Too much metal?

[Jreg]

But you won't know which unless you listen to them all.

Well, therein lies the problem with those kind of bold statements and generalizations. EVERYBODY invests their time and funds in the highest quality of music---but only the highest quality from what we've heard and chosen to investigate. And this is different for everyone. We're not all exposed to the same bands and our conscious choices all vary. But from each of our individual pools, of course we're only gonna accept the best, and of course the best will differ for each person.

And true, no one can say with absolute certainty that they dislike 90% of what's out there. But let's say you hear 10 albums in a given year, and you only like 1 of them. Or you hear 50 and only like 5. Since no single person will actually hear all 3000, it's only practical that you just make a mathematical generalization based on that evidence. Hell, if there's any truth to that ratio, that still means that there are 300 out of the 3000 you'll like, most of which you still won't get around to hearing.

 

[MasterOLightning]

The numbers did not include EPs, MCDs, or DVDs/videos, all of which have gained popularity recently.

For those who think the number of metal albums is dwarfed by those of other genres, I tend to disagree. If you were to compare metal to other non-mainstream genres, I'm pretty sure metal would have more releases. Think of stuff like prog, jazz, funk, blues, folk. They can't be anywhere close to metal in terms of volume. If you were to lump punk/hardcore/metalcore together, they might come close to the numbers that metal has. Something like country probably is smaller, because it's pretty much US only, whereas metal is worldwide. And of course "rock" and all the things that includes easily has more albums coming out in a year.

I think a major implication of the proliferation of bands and albums is that labels gain an absurd amount of influence. Basically the only way to get noticed is to be on a label that matters and get publicity. Labels obviously are interested in trends and what will sell, so that's what leads so many people to think that such a small amount of good metal is being made. Bands that are more innovative are often too risky, and don't get signed as easily. As others have said, years from now is when many of the great albums being made will surface.

The future is surely full of people who will worship mediocre releases of this era in a way similar to how people obsess over mediocre swedish death metal band x these days. The problem will of course be much worse 10 years from now, making it even harder to find what truly was great.

 

[skeptik]

On the topic of saying that a large percentage of albums will suck without hearing them:

It's called discrimination, and it's a trait that humans tend to have in order to differentiate between similar objects. If you don't like Power Metal for example, that's like 1000 releases right there that you don't have to listen to to know that they suck. If you don't like retreads of early Scandinavian Black Metal (i.e. Transilvanian Hunger ver. 43234), that's another few hundred, etc. If you already know what you like and what you unquestionably do not like, it's not really mind-boggling.

 

[AlphaTemplar]

Do those numbers include unsigned bands?

 

[skeptik]

It's every full-length released that's on Metal-Archives.

 

[WNxScythe]

I wouldn't have time to listen to even a few hundred albums a year... I'd say 50-60 TOPS... It usually takes me a while to really absorb an album so as to fully enjoy it. I try to avoid listening to more than one or two new albums at a time per week.

 

[Wires & Waves]

ive never really been interested in keeping up with new releases (other than for bands i already like) simply because theres so much stuff already out there worth hearing

 

[cookiecutter]

The future is surely full of people who will worship mediocre releases of this era in a way similar to how people obsess over mediocre swedish death metal band x these days. The problem will of course be much worse 10 years from now, making it even harder to find what truly was great.

I think this is a good point.

And true, no one can say with absolute certainty that they dislike 90% of what's out there. But let's say you hear 10 albums in a given year, and you only like 1 of them. Or you hear 50 and only like 5.

I would be very sad if I liked so few of the albums I listened to.

 

[Todd Jaymz]

Thats the major thing in Metal radio, I have to work between 350 and 400 new Metal releases every year. And thats not just me deciding, it's working hand in hand with the labels and artist development companies. But......I do love!

 

[DeadWinterDay]

There can never be too much metal.

If there were only say 300 releases per year the genre would not be constantly evolving as it is today.

Anyone and everyone can find atleast one metal band that they enjoy with extreme passion. This can not be said for most other major genres of music IMO.

 

[Wires & Waves]

you dont have a clue

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

What

 

[Hatebreeder]

Anyone and everyone can find atleast one metal band that they enjoy with extreme passion. This can not be said for most other major genres of music IMO.

That's not really true. Some people just plain don't like metal because they don't like the music.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I think it was implied that we're talking about people into metal in this case.

 

[skeptik]

Then what he said isn't even relevant anyway.

 

[Hatebreeder]

I think it was implied that we're talking about people into metal in this case.

Ah. P'raps I should read the previous pages.

 

[DeadWinterDay]

That's not really true. Some people just plain don't like metal because they don't like the music.

I've gotten various people who previously only listen to rap/hip hop and other mainstream crap into bands such as Green Carnation or Forseti, and a very large % dig Opeth/Agalloch.

Metal has everything, you can't just think of what is on top when you read what I posted. Obviously you can't get everyone into death metal and what not but there is SOMETHING out there for everyone. And I'm not tlaking like favorite band status, I just mean they enjoy the music the band has to offer, even if it's just one song that isn't the norm by that band that gets them into it, they usually want to hear more and when they discover that the band produces something they did not excpet it doesn't always deter them because they already know the band has an aspect they like. So they listen to it, and sometimes they end up liking it. An example being have someone listen to a song off of Damnation, then have them listen to another song that includes many slower parts but some heavy parts as well.

The fact is that most of the people you deal with just have never been exposed to something like what you have to offer. I could throw on Petriccu's solo project and have a ton of people come up to me wondering what it is and inquire.

And if not, if they only like that one song they heard and nothing else, then so what? That's what my point is. Metal is so various that this can actually happen.

 

[Nico]

Liking one song doesn't equate to being a metal fan, and so it's completely irrelevant to this - or any - argument.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Liking one song doesn't equate to being a metal fan, and so it's completely irrelevant to this - or any - argument.

Basically.

 

[OldScratch]

I find that to have been the case in the 80s as well. And if the amount of bad albums and innovative new material is proportionally the same, then that means there is a lot more good and original material today.

These numbers are of course also affected by the fact that it is much cheaper to produce an album today than it was in the early 80s.

I completely disagree. The 80's saw the birth of Black Metal, Power Metal, Death Metal, Crossover(Hardcore/metal), Thrash & Speed Metal, Doom, etc. This of course carried over into the nineties. This is the originality I was refering to.
I will concede that after a time, then too the market(though proportionally smaller) was also eventually saturated with immitators vs. innovators. But I simply cannot agree that the percentage of distinct, pioneering metal today is anywhere near that which came to pass during the 80's & 90's.
I state again, I still think there is some great metal(in various sub-genres) being made - but for me personally, there just isn't much that I would call particularly ground-breaking, and that which is 'new'(ambient, retro-prog, psychedelic, metalcore, etc.) just isn't my thing. Of course this is all just one opinion anyway...