Metal Reviews

Dislike SA but I'll check out Epica and Kamelot.

And Hammerfall is the cheese incarnate so no interest in that.

I (crap-) growl along to Napalm Death, and have fallen into emotional ecstasy in certain Nile tracks. All depends on the listener, I suppose.

I love poorly growling to my favorite songs.

I also think that in terms of experimentation and musical progression power metal is one of the most conservative metal genres. I mean, stereotypically speaking you'd probably assume black metal was but if you look at the number of BM bands doing wacky genre cross-pollinations it's not really the case.

I mean this as a genuine, rather than rhetorical question: is there any such thing as experimental or avant-garde power metal?

PM is the pop side of Metal. Every band has pretty much the same tricks and it all comes down to the quality of songwriting.

I've been looking for that myself - the best on offer is the prog infusions from Angra et al.

I guess anything Kamelot Epica and beyond as far as power metal goes... Prog I'd have to go with anything Symphony X if that counts.

Beyond that I like pretty much every other subgenre of metal.

I like most other forms of music as well but I'm extremely picky. I don't do country, but I will listen to hip hop like Wu Tang, Redman, or GZA... I just don't think there's a lot of outstanding artists within the genre, at least from what I know and according to my tastes. I like Of Montreal a lot as far as indie rock goes.

I guess I don't like alternative rock or some shit but I'm not gonna break down every genre.

just cause I don't really like thrash?

I thought it was because you misspelt "Dopethrone"

Actually, I'm aware of the correct spelling but I didn't fix it out of laziness...sowwy

Heh, more of a joke on DevWal than you. Imagine, him getting het up over spelling!

From what ive heard of Kamelot, they are a fine band, with some good hooks thrown in. I have Epica and Ghost Opera around somewhere, I need to relisten to them...

From me it was more of a chance to be like Walnut for a change.

I could care less whether you like thrash.

eat shit

my grammar may be poor, but spelling is rarely incorrect

I don't really like making generalizations because there's probably exceptions, but the reason I like heavy metal but not power metal is because PM basically takes everything I like about heavy metal and stops doing it, and everything I dislike about heavy metal and does more of it. There's emphasis on ridiculous falsetto vocals; instead of badass guitar solos, you get nerdy shredding; instead of groovey mid-paced drumming, you get a lot of double bass kick; instead of thoughtful riffs, you get a really fast palm muting; and instead of raw production with life to it, you get choirs and orchestras and shit. Also most of them can hardly speak English.

Also it doesn't do very well as pop music because great pop music has a combination of playfulness, nuance, elegance, cunning and/or sincerity to it that almost all the power metal I've heard does not have.

I would say that Black Halo and Ghost Opera are my favorites, and then Epica. Prior to that it's a little too much generic power metal for my tastes.

Blind Guardian > Angra > All other Power Metal

Yeah, no.

Speaking of Kamelot, Epica is definitely my favourite. Then Ghost Opera and Black Halo. In that order.

I didn't like Ghost Opera at all but I think that might've been because I wasn't in love with Kamelot any more when it came out.

That is generally my reaction. I love Power Metal more than all the other genres combined. I didn't understand why when I call something cheesy synth pop they assume I mean it negatively.