Meshuggah Talks S*#% On Nightwish

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

Read and Discuss: I think this is going to come back and bite Nuclear Blast in the ass.

MetalSucks: You guys came from Sweden with a lot of famous metal bands, at the same time as a lot of melodic death metal, which has sort of gone its own way now. How do you feel about that scene and those guys?

Hagström: I hate it. I totally loathe it. Listen, I have nothing against the guys in the bands. I have nothing against the bands. I'm happy for them. If they're doing well and if that's what they want to do then fucking, "Hey, good for you." If you're talking from my personal tastes, I prefer when bands play metal and not SLAUGHTER and pop music with fucking attributes of a metal band. You got two guys with distorted guitars and then you got two chicks singing and three keyboards and then they play "lalalala." It's not why I got into metal. It's not like I'm saying it can't be melodic. CYNIC is very melodic and still fucking awesome. There are a lot of bands that people appreciate a lot over here, like I said I'm happy for their success, but I do not care for their music at all. It's formula music. It's built the same way that pop music is. It's performed the same way pop music is with back tracks and everything. They're like, "Oh, we're so fucking bad-ass and we look so hard." Most bands from Sweden know what they're doing* when they're playing. That's a great benefit. It might be music that I hate, but they can still pull it off, which is alright.

MetalSucks: It's good for all Swedish bands, I guess.

Hagström: I have nothing against it, but I would never listen to it. Having said that, there are a shitload of Swedish bands that I adore. THE HAUNTED is a great fucking band. ENTOMBED is a great fucking band. There is a lot of cool fucking shit around. A lot of the stuff that does well in Europe doesn't necessarily do well over here. It's like NIGHTWISH, they're from Finland; to call that metal is a fucking insult. It's probably good music, but it's not fucking metal. No way. I told Markus, on our label Nuclear Blast (because they're on it), "I know you're making a shitload of money, but you're making fools of yourself." He's like "I know". He's like that.

 

[ratanda]

So he doesn't consider Nightwish metal. Eh, not shit-talking in my book. Simply his opinion, though expressed a bit crudely.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Hagström: like NIGHTWISH, they're from Finland; to call that metal is a fucking insult. It's probably good music, but it's not fucking metal. No way. I told Markus, on our label Nuclear Blast (because they're on it), "I know you're making a shitload of money, but you're making fools of yourself." He's like "I know". He's like that.

...with that said, I bet Hagstrom would be the first one to jump on a tour with Nightwish. The guy sounds like a tool to me, so who cares what he thinks?

~Brian~

 

[Cheiron]

I get what he's saying. A lot of bands lack the attitude that some associate as 'metal,' yet are called metal.

 

[dcowboys311]

Yeah what a little bitch, saying a band probably makes good music but doesn't fit into a certain genre. That's the ultimate fucking insult. Boycott Meshuggah.

 

[Jibrille]

I get what he's saying. A lot of bands lack the attitude that some associate as 'metal,' yet are called metal.

That's more an issue with the person rather than one about the music they dislike being labeled metal. Bands like Kamelot are still metal despite lacking that "attitude."
Hell, people will hate hearing this but the entire reason I love Sabaton's "Art of War" is because it reminds me of Nightwish's sound but no one would question Sabaton being labeled as metal.

 

[Kaosaur]

I dunno. If you pay attention to what Hagström normally says, it's not really any surprise.

He's not being a dick, he just HATES bands that copycat each other and write their music by the numbers. Hell, the whole reason he plays the way that he does is because he thought the emphasis of everyone around him starting out on shred and being wanky was EXTREMELY fucking lame...so he wanted to play brutal rhythm instead.

His point is that Nightwish isn't doing anything different, aren't pushing themselves and are essentially just heavy pop music.


I mean seriously, is he wrong?

 

[johan68]

Everyone that knows those boys also know they like to throw back a few pints of malted beverages from time to time...
After reading this, I get the distinct feeling Mr. Hagström has a few pops underneath his vest...

 

[Iced Dog]

Haha, I've heard that same kind of ignorance...if he's so macho, why bother getting his panties up in a bind about it? Smacks of insecurity to me. But then again, he did say it's "probably good music", sort of a compliment there

 

[batmura]

Meshuggah fucking rules! Nightwish for the most part sucks... so no problems here.

 

[Prog_Please]

I personally think both bands are amazing in their own ways. However, you can't hold what Hagström said against him when Nightwish did put songs like "Eva" and "Amaranth" on their latest album. As a matter of fact, the FIRST single off Dark Passion Play was "Eva". Maybe he wasn't the nicest about the topic, but he's absolutely right.

 

[Bryan316]

I am not pleased by Hagstrom's words.


I deleted about a page worth, I'll choose to stay civil here.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

I completely agree with him. He's not being a dick, just because he said something you don't want to hear.

 

[Cheiron]

I am not pleased by Hagstrom's words.


I deleted about a page worth, I'll choose to stay civil here.

That's a shame.

If you watched Nightwish's music videos for their latest albums they often looked like lamers by head banging violently during foo foo parts of the songs. I know what he means because I see it with a lot of these really light, poppy bands, that still try to act like they are bad ass metal.

 

[dcowboys311]

I mean really, is it that big of a deal? He never said Nightwish sucked. In fact, he said "it's probably good music." All he said was they aren't metal. Which, as a few people have pointed out, isn't that far from that truth when they have and promote tracks like "Eva" and "Amaranth." Nightwish is definitely on the less-metal end of the metal spectrum haha. Are you people really going to be so whiny about this?

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

I love many hard bands like say for instance...Kreator,but I also listen to Nightwish and enjoy a lot of their music.It is "good music" to me but I have friends that hate Nightwish because they hate that type of metal or pop or whatever you want to call it.I love Kreator because they kick serious ass IMO.I love Nightwish because they are softer,but have some guitar that I love.I can listen to either end of the spectrum but I'm not going to knock someone because they don't like Nightwish no matter what their reason is.There's a lot of bands mentioned on this forum that I can't stand but I don't knock any of the people who do like them.I guess what I'm trying to say is don't take it so harshly,there's probably bands that don't think highly of Meshuggah either.

 

[compurocker]

Sub genre wars just irk me in general. Metal has been broken up into how many dozens of sub genres over the years and they all get into pissing matches with each other all the time.

To me, a band like Nightwish is metal. I don't care what sub genre it falls in, it's still metal. Does it have pop elements? Sure. The new lead singer used to be in a pop band and has a very pop voice. But would your typical Britney fan listen to it? Hell no. Not in a million years.

I never was a big Nightwish fan aside from a few songs here and there until this album. I liked the concept of an operatic voice blended with metal instrumentation on paper, but never felt they quite hit a home run with it. I think it sounds much better with the pop singer.

And you can't dog on them just because they have a few ballads. Plenty of metal bands do, some more than others. I love the couple of Opeth albums I have but I was bored to tears when I saw them in concert and they played a 14+ minute ballad. Nightwish didn't bore me in concert, and with Sonata Arctica opening it was a very metal evening indeed.

He's as entitled to his opinion as I am to mine but he could have said the same sweeping generalization about generic pop singers, country singers, or rappers. Every genre (or sub-genre) has a large majority of generic me-too acts that sound just like everyone else, and each genre has a small minority of stand out acts. No need to single out metal or a sub-genre of metal to make such an obvious observation about music in general.

 

[Iced Dog]

To say a band isn't metal just because they have a couple softer songs on an album is ridiculous. Because Master Passion Greed is sooo pop isn't it?

 

[Jibrille]

To say a band isn't metal just because they have a couple softer songs on an album is ridiculous. Because Master Passion Greed is sooo pop isn't it?

Didn't you hear? Britney Spears is covering it on her new tour.

 

[Kaosaur]

Didn't you hear? Britney Spears is covering it on her new tour.

"My fuckin' pussy's hangin' out!"