Metal Reviews

The little discussion in the "recent purchases" thread got me thinking about what percentage of the people in Metal Forums are still listening to metal in their playlist as first priority. I find listening to different genres of music is definitely mind expanding and very interesting to say the least, but let us not forget that in metal one can find almost everything related to all other different sorts of genres in music. I personally find myself after 10 years of listening to metal, have expanded my listening to different genres of music which has been explained in the last thread I made. So who still listens to metal as their first and true love? Who finds themselves not in love with metal as they first started and is leaning towards a different genre (or genres)? Might it be a huge mixed bag with little of everything? I found myself having phases though I always return to metal and it's basically in my blood to listen to metal. Do you find yourself fed up with metal as there is nothing groundbreaking coming out? Do you find yourself digging through the past decades, trying to find timeless music that you might have missed?

Metal is still the primary genre I listen to and can't see myself ever giving it up or listening to another genre more. Occasionally I might go off and listen to some classical, electronic or folk music for a few hours, but nothing keeps my attention the same way metal does and I don't really purchase any music that isn't metal (minus a few folk and classical cds I have lying around). It's my one and only passion in music.

A lot of people seem to expect music to constantly be completely groundbreaking in order to be worth paying attention, and so those people might get bored of listening to metal's main sub-genres if that's what they expcet. But I don't think I look for the same thing in music or metal as they do. I never liked metal because it was new and "groundbreaking", I liked it because of the core sound that makes up its sub-genres. It never gets old or boring to me. I continue to listen to my old favourites and enjoy discovering bands I've never listened to before as well, whether they are bands from the 70s and 80s that I haven't gotten around to yet, lesser known bands from that era, or new bands that play metal the way I like it.

I still think there are still some new bands out there that stay true to their roots while coming up with something completely unique. I consider Lunar Aurora and Sarke to be among those bands. There are also some good bands that stick to playing old school stuff, but do it well and I still never get bored listening to them.

In that respect I think the state of metal and the number of people that listen to it and stick with it vs. the ones that move on is probably similar to what it's always been.

I went into pothead mode for a couple years and wasn't listening to much metal at all and trying to expand my horizons and now I pretty much only listen to black metal and dream theater.

I don't listen to metal exclusively, but it would be a fair assessment to say I listen to it 90% of the time.
I've been listening to metal since the late 70s, and I really can't imagine it not being the primary genre I listen to.

So, no, not fading away.

Hmmm I feel like what I said in the other thread may have been overstated. Metal is what I still primarily listen to but by no means is it all. Like here's my top 10 in the last 3 months:

Big Chocolate (EDM)
Protest The Hero (Prog metalcore)
Trap Them (Crusty Hardcore)
Cattle Decapitation (Deathgrind)
Orchid (Screamo)
Enabler (Heavy Hardcore)
PJ Harvey (Pop/Post-Punk/Rock)
Nails (Grindcore)
Jucifer (Sludge Metal)
Young Widows (Post-Hardcore)

I feel like none of that stuff except maybe Jucifer can be deemed metal with a capital M but all of it is shares aspects with metal. Although it may not be primary listening, my taste is radically shaped by it.

I don't see it as even remotely close to dying, as long as the underground thrives with decent bands and I can still listen to my classic albums, there isn't much else to be said. The quality bands will thrive while the shitty trend hacks will have their five minutes of fame and be forgotten.

Protest the Hero are the only metal band on my list for the last 3 months :(

I go into other phases and enjoy other types of music but metal has been my favorite genre for over a decade now and will continue to be.

I just tend to keep my non-metal buys and listens to myself, for the most part (if I've had a glass of wine I might feel adventurous). Do people really need to know when I listen to Chris Isaac, Dwight Yoakam or Salif Keita?

I was talking about metal listening in regards to the people of this forum not the decline of the metal scene altogether. I agree, the metal scene will never die off. There will always be brilliant bands and artists that will make excellent and timeless music.

I see the forum's rise and fall in affinity for metal as a cyclical process. Back in 2006, I believe, Misha and Stefan had a number of 'beyond metal' followers, and now you have Noodles, Frigid, Heatseeker, and a few others. There will always be a certain segment of the population that considers the genre a phase, and another group which remains diehard.

I think some people overplay music in general and metal specifically here, and thus they burn out their interest on the genre: some people probably listen to much music for their own good. I've found balanced listening between different types of metal and non-metal has worked; I've never had a moment where I seriously questioned the interest.

I only listen to pop music in the form of singles/songs because that is the primary artistic and business direction that music had gone in in the 80's. I don't think there is much to like from pop in the 60's and 70's or after about 1996. I listen to the most overproduced and mainstream pop music from that era. I wont even give a pop album the time of day anymore.

I listen to nothing but Prog. Metal, Power Metal, Hard Rock and Aor otherwise which makes up the vast majority of the music I listen to. I've dumped almost all the alt. metal and death metal, with only a few exceptions.

I have pretty weird standards for music. It probably stems from being oversensitive to auditory sensation. A weird fact: People that have this condition probably do not perceive bass frequencies nearly as well as , but will hear far more past 250hz, because their brains will not give the sense of feeling which is the main transmission of Bass frequencies the same priority as the musical content.

Do yourself a favor, if you are very easily bothered or distracted by sounds, like you physically prepare for war if someone honks a car horn at you, you might want to have a doctor check that out. I noticed my sound is actually consistent now, as opposed to the endless tweaks that had to be done regularly or I would get very irritable listening to it.

Sorry for all the unnecessary comments, but this is the number one thing holding back someone's enjoyment of music. I'll take that one step farther, You won't be able to play in any band reliably if you have a hard time coordinating other senses with sound because your brain is hardwired to basically ignore anything else. I completely flopped a handful of auditions because I have an extremely hard time listening to music and singing at the same time without some chemical intervention to make my brain work faster and harder so that it is processing the physical sensations of singing while hearing the other band members in real time without some sort of delay.

You know those singers that start notes off-key and within a split second adjust it to pitch. That is because, like me, they have to rely on their ears rather than the way it feels to sing the song. Again, meds will fix all this crap.

Checking my last.fm account reveals the following artists as being most listened to by me.

1. The Libertines
2. The Pogues
3. Manic Street Preachers
4. The Killers
5. Oasis
6. Joy Division
7. Paramore
8. The White Stripes
9. Blur
10. The Arctic Monkeys
11. The Beatles
12. Ash
13. Sonata Arctica
14. The Streets
15. The Who

One metal band... Eh.

you are weak and pathetic

Yes... well, when one starts listening to metal one would never account for loosing interest in it, but I too find listening to non-metal albums is essential for not getting tired of the genre. Although, as you said there will always be people that see metal as a phase in life and others that see it as a lifestyle and a religion that they will follow throughout their lifetime. Either (or) they are both healthy and no one can judge the other for listening to one or different forms of music. On the other hand, there will always be those group of people which are the posers and the pretentious and it shall remain that way, forever. Somethings never change, do they!? In my belief once you love Rock'n'Roll you will never...ever get tired of it; you might need a break from it as for every other thing in life, but you will always come back to it and praise it eternally.

I miss Misha actually...

I'm actually listening to a lot more metal now than I have in years. My affinity for metal itself is cyclical, with some times where I'm really into it and probably 70% of what I listen to is metal (like now) and other times where I drift away and barely listen to it at all. There definitely have been times when I didn't feel like the whole metal aesthetic matched at all with how I was feeling, what was going on in my life, etc. Even now, as you guys know, I tend away from the "darker" side of metal because that's just not where I'm at in my life. Even the really heavy stuff I listen to is always more about being super intense and empowering than grimness. At least, that's how I hear it.

So yeah, I don't think I'll ever stop listening to metal, but there are definitely times when I don't listen to it that much. But I always come back to my first love...

Had a brief break from metal after I stopped reviewing, but nowadays I'm listening to it more than ever. Picked up the guitar again and starting to learn a few thrash classics. That may have helped as well...

The only genre I really listen a lot to outside of metal is hardcore/punk/post-hardcore, but that's as far our as I get.

Anyway, I don't think metal i fading away. My little brother (12) har listened to Iron Maiden for many years now because of me, and I think as long as kids have someone they look up to they'll pick up more or less the same tastes.

I listen to a lot of genres that aren't metal now and I spend less time listening to music than I used to, so that's why I don't listen to as much metal and basically stick to bands I already know since I have way too many of those from when I spent lots of time discovering obscure metal bands using the internet.

I listen mainly to metal - 99% of the time.

Over the weekend it was Cradle of Filth, Iced Earth, Dimmu Borgir, Kreator, Megadeth, Cavalera Conspiracy and Kataklysm.

Closest to non-Metal was Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots.

I like other genres but only in small quantities - kinda like pepper on a steak.

Funny thing is, according to some more Trve Kvlt metallers (maybe even on this forum) my musical tastes are "poserish."