I thought this was a pretty funny statement on modern rock...

[ManaMan]

<div style='font: 12pt Helvetica, Modern; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.entertainment.inuk.com/music ... tml">Start your own metal band!</a>

I thought this was a pretty funny statement on modern rock...</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>Upon seeing Fred Durst and Christina Aguilera share a stage, I suddenly saw exactly what was going on...... "Bad-boy Bands."</div>

[Stephen_S]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/ ... l">Link</a>

You might enjoy this article. I don't know much about metal, nu or otherwise, but I found it to be a pretty good read.</div>

[Crono]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>Well, it just proves that the popular "hard alternative" to candy pop.... can get just as pathetic and overdone. It happens to all forms of music.</div>

[Darx]

<div style='font: 12pt Modern; text-align: left; '>Either way, as the song plays out, you can almost see the e-mails scroll across the bottom of the "Total Request Live" screen: "Carson, what's up? This is Scott from Champaign, what up dawg?!!! Can you play Papa Roach's 'Broken Home'? My parents fight and stuff, and like, Papa Roach are off the heezy. Thanx!"

Classic.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>Oh god...when did that happen?</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>I can't stand how many crappy House DJs are out there, as well as the low-key mixers like Moby and Fatboy Slim. (Yeah, I like FBS, but he's pretty untalented most of the time.) About the only really popular and talented techno artists are Chemical Brothers. And I don't want to even mention the shitloads of eurotrash (not techno) artists like there, like Aqua and Eiffel 65. They really give electronica a bad name.</div>

[WolfSamurai]

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha, Modern; text-align: left; '>...though they're waaaaay the hell off in lumping Fear Factory in with nu rock.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>The fact that he even mentioned Fear Factory makes me sick. This jackass doesn't realize that all these bands are playing music that people want to hear. I like Linkin Park, so what? They've found what works, they are the type of band who probably won't be around that long, but it doesn't matter, they're good now. Fear Factory has been around for almost 10 years... just because they're getting press now doesn't make them the flavor of the week band.

And picking apart lyrics, jesus fucking christ... like anyone writes good lyrics? WTF? How can that even be a point of criticism? The article was complete crap, my view on the current music industry is totally opposite of this monkey's.

I get the feeling he was saying it was somehow better in the 80's? Maybe that's me reading between the lines, but that's a joke too. You can't listen to 80's metal and not hear the similarities between all the bands.</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>And for some reason, it seems like they were trying to make 80s music sound... good? Preferable? Huh? The only thing I can think of that came from the 80s that I liked (and still like) Is indeed Soundgarden, but man...

Actually, I think it's more like a finger laying blame at the 80s for not giving these latest wanna-be rappers a "good and solid" basis for "real rock."

Real rock, of course being about satanist gore and "Poo-say."

Blah. Dissapointing article.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>Yeah, I agree... I gotta remember it's just one persons opinion, but the fact that someone so uneducated about the music he's writing about really bugs me...</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>You have to admit that a lot of these pop metal bands sound the same. That was what he was targetting.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>Well, what else was metal singing about? Generally, if it wasn't a "satanistic" metal band, or a "poo-say" hair band, it was a "politically enraged" punk band.</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>Personal Sorrow / Love and Loss / Despair and Regret
-Evoken
-Left Hand Solution
-Novembers Doom
-My Dying Bride
-Morgion

Nature's Beauty and it's Wrath
-Vintersorg (Though over 90% of his songs are in Swedish)

Christian Songs
-Paramecium
-Purgation

Deterioration of the Human Condition
-In Flames

Artistic retellings of legends
-Amorphis (Older stuff)

Sheer Atmosphere
-Avrigus
-Skepticism


You would be hard pressed to put any of these bands in the satanic gore metal category or the "gettin high and scorin' some poontang" category. Oops, we've just exhausted the only two categories that the article's author believes Metal (or rock, the words seem interchangeable to him) should be about. So what about the above bands? I guess they're not metal, are they? Heh, how ignorant.

While I can't argue against the reality that Korn, Bizkit, and the like are the "Face" of metal (or is it rap? I can't really tell anymore.) on the radio, there's a lot more to the genre than what he seems to have been willing to acknowledge.

And unlike the bands that he wrote about in the article, all of the above (Well, I can't vouch for Purgation, since I've not yet heard them) at least make some attempt at lyrical poetry, even if some of them sing in swedish, or have 5 lbs of gravel in their throats... Hell, you can actually even understand Novembers Doom without a lyric sheet (which is *amazing* considering that they're one of the gravel singer bands).

If he wants to see bands where the women get up on stage and let the Metal spirit fly *without* the whole Kittie-esque angle, he should check out 3rd and the Mortal, Avrigus, Left Hand Solution, Thorr's Hammer (I swear to god, you can't even tell it's a woman!), Mahavatar... They're everywhere.

<b>Spoiler Message:<b>
<span style="background: black; color: black;">Simmer down, Kabong. I don't nescissarily mean to include Fear Factory in with the suck-ass crap the talked about in the article.</span></div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>And thanks for the women metal bands. Hopefully one of them will compose of some talent and actually sing the lyrics (instead of the gravel shouters that 99% of all metal bands consist of). I swear...I can't find anything else like Drain STH, though.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>There was a specific guitar tone, drum sound, etc., that nearly everyone was using. Read any guitar interview from that era, everyone wanted Eddie Van Halen's guitar sound. I just don't see anything wrong with it. People of this era want that sound. It's heavy as hell... there aren't 20 minute guitar solos. I love it. It makes music more interesting. But I have a completely different perspective, because I've been playing guitar through both these time periods.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>hehe, I'm in agreement with you, I know you know more about this style of music than the guy who wrote this article... ;)</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>Avrigus and LHS could very well be for you. If I were you I'd stay away from Thorr's Hammer, though.</div>

[S.Cody2]

<div style='font: 10pt "Copperplate Gothic", Modern; text-align: left; '>Heh, I despise these guys as much as candy-pop.</div>

[S.Cody2]

<div style='font: 10pt "Copperplate Gothic", Modern; text-align: left; '>What an assbag.</div>

[Stephen_S]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>What, pray tell, is "Sheer Atmosphere?"</div>

[Stephen_S]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>Not that I intend to start a debate on the nuances of metal, but if lyrics aren't a valid "point of criticism," then what is? Chord structure?</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>Music that sets an overriding atmosphere while you're listening to it. It's music you "feel" as well as hear.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>That you can find examples of poor lyrics in any song in any era. You can't tell me stuff that Winger wrote in the 80's is better(or worse) than the crap Limp Bizkit is putting out now... "it's my way/my way or the highway"... blah... how lame is that? And it's somehow worse than "She's only seventeen.../Dad said she's too young, but she's old enough for me..." please... I think this goes back to my percieved notion that this guy somehow thinks things were better in 80's music. Lyrics sucked just as much then and honestly, they are secondary to the popularity of a style of music. So yes, I think comparing song structure would be better... :)

You're seeing a lot less virtuoso stuff in today's music. It's not better or worse IMO, just different and it's all good.</div>

[Stephen_S]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>That's way too vague a category. All good music is felt as well as heard. "Sheer Atmosphere" sounds like a section where music stores display their "Sounds of the Rainforest" CDs.</div>

[Stephen_S]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>But aren't lyrics an essential component of certain musical styles?</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>hmm... yes, I would say they are, but I don't think they are when talking about metal over the last 20 years. eh, it's just my opinion, to me it's less important.</div>

[ManaMan]

<div style='font: 12pt Helvetica, Modern; text-align: left; '>Well lyrics have never really been AS important in Metal as in say, Rap or Punk... they've been more like a way to enhance the experience.</div>

[Nemissa]

<div style='font: 9pt system, Modern; text-align: left; '>Skepticism -
What you're looking at in Skepticism is music that drops into the deepest bass levels on the guitar and mingles them with mournful church organs. It's easily some of the slowest music composed, with drums at approximately 25 beats per minute, and the organs played at a matching pace. The vocals are an almost inaudible whispered growl. Genre-wise, it's called "Funeral Doom." I can't think of a more fitting description.

Avrigus -
This is harder for me to describe... I've read one somewhat accurate assessment as "Mix Tori Amos with Metallica, mix with a little Beethoven and you have Avrigus." While that's not *entirely* the case, it's about as close as I've really seen anyone come to giving a good basis for comparison.

I suppose it's not something I have words to truly express. Therefore, I describe it as closely as I can. To me, it's "atmospheric," because the music seems to try to put you in the middle of a mental scene as opposed to being an observer or an onlooker. I'm not quite sure how else to define it.</div>

[El Kabong]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>True, but a good singer can compensate for shitty lyrics.(still talking about metal) Look at Van Halen of the early 80's. He was singing complete crap, but it ruled!</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", Modern; text-align: left; '>Actually, a bad singer can't really compesate with good lyrics. It'll still suck.</div>

[Ishamael]

<div style='font: italic bold 14pt "Comic Sans MS", Modern; text-align: justify; padding: 0% 15% 0% 15%; '>Hey, you're right for once. How a song is written and how it is sung is way more important than the lyrics themselves about 90% of the time...</div>

[Crono]

<div style='font: 12pt Arial, Modern; text-align: left; '>Yah, exactly. Even the stuff that starts out as "alternative media" just becomes overexposed in the same way eventually.</div>