Music Rants

As most of my friends know I'm a huge metal-head. I've been listening to metal for a good ten years now (wow I feel old!) so I've seen bands come and go, been to more concerts than I can remember, and have a pretty impressive t-shirt collection. That being said, I have fallen out of the scene a little bit. I used to care more about the newer bands and finding underground bands. I really am behind the times a little bit in that sense, but I still try and find out and listen to the newer bands that are popping up. Let me step back a moment, keep in mind when I first got into metal, I listened to bands like Slayer, In Flames, Cryptopsy, The Haunted (Marco Aro era), Arch Enemy (Angela had just joined), At the Gates, All That Remains, Dark Tranquility, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth, Vader, Darkest Hour (when they first came out), and many others. All these bands are still around today which is great, but the scene seemed so much different back then, more Swedish, more separation between the genres, not so much crossover. There were black metalers, melodic death metalers (me), hardcore kids, and just plain death metalers. Now bands seem to be crossing all genres, throwing melodies, grunts, grindcore, and double bass into everything. I think it's great, it's really fresh and interesting and maybe not always original. The problem with some of the newer bands is copy cats. There were always copy cats before, but the giants were so above all the copies, everyone knew who started what and who to credit. Anymore alot of the bands sound the same, once one new crossover band comes out, another one pops up, and another, and another.

I am a firm believer in originality and uniqueness. That's what was great about System of a Down, NO ONE sounded like them, there still isn't anyone who sounds like them. They have a totally unique sound. Another problem with newer bands are the lyrics. Granted a lot of metal bands have sh!tty lyrics, but some of these bands it's just ridiculous enough I don't want to listen. It just seems to me that the older bands I used to listen to, the Swedish giants had more interesting lyrics than these newer bands. They are trying I will give them that, but it's just ridiculous in a lot of instances. I mean, look at Opeth, their songs are practically epic poems, compared to say Five Finger Death Punch (whom I'm not a fan of). Even hardcore has lost it's inspiring lyrics. Hatebreed is probably one of the most inspiring bands to listen to (IMO) and some of these newer hardcore bands just don't get. Sure there is no topping Jamie Jasta, but still, I think they could do better. I guess it's that age old complaint, young kids may be able to play, but they don't know how to sing the blues.

lessthanthree,
V