Official Off Topic Thread

[Horus]

I still like mine, so screw you guys.

*fails at attempting self-defense*

 

[Kenneth R.]

Wow, Kenneth agreed with me twice today. That's new

and, i so watched that show back in the day.

 

[Anonymous]

Three times! This must be some kind of record

 

[Horus]

Well at least I'm agreeing with you guys on something today. =\

 

[TuoDrable]

Ok, i guess i should be more helpful as well. Heavy Metal is basically just straight forward metal... it's what you think of when you hear "Metal". Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Doro, and many, many other bands of that style. Let's stereotype now. Power metal gets more cheesy. It's generally more about fantasy, faster paced (or super slow, cheesy gay ballads that even Celine Dion would think goes too far) and so on. There are some good stand out bands (Helloween, Gamma Ray, etc.) but most are fairly worthless because the genre relies heavily on vocals and most power metal vocalists are weak.

Heavy metal is generally more badass. The aforementioned bands such as Priest, Maiden, Doro are all here, and topics can range big time. There's also a lot about the glory of metal that falls into the heavy metal category (though generally this gets very close to power metal territory, i'd say it's plain Heavy stuff) such as Manowar. Heavy Metal shares more in common with very melodic thrash (think Rage here) over power metal, which is often times just gay.

*cut*
Any questions?

well, thanks for the explanation.
So, when Nightwish calls themself Melodic Heavy Metal, they are fucking the metal scene? (what I thought)
Though, I like Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian, Kamelot... which are Melodic Power Metal bands... I like their vocals on cd, not live, so what you're saying is quite right.
But Heavy metal singers are not that better. Let's say the all favourite, Iron Maiden, Metallica... I think they suck... I can't stand Iron Maiden for 1 minute.

One last question: what about Iced Earth?

mp3 players are so weak... Can't any company make an mp3 player which doensn't look gay (Ipod), has easy song skipping and a bit of memory and works with AAA batteries? Cause those with inbuild batteries have only 5 hours of battery life...
Damn you, electro...

 

[Tubbs]

Heh, I am exactly the same way. I've heard too many horror stories of crashes and poor customer service afterwards. Not to mention the audio files have to be tortured (compressed) in order to get on the MP3 player, and lose quality that way.

You know, I just realized that we agree on tons of different things. I just find this interesting. :Smug:

 

[Horus]

well, thanks for the explanation.
So, when Nightwish calls themself Melodic Heavy Metal, they are fucking the metal scene? (what I thought)
Though, I like Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian, Kamelot... which are Melodic Power Metal bands... I like their vocals on cd, not live, so what you're saying is quite right.

Actually, Roy Khan (Kamelot) is even better live than he is on the album. Saw 'em Twice already, expecting to see them a third time in 07, Khan is quite for the winning when he sings live.

But Heavy metal singers are not that better. Let's say the all favourite, Iron Maiden, Metallica... I think they suck... I can't stand Iron Maiden for 1 minute.

It's possible to not like Iron Maiden?

One last question: what about Iced Earth?

Iced Earth is so FTW that it owns your soul.

mp3 players are so weak... Can't any company make an mp3 player which doensn't look gay (Ipod), has easy song skipping and a bit of memory and works with AAA batteries? Cause those with inbuild batteries have only 5 hours of battery life...
Damn you, electro...

iPods may look gay, but they do get the job done. They sound great, hold alot of songs, (not the Nano. The Nano is for pussies.) and are simple to use. That's why I like mine. I don't care if it's a pop culture thing or not, I like it.

 

[Matt]

well, thanks for the explanation.
So, when Nightwish calls themself Melodic Heavy Metal, they are fucking the metal scene? (what I thought)
Though, I like Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian, Kamelot... which are Melodic Power Metal bands... I like their vocals on cd, not live, so what you're saying is quite right.
But Heavy metal singers are not that better. Let's say the all favourite, Iron Maiden, Metallica... I think they suck... I can't stand Iron Maiden for 1 minute.

One last question: what about Iced Earth?

I agree with you on some things here. I have never really liked IM or Metallica or Pantera or any of the 80's thrash/speed groups either. For me it's not just the singing but the lack of variety in the music.

Iced Earth is not my cup of tea. I dislike them and their use of american history.

iPods may look gay, but they do get the job done. They sound great, hold alot of songs, (not the Nano. The Nano is for pussies.) and are simple to use. That's why I like mine. I don't care if it's a pop culture thing or not, I like it.

Indeed, it's a very useful tool to have around.

 

[Horus]

But Iron Maiden doesn't sound anything like Metallica or Pantera. In fact, none of those 3 bands sound anything alike at all.

 

[Yngvai X]

I'm partial to agree with Zach's sentiments towards power vs heavy metal. The vast majority of powermetal is pretty lame to me, with the exception of very oldschool sounding bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Iron Savior, etc. (and much like Zach, Im not counting a band like Rage or Nevermore as powermetal either).

 

[Anonymous]

People classify Nevermore as power metal?

 

[Matt]

But Iron Maiden doesn't sound anything like Metallica or Pantera. In fact, none of those 3 bands sound anything alike at all.

rly.

 

[TuoDrable]

Never saw Kamelot live, my bad to classify Roy with those other 2.
Iron Maiden is the cheapest (probably not the cheapest, but close) and popular metal band that exists. They have had their time, now it's time for another band. I mean, after that much albums and stupid compilations?

the question about Iced Earth was: is it more Power or more Heavy Metal?
Judge on the Dark Saga, not The Glorious Burden.

good thing we all like Symphony X

 

[Anonymous]

Dark Saga..... I'd say heavy metal.

 

[Matt]

Never saw Kamelot live, my bad to classify Roy with those other 2.
Iron Maiden is the cheapest (probably not the cheapest, but close) and popular metal band that exists. They have had their time, now it's time for another band. I mean, after that much albums and stupid compilations?

They also have neither improved or declined at all in all of these years, and their music still sounds almost exactly the same.

imho.

 

[Phanto]

what's so important about having to classify bands. the best bands mix so many genres together you can't label them with "xx metal" anyway.

for example I like how freak kitchen say their ST album is a "A corny little heavy-pop-rock-latin-world-jazz-avant-garde-metal-blues-record straight from hell!"

 

[TuoDrable]

what's so important about having to classify bands. the best bands mix so many genres together you can't label them with "xx metal" anyway.

for example I like how freak kitchen say their ST album is a "A corny little heavy-pop-rock-latin-world-jazz-avant-garde-metal-blues-record straight from hell!"

I want to know what I'm getting. If Band A plays "metal", I hear cool melodic music, that's ok. Then I put in Band B, also "metal" and I expect cool melodic music... I hear fucking Doom stuff.
That's why it's important to classify bands.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Heh, I am exactly the same way. I've heard too many horror stories of crashes and poor customer service afterwards. Not to mention the audio files have to be tortured (compressed) in order to get on the MP3 player, and lose quality that way.

While I can't say anything about customer service issues, I will say that a good quality VBR rip of a cd is nearly indistinguishable to the human ear from the original. If you rip everything at 128kb/s, you're sadly missing out.....

J-Dubya

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Looks like i missed a lot. Let me try to catch up.

I was quite disappointed with Kahn live to be honest. Kamelot is one of the best bands ever, but live i was expecting much more.

Iced Earth - I say heavy metal. They don't really have the same overall themes as power metal, plus are a bit too dark to be power metal. That's just my oppinion. however, i've seen people classify it as "American Power Metal" (along with darker, heavier, less "happy" soundign bands like Nevermore and Rage, even though rage is German... and russian... and up until recently, american). At any rate, i'd say heavy. Though Tim Owens is a crap singer for them.

Nightwish is metal, and they borrow a bit from power metal, but they are really more in the "goth chick" metal genre along with bands like within temptation, after forever, epica, etc. Though those bands don't sound a *lot* alike, the main criteria here is the female vocals which definitely does colour the music. But there are people who'd argue that, which is cool.

I don't agree that Metallica or Pantera fit into heavy metal at ALL. Metallica old = thrash, mid = more rock (load and reload were hardly metal), and new = nu. Pantera is just... it's not heavy metal. Think old school guys...

But this brings up a great point. Someone said "why feel the need to categorize?" There's a HUGE need to categorize at least to the basic categories of death, melodic death, black, heavy, power, progressive, doom, etc. Think about this.. you've got Cannibal Corpse, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, As I Lay Dying, Kreator, Helloween, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Hammerfall, Kamelot, Pain of Salvation, Dimmu Borgir, Leviathan... All of these bands are justifiably classified as "Metal" to some extent or another, yet not one of them sounds even remotely similar to another. The more specific you get with genres, the easier it is to say "Hey, i think i'll like this" or "not my cup o tea".

 

[Rose Immortal]

While I can't say anything about customer service issues, I will say that a good quality VBR rip of a cd is nearly indistinguishable to the human ear from the original. If you rip everything at 128kb/s, you're sadly missing out.....

J-Dubya

I've had a few people who took iPods to the Apple store tell me about that. When I do rip things, I don't like to do it below 192 kb/s. Still, I'm a stickler for sound quality.

BTW, Tubbs--it hasn't escaped my notice; trust me.