amusing coming from you. both of you should get off your high horses about downloading since I buy more than both of you regardless.
To be fair there is a fundamental flaw in your understanding of the opinions being put forth; a lot of people (me including) seem to be discussing the visual aspects of the art, not the "emotional" significance of whatever riffs, songwriting, etc. there are in a song (or album, more likely). No one disagrees (who isn't an idiot anyway) that just listening to a riff and going "hm sounds riffy" without trying to understand the emotional or intellectual aspect behind the creation of said riff is stupid.
Rather, it seems that most people putting forth the opinion that music is not necessarily to be judged by the satellite aspects (the visual art and lyrical content, mainly) are saying that the "music" is all that matters in the end, when judging the work. They do not (again, necessarily) discount the possibility of a riff or section of a song having emotional significance. However, it is entirely likely (though assumptive) that these same people are the people who don't consider the emotional and intellectual power of a song and see them as just collections of riffs interpolated by other little musical flourishes. I'm not saying this is right (lol quite the opposite, being an art major) but I'm maybe trying to provide some perspective, because your post may or may not be attacking a straw man.
Considering Guy just bought a bit over $120 dollars worth of CDs from me a few weeks ago...
I just spent $150 on CDs this week, and $230 at Rites of Darkness last week.
What is your point?
That your point wasn't exactly valid.
But by taking in so much at one time, you're bound to give merely surface treatments to things that will reveal much more upon further scrutiny. As a general principle, it's better to know a few particulars inside and out than to have surface knowledge of EVERYTHING.
Buying albums in large quantities doesn't mean you don't intend to give each one the time and effort it deserves.
I can't believe people are arguing over this shit.
As usual, I didn't listen to a massive volume of metal this year, but I was surprised to see that Dawnbringer turned up on so few lists, especially on lists that went pretty deep. Did no one listen to it? Or was the response just underwhelming? It had good press in a lot of places, and I probably listened to it 15+ times myself. Usually pan-genre metal like that has a wide appeal, and it was on Profound Lore and presumably easy to find.
Also surprised to see Kylesa, Ludicra, Krieg, and Twilight go more or less ignored in spite of generally favorable opinions. Then again, this seems like one of the deeper years in recent memory.