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Metal's Becoming a Cliche

#101
BigOldHarry said:
Ah, grasshopper... Awareness is the first step to growth. You have taken that first step.

Welcome to musical maturity. :smug:
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+1

I remember being 15, in my first band, before I played bass. It was just another metal angsty kids yelling into a microphone with extremely distored guitars and pinch harmonics, lol.

Byt the time I started playing bass, at 17, I had already outgrown the "metal" fascination and was focused on writing more melodic music. Punk had creeped into my reportoire and I was slowly transitioning to a more alternative style. These days I cant stand what passes for metal, but will always have respect for the real forefathers of the genre.
 
#103
MatticusMania said:
+1

I remember being 15, in my first band, before I played bass. It was just another metal angsty kids yelling into a microphone with extremely distored guitars and pinch harmonics, lol.

Byt the time I started playing bass, at 17, I had already outgrown the "metal" fascination and was focused on writing more melodic music. Punk had creeped into my reportoire and I was slowly transitioning to a more alternative style. These days I cant stand what passes for metal, but will always have respect for the real forefathers of the genre.
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Ahh, getting older, losing your hair, and losing your testes... Happens to the best of us. :D

Just playing, but there are those of us well into our 30s that haven't outgrown good music, regardless of genre. There's a lot of good metal out there... You just have to take the time to listen.
 
#104
fourstringdrums said:
My band rehearses in a dedicated music complex and our style of music is the minority. 97% of the bands are death metal and EVERY ONE of them sounds exactly the same. What's worse is that none of it is even remotely any good. On most occasions when we are in the hallway signing in we hear what seems to be 3 bands playing at once only to realize it's the same band. It seems that the primary goal is to see how much complicated unorganized garbage they can all play at once, like Meshuggah only without the talent.
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I see this a lot too. Dudes who want to make the fastest, heaviest, loudest, most blasphemous and violent music out there. Except this is what every DM band 20 years ago was already doing when it sounded new. By the mid 90s it got tired and old. Every once in a while there's some new life but not very often. Mastodon is pretty much carrying the popular metal torch right now, and doing a damn good job at it. OTOH there's more and more bands basically going back to the roots and tastefully sounding like old late 80s early 90s DM without blatantly ripping from it.

There's more -core bands because it's the new hotness and actually brings in chicks to the gigs to potentially score with.
 
#107
Any XM Radio people here? Does anyone else turn off Liquidmetal when Jose starts his shift?

"What's up metalheads! We got some Hatebreed, Suicide Silence and Devildriver comin' up in a little bit, but now here's some new Emmure off their new album "suchandsuch'!!" *then continues to talk a good 30 seconds into the song*

Nothing against Jose, (apparently a lot of musicians I respect, respect him) but that time slot is "core" for the most part.....

As far as cliches go, this emocore/fashioncore whatever stuff is just the latest trend in metal and will eventually be replaced with something else equally vacuous and uninspiring.

On a side note: How many remember when grunge and altrock tried to "kill" metal because of its ridiculously flamboyant imagery? Poison and As I Lay Dying are pretty much the same bands in so many respects.
 
#109
Etchbass said:
God, I hate local hardcore/pop/punk bands. They're all the same *****y band around here, and that's almost all we've got here in Buffalo, too. The worst part is, kids seem to love that garbage!

I've figured out their recipe if you would like to start one yourself:

1. get the biggest most obnoxious amp you can find
2. play power chord circle of fifths, with everything dimed on said amp
3. make sure drummer can play blast beats
4. singer is only allowed to sing major scale notes
(ex: Sooooool Faaaaa Soooool! mi re do, mi re do, meeeee reeeeee doooooo! Sooool faaaa soooool! Faaaa mii ffaaaaa miiiii reeeeee, Dooooooo!)
6. let drummer sing backup vocals, but only fifths and octaves
7. bass player stays solely on root, 5th and octave, occasionally throwing a 7th in during a fill.

good.
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Rule 4. HAH! I can actually imagine a typical metal head screaming solfège... then pulling off a sustained "mi" on an inhale.
 
#111
In RI it gets tough for metal bands to get really noticed. I don't know if this same thing happens for other genres, but production companies basically hold all the cards with clubs and bars in RI. In order to get shows at most of the places in Providence you have to go through a production company which makes you sell tickets in order to play and then you don't get paid anything. It sucks and keeps most of the bands local since the only way to make money is to sell a good deal more tix than you have to and selling merch.
 
#112
Metal is still going strong. Any proclamations that x genre of music or x type of anything that was good in the good old days is dead are usually said by the lazy or those that just want to complain.

Red Fang and The Sword rock. Old guys like Heathen and Overkill are still releasing brand new albums that absolutely destroy.

Local metal sucks? Oh heavens. Most local bands suck. Seeing most local live music is like swimming a sea of awful. There are a few good band everywhere. It is your mission to seek out, and support these bands.
 
#113
Every kid I know who plays an instrument plays metal. My friend Daniel is a guitar player (Not a guitard as he is learning from me) and we want to start a band...

A blues band.

It's what we listen to, so that's what we play. We are having a hell of a time finding a singer and drummer who doesn't listen to metal or rap. They all think the blues is for old people...
 
#114
IPA said:
Metal is still going strong. Any proclamations that x genre of music or x type of anything that was good in the good old days is dead are usually said by the lazy or those that just want to complain.

Red Fang and The Sword rock. Old guys like Heathen and Overkill are still releasing brand new albums that absolutely destroy.

Local metal sucks? Oh heavens. Most local bands suck. Seeing most local live music is like swimming a sea of awful. There are a few good band everywhere. It is your mission to seek out, and support these bands.
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Best post yet.

Well said.
 
#115
I despise these so-called metal bands that are in fact hardcore bands in disguise. I've had a falling out with a drummer because he wanted a break down in every song.

I really can't stand break downs!

Every other bands has them in every song. They're repetitive. Some of these are so terrible if they didn't pause in between songs I wouldn't know when one started and when one ended!

I thought this was just an issue in Miami but I'm sad to see it's an epidemic everywhere.

Metal could very well be dead. And "Hardcore" (I use quotes because real hardcore is hardcore punk) killed it.

I wouldn't mind if there was a uniqueness to it (a-la Horse The Band) but there's this BS like Design The Skyline that really makes me lose hope.
 
#118
Bloodhammer said:
As far as cliches go, this emocore/fashioncore whatever stuff is just the latest trend in metal and will eventually be replaced with something else equally vacuous and uninspiring.

On a side note: How many remember when grunge and altrock tried to "kill" metal because of its ridiculously flamboyant imagery? Poison and As I Lay Dying are pretty much the same bands in so many respects.
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I have to agree, unfortunately. It's my opinion that most if not all trends in music are really just that, trends. People are just doing what they want to do at the time, and I don't think any of it is any more vapid or uninspired than anything else. e.g. The OP of this thread mentions that (s)he likes slipknot and considers them original and creative, I would beg to differ - though I respect their opinion. Either way, opinions are like arseholes, as long as we can accept that and enjoy a sandwich together than we can get along.

In spite of what I just said though, I think the genre for bands like "bring me the horizon" should be changed to something other than "hardcore", because they sound quite different from minor threat.


DeathFromBelow said:
Punk's not dead, it just deserves to die.
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wasn't that the entire point?
 
#119
AdamJames306 said:
That being said, I'm with ya. I've been a lifelong metal fan and the local stuff is just unlistenable. Horrible tones, utter lack of melody, and boring songwriting seem to be hallmarks of the genre. And I'm gonna hurl myself off a bridge if I have to see one more guy in camo shorts and converse sneakers pounding away on something pointy.

Dimebag had the goods. You're just a guy in camo shorts with the gain set way too high.
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that last line is going into my sig :hyper:



... but I like my camo shorts :(
 
#120
zachoff said:
Just playing, but there are those of us well into our 30s that haven't outgrown good music, regardless of genre.
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Yeah, I don't think people need to "grow out of metal". I think what matters is growing out of good music, regardless of genre. When you grow out of Good Music is when you start sounding better, getting more gigs, drawing bigger crowds, and having a whole lot more fun.
 

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