Metal Reviews

True on all counts. There's a place for wankery, a place for the fun-and-deep, and a place for "IF YOU ARE NOT INTO METAL, YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND!"

Yeah true, I guess I like metal that finds a nice balanced between being artsy/smart but still being energetic/fun

I still think a lower percentage of black metal songs are Satanic compared to what people think. It's mostly just general "evil" lyrics.

Good to see this has started some genuine music disscussion.

I think metal can be very pluralist... I don't place any expetations on a band to be anything. If a metal band wants to be intellectual, fine, if stupid, fine, if techy, fine.... There's really nothing I think metal "should" be, except shamelessly commercialised.

I'm not surprised it dint to you.

I have no problem with metal being intellectual, none at all. Its only when an artist wants you to know that he or she is being oh-so-intellectual and that 'normal' metal is stupid that my teeth grate. Usually they make sucky music too. Like Mick Kiske.

well, i agree with you, Mintrude.

just because lyrics are based on evil, nature weither being about forest, space or cold mountains in norway, misanthropy, Nietzsche, hostility towards religion and the modern world etc doesn't mean they are satanic... And ff it's a matter of esthetic most (bm) bands would be catagorized as being satanic anyway, even though they don't associate themselves with being satanist or having satanic lyrics. Furthermore satanism is many things. Point is: it's lame to difine a genre by the lyrics. Else you'll have trouble with Cradle of Filth, Slayer, Deicide, etc being more black metal than Moonblood, Burzum, Vlad Tepes, Satyricon, Nargaroth, Krieg, Nachtmystium etc etc.

besides, You can't hear what they sing most of the times anyway and often the lyrics are secret or sung in language you don't understand, so does it really matter?


This reminds of one time where one of my teachers in primary school told me i was listening to Death Metal because he read some of the lyrics from Rammstein, which i was listening to at the time.

Okay, it's completely offtopic and we've talked about this at length before, but...

Do tell how Cradle of Filth is and Vlad Tepes is not satanic?

And i don't define BM solely based on the lyrical content, it just plays a major part in it.

crap.. i can't .. both rather missplaced. Just wanted to make a point.

well, you said not long ago satanic lyrics + metal = black metal. So that is what i remember.
Personally i don't find that lyrical content plays a major part in black metal. I never read the lyrics, i simply don't care that much about them. They are basicly the same for the majority. I only listen to the music and gather an impression from that. And then the impression the musicians wants to give with their evil pictures.
I do agree however the lyrics plays somewhat of a role in black metal, but imo, it's not limited to only being satanic lyrics. It certainly haven't been since 91-92.. so.. of course happy happy lyrics, lovesongs, goth/emo lyrics and general hippieness does not walk hand in hand with the genre which is quite obvious.

Sure, but in my opinion a great number of bands have lost touch with what black metal originally was. But as i already said, we've been there before, and i can certainly see your point.

Hail Satan.

EDIT: Ha, Winamp started playing Trouble just as i typed that last line.

How are we defining "intellectual" here? Are intellectual metal bands simply those that don't write about sex, beer and thrashing? If so, that makes most metal bands intellectual in some form or other.

Does Ken count

So, Glen Benton isn't Death Metal's foremost figure, now that Chuck's dead? Not what I'd have thought.

I really can't understand how you would want metal not to be intellectual...I just like listening to good music, and intellectual music is generally better than music that isn't.

To quote Spinal Tap, "There's a fine line between stupid and clever"
As I've said before, metal that tries to be intellectual drfits off into the realms of wank. I'm sure there are some very good intellectual bands, but it's usually pretentious like Arcturus. Having said that, I don't think a little pretention hurts, if you have the music to back it up. I like Arcturus.

Good point. You have to have a tolerance for cheese to like a lot of stuff like that.

Intelligence =/= wank.

Artsiness is definately a good thing in any music, if you ask me.

Hell, Pig Destroyer is artsy. Converge is artsy.

The thing about those two bands is that for every artsy they do they contrast it with something straightforward, which makes the artsy part and the straightforward part more interesting.

I think finding a balance between being artsy and fun is key.

My friend once described Pig Destroyer as "Pretentious trash" without hearing the music , naturally. He'd based his opinions solely on the short story in the Terrifyer booklet . Speaking of which I haven't listened to that album in ages.