The new Opeth sounds fucking amazing

[Talking Backwards]

You say you can't stand the prog/power scene as of late, yet you regularly post cheesy music like this. This is why I say I think you have a blind spot to cheese, or maybe you like the cheese, I dunno. My wife listens to the same stuff because of the cheese; she calls it bee-do bee-do metal. She also loves death metal but she has a strong affinity for cheese metal as well, and I think you're in the same boat.

I don't really believe that I have an affinity for "cheese" necessarily as much as you can't seem to stand anything that sounds remotely 80s anymore I think. It's like if you hear something that sounds "outdated" to you, it's automatically cheese. Regardless, I don't actually listen to everything I post regularly. Sometimes, it's literally what I am listening to at that moment. Sometimes, it's just a matter of finding anything new to listen to that I find something appealing about. That Witherscape song for example has a lot of things going for it, but it isn't something I'm going to break out a box of tissues for on a daily basis, and in fact, I don't even know if I'd want to listen to the entire album all that much anyway. Overall it's just "ok".

There are very few new albums that I find that I think are good annually, and even less that I think are great. Sometimes I am just in a mood for something like King Diamond or Iron Maiden, but pretty much since '98 that's been a lot less than how much I used to listen to those kinds of bands. Pretty much exclusively, if I post something like Hell, or Wolf (or at least mention something in addition to posting a video), that's pretty much the extent of that kind of "cheese" that I am listening to. In fact, I can't even think of any other bands that are similar to them that I've been listening to for over a decade.

It's fine, we'll just have to realize that we will both end up scoffing at the other's musical tastes.

Pretty sure we've already been doing that, but it's not like it's everything, or else we wouldn't even be seeing each other's posts.

This is about as "prog metal" as I'll go, and just like Leprous and Opeth, what do they have in common?



The problem I have with sludge or drone/stoner/doom and most (but definitely not all) death and black is the same problem I have with "prog metal" and almost all "power metal" since 2000. It's all so fucking samey, in both compositions and bands.

 

[Dead Winter]

Outdated isn't automatically cheese. Generic guitars and generic double kick with an over-the-top cheesy singer is cheese. The 90s are outdated but the music is still relevant because Soundgarden and AIC and Screaming Trees aren't cheesy. There's nothing wrong with the 80s, but there is something wrong with bands today whose entire career has been spent chasing the 80s. Not "wrong", just...lame. It's not coming from a "oh that music is SO two years ago" place or anything like that. I still listen to Soundgarden and AIC on a near-daily basis. Hell, in one of my projects I'm the guitarist and singer for an AIC cover band, so I'm not one of those people who looks at music like fashion or anything. However, I am very critical of music, not that you wouldn't have guessed already.

If it makes you feel any better I listened to The Glorious Burden today for the nostalgia and discovered that I still love it.

High Water Mark still holds up as an amazing song. I know Iced Earth is a big cheese fest, what with John's unhealthy affinity for all things 'murica, but holy shit Ripper's voice on that song is amazing. The harmonies and progressions are perfect. They definitely know how to write hooks.

I have this immediate revulsion for 80s, aside from a few bands. This is mainly because I'm inundated with this shit on a daily basis and there's no escape from it. Seriously, you should move here because you'd love the prog/power/glam scene here...it's practically mainstream. To each his own, I'm not faulting you for your tastes or anything, it just seems like you're stuck listening to the same stuff over and over, almost like you stopped listening to new music after the 80s died. I mean, saying that you miss 80s clean singing every time you hear a dirty vocalist sounds to me like you've missed the bus. I used to say the same thing but that was in the 90s and that style was fairly new. It's 2016 and by now it IS the norm. Doesn't mean you have to like it or listen to it, but there's no use pining for the 80s heyday when clearly no one wants it or has any intention of reliving it.

Except, of course, for the prog and power bands, but we've already established that.

 

[Dead Winter]

Still, don't stop posting stuff because I'm always looking for new stuff. If I think it's lame and cheesy I'll say it's lame and cheesy and wait for a new post.

Into Eternity is another prog snorefest to me.

 

[Talking Backwards]

It's funny that you bothered to mention Iced Earth, because Barlow is one of the few "power metal" vocalists that I greatly enjoy. It's basically the same two bands that had been posted around here years ago, although I don't actually listen to Iced Earth much nowadays.

it just seems like you're stuck listening to the same stuff over and over, almost like you stopped listening to new music after the 80s died. I mean, saying that you miss 80s clean singing every time you hear a dirty vocalist sounds to me like you've missed the bus.

Jesus dude, this is complete nonsense. Hell, I can count the bands from the 80s that I still listen to on two hands, and half of them are the same fucking bands that I'm sure you still listen to, at least occasionally; Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Testament. Almost everything that I listen to on a daily basis is from the mid 90s or later. It's just that most of the metal that's been coming out the last decade is the same shit over and over again. It also has absolutely nothing to do with having some weird aversion to "harsh" vocals, because I can list more bands that I listen to that have them than those that don't. LOL.

 

[Dead Winter]

Ok, I see.

Yep, Iced Earth is actually somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me. It's pretty corny in places but the songwriting is often very good. Something Wicked is a great album as well.

 

[Talking Backwards]

This, is the kind of shit I'm looking for...

 

[Dead Winter]

Oooh, that's nice. You should listen to Sahg then; less proggy, more Sabbath-y, but still cool.

 

[Internally Deformed]

Saag

 

[Dead Winter]

 

[Dead Winter]

Seriously dude, this Anciients album is really good. It's like Mastodon and Opeth before they went all batshit crazy.

 

[Talking Backwards]

It's been a while since I've listened to Soen, but I was just reminded of how much they already did what Opeth seems to be going for (with this song at least). Soen borrows from Tool and Opeth (obvious reason is obvious) and then Opeth borrows from Soen?

 

[Talking Backwards]

Through Silver in Blood is good, but it's the most conventional sounding given how many bands have copied it. All those post metal bands - including Isis and Minsk - are pretty much just Neurosis tribute acts, and Isis is the only one out of them that do it in a way that is remotely interesting.

If you're willing to give Neurosis another shot, I suggest you start with The Eye of Every Storm, my personal favourite and probably their most laid back album (if laid back is the right word for something so crushingly depressing):

This is pretty good. Am I stupid for hearing some similarties to Deaftones in this, or maybe Neurosis in some of what Deaftones have done?

 

[Internally Deformed]

Lol I dno, It hasn't really occurred to me to make that connection before. Deftones are a pretty cool band though, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were Neurosis fans.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Since this topic started mostly because (I assume) of Chris Cornell's glory days, have you ever bothered listening to Big Wreck? Chris' voice is still rather distinct, but Ian Thornley is pretty much the Pepsi version to his Coke, and there's not really anyone else that comes close that I can think of. Although Big Wreck goes more for Zeppelin than they do Sabbath.

 

[Shpongled]

Great band, there.

 

[Dead Winter]

I got the latest Big Wreck as soon as it came out. That's a hugely underrated band, especially with Albatross. This album didn't hold up, imo, but it has some good tracks. They've started to get a bit generic and same-y, unfortunately.

I call it the Canadian curse. Tons of great-sounding mainstream new bands from Canada end up being just really bland and quirky instead of interesting. You can usually find their music on Canadian tv series like Killjoys (love that series) and the now-defunct The Listener. Sometimes they'll do a cameo and you hear a snippet and it grabs you, then you hear the rest and it's just garbage.

By the way, it's *Deftones*. I don't hear the similarities, though. Deftones are much more polished and not as sludge-y.

Never could get into Soen. It's so blatantly ripping off Tool that I just can't do it. I'm already sick of Tool's fanbase constantly telling everyone how amazing and genius the band is when they've never even heard anything remotely progressive before in their lives. It's like Nesquik prog for people whose only foray into heavy music is Metallica and Tool. Tool's last great album was Aenema and they ruined it by letting the radio run it into the ground. Even Maynard hates Tool's fans.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Make sure you forget that I ever wrote this (because it might ruin your delusion otherwise), but I think Tool has exactly one great album, one good album, one decent album, and then another that has a few good songs on it.

 

[Dead Winter]

LOL and now you're offended because I said you mainly like prog and power-tinged bands after three years of you posting mainly prog and power-tinged bands in the Listening to... thread.

Don't take everything so personally. If you're going to anyway, make sure you're not contradicting yourself. It's not like you have shitty taste in music or anything, you just can't relate to a lot of what's posted here unless it's prog/power/80s with a vocalist with tons of vibrato and a Halford range. I never said that's all you listen to, but it's simply what you gravitate towards and it's not my fault not taking your opinion seriously when our musical tastes are often so divergent.

Me: "I know this is sort of your thing, but I don't like..."

You: "What's my thing? Where did you get that? I find that stuff to be just as boring as you!"

Me: "But all you post is prog, power, and classic metal and you've voiced numerous times how much you hate "cookie monster vocals" because you prefer "someone who can actually sing".

You: "Where the hell are you getting this idea that that's all I listen to? Do you not know how to read?"

Me: "Well, I'm getting it from all the bands you post and by your own...ah fuck it."

You: "That's just not true! Are you making this stuff up as you go along?"

Me: Sigh... *looks at Listening To thread* *looks at you* *looks at Listening To thread* *looks at you*

I don't understand if you are angry because I deduced something completely true about you based on plain-as-day evidence and you dislike that I did so or that you're just in denial of it and angry that you are who you are.

It's like if I posted a bunch of doom/stoner/sludge on the forum (which I do) and then voiced my disdain for most progressive metal (which I have) and then get pissed off at you when you said I mainly like doom/stoner/sludge metal because of, well, all the times and all the years of me posting said doom/stoner/sludge metal.

Tell me, what else am I supposed to think?

 

[Shpongled]

So nice to have the Neverboard back

 

[Dead Winter]

I wouldn't say it's back, just our regular back and forth. It's a pastime.