Time to call it a day?

[Ermz]

I wonder more and more about the future of metal production with every coming day. It seems that every time I check up on the state of events, or even just browse around here I'm seeing some really mediocre albums being hailed as groundbreaking, and not only that, but people seem to associatively connect the production to their perception of the music. It's not something I feel I wish to actually be a part of anymore.

Is this that fabled time when someone grows out of their teen years and finally moves onto other music? I guess I never expected it to happen to me, but... no matter how I try none of this new scenecore stuff moves me at all, nor do any of the bands rehashing old thrash, melodeath etc. etc. The only metal band I seem to enjoy listening to these days is Meshuggah.

I guess the question is, what do you guys feel about the state of affairs? Is there some universal homogenization going on in the newer metal genres, and their respective production aesthetics, or am I just finally over it after 10 years?

 

[drew_drummer]

Hmm. Well primarily I don't listen to metal. At least brootz metal...

But I do know what you mean. Really... I find I listen to a range of stuff that to me is heavy as fuck. But play it to a metalhead, and they just laugh and call me a pussy. Meh. Whatever.

I'd rather listen to Tool's Undertow over and over than most of the metalcore shite that comes out these days. It's mostly the vocals, and sometimes the guitar tone... just offputting.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

There are still bands doing cool and fresh stuff, and there has always been lots of mediocre bands. I still enjoy the new stuff from bands like Gojira, Mastodon, Stam1na, pretty much all of Devin's projects and so on, and I still find even the more casual acts, if you can say so, like In Flames and Soilwork completely enjoyable.

It's just a matter of ignoring the stuff that doesn't speak to you. Working with the bands... Well, not many of us are in a position that grants the luxury of being able to choose our clients.

If I was an alt rock fan, I would probably feel like the majority of bands sound like identical, cheap Sonic Youth copies.

 

[RLab]

In my opinion, there is still great metal songs written nowadays, but there is so much crappy stuff mixed with that it is hard to find it.
Even if I really enjoy "old-school" metal, some today's bands are really great too (IMO, mostly Opeth, Meshuggah, Gojira, Devin Townsend...)

 

[PhilR]

Hah! Join the club. To me most metal seems to consist of people chasing the imaginary fame of some hero that either made their mark back in the mists of prehistory or did so before the world moved on and their particular sound became utterly old hat. In the case of "deathcore", that would be after about a month. Now I see kids desperately trying to ape their latest musical man-crush despite the fact that during the phase when they were wanking vigorously over "deathcore" they forgot to learn how to fucking play.

 

[Line666]

I think after a period of being totally engrossed in a subculture, what once was fresh and unique about it can become stagnant and predictable, like a bad relationship, nice quirks and eccentricities can quickly become irksome.

Metal being particularly insular I started to feel this a while ago, but people have short memories, so when we're running out of ideas we can "retroise" something else from 30 years ago to sell it again as embodying some sort of rose tinted nostalgia. A lot of people like to run through the motions and don't have the imagination to add anything as well and that can get tiresome.

New ideas are hard to come by however, and it isnt just all metal, as a hardened skeptic I tend to agree with Sturgeons law, 99% of everything is just shit.

 

[nialldoran]

I have little if no interest in the scene core thing that is going on at the moment but there will always be a huge amount of metal bands that do their own thing, and bring out albums that will spellbound me for years to come, all completely under the radar,

i know that alot of people on this forum really dig alot of the -core stuff thats being released in hordes and alot of people have made great names for themselves engineering within that genre but its still something ive never seen the appeal of IMHO,

but i cant see metal ever really dying in my mind cause (and i mean no offence to anyone when saying this) i follow my own interests within the whole metal genre and very little does advertising or hype ever rope me into a band,

there are times i dont listen to metal for long periods of time but i always come back to it, im just coming out of a metal-less phase right now, which was all thanks to the new dax riggs album, which is my album of 2010 without doubt, doesnt follow any rules in the album and the production is far from perfect in any way, but jesus its better than alot of metal stuff being released at the moment in my opinion

 

[vikk]

making music has gotten more accessible, so what i see is that everyone wants to make music, or record just for the sake of it, just for the sake of having their names on Encyclopaedia Metallum or something... which leads to lack of original ideas and sucky music. (my recommendations are Volbeat and The Devil's Blood)

 

[Line666]

there are times i dont listen to metal for long periods of time but i always come back to it, im just coming out of a metal-less phase right now, which was all thanks to the new dax riggs album, which is my album of 2010 without doubt, doesnt follow any rules in the album and the production is far from perfect in any way, but jesus its better than alot of metal stuff being released at the moment in my opinion

Former Acid Bath?

He's a great singer, interesting voice.

 

[nialldoran]

Former Acid Bath?

He's a great singer, interesting voice.

yeah former acid bath, as i said without doubt the most addicting album of the year and perhaps the best covver of heartbreak hotel ever recorded i highly recommend it, as a great friend of mine said about the album when he had listened to it, " as a musician it scares me that something this good may never be heard by most people"

and shit he was right, but i dont mean to throw the thread off topic with this

 

[John_C]

Widen your horizons and record more different styles, with the wider market you'll be able to pick and choose more. Greater variety + less shit = less frustration = more enjoyment and a happier general view of the scene

 

[DanLights]

making music has gotten more accessible, so what i see is that everyone wants to make music, or record just for the sake of it, just for the sake of having their names on Encyclopaedia Metallum or something... which leads to lack of original ideas and sucky music. (my recommendations are Volbeat and The Devil's Blood)

I think this is an important factor some people don´t seem to realize

 

[NSGUITAR]

Dude! Don't quit.


I'm seriously not bragging here, but the new band I'm part of, Anthem Alone, might change you're mind. One of our goals is to revive metal like pantera and stuff like that. Keep watch for us!

 

[ratsapprentice]

It's just the way thing's go, this year has been a bit dry in terms of good new music (on my end anyway) but then next year could be another 2008 (ridiculous amount of quality records in that year).
I guarantee that at some point you will be blown away by some new record or find a band that you had never really appreciated before, and your interest in music will be rejuvenated.
But then again, from what I've seen we listen to very different types of metal.

 

[Ermz]

I never liked Pantera...

I think I'm mostly tired of going to the Production Tips forum and opening something that says 'awwwesome sound, how do I getthis!??' and instead of being something I can relate to as:

1) Actually sounding good.
2) Actually taking talent to do.

It's instead usually someone using a PODxt as a gritmachine for bass, or a Z4 on a snare, or quadruple mono-layers of the lead vox during another generic breakdown (which lasts for the whole song in question).

I still want to come here and learn things, but I end up just wasting my time opening half these threads (which have some damn misleading names a lot of the time!) watching the same rehashed shit play itself out, and some new kid wanting to know how to sound like his favorite bedroom producer.

The whole thing is just so droll and uninspiring. I've literally started listening to nu-metal again with fascination at how even despite how bad it got during the late 90s, it still doesn't even approach today's colossal shitstorm of scene music.

@ratsapprentice: Well, Meshuggah are due for a new album soon, so fingers crossed...

 

[Sickan]

Stick to progressive metal and you're set.
The positive side of people hailing mediocre albums as groundbreaking is that when you/I do something respectable it will truely be appreciated.

 

[DanLights]

Dude! Don't quit.


I'm seriously not bragging here, but the new band I'm part of, Anthem Alone, might change you're mind. One of our goals is to revive metal like pantera and stuff like that. Keep watch for us!

nor do any of the bands rehashing old thrash, melodeath etc. etc. The only metal band I seem to enjoy listening to these days is Meshuggah.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I never liked Pantera...

I think I'm mostly tired of going to the Production Tips forum and opening something that says 'awwwesome sound, how do I getthis!??' and instead of being something I can relate to as:

1) Actually sounding good.
2) Actually taking talent to do.

It's instead usually someone using a PODxt as a gritmachine for bass, or a Z4 on a snare, or quadruple mono-layers of the lead vox during another generic breakdown (which lasts for the whole song in question).

I still want to come here and learn things, but I end up just wasting my time opening half these threads (which have some damn misleading names a lot of the time!) watching the same rehashed shit play itself out, and some new kid wanting to know how to sound like his favorite bedroom producer.

The whole thing is just so droll and uninspiring. I've literally started listening to nu-metal again with fascination at how even despite how bad it got during the late 90s, it still doesn't even approach today's colossal shitstorm of scene music.

@ratsapprentice: Well, Meshuggah are due for a new album soon, so fingers crossed...

Haha, very true, but it's the state of the forum, not the state of metal music in general

 

[Ermz]

Isn't it? I've always found this place a great microcosmic analogue for the wider metal community. I think people undervalue the importance and role this place, and some of its members have in terms of shaping metal production on a wider scale, especially that in semi-pro circles (ie. the vast majority of metal productions being released). To say what I've seen lately has been depressing is to put it very mildly.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Isn't it? I've always found this place a great microcosmic analogue for the wider metal community. I think people undervalue the importance and role this place, and some of its members have in terms of shaping metal production on a wider scale, especially that in semi-pro circles (ie. the vast majority of metal productions being released). To say what I've seen lately has been depressing is to put it very mildly.

Well, at least in my limited personal universe. None of the people I know on a personal level actually like stuff such as Attack Attack, Bring me the Horizon, Miss Vampire Valentine Rose Blood Monday If I May or whatever, nor do they get almost any kind of attention in the metal medias up here. In fact, if it wasn't for this forum, I'd never have heard of most of these acts that people seem to call the new metal scene.