Metal Reviews

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More crappy metalcore. And it is metal, as you yourself said in the KsE - EOH review, calling it "metallo-hardcore". It is metal, shallow and crap, as you said, but ultimately metal.

lol.. yeah i didn't have my lingo straight in that review it seems.

This may be one of those "is the glass half empty or half full" statements, but the reason why i don;t consider these bands true "metal" is for numerous reasons. First of all... the genre is an evolution from hardcore, and did so by adopting metal influences in the music. Why i bitch about them calling themselves metal is because the genre did not branch itself from earlier forms of metal like black, death, thrash...etc, but actually from punk music. essentially, my pessimistic view is that metalcore "happened" because a few bands were like:

Metalcore guy 1: "shit... it's only been about 15-20 years since hardcore has been around and we're already hitting dead ends with trying to come up with new and groundbreaking music. Hmm.. what shall we do? I've got it! lets add some metal influences in our music (since the two genres are quite alike) and that way we can continue being "original" for like another 5 years".

Metalcore guy 2: "what do we do after 5 years?"

Metalcore guy 1: "We move on to techno!"

The only way to prove my point would be to find an accurate definition of metal... and i'm not... cuz its more or less subjective and i'm not a philospher. But one thing I KNOW, is that metal doesn't try to be is something it isn't, it has no intention on being trendy, and it is all about the music which ultimately results in a strong sense of belonging and unity. Metalcore doesn't fullfill this though - party because it isn't derived from metal itself and it has different intentions. So to end my rant... although metalcore it "metal" per se... can you really call it Metal?

Rock on

Jason

Hmm, interesting points, but I don't think you are right. The reason is that most mainstream bands are not as afflicted with genres and roots and whatever more as we are, so they just play something. It's not that musicians of popular metal and hardcore differ that much, sure, some do, but most just do their thing. And about metalcore being influenced my trends, so is metal.

Agreed w/ Misha, there.



Then again, take grind, which has quite clear punk influences (Napalm Death are a good example), and they are metal, in my mind at least.

Truth is, something is what people call it, so some people call it metal, some not. As you said, there's no real definition of metal (acc. to the populist press, Trivium are metal defined :roll: ) , so the whole arg. is a bit pointless.

Good review, though.

this band is crap :evil:

the thing is I find most metalcore released on metal companies is crap and since you only review records from those labels, readers have a twisted view on metalcore which can be really good when done by interesting (aka not mainstream metalcore) bands :(

Any suggestions that may spark my interest?

There's also the fact that hardcore kids and metalheads tend to have fairly different attitudes, and metalcore tends to draw more from the hardcore set of ideals. Feel free to correct me if I'm talking out my ass, but metalcore kids seem to be more in line with the straight-edger, "I'm not having sex or eating meat so I'll take out my frustrations by kicking you in the head" type than the more fraternal metal type. Taking music as an individual purgation rather than a bond of siblinghood.

Right on. Thats partly why i question their "metalness"; due to the fact that they align themselves closer to the true hardcore spirit than the metal one. Do metalheads "floor punch" or "dance"? or does metal have "tough guys", which are angry assholes who cross their arms to look mean and wear t-shirts too big for their huge muscular body and are just itching to fight. I'm not trying to criticize specifics, but all i'm trying to say id that there is nothing really metal about metalcore aside the copy/paste guitaring and the occasional double pedal. i may be generalizing/exaggerating here, but i think ya'll can understand what i'm getting at.

Carnifex does point out something interesting and true, that metalcore is more indicidualistic, and less of a unifying genre like the rest of metal.

But is it?? I'd say there were huge gaps between ,say, death and power metal fans, just as with nu metal. I don't think you can say all metalheads are in one group, as 'metal' is such a broad term.

Basically, you're saying the music may be based on metal, but not the ideologies. Which I agree with.

Although there are gaps or rifts between the subgenres, the attitude within each subgenre still tends to be siblinghood. It's a little more academic whether that siblinghood is "Brotherhood of Metal! We shall bind our forces together and rise up (and possibly slay an evil wizard while we're at it)!" or "Brotherhood of Metal! Let us now feast upon the flesh of pure virgins!" when compared to "Rrraaaahh I'm sexually frustrated, watch me run around and try to punch people in the nuts!"

I think there's slightly more to metalcore than you give it credit for, but overall you're right.

There's slightly more to power and death metal, too. It just made me laugh to write my explanations. Wizards and virgins = pure comedy. :roll:

If there's more to metalcore, obviously there's more to death/power. I find wizards and virgins funny too (sometimes).

Overall, why do we have to get reviews of shitty cloned metalcore when there is so much good stuff that could be reviewed, such as the new Meshuggah, surely one of the more important albums of the year in its experimentalism, to take one of many examples.

I think what we see of metalcore is what other people see of metal. Which is basicly dipshits with KoRn tshirts, or whatever the general idea about us is. There is indeed probably better stuff around that what gets the attention of reviewing here. Metal on a metalcore label would probably suck, so expect the same from metalcore on a metal label, as you do, but keep in mind there is probably better metalcore on lesser known and dedicated labels.