Metal Reviews

I remember when I was 15 my father absolutely refused to let me play electric guitar because "it was Satan's music" and it was going to cause me to go bad. He was convinced that bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Bad Company had single handedly pushed my older brother into drug use and drinking alcohol.

Shit, I can still remember having to hide my Iron Maiden "The Number of the Beast" LP from him. And, of course I had to hide anything that bore the name Judas Priest on the cover. He would go totally mental when he saw that stuff. In fact, before I got into metal my first cassette tape was Journey "Escape". I asked if I could borrow his tape player to play it in while I cleaned my room one Saturday morning. it didn't reach the first chorus in "Don't Stop Believin'" before he burst in, ripped the plug out of the wall, and through my tape out of his machine. He said, "You will not infect my machine with that shit!!!"

Thanks to my mother, 23 years later he thinks I'm one of the best guitarists he's ever heard and swears he can tell no difference between Edward Van Halen's paying and mine. I don't lend much credence to that statement because obviously if he ever heard a Van Halen song on the radio he would have no clue as to who they are.

I'm now a dad and I've taken my 15 and 19 year old to so many damn concerts we lost count years ago. We've seen stuff ranging from The Donnas/Michelle Branch to Iron Maiden and Ozzfest. Oh, and guess what...they don't have alcohol and drug issues!! Who would have ever guessed..right? My daughter sings and plays piano and my older son plays metal guitar with me. We just bought tickets for the TSO show on December 20th.

It's amazing how narrow minded people can really be. It's even scarier when it's your own family. To this day my father still places blame on rock/metal music as part of my brother's downfall. It's amazingly sad.

A lot of people think that not just heavy metal, but even rock music is "Satan's music". Pretty sad. I have listened to Iron Maiden's "Be Quick Or Be Dead" backwards and the words I could gather were. "You will follow with him, fight ...... Satan is God and all of you shall be his slaves." Dunno how it happens. I remember the shock I had when I heard it. That was about 15 years ago. I stopped caring a little while after that. As another poster said. If these guys had anything satanic to say, they would say it directly.

it was @ the troll, not you XD

Just thought so. I edited my post on second thoughts, but guess posted it too late. Sorry about that. Bang on.

i get that everytime i'm not listening to anything with harsh vocals, it makes me want to strangle someone!

this one time we saw Anoushka Shankar (Ravi Shankar's hot-ass sitar-playing daughter) live in Chicago and i liked it a lot and my sister was all surprised. stupid girl, i'm surprised she liked it despite the lack of rapping!

allow me to rant on my sister's musical tastes and attitude. she listens to mainly mtv stuff, and thinks... well, i can't name names, but i heard the stuff she thinks is really different and strange-sounding and it, well, isn't. at all.
then she says metal is just noise, and because of all her loud complaining she can't catch the melodies under the screaming. she can't understand the concept of harsh vocals fitting well with music, not can she accept that people look for different things in music and if they want something fast or aggressive or whatever it's not in her place to say they can't listen, and besides if people can like shitty-ass two-note techno than they can damn well like metal and everything else in between as long as it's honest and not just to be cool. she won't say she can't find it in her to like it (hey, i'll say it, i can't like reggae), she just says it's noise.

then she leaves her computer on all the time (in itself annoying as fuck, i even unplug mine when i'm not using it), and almost always with her shitty-ass music on, so we can see how open-minded she is listening to music as varied as nelly furtado and india arie.

yeah.. i hate the "why are you listening to that?" question too. Gotten that alot since i also listen to classic music. Why should one need explain oneself just because one are listening to metal?!

anywho... i haven't gotten any silly questions for a long time now, since i don't look metal any longer (only little once in a while but nobody takes notice) or talk that much about music in general. I have downplayed it's "role" so to speak. My new class only know me as a regular guy, i don't have to explain myself any longer, i'm totally anonymous - sort of.. i make lots of noice in the classroom... but i think it helps my motivation to do ev0l metalish music. So that's good, i think. I'm like Rambo, i was born a warrior.. wargh!

I love you


I can relate to almost every comment made in this thread.

i love you too ... a shame you're already married


i can only imaging you have had a whole lot more explanation to do since you are.. well.. a christian.. right?!

many ppl like to put other ppl in boxes each with it's own set of characteristics. Deviate too much from the box and they'll have a mental meltdown. I really hate that... espcelly when they can't put me into the "right" box. I have been both labeled as a satanist and a goth.. wtf?!?

I don't mind questions in general. But what's annoying about the " why are you listening to that?" question in particular, is that it implies that the person asking the question doesn't think it fit with your box and therefore wants a deeper psychological explanation, cuz "because i like it" is probably not a valid explanation.. either that or he think it's completely shit and think you're only listening to it because you want to be cool or something. In either cases he has placed you in the I-don't-know-what-the-fuck-i'm-doing-box... sure the question could have been asked in a different manner, less annoying.

My dad often ask me "why are you listening to classic music, Kim?... I just want to know why!".. this isn't that annoyed, he he, he is my dad after all. To which i either reply "just because.." or " because I like it, perhaps?". There's really not that many answers to give.

But, an elderly woman, my grandmother's sister, once asked me at a birthday party during a semi-conversation i had with a another woman about black metal (she was babbling about burzum not me), " How do you feel inside while listening to your music?"... erm... there's no correct answer that question when it's about black metal. If you say "fucking good" she might think you're insane, and if you say " pretty awful" she would ask the "why are listening to that?" question. " I dunno..." is the best answer to give in that situation, it saves one from alot of question and explanation. Again.. it wasn't that annoying.. more like uncomfortable.

But at a party one of my ignorant friends told me that the only reason why ppl (and I) was into norse mythology was that they (we) wanted to be cool.
That, of course, pissed me off so fucking much.. A) because he didn't even knew what i liked about it, nor the reason why other ppl choosed to believe in the old gods or feel inspired by them. B) because he himself was ignorant as fuck, full of himself, and often pretentious as fuck. C) because he was questioning my judgement and shitting all over me and other ppl.
Luckely i had the opportunity to slam his head together with another guy an hour later. They both had it coming ... fortunately for me they didn't beat me up. Both bigger and taller than me.

well... i had lot of situations like this...

I came into work once wearing a Sodom t-shirt and this guy asked me "what are you supposed to be? an emo?" I responded with a "no. what are you supposed to be, a fag?"

Now we are good friends.

A couple of days I was reading the tv guide and saw a couple of cd reviews. Among them was the new Alter Bridge, they didn't like it because there were to many guitarsolo's.

If you don't know what metal is about, you should not put reviews in your tv guide wich is read by loooots of people. Idiots.

I've come across a lot of comments which have annoyed and pissed me off. I forgot most of them cos I just couldn't be bothered.

My mum
I grew up with two of your uncles who tortured my ears. I finally found peace when I married your dad and moved out. 15 years later, the torture started back again.

My Canadian boss from my internship company, he saw Ozzy with Randy during the Wizard of Oz back in the 80's. And he's a big Motorhead fan
Aw, cmon man! There's more to music than metal! Don't be so narrow minded.

My other boss from my internship company upon hearing my cell phone ringtone, which was CoF's 'Dusk and Her Embrace'
Seriously, you listen to that shit? Anybody can sing like that, just squeel!

Then there are loads more. Comin from friends and family:

'How could you listen to that? It's plain noise!'

'There's no talent and skilled learned from metal'

And from the hordes of Indian girls:
"Why do you listen to all these evil music? It's not good, it's evil. It will affect you emotionally"

Unlike some of you, who try to convince their friends about metal being otherwise by givin them a mix CD etc, I don't bother about it. I feel if someone hates a certain thing, let it be. Don't be too goody goody by proving them otherwise. I think it's being desperate and cheap. If they want to listen and experiment, go ahead. I won't force them.

yeah, i don't try to convert anyone either. there's no need to shove metal in someone's face, if they're interested they can check it out themselves, of not leave them be.

But most of the time I find they dont know where to go or how to experiment if they want to. Also, some might not care enough. So far about 95% of the people I made a cd for seriously thanked me for it and now loves metal and seem more open minded about things like it. I see nothing wrong with doing that. How is it desperate and cheap to want to share something so special with people?

say someone finds something really special in hip hop (i'm not saying it isn't special, but to me...) and gives you a cd. will you give it an honest listen? i won't.

it's not desperate, but if someone doesn't show any interest in metal i won't waste my time and that person's on it.

I agree that trying to convert people is just a waste of time.

I just had a conversation with my friend yesterday -

Friend : I dont like this metal and rock music. I never understood what was so special about it

Me : It's a matter of personal taste.

Friend : Wat's the big deal? Some rascal just keeps banging the drums.

Me : That's the beauty of it.

Friend : I don't get it. I enjoy classical music and ghazals.

Me : Those put me to sleep.

End of conversation.

I would actually. I believe there is good rap/hip hop out there.

What I meant by desperate was that you're keen on making that guy a metalhead so that he can take his words back. I know many of us really get pissed off by some lousy comments and we would try our level best for them to admit the opposite. I do understand you, SilentMan, sometimes it's a satisfaction you get when a non-metalhead admits he likes some of the stuff you gave him. I know it's not easy for a non to admit he likes a little bit of metal.

But as for me, I'm with Az. I'll rather have the person experiment by himself rather than being told what to listen. I personally feel that the person would appreciate metal even more if he had done his own exploration and experimentation. Just like me. I had no basics from the start. A Deep Purple ad on tele drew my interest and that was it. I had no one to tell me what to listen or whatsoever. I learned and explored from magazines, reviews, articles etc. And nearly 9 years later, I'm a proud metalhead.

If you're gonna feed someone metal, he'll just listen to it for your sake and most probably be one of those trendy metalheads. These people won't last long. These are the people who would say metal was just a phase thing in their life.

But apart from all of that, if it works for you SilentMan, chill. Keep up the good work!

I get what you both mean as well. I got into metal from a friend cramming it in my face whenever he got the chance though. He used to play things like: Elvenking, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Cradle of Filth, etc.. around me and it all sounded like garbage to me about 6-7 years ago. I don't cram it in people's face however, I offer them the choice of hearing something new and most people usually go for it.

I think we are just talking about 2 different ways about it. I don't agree with forcing it on someone, but at work when its dead music convos come up alot and 90% of the people I've worked with only listen to the radio. So when I talk about my music they think it sounds kinda cool and I offer to make em a sample. I would always agree to listen to a mix of theirs as well, as long as it isn't songs played on the radio 24/7 since I'd have already heard it all.

Well it's kinda cool that your friends are open enough to try to listen to metal. And it's a nice of you to listen to their choice as well. Give and take policy, that's the best.

I've had people shove things at my face and I seriously don't enjoy them. Mostly were rap and hip hop songs which I don't enjoy, however hard I try.

But as of late, I've been listening to other types of music besides metal. I've moved in with a couple of my college mates who only listen to Bollywood and Tamil songs. Somehow, it grew on me and I started to listen to a lot of those types of songs. Especially songs that were composed by music maestro A.R. Rahman. Heard of him? He's a genius. Here's an Airtel ad that featured one of his songs. By the way, the Indian guy in the ad is Rahman himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuAe2lziMqI

I guess I've been in a lovey dovey mood too much recently