thevoidalone

Hey everyone, I'm Kenny. I'm from Iowa, and I take care of my disabled parents full time. I don't technically get paid for doing so, and there's a long convoluted explanation that I'll skip here. When it comes to my tastes in metal, some of my favorite bands include Opeth, Testament, Obsequiae, Fallujah (the namesake for my username), Naglfar, Cattle Decapitation, TesseracT, Arch Enemy (mostly gossow era), Soilwork, Hatebreed, and many many others. Other genres I enjoy, which i'm going to spend more time expounding on than just my barebones love of metal since it's a foregone conclusion that I'm a metalhead on a metal forum. Hardcore, and more specifically Modern Life Is War, who are from my home town. They started up while I was in high school, and so their work has a heavy personal connection for me obviously. I was going to their shows and listening to their music quite a lot in that five year period of 2003-2008. Country, and though I am somewhat picky about which artists I listen to, I don't completely forsake the mainstream in the genre. Especially Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, and Keith Urban's first few albums, which Jason and Keith catch a lot of flack. I do understand why they catch said flack, but in Jason's case I am still finding things to enjoy on his newer work. As far as some artists I love that aren't necessarily mainstream, Karen Jonas, Angaleena Presley, and Wheeler Walker Jr. With Wheeler, it's mostly his first album, because it has such good session stuff going on around it that the comedic lyrics can be overlooked for me when they're bad. Vocal Trance is a love of mine, not only because it features the more progressive instrumentation when it comes to the "trance" element, but because the vocal performances are really good, if not the vocalists themselves. I make that distinction because I know that it's one of the genres more prone to the autotune game. That being said, I love vocalists like Emma Hewitt, Nadia Ali, Christine Novelli, and Justine Suissa. Vocal Trance has pretty much replaced "pop" music for me, because I can't stand most of the stuff you're going to find on the top 40. Mostly because the indie worship of the last 7 years or so in pop bores me to tears and so does what most of hip hop has to offer. After growing up in the era of more intense gangsta rap, the r&b explosion, and the pop minded rap songs a la 50 cent "in the club" that reigned supreme during my high school career, I find some of what passes for rap these days must have biggie and tupac rolling in their graves. Other than that I love most of the foundational rock and hard rock that metal are built upon. I do like some "butt rock" as it has been named, such as Nickelback. Though there are some singles I can't get behind, for the most part they make catchy stuff I enjoy. Creed, though i've come to realize how annoying Scott's voice can be, I do think there are some redeemable moments for him. The main draw for me with Creed nowadays though, is all of those great riffs that Mark Tremonti laid down in that band (whose solo material i've been enjoying a ton; though I do know and like some Alter Bridge, I just haven't been as engaged with that project as his solo stuff). Anyhow, i've rambled on enough at this point, but I thought i'd say hello to everyone. I look forward to joining in the festivitiies and discussions being had here!