Death - A metal "Brand"?

[Desperado]

If you didn't mean anything with linking alternate picking and metal why did you bring it up then?

yes it can. not that I listen to any death metal bands but melodic death metal on the other hand is really really good

[lol_Dave_Kushner]

Bringing it up had nothing to do with your idea that ONLY death metal uses alternate picking.... --->

"melodic" death metal.

[Desperado]

Bringing it up had nothing to do with your idea that ONLY death metal uses alternate picking.... --->

"melodic" death metal.

well I thought that was what you meant but alternate picking is used in all music that uses guitars.

yes something wrong with that? you seem to listen to folk metal judging by the clip you linked to in another thread so why is melo death so wrong? or are you just trying to be a tool

and really the melodies in melo death are really similar to the ones in folk metal

Edited May 15, 2012 by Desperado

[Guest Len B'stard]

Melo-Death, cool There's a genre called Melo-Death?!?! So like Leatherface Goes to Scarborough Fair, that sort of thing?

[Desperado]

Melo-Death, cool There's a genre called Melo-Death?!?! So like Leatherface Goes to Scarborough Fair, that sort of thing?

Yeah melodic death metal like old in flames and others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1-vpnfUQ0

Edited May 15, 2012 by Desperado

[Guest Len B'stard]

it just sounds like fastly played metal with some noodling over it? I don't hear any melody there...i think the notion is kinda impossible to work into music like that cuz if you turn your shit up like that it kinda drowns out a lot of the melodic quality of music. I don't think there's even enough different to that to warrant it being a different genre. The first one was kind of alright...sort of, the vocalist just ruins it. Is there like, this metal filter or something that they put on the mics of all metal vocalist that makes them all sound the same or something? Interesting idea though, like really dense melodic music. I suppose Nirvana could come under that though? With actual real melody there too to boot

Edited May 15, 2012 by sugaraylen

[Desperado]

it just sounds like fastly played metal with some noodling over it? I don't hear any melody there...i think the notion is kinda impossible to work into music like that cuz if you turn your shit up like that it kinda drowns out a lot of the melodic quality of music. I don't think there's even enough different to that to warrant it being a different genre. The first one was kind of alright...sort of, the vocalist just ruins it. Is there like, this metal filter or something that they put on the mics of all metal vocalist that makes them all sound the same or something?

well I think that In Flames is one of the bands that has only become better with time

and the singer can really sing now.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Desperado

[bran]

so many ignorant posts in this thread

yes their is melodic death metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOC83wvDcWA

Off topic but...Death Metal is a load of fuckin bollocks. A bunch of sad droopy faces moaning about some cartooney crap. Death Metal, it's just ridiculous as a notion. How can you be into death and why make a musical genre around it, i mean, you're into death right, thats your aspiration, well the last time i checked dead people didn't play or make a lot of music. It's just really REALLY immature and funny and silly. All dressed in black, chundering away on their Ibanezes.

Y'know what i reckon it is? I reckon it's a HUGE overreaction on the parts of people who are just petrified of dying. To try and make out you're into something and it's what you're about when deep down, somewhere in the Freudian tangle of your psyche, you're cacking your pants.

I think you may be looking too far into the name of the genre. To write off the entire genre as "immature and funny and silly" is really just ignorance of a huge portion of the genre.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no requirement as far as lyrics or song meaning go to be classified as a death metal band. It's a sound. There are pretty diverse lyrics in death metal, just like there are in most metal genres (you have the stupid "cartooney" blood and gore lyrics and whatever, but there are tons of bands that sing about religion, folklore, philosophy, and whatever).

Honestly I don't even know what you're trying to say with this post. I mean I feel like I may have an idea, but if you're saying what I think you may be saying then you really don't have much of a grasp on death metal.

How do you not grasp that post...Death Metal taken seriously only comes off as stupid and immature. There is nothing more too it. It's just a bad idea that gets attention for the wrong reasons. You know ive listened to my fair share of metal...almost all of it being silly and immature....death metal is no different. You may get 1 decent band like Death. Most of it is trash, silly and soo funny. So many people think their amazing when there simply fucking idiots. Over fucking rated.

he probably doesnt grasp it because its not true? death metal is like every other musical genre you got your good and bad, yeah there is bad death metal but there is awesome death metal like death, bolt thrower,amon amarth,in flames, katatonia

There's Meshuggah too, though I'm not so sure If I can call them a Death Metal band. They're more experimental.

yeah meshuggah is very experimental they use death,thrash amongst other genres

[Graeme]

Off topic but...Death Metal is a load of fuckin bollocks. A bunch of sad droopy faces moaning about some cartooney crap. Death Metal, it's just ridiculous as a notion. How can you be into death and why make a musical genre around it, i mean, you're into death right, thats your aspiration, well the last time i checked dead people didn't play or make a lot of music. It's just really REALLY immature and funny and silly. All dressed in black, chundering away on their Ibanezes.

Y'know what i reckon it is? I reckon it's a HUGE overreaction on the parts of people who are just petrified of dying. To try and make out you're into something and it's what you're about when deep down, somewhere in the Freudian tangle of your psyche, you're cacking your pants.

Okay, here we go. You dragged this off-topic and I'm about to pull even further in that direction by making a long post about a completely different band to the one this thread is supposed to be about.

See, the thing is I've come to the realisation that I'm not as much of a metalhead as I thought I was: I used to go to Download Festival every year, I'd see all the metal tours as they came through town; The Black Crusade, Defenders of the Faith, the Unholy alliance etc. and as a teenager I loved them. I was in several (rubbish) metal bands during my teenage years. However, in terms of what I'll sit down and listen to, I'm far more likely to be listening to folk, melodic rock, electronic music than I am to be sitting listening to metal of any kind, much less Death Metal. I think Metal is on the whole a sadly tired genre with a few bands here and there pulling it in directions it hasn't been pulled before whilst infinitely more exhaust what has been done by poorly imitating the pioneers who made it possible in the first place.

This is with one exception, see there's a band I like a hell of a lot... in fact according to the profile I made on Last fm I listen to this band twice as much as I listen to any other, and they just happen to come under the genre you, dear Leonard, mass labled "fuckin bollocks." there. Now, I know how much you enjoy a good rambling post explaining the reasons and intents behind music, be it a song, an album or an artist so I'm going to do my best to oblige you with one here. I FUCKING LOVE In Flames, I don't just like them a bit... they have actually moved me to tears in a live situation (and I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the last decade), their inventiveness, insightful, poignant and heartfelt lyrics, amazing command of their instruments, their ability to create albums that are complete works of art and their incredible live shows make them the full package for me...

I can somewhat understand the image you're expounding of a bunch of long-haired (possibly bearded) Scandinavian guys playing buzzy, scoop-toned spiky guitars with double-bass drumming and incomprehensibly growled vocals about either comic-book gore or Norse mythology. I can also understand why, to a gent such as yourself that would seem pretentious, irrelevant and a load of fucking shite. From what I understand of your posts, you're interested in the people who end up being the voice of a generation, or even just those who voice human emotions honestly and effectively. Largely I'm the same, I generally don't like lyrics I find it difficult to relate to, it's why I don't listen to bands like Iron Maiden very much because a lot of their songs are like high-concept fiction...

On the surface, In Flames don't seem to do very much to subvert that stereotype you alluded to and which I mentioned there, but I like to think that's where the similarities end. Their early albums weren't as direct in doing so, but lyrically there was a lot of amazing material regarding the human condition, particularly Whoracle. On the surface, if you looked at it then you could say that it was just another song, another imaginary apocalypse; but they've always been concerned with the path humankind has chosen, particularly regarding our own future relationship with technology and climate change. So you end up with songs like this one: Jotun... It's not so much about "making out you're into" death and more an acknowledgement that the world, as it stands is going to hell in a handcart and no-one is really pulling the brakes, due to their own greed. There's a moment on that album where they fit in a cover of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" which was originally just a song about greedy record label executives shafting a band for the sake of making more money... but on that album it becomes so much more just because of the interpretation of it and where its situated: It becomes about the men who (literally) are selling the future of this planet and this species for a fat paycheque. To completely revolutionise the meaning of a successful song is no mean feat... to make it EVEN MORE poignant is stellar.

Then we move further down the line to that expression of human emotion thing I was talking about earlier... A lot of people find that the hardest thing to swallow about "Death Metal" is the vocals, as they are by and large abrasive, loud and often unintelligible. See, the thing that I love about Anders Friden as a frontman is the human touch that goes with all his vocals, yes he growls and he screams, but he sounds like a MAN growling and screaming, he sounds like he genuinely means everything he sings and he's not particularly hard to understand. This particularly comes to the fore on the album "Clayman", which is about his struggle to overcome depression... while you'd expect a metal band to wallow in it, a lot of it is very defiant and very positive. I love to listen to that album when I'm down because it's great to try and help you work your way up to feeling good about yourself again. This song's just a man in a dark place baring his soul and trying his damndest to get out of it... and it's fucking beautiful.

I'm not saying that they're perfect, they've made a couple of mis-steps over the years... a couple of mediocre albums, but they've always kept evolving experiementing and changing, including things like electronic music or folk, writing ballads, becoming more or less aggressive depending on the album. But I never felt their music has suffered from the ailment with which you diagnosed it, that of being pretentious, disingenuous or irrelevant. It's kept pace with the changes in their lives and their fans' lives and I fucking love them for it. For example, this song's about parenthood... something a lot of people can relate to, the way that children change your life and your outlook on the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-xn3P1Ixo

Now, if you don't like what I've posted simply because it's not your kinda thing to listen to, then that's absolutely fine I'd just like to think I've done my bit to justify its existence as art!

Whew!

[bran]

Off topic but...Death Metal is a load of fuckin bollocks. A bunch of sad droopy faces moaning about some cartooney crap. Death Metal, it's just ridiculous as a notion. How can you be into death and why make a musical genre around it, i mean, you're into death right, thats your aspiration, well the last time i checked dead people didn't play or make a lot of music. It's just really REALLY immature and funny and silly. All dressed in black, chundering away on their Ibanezes.

Y'know what i reckon it is? I reckon it's a HUGE overreaction on the parts of people who are just petrified of dying. To try and make out you're into something and it's what you're about when deep down, somewhere in the Freudian tangle of your psyche, you're cacking your pants.

Okay, here we go. You dragged this off-topic and I'm about to pull even further in that direction by making a long post about a completely different band to the one this thread is supposed to be about.

See, the thing is I've come to the realisation that I'm not as much of a metalhead as I thought I was: I used to go to Download Festival every year, I'd see all the metal tours as they came through town; The Black Crusade, Defenders of the Faith, the Unholy alliance etc. and as a teenager I loved them. I was in several (rubbish) metal bands during my teenage years. However, in terms of what I'll sit down and listen to, I'm far more likely to be listening to folk, melodic rock, electronic music than I am to be sitting listening to metal of any kind, much less Death Metal. I think Metal is on the whole a sadly tired genre with a few bands here and there pulling it in directions it hasn't been pulled before whilst infinitely more exhaust what has been done by poorly imitating the pioneers who made it possible in the first place.

This is with one exception, see there's a band I like a hell of a lot... in fact according to the profile I made on Last fm I listen to this band twice as much as I listen to any other, and they just happen to come under the genre you, dear Leonard, mass labled "fuckin bollocks." there. Now, I know how much you enjoy a good rambling post explaining the reasons and intents behind music, be it a song, an album or an artist so I'm going to do my best to oblige you with one here. I FUCKING LOVE In Flames, I don't just like them a bit... they have actually moved me to tears in a live situation (and I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the last decade), their inventiveness, insightful, poignant and heartfelt lyrics, amazing command of their instruments, their ability to create albums that are complete works of art and their incredible live shows make them the full package for me...

I can somewhat understand the image you're expounding of a bunch of long-haired (possibly bearded) Scandinavian guys playing buzzy, scoop-toned spiky guitars with double-bass drumming and incomprehensibly growled vocals about either comic-book gore or Norse mythology. I can also understand why, to a gent such as yourself that would seem pretentious, irrelevant and a load of fucking shite. From what I understand of your posts, you're interested in the people who end up being the voice of a generation, or even just those who voice human emotions honestly and effectively. Largely I'm the same, I generally don't like lyrics I find it difficult to relate to, it's why I don't listen to bands like Iron Maiden very much because a lot of their songs are like high-concept fiction...

On the surface, In Flames don't seem to do very much to subvert that stereotype you alluded to and which I mentioned there, but I like to think that's where the similarities end. Their early albums weren't as direct in doing so, but lyrically there was a lot of amazing material regarding the human condition, particularly Whoracle. On the surface, if you looked at it then you could say that it was just another song, another imaginary apocalypse; but they've always been concerned with the path humankind has chosen, particularly regarding our own future relationship with technology and climate change. So you end up with songs like this one: Jotun... It's not so much about "making out you're into" death and more an acknowledgement that the world, as it stands is going to hell in a handcart and no-one is really pulling the brakes, due to their own greed. There's a moment on that album where they fit in a cover of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" which was originally just a song about greedy record label executives shafting a band for the sake of making more money... but on that album it becomes so much more just because of the interpretation of it and where its situated: It becomes about the men who (literally) are selling the future of this planet and this species for a fat paycheque. To completely revolutionise the meaning of a successful song is no mean feat... to make it EVEN MORE poignant is stellar.

Then we move further down the line to that expression of human emotion thing I was talking about earlier... A lot of people find that the hardest thing to swallow about "Death Metal" is the vocals, as they are by and large abrasive, loud and often unintelligible. See, the thing that I love about Anders Friden as a frontman is the human touch that goes with all his vocals, yes he growls and he screams, but he sounds like a MAN growling and screaming, he sounds like he genuinely means everything he sings and he's not particularly hard to understand. This particularly comes to the fore on the album "Clayman", which is about his struggle to overcome depression... while you'd expect a metal band to wallow in it, a lot of it is very defiant and very positive. I love to listen to that album when I'm down because it's great to try and help you work your way up to feeling good about yourself again. This song's just a man in a dark place baring his soul and trying his damndest to get out of it... and it's fucking beautiful.

I'm not saying that they're perfect, they've made a couple of mis-steps over the years... a couple of mediocre albums, but they've always kept evolving experiementing and changing, including things like electronic music or folk, writing ballads, becoming more or less aggressive depending on the album. But I never felt their music has suffered from the ailment with which you diagnosed it, that of being pretentious, disingenuous or irrelevant. It's kept pace with the changes in their lives and their fans' lives and I fucking love them for it. For example, this song's about parenthood... something a lot of people can relate to, the way that children change your life and your outlook on the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-xn3P1Ixo

Now, if you don't like what I've posted simply because it's not your kinda thing to listen to, then that's absolutely fine I'd just like to think I've done my bit to justify its existence as art!

Whew!

i agree with alot of what you wrote but why did you have to bring maiden into this

[RandallFlagg]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

MY OPINION IS THE ONLY OPINION LOL!!!!123

Throw on The Sound Of Perseverance

Edited May 15, 2012 by RandallFlagg

[Desperado]

Okay, here we go. You dragged this off-topic and I'm about to pull even further in that direction by making a long post about a completely different band to the one this thread is supposed to be about.

See, the thing is I've come to the realisation that I'm not as much of a metalhead as I thought I was: I used to go to Download Festival every year, I'd see all the metal tours as they came through town; The Black Crusade, Defenders of the Faith, the Unholy alliance etc. and as a teenager I loved them. I was in several (rubbish) metal bands during my teenage years. However, in terms of what I'll sit down and listen to, I'm far more likely to be listening to folk, melodic rock, electronic music than I am to be sitting listening to metal of any kind, much less Death Metal. I think Metal is on the whole a sadly tired genre with a few bands here and there pulling it in directions it hasn't been pulled before whilst infinitely more exhaust what has been done by poorly imitating the pioneers who made it possible in the first place.

This is with one exception, see there's a band I like a hell of a lot... in fact according to the profile I made on Last fm I listen to this band twice as much as I listen to any other, and they just happen to come under the genre you, dear Leonard, mass labled "fuckin bollocks." there. Now, I know how much you enjoy a good rambling post explaining the reasons and intents behind music, be it a song, an album or an artist so I'm going to do my best to oblige you with one here. I FUCKING LOVE In Flames, I don't just like them a bit... they have actually moved me to tears in a live situation (and I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the last decade), their inventiveness, insightful, poignant and heartfelt lyrics, amazing command of their instruments, their ability to create albums that are complete works of art and their incredible live shows make them the full package for me...

I can somewhat understand the image you're expounding of a bunch of long-haired (possibly bearded) Scandinavian guys playing buzzy, scoop-toned spiky guitars with double-bass drumming and incomprehensibly growled vocals about either comic-book gore or Norse mythology. I can also understand why, to a gent such as yourself that would seem pretentious, irrelevant and a load of fucking shite. From what I understand of your posts, you're interested in the people who end up being the voice of a generation, or even just those who voice human emotions honestly and effectively. Largely I'm the same, I generally don't like lyrics I find it difficult to relate to, it's why I don't listen to bands like Iron Maiden very much because a lot of their songs are like high-concept fiction...

On the surface, In Flames don't seem to do very much to subvert that stereotype you alluded to and which I mentioned there, but I like to think that's where the similarities end. Their early albums weren't as direct in doing so, but lyrically there was a lot of amazing material regarding the human condition, particularly Whoracle. On the surface, if you looked at it then you could say that it was just another song, another imaginary apocalypse; but they've always been concerned with the path humankind has chosen, particularly regarding our own future relationship with technology and climate change. So you end up with songs like this one: Jotun... It's not so much about "making out you're into" death and more an acknowledgement that the world, as it stands is going to hell in a handcart and no-one is really pulling the brakes, due to their own greed. There's a moment on that album where they fit in a cover of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" which was originally just a song about greedy record label executives shafting a band for the sake of making more money... but on that album it becomes so much more just because of the interpretation of it and where its situated: It becomes about the men who (literally) are selling the future of this planet and this species for a fat paycheque. To completely revolutionise the meaning of a successful song is no mean feat... to make it EVEN MORE poignant is stellar.

Then we move further down the line to that expression of human emotion thing I was talking about earlier... A lot of people find that the hardest thing to swallow about "Death Metal" is the vocals, as they are by and large abrasive, loud and often unintelligible. See, the thing that I love about Anders Friden as a frontman is the human touch that goes with all his vocals, yes he growls and he screams, but he sounds like a MAN growling and screaming, he sounds like he genuinely means everything he sings and he's not particularly hard to understand. This particularly comes to the fore on the album "Clayman", which is about his struggle to overcome depression... while you'd expect a metal band to wallow in it, a lot of it is very defiant and very positive. I love to listen to that album when I'm down because it's great to try and help you work your way up to feeling good about yourself again. This song's just a man in a dark place baring his soul and trying his damndest to get out of it... and it's fucking beautiful.

I'm not saying that they're perfect, they've made a couple of mis-steps over the years... a couple of mediocre albums, but they've always kept evolving experiementing and changing, including things like electronic music or folk, writing ballads, becoming more or less aggressive depending on the album. But I never felt their music has suffered from the ailment with which you diagnosed it, that of being pretentious, disingenuous or irrelevant. It's kept pace with the changes in their lives and their fans' lives and I fucking love them for it. For example, this song's about parenthood... something a lot of people can relate to, the way that children change your life and your outlook on the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-xn3P1Ixo

Now, if you don't like what I've posted simply because it's not your kinda thing to listen to, then that's absolutely fine I'd just like to think I've done my bit to justify its existence as art!

Whew!

agree

I think that their latest album SOAPF is their best (I know I'm one of the few who thinks this)

It has the best vocals, guitars, bass, drums, electronics and production in my opinion.

[Graeme]

^^ I actually don't have anything against Maiden at all, I've seen them twice; once in Glasgow and once at Donington; and they were cracking both times. I simply meant that they weren't in my regular listening diet in the way that In Flames are ingrained because of all the reasons I explained up there.

[bran]

^^ I actually don't have anything against Maiden at all, I've seen them twice; once in Glasgow and once at Donington; and they were cracking both times. I simply meant that they weren't in my regular listening diet in the way that In Flames are ingrained because of all the reasons I explained up there.

i meant it as a joke i understood what you were saying

[Graeme]

agree

I think that their latest album SOAPF is their best (I know I'm one of the few who thinks this)

It has the best vocals, guitars, bass, drums, electronics and production in my opinion.

I love Sounds of a Playground Fading to bits, it's definitely their best album since Clayman! I think they released four flawless albums in a row, I like Reroute (in particular the experimental tracks on it like Metaphor and Dawn of a New Day) but there's a lot of stuff on there that's just like white noise due to the production, then it dipped a bit further with Soundtrack (although Evil in a Closet is one of their greatest songs ever). Come Clarity brought things back up by effectively marrying the post-2000 In Flames sound with elements of the classic In Flames, it was aggressive and melodic but it wasn't perfect again with songs like Scream on there... A Sense of Purpose was terrible by IF standards, I don't know what happened to them there but SOAPF is superb, I would say it's definitely up there with the big 4. I may even rank it higher than Colony. It's just a perfect expression of everything In Flames have ever been, has elements of everything from Subterranean to Whoracle to Soundtrack! It flows from start to finish... I don't know how they're going to follow it!

[Desperado]

agree

I think that their latest album SOAPF is their best (I know I'm one of the few who thinks this)

It has the best vocals, guitars, bass, drums, electronics and production in my opinion.

I love Sounds of a Playground Fading to bits, it's definitely their best album since Clayman! I think they released four flawless albums in a row, I like Reroute (in particular the experimental tracks on it like Metaphor and Dawn of a New Day) but there's a lot of stuff on there that's just like white noise due to the production, then it dipped a bit further with Soundtrack (although Evil in a Closet is one of their greatest songs ever). Come Clarity brought things back up by effectively marrying the post-2000 In Flames sound with elements of the classic In Flames, it was aggressive and melodic but it wasn't perfect again with songs like Scream on there... A Sense of Purpose was terrible by IF standards, I don't know what happened to them there but SOAPF is superb, I would say it's definitely up there with the big 4. I may even rank it higher than Colony. It's just a perfect expression of everything In Flames have ever been, has elements of everything from Subterranean to Whoracle to Soundtrack! It flows from start to finish... I don't know how they're going to follow it!

that almost exactly how I see it

I think that ASOP has it's good moments but it got boring really fast. Best thing about that album is the vocals I think.

And I really like STYE (agree with you about EIAC) but the only problem is that alot of the songs sound too similar and I feel the same way with most of RTR. But I think I'm the only In Flames fan that never really got that into Whoracle but it's a really good album. The best I would say is SOAPF, Clayman, Colony and Come Clarity

[chevelle]

Off topic but...Death Metal is a load of fuckin bollocks. A bunch of sad droopy faces moaning about some cartooney crap. Death Metal, it's just ridiculous as a notion. How can you be into death and why make a musical genre around it, i mean, you're into death right, thats your aspiration, well the last time i checked dead people didn't play or make a lot of music. It's just really REALLY immature and funny and silly. All dressed in black, chundering away on their Ibanezes.

Y'know what i reckon it is? I reckon it's a HUGE overreaction on the parts of people who are just petrified of dying. To try and make out you're into something and it's what you're about when deep down, somewhere in the Freudian tangle of your psyche, you're cacking your pants.

Okay, here we go. You dragged this off-topic and I'm about to pull even further in that direction by making a long post about a completely different band to the one this thread is supposed to be about.

See, the thing is I've come to the realisation that I'm not as much of a metalhead as I thought I was: I used to go to Download Festival every year, I'd see all the metal tours as they came through town; The Black Crusade, Defenders of the Faith, the Unholy alliance etc. and as a teenager I loved them. I was in several (rubbish) metal bands during my teenage years. However, in terms of what I'll sit down and listen to, I'm far more likely to be listening to folk, melodic rock, electronic music than I am to be sitting listening to metal of any kind, much less Death Metal. I think Metal is on the whole a sadly tired genre with a few bands here and there pulling it in directions it hasn't been pulled before whilst infinitely more exhaust what has been done by poorly imitating the pioneers who made it possible in the first place.

This is with one exception, see there's a band I like a hell of a lot... in fact according to the profile I made on Last fm I listen to this band twice as much as I listen to any other, and they just happen to come under the genre you, dear Leonard, mass labled "fuckin bollocks." there. Now, I know how much you enjoy a good rambling post explaining the reasons and intents behind music, be it a song, an album or an artist so I'm going to do my best to oblige you with one here. I FUCKING LOVE In Flames, I don't just like them a bit... they have actually moved me to tears in a live situation (and I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the last decade), their inventiveness, insightful, poignant and heartfelt lyrics, amazing command of their instruments, their ability to create albums that are complete works of art and their incredible live shows make them the full package for me...

I can somewhat understand the image you're expounding of a bunch of long-haired (possibly bearded) Scandinavian guys playing buzzy, scoop-toned spiky guitars with double-bass drumming and incomprehensibly growled vocals about either comic-book gore or Norse mythology. I can also understand why, to a gent such as yourself that would seem pretentious, irrelevant and a load of fucking shite. From what I understand of your posts, you're interested in the people who end up being the voice of a generation, or even just those who voice human emotions honestly and effectively. Largely I'm the same, I generally don't like lyrics I find it difficult to relate to, it's why I don't listen to bands like Iron Maiden very much because a lot of their songs are like high-concept fiction...

On the surface, In Flames don't seem to do very much to subvert that stereotype you alluded to and which I mentioned there, but I like to think that's where the similarities end. Their early albums weren't as direct in doing so, but lyrically there was a lot of amazing material regarding the human condition, particularly Whoracle. On the surface, if you looked at it then you could say that it was just another song, another imaginary apocalypse; but they've always been concerned with the path humankind has chosen, particularly regarding our own future relationship with technology and climate change. So you end up with songs like this one: Jotun... It's not so much about "making out you're into" death and more an acknowledgement that the world, as it stands is going to hell in a handcart and no-one is really pulling the brakes, due to their own greed. There's a moment on that album where they fit in a cover of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" which was originally just a song about greedy record label executives shafting a band for the sake of making more money... but on that album it becomes so much more just because of the interpretation of it and where its situated: It becomes about the men who (literally) are selling the future of this planet and this species for a fat paycheque. To completely revolutionise the meaning of a successful song is no mean feat... to make it EVEN MORE poignant is stellar.

Then we move further down the line to that expression of human emotion thing I was talking about earlier... A lot of people find that the hardest thing to swallow about "Death Metal" is the vocals, as they are by and large abrasive, loud and often unintelligible. See, the thing that I love about Anders Friden as a frontman is the human touch that goes with all his vocals, yes he growls and he screams, but he sounds like a MAN growling and screaming, he sounds like he genuinely means everything he sings and he's not particularly hard to understand. This particularly comes to the fore on the album "Clayman", which is about his struggle to overcome depression... while you'd expect a metal band to wallow in it, a lot of it is very defiant and very positive. I love to listen to that album when I'm down because it's great to try and help you work your way up to feeling good about yourself again. This song's just a man in a dark place baring his soul and trying his damndest to get out of it... and it's fucking beautiful.

I'm not saying that they're perfect, they've made a couple of mis-steps over the years... a couple of mediocre albums, but they've always kept evolving experiementing and changing, including things like electronic music or folk, writing ballads, becoming more or less aggressive depending on the album. But I never felt their music has suffered from the ailment with which you diagnosed it, that of being pretentious, disingenuous or irrelevant. It's kept pace with the changes in their lives and their fans' lives and I fucking love them for it. For example, this song's about parenthood... something a lot of people can relate to, the way that children change your life and your outlook on the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-xn3P1Ixo

Now, if you don't like what I've posted simply because it's not your kinda thing to listen to, then that's absolutely fine I'd just like to think I've done my bit to justify its existence as art!

Whew!

I think I'm in love. You just summed up everything about why I love In Flames.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Off topic but...Death Metal is a load of fuckin bollocks. A bunch of sad droopy faces moaning about some cartooney crap. Death Metal, it's just ridiculous as a notion. How can you be into death and why make a musical genre around it, i mean, you're into death right, thats your aspiration, well the last time i checked dead people didn't play or make a lot of music. It's just really REALLY immature and funny and silly. All dressed in black, chundering away on their Ibanezes.

Y'know what i reckon it is? I reckon it's a HUGE overreaction on the parts of people who are just petrified of dying. To try and make out you're into something and it's what you're about when deep down, somewhere in the Freudian tangle of your psyche, you're cacking your pants.

Okay, here we go. You dragged this off-topic and I'm about to pull even further in that direction by making a long post about a completely different band to the one this thread is supposed to be about.

See, the thing is I've come to the realisation that I'm not as much of a metalhead as I thought I was: I used to go to Download Festival every year, I'd see all the metal tours as they came through town; The Black Crusade, Defenders of the Faith, the Unholy alliance etc. and as a teenager I loved them. I was in several (rubbish) metal bands during my teenage years. However, in terms of what I'll sit down and listen to, I'm far more likely to be listening to folk, melodic rock, electronic music than I am to be sitting listening to metal of any kind, much less Death Metal. I think Metal is on the whole a sadly tired genre with a few bands here and there pulling it in directions it hasn't been pulled before whilst infinitely more exhaust what has been done by poorly imitating the pioneers who made it possible in the first place.

This is with one exception, see there's a band I like a hell of a lot... in fact according to the profile I made on Last fm I listen to this band twice as much as I listen to any other, and they just happen to come under the genre you, dear Leonard, mass labled "fuckin bollocks." there. Now, I know how much you enjoy a good rambling post explaining the reasons and intents behind music, be it a song, an album or an artist so I'm going to do my best to oblige you with one here. I FUCKING LOVE In Flames, I don't just like them a bit... they have actually moved me to tears in a live situation (and I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the last decade), their inventiveness, insightful, poignant and heartfelt lyrics, amazing command of their instruments, their ability to create albums that are complete works of art and their incredible live shows make them the full package for me...

I can somewhat understand the image you're expounding of a bunch of long-haired (possibly bearded) Scandinavian guys playing buzzy, scoop-toned spiky guitars with double-bass drumming and incomprehensibly growled vocals about either comic-book gore or Norse mythology. I can also understand why, to a gent such as yourself that would seem pretentious, irrelevant and a load of fucking shite. From what I understand of your posts, you're interested in the people who end up being the voice of a generation, or even just those who voice human emotions honestly and effectively. Largely I'm the same, I generally don't like lyrics I find it difficult to relate to, it's why I don't listen to bands like Iron Maiden very much because a lot of their songs are like high-concept fiction...

On the surface, In Flames don't seem to do very much to subvert that stereotype you alluded to and which I mentioned there, but I like to think that's where the similarities end. Their early albums weren't as direct in doing so, but lyrically there was a lot of amazing material regarding the human condition, particularly Whoracle. On the surface, if you looked at it then you could say that it was just another song, another imaginary apocalypse; but they've always been concerned with the path humankind has chosen, particularly regarding our own future relationship with technology and climate change. So you end up with songs like this one: Jotun... It's not so much about "making out you're into" death and more an acknowledgement that the world, as it stands is going to hell in a handcart and no-one is really pulling the brakes, due to their own greed. There's a moment on that album where they fit in a cover of Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" which was originally just a song about greedy record label executives shafting a band for the sake of making more money... but on that album it becomes so much more just because of the interpretation of it and where its situated: It becomes about the men who (literally) are selling the future of this planet and this species for a fat paycheque. To completely revolutionise the meaning of a successful song is no mean feat... to make it EVEN MORE poignant is stellar.

Then we move further down the line to that expression of human emotion thing I was talking about earlier... A lot of people find that the hardest thing to swallow about "Death Metal" is the vocals, as they are by and large abrasive, loud and often unintelligible. See, the thing that I love about Anders Friden as a frontman is the human touch that goes with all his vocals, yes he growls and he screams, but he sounds like a MAN growling and screaming, he sounds like he genuinely means everything he sings and he's not particularly hard to understand. This particularly comes to the fore on the album "Clayman", which is about his struggle to overcome depression... while you'd expect a metal band to wallow in it, a lot of it is very defiant and very positive. I love to listen to that album when I'm down because it's great to try and help you work your way up to feeling good about yourself again. This song's just a man in a dark place baring his soul and trying his damndest to get out of it... and it's fucking beautiful.

I'm not saying that they're perfect, they've made a couple of mis-steps over the years... a couple of mediocre albums, but they've always kept evolving experiementing and changing, including things like electronic music or folk, writing ballads, becoming more or less aggressive depending on the album. But I never felt their music has suffered from the ailment with which you diagnosed it, that of being pretentious, disingenuous or irrelevant. It's kept pace with the changes in their lives and their fans' lives and I fucking love them for it. For example, this song's about parenthood... something a lot of people can relate to, the way that children change your life and your outlook on the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-xn3P1Ixo

Now, if you don't like what I've posted simply because it's not your kinda thing to listen to, then that's absolutely fine I'd just like to think I've done my bit to justify its existence as art!

Whew!

I shall have to have a listen to em Graeme dear, can you point out any one albums thats particularly fuckin amazing for a starting point or shall i just close my eyes and pick one?

And the thing about the vocals on a lot of metal, it ain't particularly that i got a problem with a good growl or a fucking horrible sounding voice, i love a bit of that, it's just...OK, you can take the mimic an American accent to the nth degree like it was being done among a lot of the british blues lot and what you end up with is like, a bland mediocre one size fits all bunch of singers who all sound the same, it's sort of the same with the metal growl thing, i'm sure the first time that voice was heard it was the fuckin bollocks but the thing is they pretty much all sound like that.

But no, that was quite intriguing actually, i shall give em a listen, i'd listen to em now only i'm at work so i can't click the youtube links.

[Graeme]

I'd say give either Clayman or Come Clarity a shot, start yourself off with the newer albums and work your way backwards. The earliest two full-length LPs, Whoracle and The Jester Race are (in my opinion) their greatest work but they're not particularly accessible until you're used to what you're getting... Let us know what you think!

[SuperBlaine]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

Exactly what i was trying to say. There is hardly any good that comes from listening to this particular genre. I did my fair share of musical experimentation, this genre is 1 of the worst. You are better off with listening to top 100 pop hits on the radio. There is a reason why countless media forms mock this and black metal and whatever you like to throw in the pot of crap. It's just that, crap. Drop D or E tuning for every song....Just Complete depressive shit to the max.

[moreblack]

so many ignorant posts in this thread

it's mygnrforum, what did you expect?

[bran]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

Exactly what i was trying to say. There is hardly any good that comes from listening to this particular genre. I did my fair share of musical experimentation, this genre is 1 of the worst. You are better off with listening to top 100 pop hits on the radio. There is a reason why countless media forms mock this and black metal and whatever you like to throw in the pot of crap. It's just that, crap. Drop D or E tuning for every song....Just Complete depressive shit to the max.

its mocked because its not made for 15 year old girls or the american idol crowd

[Chewbacca]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

Exactly what i was trying to say. There is hardly any good that comes from listening to this particular genre. I did my fair share of musical experimentation, this genre is 1 of the worst. You are better off with listening to top 100 pop hits on the radio. There is a reason why countless media forms mock this and black metal and whatever you like to throw in the pot of crap. It's just that, crap. Drop D or E tuning for every song....Just Complete depressive shit to the max.

Drop D or E tuning? Death Metal is one of the genres that usually explores the use of lower tunings (Drop C, for example), baritone guitars/ seven string axes (B, Drop G# tuning) or even 8 string guitars, like Meshuggah (Eb tuning with a low F, sometimes they tune it to low Eb or even Bb0, yes the lowest note on a 5 string bass).

[Graeme]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

Exactly what i was trying to say. There is hardly any good that comes from listening to this particular genre. I did my fair share of musical experimentation, this genre is 1 of the worst. You are better off with listening to top 100 pop hits on the radio. There is a reason why countless media forms mock this and black metal and whatever you like to throw in the pot of crap. It's just that, crap. Drop D or E tuning for every song....Just Complete depressive shit to the max.

How the hell would you even get Drop E tuning? You'd have to tune everything up to F# and keep the low E the same... Or tune to drop D and capo the second fret. Neither of which is prevalent within the genre... And if you meant E standard, what?

Did you even read any of the discussion that was going on?

[chevelle]

It's a bad thing that you're getting inspiration from a shit music genre.

Exactly what i was trying to say. There is hardly any good that comes from listening to this particular genre. I did my fair share of musical experimentation, this genre is 1 of the worst. You are better off with listening to top 100 pop hits on the radio. There is a reason why countless media forms mock this and black metal and whatever you like to throw in the pot of crap. It's just that, crap. Drop D or E tuning for every song....Just Complete depressive shit to the max.

How the hell would you even get Drop E tuning? You'd have to tune everything up to F# and keep the low E the same... Or tune to drop D and capo the second fret. Neither of which is prevalent within the genre... And if you meant E standard, what?

Did you even read any of the discussion that was going on?

Never mind the fact that 90% of all rock is played in either E standard or Drop D. Including Guns.

Edited May 18, 2012 by chevelle