HAVE WE HEARD IT ALL

Have we heard it all...has metal gone as far as it can...has every sub-genre been created now...is everything from this point forward just remakes and copys of the past?

Yes - 6 times over....

...and a power chord played with distortion seemed like a never-ending well that originality would spring from for all eternity...

There will always be some kind of ambient blackened polka dubstep thing going on that might sound fresh but we really are talking about variations on a theme here. I honestly don't care though, the last record I really liked sounds a lot like Trouble and I couldn't care less, it's awesome.

It has all been done before as the saying goes. I would like to think that there will be a new wave of something in the future. Though taking into consideration the state of the recording industry - that might never happen again.

Don't know, don't really care. Honestly, I stopped paying attention to most new bands/sub-genres/etc. quite a while ago. It's been a long time since a "new" band well and truly knocked my sox off. I don't have the time/money/attention span to keep up anymore anyway.

I don't care. I discover new artists every day in this genre, and I will never be able to hear every last hard rock/heavy metal recording before I die. Innovation is not on my list of things that I require for enjoyment in music. What matters to me is if the songs are enjoyable.

I want to see and hear punk-rock make a come back !
They haven't explored that tree's branches in totality -
but I'm shocked at just how much 80's metal IS out there
30 years later - and there's 80's bands still to discover !

Glower wrote:

I want to see and hear punk-rock make a come back !

You must not get out much, Glower. Real underground punk has never taken a day off.

Witchfinder wrote:

I don't care.  I discover new artists every day in this genre, and I will never be able to hear every last hard rock/heavy metal recording before I die. Innovation is not on my list of things that I require for enjoyment in music.  What matters to me is if the songs are enjoyable.

 
Same here.  Newer bands like The Answer or Screaming Eagles sound great to me.

And there will always be a neverending stream of AC/DC clone bands to keep me happy.

It really doesn't  matter. Is it good? Does it make your head Bob and bring a smile to your face? At the end of the day....that's all that matters.

I'm going to echo what most others have stated. It doesn't really matter and I couldn't care less. The only thing that does matter is if I feel the music is good.

I think there will always be someone out there that tries to create something new and different. Sometimes it will work, most times it won't. If they discover something new and it sounds good to me, cool. If not, I'll have plenty of stuff to fall back on to fill the musical void.

I think we probably have heard all the variations on the theme of hard rock; but like a lot of you it doesn't concern me as there is sooo much I have yet to hear. Back in 2006, I discovered bands like Hammerfall. Firewind, and Iron Savior and that reinvigorated me for a few years, and when I got burned out I went back some old faves and then discovering new bands/ albums from my youth I had never heard like Crimson Glory or Blind Guardian. I think there will always be "new" old stuff to discover and cherish.

I like many newer bands, and discover new "old" bands all the time. Sometimes you can use a site like Metal Archives and look through information on a band, become intrigued, look into them, and get into a band from the past that you never knew existed.

So you never stop learning about metal, if you ask me.

I completely disagree that it's all been done.

I don't know if it's all been done. Weird crap gets released all the time.

But I actually kind of seriously doubt I'd get into any of it now. I know what I like now. I know what I like and I am looking for more of the same. Or different angles.

When I was younger I was searching for the sound that most resonated with me. It was a long process, but I've managed to narrow it down quite well. It's "Devastation" by Savatage. You can approach it from different angles, but that's what I like. Sometimes stuff outside the box is fun and works well, but at the end of the day I get back to what really is me.. As much as anything is part of me, the music I like is part of my personality. And I don't change my personality overnight. I'm not that moody.

I don't think we've heard it all, necessarily, but I'm to the point where I don't care how much more Metal progresses. I'm starting to gravitate away from new, overly modern sounding Metal bands anyway in favor of older, established, classics. There are many albums I have never owned or listened to and, when I do, it's just as new to me as any modern band BUT the difference is the old stuff is GOOD! I mean REALLY good.

I never thought I would be that guy...but I'm here to tell you: Nothing will be as good as Dio-era Sabbath ever again.

I'm still discovering bands I missed from the 70's and 80's, so I really don't care. Haha! I'm finding far more enjoyment out of discovering old music that I wasn't aware of that listening to all these modern sounding metal bands.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I never thought I would be that guy...but I'm here to tell you: Nothing will be as good as Dio-era Sabbath ever again.

That may not be where I'd personally set the goal posts, but I definitely can't question your taste.

When you look at what metal came from - which is rock, which came from the blues - its origins are simple as hell. That "formula" (can we really even call it that anymore?) has been stretched farther than I think anyone would have suspected and that's awesome.

Most of the big moves in rock and metal have involved cross pollination. Throw jazz and classical into rock? It's progressive rock. Throw rap into metal? Hell, that was most of the late '90s/early '00s. You got things like Paul Simon's Graceland and the Talking Heads by mixing African tribal music with rock and folk. I don't think we're done mixing stuff up and some mixes are going to be fresh and amazing and some are going to be dead ends.

For my part, I welcome the experimentation - winners AND losers.

ultmetal wrote:

I'm still discovering bands I missed from the 70's and 80's, so I really don't care. Haha! I'm finding far more enjoyment out of discovering old music that I wasn't aware of that listening to all these modern sounding metal bands.

YES!!!

Runicen wrote:

 

Most of the big moves in rock and metal have involved cross pollination.  Throw jazz and classical into rock?  It's progressive rock.  Throw rap into metal?  Hell, that was most of the late '90s/early '00s.  You got things like Paul Simon's Graceland and the Talking Heads by mixing African tribal music with rock and folk.  I don't think we're done mixing stuff up and some mixes are going to be fresh and amazing and some are going to be dead ends.

Wasn't Korn's last album supposed to combine dub step? I'm not even sure what dub step is exactly, but it's apparently popular with the kids. Korn took their nu-metal style and mashed it with dub step. Did it work? I have no idea. But it proves that folks are willing to try something new and experiment with new sounds.

ultmetal wrote:

I'm still discovering bands I missed from the 70's and 80's, so I really don't care. Haha! I'm finding far more enjoyment out of discovering old music that I wasn't aware of that listening to all these modern sounding metal bands.

This!
I do enjoy some of the modern metal bands but this is where I find myself as well. There is such a HUGE back catalog of music...... so much to discover!


Just look at my RYM sig to see how much it varies.

If you really pay attention to the details in the music, you can hear infinite possibilities even within the confines of metal.

I used to prefer scouring the underground for older metal bands that were greater than the current crop. There is a limit to that though because they're not making any more of it. I feel like that is almost tapped out for me and I'm close to hearing all the great songs there. At least the new crop is moving forward and releasing new material.

I saw ARTILLERY play live this week. The local bands that opened up for them were for the most part influenced by old school metal. I was shocked when I heard another thrash band around here with high-pitched screaming. For years we were the only band around here that had attempted anything like that. Everyone else at the time was core or extreme metal. Where were these bands when we were playing a lot of shows? I think even kids in their 20s are sick of -core and "extreme metal" and thanks to YouTube know what the good stuff was all about.

There is still good stuff being released and you can't mine the past forever. But I do think there was a degree of quality in good 80s metal that is rarely reached these days.

I do enjoy some modern bands like Nickelback, Korn, Hinder, Saliva, Halestorm, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Flyleaf, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, etc, but for the most part I think 80s rock/metal bands are just plain better then most stuff today.  

The problem is compared to other forms of media, music feels like it's going backwards and hasn't really evolved the way movies, TV shows and video games have, music from the 80s(and early 90s to some extent) sounds more complex then a lot of popular rock bands today, as most current bands seem content to only learn three chords maximum, which causes a lot of them to sound very similar to one another.