Metal Reviews

Yeah the only morbid angel album they even begun to sound simmilar too is Gateways but still its a stretch to be sure.

I thought that the Ihsahn solo album as a whole was like a weak version of equilibrium. To me it was way better on the first few listens but then sort of starts to feel off.


On Benton being a douche, His interviews make him even worse. Saying stuff like " the band isn't together because we like playing
together or even like music at all, We play FOR SATAN!!!"

On album, his lyrics don't get to me, mainly because he once wrote good ones, like on the self titled.

It was in Revolver mag a few years ago. I couldnt believe how stupid he was.

You people are obsessed with me.

So, no-one else finds Benton funny? Even begins to think that the entertainment value overrides the fact that to be accepted in Metal now you have to be an intellectual? Hm. All the cross-burning and suicide-promises just go to prove how ridiculous Metal in general is, and people who try and prove the intellectual value of say, Black Metal without realising that the fact that they dress in leather, wear corpsepaint and sing screechy songs about Satan make it totally superfluous in the first place?

Ihsahn annoys me, because unlike Benton, or, say, Nattefrost with his shit-smearing, he tries to rise above something he helped create. Whilst Samoth was off burning churches and Faust out hunting for gay people to stab (Freud who?), Ihsahn was taking composition lessons. Not that there's something worng with that, but he represents the intellectual side of a genre that has no intellectual side. Metal, however many neoclassical guitarists, philosophy-spouting lyrics or jazz-influenced drummers (then it's no longer Metal, but...) it gets as it frantically tries to carve out an identity, will always be the domain of, essentially, weirdos.

And Ihsahn represents that, to me.

And what's wrong with trying to get people to help poor people? I haven't listened to a U2 album for yonks, but seems a bit harsh to brutalise Bono just like that. Britney Spears would be a better reflection of the non-Metal world.

So basically Ihsahn represents all those (in your view) delusional people that actually assert that some types of metal are respectable enough for mature, thinking people to listen to? How could a man like Ihsahn actually be respected by the local public...as a musician, teacher and a composer!! I think Misha wrote pretty much the exact same thing you just did about a year ago.

Exactly ! That sentence was . Couldn't have said it better.

You should try—because that makes no sense.

imo I don't mind that much when metal bands try to be smart but a lot of the time they take themselves too seriously when they do that and it ends up being silly. I used to be all about "smart" metal but a couple of months ago I kinda realized that most of it sounds like crap

at the same time i think guys like glenn benton or tom araya who bring up christianity for no reason other than to provoke people are even lamer.

Wow, i actually agree with Zad on Ihsahn. I find it kind of funny how he's constantly taking an overtly apologetic stance when talking about his past and asserting how 'mature' he is now. Arrogance is one thing, but his pussy attitude is just really weak.

Metal means stupid. No tolerance for art faggotry.

Most irritating people in music=I'm too clever for metal types

Exactly, that's what I was trying to say. I'm not saying that I'm too clever for Metal, or that it can't be intelligent, but this attempt to make it intellectual can't end well.

There's nothing at all wrong with helping poor people. But Bono acts like such a smug cunt when he does it that it is obvious where his true intention lies - himself. Britney is just an idiot. Speaking of which, how about that K-Fed?

I get what you're saying. I definetly think metal can be intelligent, but attmpts to make it intellectual end up as the worst kind of prententious wank.



Benton isn't funny because just plain old stupidity isn't. He's just a common-or-garden doofus, and lacks the masjestic level of stupidity required to be funny. To be honest, I don't think Benton can be compared with black metal bands. I can't find that many BM songs specifically about Satan, even from the early days.

Agreed on Benton. He's just a common redneck posing as a serious satanist and a primadonna rockstar to boot. The guy has about as much credibility in my books as Fred Durst. Deicide wrote some great music though.



Tip: lyrics don't have to include the word Satan to be satanic.

I'm not so sure I totally agree with you about the anti-intellectualism in metal. There's probably more intellectualism in metal than there is in rap, alternative rock, and especially punk (where, with the obvious exception of Bad Religion, intellectualism is basically non-existant). But you're definitely right that, no matter what Dream Theater, Death, Mastodon, etc. may be doing, metal will always be seen as that "loud/obnoxious music for Satanists, weirdos, and insecure teenagers." And bands like Deicide and Mayhem certainly don't help matters much.

What's especially amusing is that, if you really bother to think about it, metal fans are just as superficial and concerned about image as teenybopper MTV fans. So they basically do what they criticize mainstreamers of doing.

Yes, but I still don't think there are that many Satanic lyrics in Black metal

I think Benton is funny, in the way where I can use him as an example of all that is most ridiculous in metal. The man has an inverted cross burned into his forehead; that's worth at least an eye-roll.

Plenty of metal is intellectual, and fun to listen to as well. Take Strapping Young Lad. Brutal and fast, but if you look at the lyrics, and some of the things he does, it's a lot deeper than it seems at first blush. Intellectual doesn't necessarily mean arthouse wankery.

I agree. I would also consider bands such as Sunn 0))) to be both intellectual and metal bands.

Not that I think metal should be clever per se, just that it can be and still be cool.

As I mentioned earlier, Death, DT, Queen (hey, a few of their songs have a metal edge - does that count?), Mastodon. All are intellectual bands. But also fairly proggy and/or technical bands.

Helloween is a band that could be considered semi-intellectual, despite being a fairly low on prog.

I actually consider Mayhem (well, the old stuff anyway) to have a lot more artistic merit than a lot of 'intellectual' metal.

Intelligence in music can be viewed in so many ways.



Uh, like... whatever.