Retro Bands - Good fun or a detriment to progression?

[Mr_Haze]

Of course we have no choice what a band does unless we're in it, but hypothetically:

Have the influences of retro bands accomplished everything except a polished production job or do the retro bands actually serve a purpose in expanding or reviving their style? Should retro bands focus instead on creating something new?

Are bands who attempt to re-live the golden days of their genre worth a damn in your opinion?

Personally, I enjoy bands like Goat Horn who try [tried] to embody the spirit of true heavy metal in a post-2000 era; and I think Witchcraft does a good job in their rock/doom style. I think that while tons of other bands have been reaching out into creating tons of new subgenres, it's nice to hear bands trying to go back to the roots and focusing on song-writing over originality. However, I've heard disdain for both these bands simply because "it's all been done before". What's your opinion? Ready, set, go!

 

[Carcassian]

Hmmmm...interestingly, for me it depends on the quality of the songs. A timeless style, such as trad-doom, doesn't really lose anything as long as the songs are of a decent quality. How many versions of Sabbath riffs can I hear? As many good ones as people can create.

I like to measure it on a band by band basis. I dig Witchcraft, but by the same token, utter cunts like Wolfmother can shoot themselves in the fucking face.

 

[swizzlenuts]

I'm all for it, specially in heavy or doom, but the main think they need to do is have their own reason for the music. Something like Ogre which is heavily Sabbath and 70's rock is good to my ear because they sound like Sabbath, and have their own reason behind their music, not just worship.

 

[swizzlenuts]

Hmmmm...interestingly, for me it depends on the quality of the songs. A timeless style, such as trad-doom, doesn't really lose anything as long as the songs are of a decent quality. How many versions of Sabbath riffs can I hear? As many good ones as people can create.

I like to measure it on a band by band basis. I dig Witchcraft, but by the same token, utter cunts like Wolfmother can shoot themselves in the fucking face.

I agree, except too many fags say the band is stock, and they suck because Sabbath already did it.

 

[Carcassian]

... of course, much metal is relatively timeless. It seems hard to creat a metal song of any worth that actually fails because it subsequently sounds dated - of course, the production process may render later tracks more palatable to the ear, but Sabbath - Lord of This World, or Maiden - The Trooper still astound to this day.

 

[Carcassian]

I agree, except too many fags say the band is stock, and they suck because Sabbath already did it.

If you extended that credo to riff writing, 97% of all bands would suck because Sabbath already did it

 

[Nico]

Those two bands (Witchcraft and Goat Horn), plus Drunkard, were the exact names I thought of when I read the title of this thread. Curious fact? Not really.

I have nothing against bands who are capable of giving the same vibe as the classics. Like Witchcraft does with Pentagram and Sabbath.

But I do not fucking like bands who try to emulate a style of music that was entirely reliant on either a cultural movement or a time-based mindset to create. No band can re-create Transilvanian Hunger. I mean fucking none. Same goes (roughly) for Dark Medieval Times and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Bands that try are, in my view, hopeless romantics with their heads in the clouds. The time and place for the writing of such music has ended (in my view), and they exist as timeless classics to this day. The true black art that was created in the early 90's exists as a culmination of different elements. Without these elements, such music fails in both purpose and intent. And to attempt to emulate such scenarios is to ignore reality and deny authenticity.

Uhg, it's too late for this shit, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this.

 

[MetalAges]

All I care about is, is the song good or not. I don't care that it has been done before. As much as people seem to think it's easy to rehash a style or sound, it's not that easy to do it WELL.

Anyone can write a song, but not everyone can write a good one.

 

[swizzlenuts]

With more thought, as long as the band uses the aesthetics from the previous bands or genres I really don't care. I just get annoyed when I hear a death metal band with loads of Suffocation or Carcass yet they have no other reason besides writing catchy riffs of their favorite bands.

 

[Carcassian]

With more thought, as long as the band uses the aesthetics from the previous bands or genres I really don't care. I just get annoyed when I hear a death metal band with loads of Suffocation or Carcass yet they have no other reason besides writing catchy riffs of their favorite bands.

The thing is that in recreating the aesthetics of genres of yore (i.e. in the fashions of 80s thrash), retro bands cross the line from reverence to the curse of the modern age: "irony".

You may (or may not) recall the retro-thrash mini-boom in the mid nineties. It was fucking SHIT. As Deron says, just wearing skin tight black jeans and wearing a bullet belt will not make your hum-drum 2nd rate songs classic thrash.

 

[skeptik]

No, retro is like saying "we have no original ideas."

 

[Mr_Haze]

Yeah I forgot about Drunkard. There's a fair amount of retro thrash bands, which I don't mind, but if I'm going to put any time into thrash nowadays I'll always listen to the classics (Dark Angel, Vio-lence, etc)..

 

[Carcassian]

Retro is like saying "we're out of ideas."

As long as the ideas they're reusing, who cares ? Sometimes seeking novelty in music is as pointless as having a vacation in Siberia because nobody has done it before.

 

[Killbot]

All I care about is, is the song good or not. I don't care that it has been done before. As much as people seem to think it's easy to rehash a style or sound, it's not that easy to do it WELL.

Anyone can write a song, but not everyone can write a good one.

Agreed 100%

 

[hibernal_dream]

All I care about is, is the song good or not. I don't care that it has been done before. As much as people seem to think it's easy to rehash a style or sound, it's not that easy to do it WELL.

Anyone can write a song, but not everyone can write a good one.

+100

Depending what you call "retro", it's possible for a retro band to top its predecessors (but rare). If Metallica was the first thrash band, it's a bit of a stretch to say all later thrash was useless and created nothing new.

 

[Hatebreeder]

There are bands that expound on the cliche, and then there are bands that ARE the cliche. Retro bands fit into both, more often the latter.

 

[Demilich]

It is possible that a retro band could at any time match or top their predecessors in terms of songwriting and whatever. A retro-styled band doesn't necessarily use exclusively rehashed ideas.

Constantly rejecting bands because they aren't doing anything new is a very tedious approach to music and not one I'd ever consider taking myself. I love the music of the 60s and 70s, and I love to hear bands applying their own touches to these sounds in the 21st century.

 

[Zephyrus]

Like them or not, I think retro bands win out because they satisfy the old-schoolers with their worship of the past, and they satisy the new-schoolers with a modern production. It's win-win.

 

[byrne]

i dont necessarily think trying to relive the "golden days" is going to be a good thing. i think regardless of what a band is hoping to accomplish by being heavily influenced by that era, you need to have a modern touch to the album - something new and fresh. i think drunkard, witchcraft, hypnosia (and so on) do that quite well.

when you have total revival style bands, with nothing new being brought to the table, you typically just get lifeless, repetitive, second rate doom, or scratchy worthless thrash (so on and so forth). being totally stagnant is just counter productive

@ carc: you dont like wolfmother? i have only heard their two well known songs (yet to hear the full album). i agree it is simplistic and clearly radio rock, but i think its quite enjoyable for what it is.

 

[metal_wrath]

I would add that Retro bands can often create more interest in the bands they are influenced by, which is of course a good thing.