Controversial opinions on metal

[SouthernTrendkill]

Ah, I see. Fair enough. That's kinda what I'm going for, so I don't disagree with you.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

My noise isn't "drone feedback" solely or even based on it partially. If you care about what I do, check this out.

 

[King Richard]

Yep, 'cause melody is all that matters and all we listen to is In Flames.

I seriously want an answer.

 

[False Joe]

Yep, 'cause melody is all that matters and all we listen to is In Flames.

Right. Because as soon as you add melody at all the music goes to shit.

 

[Vilden]

Noise isn't based on drums and guitars, in my experience.

It can be, like noiserock or noisecore for example.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Yep, 'cause melody is all that matters and all we listen to is In Flames.

I would argue that music without melody is lifeless and uninspiring. That's why I pretty much hate any artists or styles which go for "brvtality vber alles". I consider that taking music to a point of absurdity, where it barely even deserves to be called music anymore.

Of course, there are plenty of people here who actually enjoy that, so my argument won't really mean anything to them. It just seems to me that if extremeness and brutality is your primary interest in music, then you're shutting yourself off to the thousands of amazing ideas and moods that permeate all the other genres out there. And I'd call that a grave disservice to yourself as an appreciator of music, and to the world of music as a whole.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Wait a minute,why do some people refer to blastbeats and speed in general as equal to heavy? Speed equals light to me. Is it just me or dont you define heaviness as slow/midpace hammering? The rise of the slow but oh so mighty titan? To Live Is To Die and not some fucking Decripit Birth stuff,and so on and etc etc.

 

[Life Sucks]

I see what SouthernTrendkill is talking about in general. Way back when I was a kid, Metallica sounded like noise to me, since I was used to stuff like Guns n Roses, Poison, Bon Jovi, etc. Then I got into thrash, and some of the less melodic death metal bands of the time sounded like noise to me and astonished me with their heaviness. When I was listening to old school death metal, brutal death sounded like super heavy noise to me, as I discovered bands of this style. Even up until somewhat recently, the heaviest, most chaotic, purely rhythmic brutal death/slam sounded very noisy to me and I found it incredibly heavy. But now there is no metal that sounds like noise to me or shocks me with its heaviness. However, I certainly don't think that the heaviest bands aren't heavy.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

I see what SouthernTrendkill is talking about in general. Way back when I was a kid, Metallica sounded like noise to me, since I was used to stuff like Guns n Roses, Poison, Bon Jovi, etc. Then I got into thrash, and some of the less melodic death metal bands of the time sounded like noise to me and astonished me with their heaviness. When I was listening to old school death metal, brutal death sounded like super heavy noise to me, as I discovered bands of this style. Even up until somewhat recently, the heaviest, most chaotic, purely rhythmic brutal death/slam sounded very noisy to me and I found it incredibly heavy. But now there is no metal that sounds like noise to me or shocks me with its heaviness. However, I certainly don't think that the heaviest bands aren't heavy.

Interesting way to look at it. I'd say I'm with you up to old school death metal, but beyond that it still just sounds like noise to me.

(and not because I'm overwhelmed by the heaviness)

 

[Blind Guardian]

Stuff like Nasum will always be noise to me.

 

[cookiecutter]

You know, throughout all of these rants about how metal bands aren't heavy enough, I have yet to see you explain how it is possible to reach this pinnacle of heaviness. Or did I miss it?

He has actually said it multiple times. He wants an all out barrage of noise and blastbeats

 

[Manic Ferocity]

I see what SouthernTrendkill is talking about in general. Way back when I was a kid, Metallica sounded like noise to me, since I was used to stuff like Guns n Roses, Poison, Bon Jovi, etc. Then I got into thrash, and some of the less melodic death metal bands of the time sounded like noise to me and astonished me with their heaviness. When I was listening to old school death metal, brutal death sounded like super heavy noise to me, as I discovered bands of this style. Even up until somewhat recently, the heaviest, most chaotic, purely rhythmic brutal death/slam sounded very noisy to me and I found it incredibly heavy. But now there is no metal that sounds like noise to me or shocks me with its heaviness. However, I certainly don't think that the heaviest bands aren't heavy.

It's not the "noise" factor of slam death metal that bothers me, really. It's the gravity blasts and strictly groove-like structure that bother me for the most part. Oh, and I don't care for ultra-guttural vocals either.

 

[mutantllama]

Wait a minute,why do some people refer to blastbeats and speed in general as equal to heavy? Speed equals light to me. Is it just me or dont you define heaviness as slow/midpace hammering?

Yeah, I consider Candlemass to be fucking heavy, and they tend to be slow.

 

[Life Sucks]

It's not the "noise" factor of slam death metal that bothers me, really. It's the gravity blasts and strictly groove-like structure that bother me for the most part. Oh, and I don't care for ultra-guttural vocals either.

Not all brutal/slam death has gravity blasts. I actually think gravity blasts are cool. I do agree that a lot of slam is very groove oriented.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

Gravity blasts are a pretty widespread characteristic in brutal death metal, to my knowledge. Isn't groove a defining element in slam death?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Pretty much, but there is "fast slam" which kind of lacks the groove but keeps the riffing style.

 

[cookiecutter]

Abysmal Torment or Amputated Genitals for example

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

I seriously want an answer.

Go Forth And Die answered. I had explained and you had missed it.

It can be, like noiserock or noisecore for example.

Please direct me to bands, yes?

To thread:

For me, speed, gravity blasts, yes that IS heavy. To me slow... heck no, not heavy. Great stuff, but not the pinnacle of heavy. No matter how many hours of Sunn O)) or Candlemass I listen to, it can get pretty damn heavy but it will never get heavier for me than the fast "brutal" stuff. Like I said, heaviness most certainly does depend on the listener's personal opinion...

peace

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

Eh, I hate to double post, but I have an entirely unrelated controversial metal opinion that I feel the need to express...

Agalloch is pretty much the least metal thing of all-time. I mean, not literally, but they're by far the least metal band that I've ever heard out of bands that are called metal. Less so than AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana... Granted I am ONLY judging from The Mantle since that is the only one I have.

But I'm listening to it right now and... The Mantle is a great fucking album. No doubt about it, I love it. It's a great fucking album that lies somewhere inbetween indie rock and post-rock... and nowhere near metal. Okay, so most of these 10 minute songs have one or two 10 second bits of black metal styled vocals, and if you strung all of these parts from the album together, you would have a few minutes worth of a very kickass crossover between indie rock and black metal. But even in that case, it's not pure metal, the instrumentation is perfect to support the vocals, but it's still rock instrumentation. And the rest of the music, don't even joke. Since when has folk strumming and ambient beats become metal? Is Neutral Milk Hotel metal now because they made ambient tracks like Burzum did? There's really no connection, even if Agalloch is metal-inspired, the music they play has virtually no metal in it. Seriously, if VERY SPARCE use of harsh vocals, alongside an entire album of non-metal music and clean vocals... if that's what counts for metal, then nobody could ever claim that Atreyu isn't metal. And no, I don't think Atreyu is metal. But if a tin bit of harsh vocals for seconds out of epic songs make something metal, every metalcore band must be kvlt.

And don't get me wrong, I totally love this album. And I adore the little bits of obvious metal influence that comes shinning through in their instrumentation. It's awesome. But it's an influence worthy of crossover status at best. And even if I were to concede most of my points, and say that The Mantle has a lot of metal on it... even so, there are only a few metal songs on the album, with the rest being definitively indie rock or post-rock.

I know ya'll likely have a low opinion of my opinion on metal, but even so you can surely see where I'm coming from. It is surely the result of some bizzarre mistake that Agalloch has ever been considered a metal band.

I'm fully willing to believe that they may have had other more metal albums (Ashes Against The Grain, perhaps?). And I'm also even willing to believe that they count as metal, but if so then I think they should be credited with deeply broadening the scope of what can be considered metal, because the instrumentation on The Mantle is so blatantly rock. And it's not like you can connect it back to Judas Priest or anything like that. Some of the techniques might also be used in metal, but in a different way. The Mantle clearly uses them in the definitive indie/post-rock way. I honestly have to say that the main reason people (in general) would ever consider Agalloch metal is because that's the scene they're in and that's what they're called. You could have that exact same stuff coming from a band in the indie scene and of course it wouldn't be called metal.

Just my 2 cents, peace.

 

[MasterOLightning]

Pale Folklore and previous releases are certainly more metal than TM. I think AATG is more metal as well.

Those albums are also better.