Trends I hate in Metal - a rant.

Concept albums - These can be pretty damn good when done right, and the first that comes to mind is Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Thin Lizzy also did some good ones, albeit the stories were somewhat muddled, but that's not necessarily a bad thing because it helps the songs to be enjoyed on an individual basis rather than having to experience them all together which is something most bands do with it these days.

Symphonic elements - Can work really well, but the songs have to call for it. I never knew the Scorps did it, but I can see it maybe not working because of their simple song structures.

Unplugged albums - I'm sure lots of metal musicians write their riffs/song structures acoustically, but this seems better suited to other genres.

Concept albums done right can be incredible. An underlying story or simply thematic elements in general featured in the music and lyrics of an album can take both to an entirely new level. I agree that in some cases it's overblown and/or pretentious, but most often the albums that are like this are the ones that get little to no attention. If you ask me, there's nothing wrong with a story or theme that can turn an album into an experience.

Symphonies, once again, need to be done correctly. Most often, unfortunately, it isn't, and lots of metal artists that do this demonstrate the fact that they know little to nothing about classical composition or dynamics. Metallica's "S&M" for example, where the orchestra is playing pretty much the same thing as the band is, doesn't work. It sounds cluttered and doesn't add anything too significant. Symphonic accompaniments, when approached from a songwriting perspective and with dynamics, can be great textural tools in music. But it's true that metal musicians tend to Smurf it up quite a bit.

Okay, now I see your point with this one. Playing songs unplugged can sound great and provide a different atmosphere to a track, but that's provided the songs are actually arranged for an acoustic setting. When a guitarist is sitting there playing downtuned power-chords on an acoustic guitar while the bassist chugs away on the low E of an upright bass, it sounds terrible and is downright idiotic. When a band actually understands the implications of playing acoustic and dynamically, it can sound pretty good.

A good example of good unplugged metal songs are the bonus tracks for Evergrey-The Inner Circle. I'm Sorry, Recreation Day, and Madness Caught Another Victim sound like they were almost made as accoustic songs if you hadn't heard the origionals (which at the time I hadn't).

BTW, am I the only one that actually liked the Scorpions orchestra album? I don't think I've read any positive remarks about it here.

All concept albums are crap? I disagree.

*waves Alice Cooper's concept albums*

Never really been a fan of unplugged.

The only one i own is Kiss, and i never heard it after the first spin.

I enjoyed Kiss Unplugged. I dont spin it regularly but it does have charm. The Ace songs are really well done.

For me all three come down to one thing - the songs being strong. A good song can shine through any concept, symphony, or acoustic version.

jstate wrote:

For me all three come down to one thing - the songs being strong. A good song can shine through any concept, symphony, or acoustic version.

Same here.

But I do find those spoken word bits between good songs on concept albums to be annoying. Blind Guardian's "Nightfall In MIddle Earth" is a classic example. Lots of great songs on that disc but I always have to reach for the Skip button when those dumb interludes come on.

Interludes are the worst. Especially the folky instrumental ones. I always zap those off the old ipod playlist.

You forgot crappy Live Albums....LOL!!!

What does concept albums have to do with bad music? What, so just because an artist writes all songs into one complete story, that makes the music that accompanies it crap? That's bullsh!t. Sure, some bands go too far on the symphonic and narrative crap (Judas Priest), and don't write enough actual songs, but to just write an album off because the songs' stories go together is just dumb - So you've basically just completely written King Diamond's entire career off, becuase they're concept albums? Let me tell you my friend, there is NOTHING overly complicated about King Diamond's music - It's just awesome heavy metal that just happens to be one full story - And I for one really like King's stories, I think he's a great writer - Sometimes their even more interesting than the music! So no, I don't agree with you.

tohostudios wrote:

jstate wrote:

For me all three come down to one thing - the songs being strong. A good song can shine through any concept, symphony, or acoustic version.

Same here.

But I do find those spoken word bits between good songs on concept albums to be annoying. Blind Guardian's "Nightfall In MIddle Earth" is a classic example. Lots of great songs on that disc but I always have to reach for the Skip button when those dumb interludes come on.

I would agree that too many interludes kill the music.

Concept albums can be good, as long as they don't get too pretentious (which does tend to happen alot). I don't like the spoken word interludes and I hate when songs tend to fade directly into another. I like to shuffle my songs and I hate when an intro will play,I get into the song and then bam! off to a totally different song from another band. It's quite jarring.

I don't mind symphonic elements in the music too much but I prefer the straight ahead metal.


Unplugged stuff I can do without. It sounds good enough but I'm not dying to hear songs I already know done in a different style. Adding them as bonus tracks are a complete waste of disc space for me (especially if the same song appears in it's regular form earlier on the same album).

Glenn Rogers wrote:

You forgot crappy Live Albums....LOL!!!

...don't forget when bands release the same show as crappy live DVDs.

Mglaffas81 wrote:

What does concept albums have to do with bad music? What, so just because an artist writes all songs into one complete story, that makes the music that accompanies it crap? That's bullsh!t. Sure, some bands go too far on the symphonic and narrative crap (Judas Priest), and don't write enough actual songs, but to just write an album off because the songs' stories go together is just dumb - So you've basically just completely written King Diamond's entire career off, becuase they're concept albums? Let me tell you my friend, there is NOTHING overly complicated about King Diamond's music - It's just awesome heavy metal that just happens to be one full story - And I for one really like King's stories, I think he's a great writer - Sometimes their even more interesting than the music! So no, I don't agree with you.

The restrictions of a concept album necessarily make the album sub par and by that I mean the narrative flow that is required by a story makes for a lot of filler and interludes. There are many concept albums that have good songs on them but I don't know any concept albums that I consider to be great albums as a whole. Also, King Diamond's solo albums are of no interest to me because they are concept albums. I'll take Mercyful Fate all day everyday over King Diamond albums.

I like concept albums if they don't focus on the story over the music, such as the case of the newer Iced Earth albums. I love Dio's "Magica" and Alice Cooper's "Last Temptation".

I'm not a huge fan of the symphony stuff. I like metal. I don't like opera and if I want to hear classical, I'll listen to Bach or Beethoven. Manowar playing opera/symphonic/metal does not interest me. However, I like what bands like Believer, Extol, Celtic Frost have done adding in a few classic instruments to spice things up. It's not overdone to the point that the music is hardly recognizable as metal.

I like some acoustic albums. They are not frequent players. Kiss - MTV Unplugged is great! Also like acoustic albums by Aerosmith and Tourniquet.

I personally like concept albums but I have to admit I like the songs and as far the concept itself gets lost to me most of the time, some of my favorite albums have been concept albums 'The Wall' "Quadrophina' 'Operation: Mindcrime' 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' among others

One of the greatest prog albums of all time is a concept album:



The sequal, Room V, is also good but not quite on par with Tyranny IMO.

DallasBlack wrote:

One of the greatest prog albums of all time is a concept album:



The sequal, Room V, is also good but not quite on par with Tyranny IMO.

-- Concepts occasionally are cool, usually NOT.

-- I am angrier for trying very hard to listen through all of the horrendous
"S & M" , than to the much hated "St.Anger" album.


-- Terry Sadler of death metal band SLAUGHTER said back in 1986, he created most of his riffs first on an accoustic guitar (and as you know, Slaughter was primitive, punky metal; imagine Hellhammer/Celtic Frost meets The Plasmatics).

Why did he compose like that ?

He said if the riffs didn't sound heavy on an accoustic guitar, then they were worthless on an electric one.

I don't care much for accoustic versions , though I highly enjoyed what KISS and Megadeth have done .