: )
The singer is probably the worst singer iv ever herd. Id rather listen to Eminem.
And the lyrics suck ***.

Pros: The guitars sweetnote is good?
At least they are not screaming all the time like Bring me the horizen and bands like that.


My question to you is, What the **** do you see in the band?
 
Fry cant tell if stupid or trolling image by robyarr on Photobucket This picture has served me well lately....

P.S. is your YouTube name "Proximize"? there's a comment on the video at the same time you made this post that says "This band is f*****g s****y how the hell can you listen to this sh*t?"


Anyways, the riff is catchy, nice fat bass tone. High guitar melody fits really well. Drum "stagger" breaks up the rhythm nicely, drums in general are very good, pieces are slowly added on (notice that there's the riff, then the riff with lyrics, then extra guitar melody, then back up vocals). I love the back up vocals and piano riff over the (bridge? I'm not good with song structure). Nice subtle use of string section. I find plenty of soul in the solos. It's not weepy blues notes, but it has just the right subtleties to fit the creepiness and context of the rest of the song. Nice heavy breakdown right after the solo that's not quite too chuggy, but slows it down just enough. There's plenty of good things and bad things about any band. I can do what you just did to any band and list a bunch of cons with one begrudging pro.


So now that I answered all that, why do you feel like picking on them in a thread about a completely different class of musicians?
 
I agree with everything on here. My band opened up for this one group and all it sounded like was a lot of noise and screeching. I couldn't even isolate a single instrument. It bothered me so much. I like to think my band is a little different. We have a lot of heart and soul go into each song. And every song sounds different. Different key, tone, meter, feel, everything.

As far as looks...my two guitarists try way too hard to look metal. Just...d@mn fools. My drummer looks like he wants to worship Satan while trying too hard. My singer is the most chill person I've ever met. He's a badass but at the same time I could ask him for advice about anything. He's really sweet but he knows how to bring it on stage. Me (being the bassist, and the only girl) I look different than everyone else. The least dark. I usually wear my jeans that make my butt look smexy. And a dark button up, or a semi-dark Tshirt. But usually things are kept pretty light for me. But when in comes to my playing, my skills speak for themselves.
 
Iv seen that picture before :P
And no I dont really hate on bands too that level. I agree on if you like it so be it. Kinda makes me think why I started this convo? Whatever Im looking that the musical structure ov this song. Even those i said I hate them... That a different story.

And yeah it does have musical structure but so does 99% ov the songs out there? You can listen to metallica witch does have catchy riffs good solos nice blend ov lead and backing vocals. And just about every band I listen to has the riff then they play the riff again with vocals with it. I dont see what so ever how this band is talented. They do what just about every band does.

Ohh and on a side note. What do you dislike about Cannibal Corpse? I know tuns ov people who say the same thing, 'I dont like Cannibal corpse but they do have talent' My best thorey is that they dislike the vocals and possibaly the lyrics. I like them cause they have speed. When im feeling the right mood I love to have that acceleration I my self is not the BIGGEST fan on the lyrics but I do like the low/high vocals an how they are weaved into the instruments. My overall favorite part about the band is how both guitarist and the bassist play the same thing with the occasional solo or break. Now it maybe be a few minutes before I respond gotta eat ya know :)
 
Well, you know, anybody can write riffs like that. And anyone can do a guttural growl. And any band can make a bassist play like that. But that sweetnote is really good....

I just can't stand their vocals, and everything else seems cluttered to me. Same with Suicide Silence. My point is, these aren't the people we're bashing. Whether you'd like to admit it or not, Avenged Sevenfold is a musically talented band.

Write a song on this caliber, for instance, and you will be a musically talented person. Especially if you do it consistently over the course of 15 years or so. Invalid Link Removed

they are talented. I'm talking about the talentless hacks that scream into mics past the point of clipping, where the bassists just hit 8th note root runs, and the guitars blast away on power chords, the drums double bass throughout the whole song and hit the china cymbal on every beat, the cookie cutter sound, the cookie cutter lyrics, the fake badassery they inevitably try to project.

If a band stays clear of these to make actual music (HINT: Most don't) they have my respect even if I don't like it.
 

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