Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Maybe you and carnut should post your "short list" of U.S. Power metal bands that the uninitiated should be looking at. You guys up to the task?
Sure, no problem. Although I will be very busy for the next week. Send me a reminder and I give you a list.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Personally, I don't pay much attention to where a band is from when I'm first hearing them. I just listen and my ears tell me if I like it or not.
That how I do it as well. But at a certain moment you can help notice...
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
The odd thing is I just looked thru about 100 of my most-listened-to cds, and there isn't much American in the lot. I've got Cage - Darker Than Black which is in my top-20 of all time list, and I've got a few early Iced Earth albums I really like. That's probably it for the power metal genre.
Well, I did not mean my remarks to cover just the power-metal genre. As you know, I also like band that have a somewhat crossover sound between prog-metal and US metal.
Furthermore I have something against that term 'power-metal'. I mean what form of metal is not supposed to be powerful? Its just makes no sense to me. Thats why I'd rather use the term US -metal. And yes I think their is a very distinct sound there.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
I've got some American prog: Shadow Gallery, and Symphony X, Presto Ballet. That's about it for newer bands who weren't part of the rise of metal in the 70s or 80s.
Well, there is a lot more where that came from. I'll give you a list of bands next week. Also remember this; just because you don't know more US bands in that genre, that does not mean that they are not there.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
I'm interested in seeing your short lists so I can figure out why U.S. Power doesn't appeal to me as much as Euro (and by Euro I don't meen euro-speed ala Helloween and Rhapsody). My guess is that European music just appeals more to me. I like the folkish/mideival/classical elements of Europe. American metal, in general, seems kind of bland and one-dimensional to me. (Which could be a product of our watered-down culture.)
Dude ,I never will understand why Americans seem so intent to hate , belittle or dislike their own culture and country. I don't believe
there is a country in the world with so much self-hate and self-loathing. The European culture and the US culture are not so absolutely divided as most people in de US seem to think. Both are part of the bigger 'western culture'
Thinks about for instance how country music developed; by taking European influences and mixing them up. Think also about the US band 'Wuthering Heights' who mix folk and metal together. Now you may want to remark that folk music is essentially European, well remember that most of the people that came to the US the last few centuries of course came from Europe. And they took their folk music with them. It influenced styles like country, Cajun and blue-grass music and recently metal.
When you dig deep into the *American* culture you will find that its not shallow at all. Neither are the ideals that your country was founded on. In fact I would go as far as to say that the ideals the US was founded on are among the most profound of western culture and are indeed the result of the European enlightenment and thus of its culture.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Or maybe it's just because all my ancestry comes straight from Scandanavia and it slipped down the gene-pool somehow.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
I can say this, my fave American Power Metal band is Cage, simply for Darker Than Black album. And why is that my fave? Because they added the nuances of American indians, a different culture.
I studied the American Indian culture for many years and I can tell you that you have a highly romanticized image of 'Indian culture".
First thing to know here is that there never was any 'Indian culture". There were hundreds of tribes all with hundreds of different customs.
It makes no sense historically, to compare the customs of say, the Blackfeet with the Navaho's. Its simply completely different. Some tribes had a agricultural way of life that was peaceful and cultured. Other tribes like the Sioux were a very warlike people who were basically hunter-gatherers and had almost no cultural elements
to speak of.
Go and see the movie "A man called horse" to get a faint impression
how the plain Indians lived and what their values were. Now please
don't mistake me, I am not making a blanket statement here. Its
rather the other way around; I am saying that the so called
'Indian culture was way to diverse to give it that unifying
expression.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Without that, it is just another U.S. Power metal album. It'll pound my balls to the wall, but there's nothing that really calls out to me from the shelf. No special melodies or riffs that stand out and I can't resist coming back to.
Well thats a matter of personal preferences. I doubt very highly thought that the melodies your are describing are a reflection of "Indian culture". Historically most of their music was dominantly rhythm-based and did not have much melody. Sorry, but thats the way it is. I am not
trying to belittle them. Its just basically how its was.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Maybe it's just because I am so interested and captivated by different cultures and I expect that in my music?
Hey like what you like. I believe in freedom.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Maybe it's because I grew up on British heavy metal in the 80s? I dunno.
I don't think so, because the legacy of the NWOBHM is carried on by the US-Metal bands. Lars Ulrich has always been very explicit where his influences came from. Almost all of the US-Thrash bands cite the NWOBHM band and Judas Priest as their major influence. Most of the Euro band don't have that edge and aggression like these UK bands had.
Trans-Siberian Outcast said:
Killer US-metal band!!
Take care buddy!
the Benedictum got me tooo still having a hard time believing that it's a female vocalist, but I do like her sound!
