Is it just me?

[nathan28]

Is it just me or does most heavy metal sound manufactured these days.
The horrible screaming constantly, the constant double bass(rather than cool solid beats), the horrible tone of the guitars and the image, man you can spot a heavy metal fan as easy as a rap fan these days. It seems that video killed the radio star. Sorry about the rant! I just miss the passion the meaning behind what we used to call heavy metal and rock n roll. It seems like bands these days are being heavy just to be heavy, whatever happend to what it is all about THE MUSIC!!!

Its been a while since I heard a album that was just great sounding, but the new Tool album 10,000 days really impressed me. When you listen to it you can tell its musicians, creativity and people that have passion for music. That album definietly wasnt geared to sell but it is indeed selling. The guitar tone on the album is genius. Hell everything about that album from the artwork to the music is genius. Its definitely not an album of singles, but indepth music.
just a rant.lol.

 

[Russ]

I think modern music in general is overproduced now. There are some guys that still do it in just a few takes and only maybe double a track but some of these guys are layering to the point that they can't do it live and have to have a backing track. It then sounds produced live too. Why bother performing it if half of it is recorded? I too feel that there has been too much sonic mayhem in the music. There are no real meat and potatoes kind of rockers anymore.

 

[Grandor]

If there was, I doubt theyd have mesas.

 

[Russ]

Why is that?

 

[straitouttahell]

It may be just you, but I was listening to Saxon's Wheels Of Fire this morning, driving to my office, and singing aloud. Is it me too?

 

[screamingdaisy]

Is it just me or does most heavy metal sound manufactured these days.
The horrible screaming constantly, the constant double bass(rather than cool solid beats), the horrible tone of the guitars and the image, man you can spot a heavy metal fan as easy as a rap fan these days. It seems that video killed the radio star. Sorry about the rant! I just miss the passion the meaning behind what we used to call heavy metal and rock n roll. It seems like bands these days are being heavy just to be heavy, whatever happend to what it is all about THE MUSIC!!!

Stop listening to the radio. Start listening to what's going on underground.

 

[nathan28]

I do listen to the underground stuff. Its just harder to find. I love heavy guitar riffs, but hate the screaming that seems to always come with it. I havent listened to the radio for years, radio is the worse thing!! Im a member of giganews newsgroups, I usually go to the heavy metal newsgroup everyday and download numerous random stuff everyday and its always the same. I think its just modern heavy metal. The genre pretty much just consists of tatooed, muscle bound, homophobe, pierced dudes tuning way to low and screaming constantly. Bands are always limiting theirselves to their genre. They have created a genre for everything, and if they dont have a genre they have a subgenre for it. But the one genre that doesnt exist anymore is RocknRoll. We always hear of these rock legends, but now there is no more. Its all just a trend. Once the trend fades so does the bands involved with the trend. screw it, I still rock and play what I play. Im sure alot of people here do to. But im also sure there is people playing endless cover songs trying to be someone else than be themselves.

 

[LordCliff]

I agree. I hate the pop-rock "metal" crap that is popular now. It's alot of macho-metal, tune down, and be tough guys who are in bands, just to be in bands.
I listen to heavy stuff (old Anathema, My Dying Bride, Katatonia), which has death metal growls. But I HATE the current trend of scream over the hard verse, then a soft catchy chorus. Though I find it strange now that "heavy" music is "in", the real bands that were really heavy while it wasn't "in" are now not trying to hard (if at all) to be heavy.
The guitars are tuned way to low, and sound really flat. Plus it pretty much cancels out any of the low end that you'll get from the bass, thus to me, a bass player, it's not heavy (sorry 6 stringers, the bass makes it big)
My band plays "older" sounding metal, we only tune down half a step mostly. ( www.myspace.com/reborninfire1 , if you want to hear it) We've been called "old sounding" which we take as a huge compliment. Yes, we play Mesa, a triple and a dual rectifier, and I play a 400+, with Mesa cabs.

 

[nathan28]

LordCliff your absolutely right!!! Its time musicians once again rule the world rather than no talent pretty boy pussies that do it just to be cool. Since you understand this I bet your band rocks!

 

[screamingdaisy]

I do listen to the underground stuff. Its just harder to find. I love heavy guitar riffs, but hate the screaming that seems to always come with it.

Same here. Alot of great music is ruined by bad vocals. That's why I think that Pelican's concept was pretty cool (heavy metal with no vocals).

I've pretty much religated myself to listening to doom, sludge metal, and stoner. There's still lots of great stuff coming out of those sub-genres, and most of them understand how a bass guitar is supposed to sound. Hell, Electric Wizard tunes down to B and yet they still have it EQd so that the bass guitar dominates the mix over both the guitars and the kick drum.

Doom/sludge seems to be a bit of a pre-hairmetal throwback genre, and alot of heavy bands that're trying to stay away from the nu-thrash and mall-metal crowds are landing there.....including some high profile acts like Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society and Phil Anselmo's Superjoint Ritual and Down.

 

[J.R.B.]

Me, I love the screaming. I can admit that there are some exceptions but in general, metal without screaming seems like a type of emo-metal to me. I like guys who can do both and use it appropriately.
If metal singing was still like Priest and Maiden, I might have converted to country by now.

 

[LordCliff]

For me the basic metal voice of choice is Hetfield, during the Justice era. If you know who Nick Holmes is from Paradise Lost, he's quite good also. A good barking yell, not a scream. I've neverliked the old old metal vocals so much.
I will say, most of the reason these bands (the newer ones) use screams is because when you scream you really don't have to make up a vocal melody. My biggest thing against Slayer (classic band, but never really did alot for me for some reason), was that the vocals were just spued out, nothing else. Even bands that use growls (the ones I like anyway) have some sort of melody or structure to the vocal lines.
I think emo is exactly what were talking about, and fake new hardcore stuff.
Nathan, it's funny, my guitar player on another forum started a topic just like this one a few days ago.

 

[MesallicA]

screaming is lame, as soon as i hear metal with gay *** vocals, like slayer, i turn it off. the best vocals ever are those of Queen, Dream Theater and i also dig racerx.