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Haha, before the days of me trolling the internet this got me into those bands too!



I dunno, I still think the excitement's there when you discover new bands, it's just easier. Sometimes the internet is very good, perhaps at Maiden there are too many posers, but when I go to a death metal concert in a club there could be like 500 people in there, but when me and my mates used to go before the internet REALLY helped metal along there would be anywhere from 20 people to 200.

I know I wasn't there for the days beforwe the internet, but it's definantly in the past 2 years that it's made a massive differance.

i know most of my bands from reading metal magazines a good source of inspiration. And no digital copy beats having the original cd.

this isnt the first time i've heard Paramore and Iron Maiden mentioned in the same thought together this week O.o

i used to only buy music back in the day (with the money i earned from my paper route!), and it was fun discovering a great band because i thought the album name "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" was hilarious...

but having easy access to unlimited music easily outweighs that small joy. also there's new excitement like Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead unexpectedly being like "oh hay guys sup we're gonna release an album in a week" and having the anticipation that usually lasts months being condensed into a couple of days.

*waits for the day when bands upload their albums on a set date as soon as they get the mastered copy of it so that he can reminisce about how much better it was being able to come home and have his heart skip a beat finding out that the new Opeth has leaked*

As a 20-year-old who got into metal in 2002 by seeing the video for Nightwish's "Bless the Child" before walking down to my local music store to pick up a copy of "Century Child", I can barely imagine the excitement of finally, after months of searching, finding that new release from that up and coming band called Helloween or thrashing like a maniac to 1983-era Metallica with a few hundred like-minded metalheads in some small, crappy venue.

But still, wishing for a return of those days is rather selfish. It was probably better for some listeners, but a hell of a lot worse for the bands. Recognition and fame can corrupt, but it can also allow artists to realize their ambitions in new ways. In fact, I didn't really realize how much more popular metal has become until I saw the video for Symphony X's "Set the World on Fire". That's a rather advanced video for a band that, as far as I know, is completely unknown outside the metal world. And of course they are not alone. Videos are getting more ambitious (not just the band performing...), home pages are getting flashier, concerts are getting more spectacular. Of course the increased popularity of metal will lead to more bands selling out spectacularly, but it will also give more bands their deserved place in the spotlight. In the 80's we had a crapload of bands that probably never got to play anything bigger than a small venue with a few hundred people despite working their asses off for years. Bands that, in the eyes of many metal fans today, deserved much more attention. They are far too many to name. Today a small power metal band such as Celesty can share the stage with their idols in front of thousands of metalheads at some huge festival. If we were still in the 80's it is highly likely that Celesty never would have left the tape trading circuit.

By the way, the underground will never really die. Sure, tape trading is as dead as the mammoth, but there will always be your local thrash band that enters the stage in front of 50 or so dirty, long haired metalheads - drunk on cheap beer and "Pleasure to Kill" influence, - just to fucking rock. And that's pretty much as underground as it gets.

Interesting topic, Ben. I stopped buying for a while, because I'm literally running out of space in my house to put CDs, but I've started buying again because I miss that thrill. This morning was a great example, opening the Amazon package and seeing the new Opeth album inside. Nothing beats buying. When I was getting into Metal I didn't have easy access to download stuff, and had to search through shops for CDs. I really miss it, not living near a city centre and being able to pop up and have a rummage.

When you could afford to take chances on a recording and know you were going to get some kinda quality, Now, it is better to have the internet so you don't make the mistake of buying something horrible. That and some of my faves in the last year (Nazareth and Rose Tattoo) are around $30 to $50 online to pick up.
I love both of those bands but until they put them out at a reasonable price, I'll download them for $2 from MP3 Fiesta.

I've never understood this thinking. What, before the advent of the internet there was never a bad album released, by anyone?

There was bad records. My point is that now there are so many more. No one has made as many great records anymore because
it's a copy cat market much more than ever, Name a band that made 2 releases that had as much quality as any band from the 70"ss or 80"s that didn't take 5 years instead of 6 moths or a year. Bands need to work at their own speed but also need to come out with quality. Blame the industry and blame the bands for not telling them to fuck off years ago.

The Mars Volta have released 4 great albums in 5 years. and each is as long as a double album from the 70s. Akimbo have released 6 great albums in 6 years. Devin Townsend has released over 10 albums in just over 10 years. Canvas Solaris have released 4 albums in 4 years.

and even while releasing an album a year isn't the norm (that can't be blamed on music downloading, record companies realized that an album every 2 years-ish maximized profits some time around the 90s), there's still plenty of bands releasing material just as good as stuff in the 80s.

time frame doesn't have anything to do with how many talented musicians there are making music.

While I have little knowledge of Mars Volta, I respect what they do.
What has Mars Volta to do with metal?

You're right about that... Purchasing an album when you had just read a review or just because you thought the cover looked cool is something that won't never happen... Is it a good or a bad thing? I'm not sure.
What I noticed, being one of those "older guys" you mention, is that kids nowadays have a superior knowledge of the scene than we had back then... Are they as dedicated and enthusiast as we were? Probably not. It is now so easy to lay ears on whatever band you wish to listen to that it kind of spoils the excitement of finally obtaining that holy grail we sometimes had to wait months to get. The good point is that, in 2008, if you're curious enough that is, you can have the best of the best whatever the genre you're into.
One thing I deeply regret is that the music has become of a lesser value for most people... But, if you're passionate enough, and I believe metalheads are still the most passionate of all "youth" music lovers, there's every opportunity to get the big thrill music is supposed to give you!

they were just the first band that came to mind, there's a huge number of metal bands still making great music in the last 10 years though.

also, while i wasn't alive in the 70s and 80s, i'd imagine there was just as much crap then as there is now, it's just that most of it has been filtered out and forgotten over the last twenty/thirty years

Yes, there was as much crap as there is today but, no, it wasn't available to the audience as it is today...
The music industry changed a lot in the 30 last years... Back then, making an album was much more expensive than it is today. Also, there were not as many independant labels as there are today. Those two undeniable facts acted like a filter and, therefore, not as many awful bands got an album released...

ahh, makes sense.

I have done that in the past, I did it yesterday based on cool cover art and good reviews, and I'm sure I will do it again...

Ok Zad, some people still buy on impulse... Teenagers hardly buy anymore so buying just because of a cool artwork must be pretty rare...
I remember buying King's X debut album just because I like the cover and I wanted to hear something new... I had not read any review by the way...

And, out of curiosty, what was it you bought?

Merrimack - Of Entropy and Life Denial, two Watain albums, and Sunn O))) - Presents... Pentemple,

For this artwork ?

Yeah. No-one said I wasn't weird.

TBH, I had heard the name before, so it wasn't a TOTALLY new thing.