Two questions regarding metalcore and nu metal

S.D. wrote:

The trend of "guitar solos are unhip" was pretty stupid, but I gotta say that I do not think a guitar solo is required in EVERY damn rock/metal song either. Sometimes just having a cool melodic idea or bridge gets the point across.

ultmetal wrote:

How do you play air guitar if there are no solos? Haha!

Why does a grown man need to play air guitar in the first place?

You're only as young as you feel. I still tend to play air guitar to a good riff or a favorite solo.

No, not every song needs one, but to purposely not put them in just because it's 'uncool' is a stupid trend.

These bands can barely even write RIFFS much less solos.

I can do without any solos as long as the riffs/transitions are well-done.

I think why most Nu-Metal/Metalcore guitar players who don't play solos is simply because they CAN'T ... Metalcore can be great with solos, I've known kids who wanted to go the shortest route of becoming a metal guitar player without them putting too much effort on practice, they don't want to sit alone in their room for 5 hours a day practicing scales or a bunch of Satriani blues box stuff that's why most of them prefer Metalcore or Nu Metal ... and they always admire people who can play guitar solos and wished they could play like that

ultmetal wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The trend of "guitar solos are unhip" was pretty stupid, but I gotta say that I do not think a guitar solo is required in EVERY damn rock/metal song either. Sometimes just having a cool melodic idea or bridge gets the point across.

ultmetal wrote:

How do you play air guitar if there are no solos? Haha!

Why does a grown man need to play air guitar in the first place?

You're only as young as you feel. I still tend to play air guitar to a good riff or a favorite solo.

No, not every song needs one, but to purposely not put them in just because it's 'uncool' is a stupid trend.

Yeah, but I don't think that's the reason why Nu-Metal and Metalcore usually don't use solos, they just don't feel like it fits in with they're musical style(though Limp Bizkit actually did have some solos on Gold Cobra, and Avenged Sevenfold uses them often and effectively)

Temple of Blood wrote:

These bands can barely even write RIFFS much less solos.

I can do without any solos as long as the riffs/transitions are well-done.

Same here, and maybe the bands CAN play solos, but they just don't feel like it gels with they're style of music.

Vexer6 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

These bands can barely even write RIFFS much less solos.

I can do without any solos as long as the riffs/transitions are well-done.

Same here, and maybe the bands CAN play solos, but they just don't feel like it gels with they're style of music.

I'm gonna bet my house they can't...Nu-Metal/metalcore is technically-less demanding compared to Glam, Heavy Metal or Even Thrash....A kid who worshipped Lamb Of God, then learned to play LoG riffs isn't the same as a kid who picked up a guitar because he was influenced by George Lynch...Skill Level will be different I tell ya...

Vexer6 wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The trend of "guitar solos are unhip" was pretty stupid, but I gotta say that I do not think a guitar solo is required in EVERY damn rock/metal song either. Sometimes just having a cool melodic idea or bridge gets the point across.

ultmetal wrote:

How do you play air guitar if there are no solos? Haha!

Why does a grown man need to play air guitar in the first place?

You're only as young as you feel. I still tend to play air guitar to a good riff or a favorite solo.

No, not every song needs one, but to purposely not put them in just because it's 'uncool' is a stupid trend.

Yeah, but I don't think that's the reason why Nu-Metal and Metalcore usually don't use solos, they just don't feel like it fits in with they're musical style(though Limp Bizkit actually did have some solos on Gold Cobra, and Avenged Sevenfold uses them often and effectively)

Perhaps. I've read some interviews with several bands who made claim that they did record solos for their records but their producer said that solos weren't in style and left them off. Metallica's St. Anger comes to mind. The songs obviously needed them, the band can play them, yet they didn't because of that silly trend. Biogenesis is another band that comes to mind. Their songs sounded like they had solo breaks, without the solos. Their producer didn't think the songs needed solos, so they were left off. Why?

Anyhow, solos is just one part of it. I just thought it was a bizarred trend.

ultmetal wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The trend of "guitar solos are unhip" was pretty stupid, but I gotta say that I do not think a guitar solo is required in EVERY damn rock/metal song either. Sometimes just having a cool melodic idea or bridge gets the point across.

ultmetal wrote:

How do you play air guitar if there are no solos? Haha!

Why does a grown man need to play air guitar in the first place?

You're only as young as you feel. I still tend to play air guitar to a good riff or a favorite solo.

No, not every song needs one, but to purposely not put them in just because it's 'uncool' is a stupid trend.

Yeah, but I don't think that's the reason why Nu-Metal and Metalcore usually don't use solos, they just don't feel like it fits in with they're musical style(though Limp Bizkit actually did have some solos on Gold Cobra, and Avenged Sevenfold uses them often and effectively)

Perhaps. I've read some interviews with several bands who made claim that they did record solos for their records but their producer said that solos weren't in style and left them off. Metallica's St. Anger comes to mind. The songs obviously needed them, the band can play them, yet they didn't because of that silly trend. Biogenesis is another band that comes to mind. Their songs sounded like they had solo breaks, without the solos. Their producer didn't think the songs needed solos, so they were left off. Why?

Anyhow, solos is just one part of it. I just thought it was a bizarred trend.

I remember Chaz telling us about that when he visited several years ago. As for air guitar, I wanted to be a guitarist but never had the patience to learn guitar so I learned to do good air guitar (by mimicking what I saw in concerts and music videos). I just find it fun and very cathartic (in combination with singing and headbanging-and all 3 individually). I will even air guitar while driving by using the steering wheel like an odd shaped guitar (it's a compulsion when I hear a good solo).

ultmetal wrote:

As far as metalcore, I just find much of it boring. Boring riffs, breakdowns in place of guitar solos, monotonous cookie-cutter vocals, angry-at-the-world lyrics...etc.
Can't stand a lot of the white-guy-with-backwards-baseball-cap rap style nu-metal. It's terribly mundane IMO. Also it's another style that generally lacks guitar solos.

this

Fear Factory had 32 good albums. The 1st one and the last two. Everything in between was crap! And F*^* that fat@ss guitarist moronic dickhead!

Plus that had dance remix albums so WHATEVER!

The singing vocals with the growls on those 2 albums didn't annoy me because he wasn't singing as though his vagina hurt.

Lurideath wrote:

Fear Factory had 32 good albums.

I must say, that's pretty impressive for any band!

Lurideath wrote:

Fear Factory had 2 good albums. The 1st one and the last two. Everything in between was crap! And F*^* that fat@ss guitarist moronic dickhead!

Plus that had dance remix albums so WHATEVER!

But how do you really feel about Dino and Fear Factory? If you ever see Dino crossing the street while at a intersection, try to resist stepping on the gas .

Being an "old fart metalhead", to me the things that keep me from enjoying a 'typical' metalcore/nu-metal band are:
--the screaming vocals (I like all kinds of thrash and/or death metal vocals so they don't have to be clean for me to enjoy it). Even harsh vocals can add a depth/dimension to the music. For many of these bands it seems to be the same tone dragged across the song.
--the lack of guitar 'riffs'. not the solos for me so much (as the Ramones and Napalm Death have showed, you don't really need them for great songs). There is nothing about the guitar palying that makes me want to play air-guitar (or if I was a teen--to make me want to play the guitar). I never found myself humming guitar parts to any of those songs.
--no emotional response to the music. When I hear a great riff and I get that "Oh, yeah" feeling....nothing can replace that. I personally never get that from Nu-metal or metalcore.
--the music itself is more 'bouncy' and 'chuggy' than aggressive and neckwrecking.

Maybe it's just me, but some of my dislike also comes from when these bands came out, I was still hungry for more aggressive music to fill my 'thrash void'. All these bands came out and were touted as 'metal' and I was just like "no,no, NO!!" Maybe a little ignorant but that was the truth.

For the most part, I'd say the vocals turn me off almost immediately in both genres. The image of the nu-metal guys always bothered me too.

I'm from the denim-and-leather generation of rock stars. Seeing a white guy with dreads in an Adidas track suit bouncing on stage looked stupid to me. And this is coming from a guy that has seen/worn plenty of stupid "rock" looks.

This is an example of where I take some time to answer something in an earlier thread, then it gets ignored and re-asked.

I can't get into the mood of nu-metal, often for the same reasons I couldn't stand the mood and attitude of most 90's alternative rock bands.
Peurile lyrics made worse by incorporating a poser rap-mentality as well as most of what has been mentioned here (the vocals and the downtuned guitar riffs) is another pet peeve of mine with the genre.

jettafiend wrote:

Prong and Soulfly are most definitely NOT nu-metal.

The first two Soulfly albums were nu-metal. The third album still had plenty of nu-metal elements, but you could tell they were moving away from the style. From Prophecy forward, however, they are most definitely not nu-metal.

Recently, I've been checking out some metalcore. I felt like I had never given the genre a fair chance, and just hated it because it was the trve thing to do.

My suspicion was correct though, just like with any genre, there is great stuff out their wading amongst the shit.

Like, for instance:

wowwww bumpitty bump!

I think I too posted about Zao earlier in the thread (one of those ones where I make posts but they aren't noticed much), and you're right, they have got some great stuff. I love that one, 'Splinter Shards..' and 'The Funeral of God'. Awesome stuff.

Not sure how close they are to metal core, but Sacred Mother Tongue made me start exploring the genre. And also Vanisher.