Does it really matter? Would any of these releases actually compare to just an average metal album from overseas?
American or not....Dig deep down, think real hard and then honestly tell yourself that He's not right.
You just cant. Its a sad realisation that metal in Aus is Below Par
FFS most of the shit on the myspace's I hunted down sounded like mud.
I disagree. Maybe if the metal bands here had access to decent production theyd sound no different to any decent international act.
It's not even a matter of bad production anymore. Even most house engineers in Australia these days know how a metal band is supposed to sound. This is more about ignorance: a LOT of stuff on MySpace sounds like shit, not just Aussie stuff and a lot of that
is because much of it is badly produced. But can either of you knockers listen to the latest Alchemist and tell me honesty, cross-your-heart-and-hope-to-die, that it really doesn't compare favourably to Neurosis? Or that Daysend doesn't compare favourably to Kilswitch Engage? Or Mortal Sin to Kreator, Psycroptic to Decapitated, Misery to Morbid Angel? The list goes on and on. If you didn't
know these bands were Australian, would you even be able to
guess? I'm not sure I could. This is part of the problem, this "cultural cringe" we have that our local product can't possibly be even remotely as good as the overseas stuff. I've had Andrew Haug say to me more than once that he's had kids ring him or email him after he's played some Aussie metal track and saying to him, "Wow, I didn't know an Aussie band could be that good!". What a fucking ridiculous thing to say. It's the same as saying, "Brisbane will never win the AFL. They're not a MElbourne team!" It's the same dumb argument, that someone can't be good at something because they come from someplace that isn't known for what they do. Pfft.
Yes, there are Aussie bands that are totally crap but to just dump on the whole scene is ignorant. The
only thing that separates a lot of our local bands from the "big" bands (who aren't even that big, really. When they're not doing festivals, a lot of the "big" bands are playing small gigs just like our bands) is marketing. It's got almost nothing to do with music.
