New metal bands....a dime a dozen?

With all new metal releases, how do you separate the "wheat from the chaff?"

What is your strategy?

(I guess this only applies to those who care about new stuff)

First, if I hear about it from people who have similar tastes to mine i'll be willing to, second, listen to samples. It goes from there.

TheNazgul wrote:

First, if I hear about it from people who have similar tastes to mine i'll be willing to, second, listen to samples. It goes from there.

Same here. After a few spins, I find that if you shelve the album for a little bit and then revisit it later and see if it holds up after all the hype has died down, it'll make the decision easier.

i take into account facts about the band (origin, how long theyve been together, members past affiliations, etc), reviews of the bands releases (for general information more so than just the actual verdict, since i reach my own conclusions) as well as peoples/friends less extensive reactions, and, perhaps most importantly, i listen to the band on myspace/wherever. its rare that i hear a few songs (or less) somewhere and end up changing my opinion after hearing more. since im a collector, i am looking to have some less than amazing underground metal releases hanging around with my outstanding picks, but the cds i listen to over and over again are usually those by bands i like the best, new and old.

Samples,Samples,Samples!

samples are great.....unfortunately it all starts blurring together sometimes for me.

I stopped worrying about being the first guy on my block to hear the hippest/newest/most underground/tr00est/grimmest/etc. bands a long time ago. I figure if it's good enough, it'll find out about it eventually, either by a friend's recommendation, through a forum like this one, or other means.

TheNazgul wrote:

First, if I hear about it from people who have similar tastes to mine i'll be willing to, second, listen to samples. It goes from there.

This! I value a lot of opinions here a lot so I check out a lot of stuff people listen to here.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I stopped worrying about being the first guy on my block to hear the hippest/newest/most underground/tr00est/grimmest/etc. bands a long time ago. I figure if it's good enough, it'll find out about it eventually, either by a friend's recommendation, through a forum like this one, or other means.

Yep!!! My feelings exactly!!!!!!

I usually listen to things 1st. I'm extremely picky so most of the time I don't find much for good new bands coming out. 1/50 I'd say is what I find good. I do find some great jems though on occasion.

I always thought I was fairly well-informed about bands until I joined HoM. Now I have so many bands that are new to me or that I heard of but never heard I don't think I'll ever catch up! I don't worry about being the first one to have the newest CD, I'll get to it eventually and in the meantime I get to hear what everyone else has to say about it.

I'm really picky and haven't given most new bands a fair chance. I usually know most of the names of the bands, but I don't really know much beyond that until I have a reason to further check them out. Like Vektor, I had heard about them some time before I saw them live, but it wasn't until then that I realized they were an excellent band, thus why I bought a cd, t-shirt, and made a patch.

Nowadays it is so easy to hear before you buy.

It's pretty easy to hear which bands are worth giving a shot and which ones aren't. Songwriting seems to be a lost art and rarely gets talked about.

I like to wait until a band has about 2 or 3 albums under their belt...and I almost never check out new metal bands unless it's a recommendation from somebody else.

Too many other types of music I like for me to focus on the gazillion metal bands making the rounds these days.

I listen to alot of new things of various musical flavor on YouTube and if/when I come across actual product in my travels for reasonable out of pocket expense. It is on !

I buy way too much old blues anyway. Yet, every once in a great while. A new band of kiddiez thrashin away gets my attention. In most cases with newer bands. A cd has one or two great songs tops and a bunch of My usual meter goes like this...If I dig half the tunes on a cd and I can find it for 1 dollar or less per tune that I dig. I jump like a frog.

With Amazon, Youtube, Myspace, etc it is easy to hear the music before hand...even then I still buy things I regret. I find it helpful to just listen to the music and not watch the video or pictures on their page, etc. This was a problem way back when too---with lots of bands popping up, and my metal passions were high but cash was low.

I rather enjoy going to your local shitty-@$$ music store and occasionally finding a rare gem here and there amongst the "pop / rock "

Example... blah... blah.. michaal bolton... booker T... OOOH Bolt Thrower!

From what I gather, I guess it "pays" to wait.

The stuff worth checking out will boil to the top....if I don't want to feel "hip" by grabbing something brand new with shelf life unknown.

"Hip" at 42....yea right.

I would like to try what Scottmitchell did a few years back and only buy cds twice a year. I dont think I could do it though...

I don't have the discipline for that. It's hard for me to get through 2 weeks without buying anything.

Sinistar wrote:

I don't have the discipline for that. It's hard for me to get through 2 weeks without buying anything.

+2!

I hear that, I haven't bought anything so far this year and it feels weird.

last couple of winters, I really cut down on my music buying to be more frugal.....I didn't realize how miserable I was until I started buying again.

I've got activities in the summer which keeps me busy, winter is the music season for me.

TheNazgul wrote:

I hear that, I haven't bought anything so far this year and it feels weird.

yeah. I havent really even looked at stuff on my want list right now.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Nowadays it is so easy to hear before you buy.

It's pretty easy to hear which bands are worth giving a shot and which ones aren't. Songwriting seems to be a lost art and rarely gets talked about.

Actually, I pretty much agree with this sentiment. Increasingly I find newer releases just bereft of engaging song construction and I have no idea why that it is. The band could be the best of musicians but just don't have the songs to back it up. The amount of stuff I've had to review that falls in to that category is a bit heart-breaking. Good thing listening before you buy is so doable nowadays otherwise I'd have wasted a lot of money by this point.