What other GMDers influenced your music taste the most?

[crimsonfloyd]

You didn't really discuss compositions, nor did you even talk about specifics of the actual music. There's absolutely nothing addressing the compositions in your post beyond general terminology that references the album as a whole without actually going into detail.

Neither did you, but somehow you think your critique was sufficient while my defense was not? Why don't you be more specific about what makes the record "directionless" in your eyes, and then we can go from there.

 

[Omni]

My critique is already light years ahead of yours because it doesn't claim that people who disagree are too stupid to understand why the album is or isn't a masterpiece. For someone who claims to be good at analyzing music as a semi-professional reviewer, you are exceedingly bad at actually presenting your findings.

It's pretty obvious that the loss of Mortiis, who composed the bulk of the symphonic parts on their earlier music including In the Nightside Eclipse was a blow to the strength of their compositions.

There are also many examples of attempts to shoehorn disparate musical ideas together and a general lack of a clear and consistent musical direction on the album. As a result, it lacks the focus of their earlier music.

I also think Ihsahn's vocals are pretty bad on the album, despite being more varied than ever. This would not matter as much if it wasn't for the fact that they are fairly prominent on the compositions.

It's fairly clear that it's a transitional album that draws from too many sources while being hampered by personnel changes since their previous work. It tries to do too many new things at once, most of which are only explored at a superficial level.

 

[Slayed Necros]

Here's my two cents:

Thou Shalt Suffer > Emperor

Also The Wanderer is the best song on Anthems.

 

[Baroque]

My critique is already light years ahead of yours because it doesn't claim that people who disagree are too stupid to understand why the album is or isn't a masterpiece. For someone who claims to be good at analyzing music as a semi-professional reviewer, you are exceedingly bad at actually presenting your findings.

It's pretty obvious that the loss of Mortiis, who composed the bulk of the symphonic parts on their earlier music including In the Nightside Eclipse was a blow to the strength of their compositions.

There are also many examples of attempts to shoehorn disparate musical ideas together and a general lack of a clear and consistent musical direction on the album. As a result, it lacks the focus of their earlier music.

I also think Ihsahn's vocals are pretty bad on the album, despite being more varied than ever. This would not matter as much if it wasn't for the fact that they are fairly prominent on the compositions.

It's fairly clear that it's a transitional album that draws from too many sources while being hampered by personnel changes since their previous work. It tries to do too many new things at once, most of which are only explored at a superficial level.

Lol "The Omni My Opinion is Better Than Yours Saga is interesting and all, but you guys should start a PM conversation if you need to talk about it further."

 

[HamburgerBoy]

My critique is already light years ahead of yours because it doesn't claim that people who disagree are too stupid to understand why the album is or isn't a masterpiece.

You've literally never done anything like this before ever.

 

[Omni]

I'd love to see an opinion that I've expressed where I stated that something was a higher form of art and that anyone who disagrees with me isn't intellectual enough to understand. I must do it all the time since you felt the need to jump on me about it, so it should be easy for you to find an example.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Anyone without at least one Slayer album out of the first three on their list should rethink their list.

You don't like Slayer? I guess that explains a lot.

You'd have to be deaf not to notice the tremendous jazzy influence on The Dark Side of the Moon, in the presentation of the music itself, the unusual meters and time signatures and the heavily improvised, free-form songs such as "The Great Gig in the Sky." Interestingly enough, the band's name is also derived from jazz musicians.

inb4 "They should rethink their list because I was saying they were misinformed, not stupid"

inb4 "I was saying that a member of low repute on this forum is explained by their dislike for Slayer for reasons other than intellectual prowess"

inb4 "Calling someone deaf is totally different from calling someone a non-intellectual listener, I literally meant that the person could likely be medically diagnosed as poor of hearing"

 

[crimsonfloyd]

It's pretty obvious that the loss of Mortiis, who composed the bulk of the symphonic parts on their earlier music including In the Nightside Eclipse was a blow to the strength of their compositions.

First of all, just to clarify, this is a debate between a 10 album (Anthems) and a 9.5 album (Nightside), so I don't have a ton to criticize about Nightside. That said, synths on Anthems are way more sophisticated and dynamic. On Nightside the synths mostly are restricted to romantic leads (albeit, most of which are awesome). On Anthems, there are still plenty of romantic leads, but the synths are also able to add different elements throughout the album, from more atonal textures (i.e. the end of Ye Entrancemperium) to subtle background tones (i.e. the pizzicato at the beginning of Loss and Curse of Reverence). Ultimately this gives the album far more range, depth and texture than its predecessore.

There are also many examples of attempts to shoehorn disparate musical ideas together and a general lack of a clear and consistent musical direction on the album. As a result, it lacks the focus of their earlier music.

This is critique is vague and therefore empty, at least for the moment. Please elaborate on what you mean by this and substantiate this claim with some examples.

I also think Ihsahn's vocals are pretty bad on the album, despite being more varied than ever. This would not matter as much if it wasn't for the fact that they are fairly prominent on the compositions.

The vocals are excellent and help accentuate the different thematic dimensions of the album. Since there's often a play of different personas, the interplay of clean and harsh vocals is especially effective. For example, this can easily be seen on the first two tracks of the album, where the protagonist is confronted with Evil. Of course, that's lost on someone who cannot or does not synthesize the conceptual and sonic dimensions of the work.

It's fairly clear that it's a transitional album that draws from too many sources while being hampered by personnel changes since their previous work. It tries to do too many new things at once, most of which are only explored at a superficial level.

"Transitional album" is a ridiculous critique. IX Equalibrium is a transitional album. Anthems is a total and complete expression of an artistic vision.

Also, calling it superficial is an empty critique. You seem to think identifying your position is a sufficient critique. EXPLAIN your position and support it with examples/evidence.

 

[Omni]

inb4 "They should rethink their list because I was saying they were misinformed, not stupid"

inb4 "I was saying that a member of low repute on this forum is explained by their dislike for Slayer for reasons other than intellectual prowess"

inb4 "Calling someone deaf is totally different from calling someone a non-intellectual listener, I literally meant that the person could likely be medically diagnosed as poor of hearing"

The ones about Slayer are clearly my opinions and aren't presented as facts. Speaking of opinions on thrash, you said that anyone who ranks a Heathen album highly isn't allowed to have an opinion on thrash in the same topic. Weird. That's actually the exact same thing you're accusing me of except you're actually doing it, unlike me.

Stating that someone must be deaf is basically saying that they're ignoring something obvious and not that they're intellectually inferior to others. Nice try though.

Come up with better examples, preferably from a topic where you don't do what you're accusing me of doing.

Also, I've gotta call bullshit on the Pink Floyd one since you couldn't find something recent so you went for a post that I made 7 years ago after implying that I do something all the time.

 

[Omni]

@crimsonfloyd

I will be happy to reply to you later after I listen to the album again. I don't listen to it regularly so I don't have all of it fresh in my mind.

 

[CiG]

It's not haphazard in the least. It does require a certain level of intellect and focus to appriciate and I can certainly see how lazy or unrefined listeners misread it. Alas, high art isn't for everybody.

High art would be you successfully explaining how Bernie Sanders' economic plans aren't drivel.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

So what exactly does not liking Slayer explain in UltimateApathy? There are plenty of other examples in that Pink Floyd argument years back.

I shitpost and insult people all the time btw, would never deny it, I just don't try taking any kind of moral highground when involved in a pissing match with someone else. I think all periods of Emperor are shit and you have to be subhuman to enjoy them fwiw.

 

[Omni]

Me doing something 7 years ago (see: that Pink Floyd post which is still a bad example regardless of when it was posted) and me doing it all the time aren't the same thing.

You couldn't find anything concrete that wasn't ancient so you grabbed a few posts about Slayer that are definitely not attempts at serious debate, unlike the posts that I responded to in this topic.

 

[CiG]

I think all periods of Emperor are shit and you have to be subhuman to enjoy them fwiw.

Die.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

High art would be you successfully explaining how Bernie Sanders' economic plans aren't drivel.

Wrong thread.

 

[CiG]

Wrong thread.

I'm an opportunist.

 

[arg]

Trivium is better than Emperor

 

[CiG]

Trivium is better than Emperor

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Trivium at least has riffs.

 

[The Butt]

Anthems is pretty much the black metal equivalent of ADHD, so meh. "More musical ideas thrown together obviously means more depth". Lol.

Also I love how seemingly offended crimsonfloyd is getting about this.