Demonspell
cheating the polygraph
I'm still waiting for the last two week's columns to be added to the site, I sent copies to the webmaster last night...
pure prog
- Thread starter Satori
- Start date
Soul Forlorn
Member
Satori, I would have to agree with you on most points. I picked up the Spiral Architect cd the other day. I do like it and have listened to it quite a few times. I find it somewhat inspiring but only in terms of musicianship. It is kind of 'dry' to listen to for very long. I keep saying to myself where's the melody, the emotion. Every once in a while I'll latch on to a great melody but it only lasts 4 or 5 seconds and then the pattern changes. When I listen to Opeth the melodies are what create the atmosphere, the emotion, the feeling that we have when we're listening to it and say "Oh, fuckin hell yeah!!!". These feeling are nowhere evident in music in the style of Spiral Architect. No, Opeth doesn't play a million notes per second and their music isn't that technical, but I've come to find out this isn't very important. That's one of the greatest gifts that Opeth has given me- the understanding that it is the composition of the music itself, the songwriting, the emotion that is way more important than the display of extraordinary musicianship. I went through a period of time where practically all I listened to was stuff like Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Michael Manring, Henderson/Smith/Wooten, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Macalpine, etc. Even in terms of my own playing, I wasn't happy unless I was playing as highly technical as my ability would allow. And in terms of my current music, sure I could make my guitar solos a hell of a lot more complex, but would they mean as much? Where I would disagree with you is about Dream Theater and Fates Warning. Some of Dream Theater is a bit "cheesy", but man, there are some songs that really move me. Their masterpiece "A Change of Seasons" comes to mind. I really don't care for their latest one at all, though. Fates is one of my favorite bands, though again their last 2 cd's didn't do a whole lot for me. "No Exit" and "Perfect Symmetry" are just plain classics in the metal world. The emotions conveyed in "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" off of "No Exit" are damn near up there with Opeth. I think there may be some potential with Spiral Architect. I hear some things in their music that really could be spectacular if they were to calm down a bit and focus more on the melody and the song itself. I look forward to future offerings by them. I definitely agree that great music isn't "written", it's just "spewed" from the heart. I know from personal experience that whenever I've sat down and said "Ok, now I'm going to write a song" it always turns out like shit. My favorite parts of my music just came about while jamming to a drum beat or just by improvisation. Well, as Forrest Gump would say "That's all I've got to say about that"
www.mp3.com/soulforlorn
www.mp3.com/soulforlorn
Since when can musically-driven bands like Fates Warning and Dream Theater be called hair, when hair metal was the LEAST musicaly-driven kind of metal.
Hair metal bands were more in the artist range than musician...or even worst...simply performers...
Fates Warning is really an emotional band...and they don't wank. Listen to their latest CD...their isn't so much damn tech playing...it's mostly mid-tempo or slow, atmospheric, rich, sensual, sentimental (I'm talking of Disconnect of course).
And Dream Theater...ok that's a little less inspired at times but still...Metropolis 1 and 2 are really great works of art...like Lamb Lies Down on Broadway...and it's not all technical (most of it is) but the ballads are down to earth and emotionnal.
So I can't agree with classifying two of the most essential bands of rock and metal of our days as "hair" or uninspired. Mind you that in the future it's band like these that will be the Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, Queen, Beatles of the next generations...
Hair metal bands were more in the artist range than musician...or even worst...simply performers...
Fates Warning is really an emotional band...and they don't wank. Listen to their latest CD...their isn't so much damn tech playing...it's mostly mid-tempo or slow, atmospheric, rich, sensual, sentimental (I'm talking of Disconnect of course).
And Dream Theater...ok that's a little less inspired at times but still...Metropolis 1 and 2 are really great works of art...like Lamb Lies Down on Broadway...and it's not all technical (most of it is) but the ballads are down to earth and emotionnal.
So I can't agree with classifying two of the most essential bands of rock and metal of our days as "hair" or uninspired. Mind you that in the future it's band like these that will be the Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, Queen, Beatles of the next generations...
Demonspell
cheating the polygraph
I agree that Dream Theater can be really overbearing, especially on their often interminably boring ballads, but Fates Warning's music, especially from Perfect Symmetry onwards, is highly emotionally driven and contains no musical masturbation...and this is true of many of the progressive artists I have included in my recommendations.
bout the 'prog hair metal' bisness goin on and the questions... well its just the damn voice that so much reminds me of hair metal too.. and it puts me so bloody off its not funny (I think thats what may trigger that awful memory in Satori too)... So I totally agree with Satori on that level.
To me Spiral Architects voice puts me sooo off... don't get me wrong.. I can truly appreciate a beautiful clean voice (Mik's, Trent Reznor's, Romell Regulacion, among many) even though I come from a severly black metal past (which to tell the truth some people say on here they had to get used to black metal vox but to me it was the opposite when it came to clean vox... and I think its made me 'really' fussy in that area and has made my taste more refined..).
Though might I add so people don't start getting violent like now, that 'taste' is a personal thing and is built, shaped and refined upon what 'YOU' find beauty in even though some things may have more apparent beauty than others. Your mind then works to more quickly recognise that beauty in the future so thats why you hold that kind of beauty higher than others... So if you like Spiral or Dream Theater or any other stuff I reguard as crap... well good for you. I can see beauty in their work, but it doesn't make me climax in any way apart from the awe I get from their technical stuff.... and as someone said, its not really important. You might say fuck off.. but lets face reality as musicians here. Sound is a language and it is used to CAUSE EMOTIONS!!! So they've lost the whole point of making music to me... and that is kind of a self-glorified perversion to me. Sorry guys.
I stick to the 'prima materia' cause thats the only thing I find life in... if you know what I mean.
To me Spiral Architects voice puts me sooo off... don't get me wrong.. I can truly appreciate a beautiful clean voice (Mik's, Trent Reznor's, Romell Regulacion, among many) even though I come from a severly black metal past (which to tell the truth some people say on here they had to get used to black metal vox but to me it was the opposite when it came to clean vox... and I think its made me 'really' fussy in that area and has made my taste more refined..).
Though might I add so people don't start getting violent like now, that 'taste' is a personal thing and is built, shaped and refined upon what 'YOU' find beauty in even though some things may have more apparent beauty than others. Your mind then works to more quickly recognise that beauty in the future so thats why you hold that kind of beauty higher than others... So if you like Spiral or Dream Theater or any other stuff I reguard as crap... well good for you. I can see beauty in their work, but it doesn't make me climax in any way apart from the awe I get from their technical stuff.... and as someone said, its not really important. You might say fuck off.. but lets face reality as musicians here. Sound is a language and it is used to CAUSE EMOTIONS!!! So they've lost the whole point of making music to me... and that is kind of a self-glorified perversion to me. Sorry guys.
I stick to the 'prima materia' cause thats the only thing I find life in... if you know what I mean.
Vortex
Oh, Beth...
Erm, at times Radiohead get really prog. I urge all you prog-lovers out there to check out their newest single "Pyramid Song". I don't think I've heard any prog band play insane rhythms like that, plus it's a great song as well as opposed to being complicated for the sake of it. One of the deepest songs I can think of.
