Trends I hate in Metal - a rant.

Allow me to rant a bit about three trends in music that NO metal band should be involved in.


1. Concept Albums: I’ll just go ahead and say it, concept albums suck. All of them. If you are a frustrated author and wish to write a story about aliens, robots, spiders, dragons, serial killers, etc… please write a book. I don’t want your crappy story ruining my metal album. Concept albums are always a bloated mess with lame songs full of dialogue. Does anyone really enjoy these monstrosities? I remember buying Priest’s Angel of Retribution and really liking the album until I got to the metal turd in a punchbowl that is Loch Ness. I laughed it off as a terrible error by the band and thankfully it was the last track. The joke was on me however when in later interviews Rob and the boys started talking about how Loch Ness would be the template for their next super duper concept album! Oh joy! Ugh. It seems almost every metal band tries this stunt including Dio(Magica was terrible! What the hell were those lameass robot voices?!!), Priest, Scorpions, Kiss(!!!!!) W.A.S.P., Queensryche, King Diamond’s entire solo catalog, etc…


2. Symphonic accompaniment albums: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Why in the world would metal artists do this???? Is this some sort of plea for credibility? If so, it ain’t working. Metal fans hate this nonsense and so do people that listen to classical. Who the hell thinks this is worthwhile? Total novelty crap. Metallica, Scorpions (again!), Kiss (again!) etc… have fallen into this trap. I just don’t get this one at all. At least Michael Kamen won’t be around ruining metal bands anymore, so there is that.


3. Unplugged/Acoustic albums: LAME!!!! Who thinks, “You know what would be great? My favorite band of metal stalwarts losing their balls and playing acoustically.” I’ll tell you who thinks that – almost every metal band since 1989 (thanks MTV.) What a stupid trend this is. Metal is about screaming ELECTRIC guitars, thundering bass and pummeling drums. It is most definitely NOT about crooning over some lovely acoustic wankery. Egads. I don’t want to hear an ENTIRE album of this stuff. I especially don’t want to hear a bands classic tracks turned into something that some hippy on a street corner would be playing for quarters. STOP IT!


Thoughts?

Hooboy... I sense ugliness in this thread's future.



*exits stage left*

1- I like concept albums if they are well executed


2- I like symphonic elements with metal if it is well done and Micheal Kamen was talented as hell, worked with Roger Waters and Pink Floyd not bad IMO

3- I like unplugged performances

I can agree with Witchfinder to a degree.I understand what you're saying and usually is the case.However,there are certain exceptions.Take Winters Bane-Heart of a Killer.Great concept album,great music,and the story line doesnt ruin the songs IMO.

I have Heart of a Killer and while it's probably the best thing Owens has ever done, I find the story line ( you know where Tim is screaming about Cohagen (sp?)) to be very annoying.

I do admit that great songs do come off of some concept albums.

i don't hear much of those things in the music i listen to most these days.

1. Concept albums, I can take or leave 'em. There's some that I like. Mostly though, I'm too dim to follow the story, especially if they're too complex or overly symbolic.

2. Orchestras and metal don't mix as far as I'm concerned. I could do without them and my world would continue on just fine. As my Gram used to say. "It's like tits on a bull. Completely unnecessary". She was a cool lady.

3. Unplugged? Eh, for the most part I like them. Shows another side of the band I guess. It can give the music a fresh spin. Depends on the band though. Heavy metal bands, probably not. Hard rock, usually good.

1. Concept albums: Most metal albums are based around a theme, even if they don't specifically call it a concept album or even if it's not some unified story per say. The lyrics on any given album are tied to some concept. Most artists don't throw random songs with random lyrics on their albums.

2. Symphonic accompaniment albums: I'm a metal fan and a classical fan, and I don't hate it. It's a fun way to listen to old songs given a fresh twist, and of course the main reason I suspect it's done is for the money. I'm not some purist when it comes to listening to metal music, if the essence is still there, classical instruments don't bother me. Maybe because I played violin for eight years, but I generally enjoy them.

3. Unplugged/Acoustic albums: Again, just another fun way to listen to old songs. Depending on the band and the artist, the unplugged album might sound even better even you don't like the artist overall. Case in point, although not totally under the metal umbrella, Alice in Chains. I've always enjoyed their Unplugged album more than any of their studio stuff. It's probably the atmosphere. And the Eric Clapton Unplugged album is sweet, at least to my ears.

I dont like UNPLUGGEL/ACOUSTIC albums. I only have one, by KISS and only played it 3 times.
I dont like Symphonic accompaniment albums if you talk about what KISS, METALLICA or SCORPIONS did, very bad, specialy the METALLICA one.
I dont care much about CONCEPT ALBUMS because i dont follow most of the lirics of the music i play.
I AGREE WITH YOU WITCHFINDER.

There is one trend I do loathe is classic rock/metal artist re-recording their classic songs, if you want to do that, record it in an arena and release another live album

#2 is by far the worst of the 3.

manny wrote:

1- I like concept albums if they are well executed


2- I like symphonic elements with metal if it is well done and Micheal Kamen was talented as hell, worked with Roger Waters and Pink Floyd not bad IMO

3- I like unplugged performances

I agree with manny.

I somewhat agree on concept albums. There are a few out there that I like though.

I also agree on the Symphonic accompaniment albums, unless you count Yngwie's Concerto which I think is great. But that's a different thing since that's like a genuine classical album with pieces written specifically for it.

And I'm not a fan of unplugged albums.

manny wrote:

There is one trend I do loathe is classic rock/metal artist re-recording their classic songs, if you want to do that, record it in an arena and release another live album

While I disagree with you there, Manny (we don't need anymore live albums) I think the re-recording thing that bands are doing is more a legal move.

Yea, in the press, the band will say "We're doing it for the fans, new technology, yadda, yadda, yadda". But in the end, it's more about retaining the rights and publishing for songs they might have lost through bad deals early in their careers. Or to cut out old members, like KISS and Ozzy were rumored to do.

Some concept albums are great, some are terrible, and most others reside somewhere in between.

Some symphonic metal albums are great, some are terrible, and most others reside somewhere in between.

Some unplugged albums ar...wait a minute. This is beginning to make too much sense.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

There is one trend I do loathe is classic rock/metal artist re-recording their classic songs, if you want to do that, record it in an arena and release another live album

While I disagree with you there, Manny (we don't need anymore live albums) I think the re-recording thing that bands are doing is more a legal move.

Yea, in the press, the band will say "We're doing it for the fans, new technology, yadda, yadda, yadda". But in the end, it's more about retaining the rights and publishing for songs they might have lost through bad deals early in their careers. Or to cut out old members, like KISS and Ozzy were rumored to do.

But also some re-recordings are just bad-ass. Testament's First Strike Still Deadly, for example. Killer! The new re-recordings of the first two Anacrusis albums are also ridiculously good.

Glad to hear someone else truly speak their minds here.

I don't have a problem with concept albums. Some are good, some not so good, but it at least shows a different side of the band. That I can respect.

Symphonic passages really depends on the band and how its played for me to like it. I don't care for the opera singing that accompanies most of this symphonic orchestral stuff bands have going these days in that genre. But I like Therion who are probably the masters at that. A lot of folk metal bands I listen to have that symphonic effect going as well. So it really depends on the band like I said.

I agree about the unplugged and acoustic albums. I don't mind some songs here and there because there has been a great deal of good ones. But a whole album is not necessary. But I don't listen to any "unplugged" metal stuff.

Eyesore wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

There is one trend I do loathe is classic rock/metal artist re-recording their classic songs, if you want to do that, record it in an arena and release another live album

While I disagree with you there, Manny (we don't need anymore live albums) I think the re-recording thing that bands are doing is more a legal move.

Yea, in the press, the band will say "We're doing it for the fans, new technology, yadda, yadda, yadda". But in the end, it's more about retaining the rights and publishing for songs they might have lost through bad deals early in their careers. Or to cut out old members, like KISS and Ozzy were rumored to do.

But also some re-recordings are just bad-ass. Testament's First Strike Still Deadly, for example. Killer! The new re-recordings of the first two Anacrusis albums are also ridiculously good.

Oh, I don't have a problem with re-recorded albums. Some are great, some are terrible, and most others reside, well, you understand.

Eyesore wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

There is one trend I do loathe is classic rock/metal artist re-recording their classic songs, if you want to do that, record it in an arena and release another live album

While I disagree with you there, Manny (we don't need anymore live albums) I think the re-recording thing that bands are doing is more a legal move.

Yea, in the press, the band will say "We're doing it for the fans, new technology, yadda, yadda, yadda". But in the end, it's more about retaining the rights and publishing for songs they might have lost through bad deals early in their careers. Or to cut out old members, like KISS and Ozzy were rumored to do.

But also some re-recordings are just bad-ass. Testament's First Strike Still Deadly, for example. Killer! The new re-recordings of the first two Anacrusis albums are also ridiculously good.

I never heard that album but I will take your word on it, but personally I do not see the point in re-recording your classics, no matter you may improve on the original, it will never replace them, the only reason I see for doing this is for the reasons PRD described. I personally love live albums.

Quote :

the only reason I see for doing this is for the reasons PRD described.

Hey!! Give credit where credit's due!!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Quote :

the only reason I see for doing this is for the reasons PRD described.

Hey!! Give credit where credit's due!!

Ok as Metal guy described

Thanks!

I used to really dig concept album but the days when I pop in a CD and sit down with the lyrics booklet are long gone so I now find the spoken word pieces annoying. One concept album I still really, REALLY dig is Rush 2112. OK, only half is actually a concept album but there are no spoken passages.

As far as symphonics go, that's another aspect of music I used to really dig but my tastes have shifted to glam/sleaze and that genre doesn't generally use any symphonics. I still like me some Therion though and they are VERY symphonic.

Unplugged albums? Meh...don't own any.

Which symphonic accompaniment albums are actually good and stand up to repeated listens, not just as a one-time-only novelty?