Why are melodeath and brutal death such despised genres?

[Life Sucks]

Yeah, of course there are a lot of shit bands in these genres, but that can be said for every genre, especially black metal (bm is one of my favorite genres, but there are countless bedroom black metal bands that can hardly play putting out CDs). But, there are also plenty of very good (IMO) bands playing both brutal death and melodeath. Yet many people seem to blindly dismiss any band playing either.

 

[More Murder]

Same reason why I don't like thrash and traditional metal (for the most part); I just don't like it.

 

[hibernal_dream]

I don't despise any genre - I despise shit bands. Melodeath seems to contain a lot of these, while Metalcore and Power Metal would barely exist without them.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Brutal death is too atonal for me and the whole "gore 'n dismemberment" lyrical focus is laughable; I love melodeath, but there's not much to it and I limit myself to the bands I choose.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Love me some Brutal death, not so much a fan of the melostuff

 

[cookiecutter]

I think brutal death is disliked because it is fairly inaccessible and melodeath is disliked because it is too accessible.

I love brutal death but not melodeath.

 

[dEaThToFaLsEmEtAl34]

No it's disliked because a lot of it is very generic. Death metal in general isn't accessible.

 

[UndyingDarkness]

I like brutal death and I like melodic death metal, I dislike melodeath.

 

[Killbot]

Why are melodeath and brutal death such despised genres?

They're not.

 

[UndyingDarkness]

Metalcore....now THAT'S a despised genre.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

as well it should be

 

[Stormwatch]

What bands would be called "brutal death" then? These terms are getting silly now.

 

[Death Aflame]

Well since you tied both sub-genres together I'll try and come up with something that fits both.

I believe the general hatred stems from a lack of originality emanating from both. Brutal Death is too monotone sounding, while melo-death is the pop of extreme metal and often lacks any substance on repeated listens. For either to be effective they need to innovate, just look at the best melo-death album of the last few years, Omnium Gatherum's Spirits and August Light. This album, while containing many of the genre's staples (mid-paced riffage, lots of leads, mid-ranged harsh vocals and the occasional backing keyboard parts) manages to innovate through rock-solid song-structures and providing a unique and powerful atmosphere to a genre that often lacks any such thing.

That is only one example but it suffices. The point is that both sub-genres suffer from stagnation even more than their parents: Death Metal and Power Metal; and this is what leads to the nauseating hatred from the message board dwellers like us.

 

[Jrgen]

I love brutal death. Melo-death is generally kind of boring, but it has a few great bands aswell.

 

[metal_wrath]

What bands would be called "brutal death" then? These terms are getting silly now.

Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Nile, Krisiun...they are bands with the blast beats and the atonal riffs, and grunting vocals. Most death metal wouldn't be categorized as Brutal Death.

 

[Hatebreeder]

The only problem I have with melodeath is that the riffing styles are very similar in bands like Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth, early In Flames, etc. and there is a lack of solos, as well as many of the songs having similar tempos and structures.

 

[DarkBliss]

A lot of this stuff is hollow, uninspired, often ruined by modern production and simply rehashes concepts which have been employed far better by past bands, but I guess it applies just as well to the rest of the subgenres
Brutal death and melodeath bands are probably the most formulaic of the bunch which is why I think, they are so reviled(in the most extreme cases, the former are concerned with breaching the limits of heaviness and speed, whereas the latter come off sounding too poppy and tame to be taken seriously).
Somewhat unrelated, but meh:
There were times when I would get genuinely excited about discovering new albums and bands. Nowadays this enthusiasm seems to be on the decline
I've been ridiculously spoilt by the classics of the genre(Guardian of Dorkness,Malignance: you and yor fucking lists ) and whenever coming upon a new album I can't help but initiate a comparison to a classic release it reminds me of. It would still be enjoyable but probably won't leave a lasting impression and will end up sooner or later in the pile of stuff I rarely listen to. Just look at your list, LS,it's mostly a compilation of classics, how many of these bands you're talking about(please name some of them, at least ) have the potential to make the cut for a long-term favorite entry?

 

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

There is amazing stuff in both genres...you just have to look.

Best brutal death (typical or atypical):

-Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris (debatably brutal, but still...a flawless composition)
-Wormed - Planisphaerium (just fucking ridiculously good on all levels; brutal bands should hold themselves up to this level of pure fucking insanity)
-Saprogenic - The Wet Sound Of Flesh On Concrete (amazing, evil-sounding brutal dm; sinister tone rivaling the famous Privilege Of Evil!!)
-Cenotaph - Pseudo Verminal Cadaverium (schizophrenic, technical brutal death mastery...no solos, no melody...nothing but fucking death metal).
-Deeds Of Flesh - Path Of The Weakening (filled to the brim with slight epicness)
-Woundeep - both demos (despite having 4 different songs to their name...absolutely uncompromising. can't wait for them to do something new...)

Best melo-death (typical really, but slightly out-of-the-norm; some are more "melodic death metal" aka less/not at all Gothenburg-y):

-Omnium Gatherum - Spirits And August Light (rife with passion and emotion...pity about the stupid/awkward lyrics, but still...when you can play, you can fucking play!)
-Intestine Baalism - Banquet In The Darkness (the best cross ever done between typical melo-death w/ Swedish sounding riffs and pure evil, ferocious death metal)
-Calmsite - Elvisdeath (stoner-groovin' melo-death from Finland...broken up now but their debut and this cd are awesome)
-In-Quest - Epileptic (highly original Belgian death metal outfit playing what some might call "heavier melodic death" perhaps...with breakdowns. and sci-fi themes...and keyboards...)

 

[immo]

man i love v5's comments on bands and albums )

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

he is the first Terminator built by Skynet. He has knowledge of all bands