.Editorial - A Time To Reflect
Metal Reviews

Release year: 2007
Reviewed by Ben

With another year on it’s way by the time of this update I decided to take a few moments to sit back and reflect on 2006 and what went on this year in the music that I enjoyed it with. This new year also marks a personal date for me, a full decade since my own heavy metal explosion so to speak. While a fan for years prior, it wasn’t until 1997 that I began to hungrily devour metal music at a rabid pace. I noticed how my tastes have grown and changed with the inclusion of bands in my daily repertoire that I would have rejected years ago, what has remained and truly stood the test of time, and what’s different in the world of metal than it was when I became fully entrenched.

Thanks to a couple of good poker games when I was visiting family and friends back home for the holidays, I treated myself to a nice cd haul today. Contrary to popular belief, there are journalists who still buy albums even if they do get promos. I have to say that it felt good because I haven’t had a good run in a while. So I made sure that this one would be a picking of the crème de la crème, something that I wanted exactly without any compromises. The first store that I stopped in didn’t have the rare stuff I was looking for but they did have the new Firewind cd Allegiance and Japanese editions of the first two Fair Warning albums, the self titled debut, and Rainmaker for eight bucks each. Those Fair Warning discs have been on my “to get” list for over a year now (plus I needed a good fix of some new melodic rock) and Allegiance is a killer Power Metal album so I walked away satisfied. The last purchase was the digi-pak of the new Falconer, Northwind. For the record, I thrashed Grime vs. Grandeur, but I made sure this was the first album that was played when I got home. In his review, Marty summed up my thoughts on this album quite well. For a band that was on such a steep decline, Northwind makes up a ton of lost ground. Longtime fans will be happy, like me, but times have changed since Falconer’s days of seemingly unstoppable ascension. They are going to have to fight hard to start rising again but they are armed with the capable munitions of Stefan’s reinvigorated folky medieval writing flair, and Mattias’ golden voice.

Times have changed not only for Falconer, but for every artist involved in the metal community. Impacts on the industry have affected the way we listen to our music and what we receive when we purchase it (if at all). One of the biggest new wrenches in the cogs of the music industry is the MySpace boom of the past two years. With it’s free signup and the easiness of uploading material and customizing the page, MySpace Music has spawned thousands of new bands that are ready to assault listeners. Songs are shared digitally and bands are capable of developing rather large followings completely on their own. It is much easier to promote and spread word of promising artists but this is essentially a mirror image of old school analog tape trading albeit infinitely faster and on a larger scale. Digital music in itself is has begun to alter aspects of new music releases, how you take these changes is up to your point of view. The days of going down to a store and finding cd’s you want that aren’t on a major label (comparatively speaking for the metal scene) are shorter and shorter. Mail order purchases have increased and mp3 purchases have actually gone up tremendously in the past year. Granted, underground EP’s are going to remain just that, underground, but this does offer another outlet for the next generation who will probably never own more than five albums in their lifetime. These people still support the scene by buying the songs from I Tunes or their online vendor of choice and artists have begun to release exclusives for their preferred host. Halford just shot a couple of exclusive tracks out on I Tunes recently and more bands are following suit. Cd sales are going down to the point where sales are actually not indicative of a band’s popularity. People are downloading instead. To combat this labels have begun “enhancing” new releases with all sorts of bonus material. Looking back on all the 2006 released cds purchased this year, almost everyone of them came with a bonus something or another. The new Firewind for example, it has two media files for the computer, the music video for Falling To Pieces and a making of clip that’s almost twenty minutes long. Northwind not only has the packaging but a bonus disc of traditional folk songs by the band. Other groups have included DVDs that correlate to the album in question whether that be studio footage, tour diaries, music videos, and even full length concerts. Mercenary, Wuthering Heights, and Kreator come to mind (the Kreator album in question is the reissue of Enemy Of God with their entire Wacken 2005 performance and three video clips included on a bonus DVD). Ten years ago the only bonuses around to get were high priced Japanese versions of cds with one or two extra songs. Other than the biggest of fans, hardly anyone got these for thirty dollars or more a pop so getting a concert with my cd today is something that I think really emphasizes the importance of the audience to a band. Seeing as how the simple act of going to a store and dropping money on new music has gone from being a habit to a glorious day of self enjoyment every century, the purchases I do make are that more memorable and stronger.

Looking back at my listening history for the past ten years it’s very interesting to note the arcs of the many styles of music that I have enjoyed. I was watching the Overkill DVD the other night on my friends Hi Def big screen and had my itching for thrash metal scratched quite nicely. Where It Lives, I Hate, E.Vil N.Ever D.ies, and even new cuts like Thunderhead got me moving about the room. I remembered the days when I would chill out and rock the stereo with Anthrax, Mercyful Fate, and Death Angel fondly. Now in recent times a genre that used to be more of a “every now and then” fix has turned into one of the most listened fields of music in my library, melodic rock. When Pretty Maids first showed me that there were bands that still made music with hooks and huge choruses like they did back in the day, I never expected this different brand of rock to take over as my mainstay. Maybe I’m mellowing with age. If that were the case though then how come the new Killswitch Engage release keeps finding its way into my ears? I’m not a fan of the slew of American metal core bands out there but Killswitch Engage are one of the originators of this style and have the strongest material. Power Metal, which at one point was listened to almost exclusively, has dropped significantly in its play over at the casa. With the boom of the early century finally rescinding, it’ll be interesting to see what players are still standing firm.

A few years ago I wrote an article that discussed women in the metal culture. Today it seems that almost all gender boundaries have been rendered obsolete. There are more chicks in bands than ever before and these bands aren’t novelty acts, Lacuna Coil, Bleeding Through, Leaves' Eyes, Within Temptation, After Forever, are more popular than ever. Even underground acts like Electric Wizard and To - Mera are seeing a bit of recognition being thrown their way. Going to shows its also evident that more and more chicks are attending metal concerts, even for bands like Soilwork and Blind Guardian. Somewhere along the way, whether it’s the much easier way to pass along music by digital means or any number of other matters, the dirtiness of metal got a little bit cleaner. There have been many changes in the metal climate this year. For the coming season of change I know a couple of things at least for sure. One, I will still be enjoying the classics of days that were once were and two, I’ll be on the hunt for new bands and artists to keep my eye on. Granted, it will be much harder to do so than in the past due to my new views on what I consider good or not, but there’ll be at least a handful of bands to pass my listening radar. Just have fun with your music, with yourself, and with friends. And let the soundtrack to those times be one of the highlights of 2007.

Killing Songs :
Ben quoted
Other albums by .Editorial that we have reviewed:
.Editorial - Horny For Harpsichord reviewed by Ben and quoted
.Editorial - Why I need to take a break from writing for MetalReviews reviewed by Alex and quoted
.Editorial - USA / Germany Thrash Match: Big Four Style reviewed by Ben and quoted
.Editorial - Re: Reissues and Remasters reviewed by Ben and quoted
.Editorial - A Brief Run Through Power Metal (in 3 1/2 stages) reviewed by Ben and quoted
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