Zero Hour

[woosta]

And I was there. On friday, I had a Pink Cream 69 all over print shirt on and my wife (with red hair) had a Steeler "Undercover Animal" shirt on.

Saturday, I had a longsleeve Sinner "End of Sanctuary" shirt on and my wife had a Tiamat girlie shirt.

 

[Darrin]

If anyone is interested, the Zero Hour official forum will be up & running anytime now right here at ultimatemetal.com

Enjoy, ladies and gents.

-Darrin

 

[savatage_dude]

AHHHHH!! Zero Hour Ruled All!!!!

I am the webmaster for the first unofficial zero hour website.

http://www.zerohourmetal.net

I ahve known the guys for a while now and this was my first time seeing them live. I got about 48 pictures! I will put them , most of them in a slide show video format so u can download it some time one it will be up. I am trying to have lots of pics on my site so if anyone has them, send them my way. i will definelty credit you!!

ZH rules!, DEATH MACHINE rules.

 

[Saruman]

"Actually, both bands seemed exactly the same to me. The vocals were different, but it was like the same cd with different singers or something. And they WERE better than Spiral Architect last year, but considering that Spiral Architect was the single worst performance of ever had the disprivelege of seeing, that's not saying much."

If you think Reading Zero sounds like Zero Hour, then that is enough proof that your opinion is meaningless. Spiral Architect was actually one of my favorite performances last year, but I happen to love Spiral Architect. You seem to be simply biased against highly technical metal. I liked Gamma Ray, but it's ridiculous to say they were as proficient as, say, Pain of Salvation. Saying so is simply a denial of objectivity and a confession of bias.

 

[woosta]

To me, I couldn't give a rat's ass about musical wankery. That bullshit sounds the same to me as every Prog fan says all power metal sounds the same. My opinion is quite as valid as anyone elses around here as well. I already said that Superior put on a show. They didn't just stand there and masturbate through their set. A guy bending his knees once during a 45 minute show doesn't constitute a "show" to me. I could really care less about perceived techical skill. It's music and it's entertainment and neither Zero band appealed to me on either level.

And I am biased and so are you. You're on no highground because you like "technical" metal. There's nothing impressive about a song that's devoid of a flowing rhythm and a melodical chorus. I don't care if they play with their dicks, it's just not doing it for me. Learn from the Superiors and Gamma Rays and Balance of Powers of the world. They understand the big picture.

 

[Demonspell]

Originally posted by Darrin
If anyone is interested, the Zero Hour official forum will be up & running anytime now right here at ultimatemetal.com

Enjoy, ladies and gents.

-Darrin

Excellent news Darrin...I will be there.

 

[General Zod]

Originally posted by woosta:
Actually, both bands seemed exactly the same to me. The vocals were different, but it was like the same cd with different singers or something. And they WERE better than Spiral Architect last year, but considering that Spiral Architect was the single worst performance of ever had the disprivelege of seeing, that's not saying much.

Really? I find them quite different. Though I would have to agree, I thought Spiral Architect was terrible.

Originally posted by woosta:
As for "equal talent", I'm talking about bands not under the "prog" umbrella. Take a band like Gamma Ray, for instance. You'd be hard pressed to find a band that is better than them because they have the whole package: technical skill, live show performance skill, song writing skill with melody, and a tight well rehearsed unit.

I guess this is where we part ways. You mentioned four categories:

-technical skill
-live show performance skill
-song writing skill with melody
-a tight well rehearsed unit

For the sake of arguement, I'll stick with Gamma Ray, the band you brought up.

To my ears, and I would have thought to yours as well, Zero Hour have it all over Gamma Ray in the "technical skill" department. Kai is a solid player, and certainly deserves everyone's respect because of his contributions to the genre. However, speaking from a pure technical point of view, he's just not in the same league as Jasun. Nor is any member of Gamma Ray is the same league with their counterpart from Zero Hour.

In the category you dubbed "live show performance skill", I would say that Gamma Ray gets a clear edge. But by the same token, Gamma Ray is hardly the live dynamo that an Edguy or a Nevermore is.

In respect to "song writing skill with melody", I would say that Gamma Ray's songs are more obviously melodic. However, the more obvious the melody, the faster it bores me. Personally, I think it takes more skill to inject melody over odd time signatures, and complex rythms, as Erik Torvald does quite adeptly, than it does to do so over three power chords.

Finally, in respect to the category you called "a tight well rehearsed unit", you would be hard pressed to find a band tighter than Zero Hour. I'm guessing, by your comments in this thread, that you're not overly familiar with Zero Hour's music. So, take it from me, Zero Hour couldn't be tighter. There are only three bands, that I've ever seen, who were as tight as Zero Hour; Nevermore, Symphony X and Judas Priest. And that's some pretty exclusive company to be keeping.

GZ

 

[woosta]

And where I part ways with most Prog fans is in the fact that when one bands ELECTS to do a certain style with odd time signatures doesn't mean that they are then by default the more "talented" band. Do you honestly think, after watching Dan Zimmerman, that he would have ANY trouble playing Zero Hour stuff?

However, it is painfully clear from many of the bands out there that even though they have talent, they can't write a melodic song to save their lives. That's the most underrated skill in metal today and that's where the rubber meets the road for me.

You'll also notice that I knew not 1 Superior song, but they were head and shoulders above Zero Hour in their performance. They "get it" in my opinion.

 

[Se7enChurches]

See, I'm not trying to get you to like Zero Hour, woosta. And i admit that they weren't moving as much on stage as some other bands. the part of your argument that I'm taking serious exception to is the fact that you think they sound ANYTHING like Reading Zero. They both happen to consist of a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a vocalist who does clean vocals, but the similarities pretty much end there, at least in my opinion (somebody correct me if i'm wrong)... i don't know exactly how to better present this, but all sense of similarity between the two completely eludes me, so it completely boggles me that you would find it so apparent.

Ryan

 

[Se7enChurches]

Originally posted by Darrin
If anyone is interested, the Zero Hour official forum will be up & running anytime now right here at ultimatemetal.com

Enjoy, ladies and gents.

-Darrin

BITCHIN'!!!

see you there

Ryan

 

[guardian26]

DArrin, thats pissah man

 

[woosta]

Well, I can't say for sure because I have cds from neither band. Maybe I just lumped them together in my mind because they both bored the hell out of me. Like always, I'll give them each a chance on cd when I get around to it. As for now, they are forever linked in my head.

 

[General Zod]

Originally posted by woosta:
And where I part ways with most Prog fans is in the fact that when one bands ELECTS to do a certain style with odd time signatures doesn't mean that they are then by default the more "talented" band.

I never suggested that odd time signatures alone made Zero Hour, or any band who makes use of them, the more talented band.

Originally posted by woosta:
Do you honestly think, after watching Dan Zimmerman, that he would have ANY trouble playing Zero Hour stuff?

I have no idea whether he could play them or not. If I was a betting man, I'd bet he would struggle to pull them off with the same ease and perfection that Mike does. However, this assumption is based only on what I've heard him do within the context of Gamma Ray's music. For all I know, he's off playing free form jazz when he's not touring or in the studio with Gamma Ray. However, based solely on what the two drummers do within the context of their respective bands, I would have to say that Mike is the better drummer by a wide margin.

Originally posted by woosta:
However, it is painfully clear from many of the bands out there that even though they have talent, they can't write a melodic song to save their lives. That's the most underrated skill in metal today and that's where the rubber meets the road for me.

I would agree that there are many Prog bands that get wrapped up in their own virtuosity and lose sight of the main goal, which should always be to write great songs. However, I don't feel Zero Hour ever commits this grave sin, and in fact, writes some of the most complex, enticing melodies, I've ever heard.

By the way, the other edge of that sword is what damns a lot of Power Metal bands. They get so caught up in writing formulated songs, that the songs they create are often so redundant and similar, that I find it hard to fully enjoy their music. Take "Heart of the Unicorn" as an example. This is easily my favorite song by Gamma Ray, and a song I find quite enjoyable. However, I can't help but be bothered by the fact that it sounds as if it was a leftover from Judas Priest's "Painkiller" sessions.

Originally posted by woosta:
You'll also notice that I knew not 1 Superior song, but they were head and shoulders above Zero Hour in their performance. They "get it" in my opinion.

I also knew not one Superior song when I saw them live. However, I left half way through their set to do some CD shopping, as I thought they sounded like a glorified garage band. I have since come to enjoy both "Ultima Radio" and "Behind", but they did NOTHING to impress me at PP II.

GZ