Iceni

Re: Favourite Vocalist Well, like I've said before I'm very picky about harsh vocals - I tend to prefer rasp overall, rather than the metalcore styling of his screams.

Re: Favourite Vocalist I just wish the guy wouldn't scream, his clean vocals are great and they bring something new to a section of metal which usually has all harsh vocals.

Re: The Human Abstract I guessed that - some more dedicated guitar players are able to ignore the vocals. I can't. They very much define a band for me. If they're boring but the music is good, I'll gloss over subpar singing, but vocals that annoy me will significantly dent my ability to listen to something. That is very true when I listen to Periphery - I don't like their vocals at all, but their guitars are amazing.

Re: Old vs. New Well, I don't think either of the Scar Symmetry singers who are in the band now will match Alvestam but they're good stand-ins. The first one that comes to mind is HammerFall. They've kept the same vocalist but they really disintegrated on No Sacrifice, No Victory. Infection also has pretty lame lyrics, but musically, it's recovering from the conciliatory nature of the previous album. Then 7days is somewhat disappointing. Their first album was great melodic progressive metal, but their latest stuff has more of the power metal cliches, especially rapid and monotonous drumming. Plus they hired Christian Rivel to do vocals. Why they would do that when they already had Thomas Vikstrom on board (when he did a great job on their first album) I have yet to find out. Apparently it's a project of the guitarist, Markus Sigfridsson, who said he wanted something more symphonic. I honestly wish he'd retain the prog elements. It made the band much more unique and enjoyable. Pyramaze has swapped vocals, from Lance King to Matt Barlow. Apparently they've further changed to Urban Breed of Tad Morose, but I haven't heard his work yet. I like Barlow more. It's not as if King didn't work, but Barlow helps to emphasize the dark sound that Pyramaze is supposed to have. I'm disappointed in HB...they used to be great, and their work on Pikki Lihassa is still some of my favorite gothic metal. However, their new album Paakallonpaikka is a step down. It's much simpler, with the exception of maybe three songs, and vocalist Joanna Aaltonen doesn't seem to be in as good form as she was on HB's previous albums. In addition, Janne Karhunen is gone. He was a great guitarist and he threw in a much-needed technical edge. Thank goodness Antti Niskala is still there to keep the keyboards up to scratch. Eisbrecher has the same problem; they used to be a lot more interesting but now they're giving off an unwelcome electropop feel. Nocturnal Rites' older material was much more typical power metal. Their newer stuff is a mix of that and hard rock sensibilities, which I like a lot better. It's more distinctive and Johnny Lindqvist's voice works well for the music. Stephane Pare has brought a lot of vocal power into Quo Vadis, which has helped to make the band even more gutsy than they used to be. Symphony X will be a raging debate - I personally prefer anything after The Odyssey, especially Paradise Lost and Iconoclast, because I think it's more powerful.

Re: Underrated or Unknown Metal Yeah, I've heard them... I can't stand them. While I'm here, I'll also recommend the Slovenian band Neurotech. They aren't very technical, but they do make very good industrial metal with great atmosphere.

Re: CLOTHES Yeah. I need to get me another pair of size 13 foot tanks. I miss being able to wear those things.

Re: Good Eve... 'manufactured, auto-tuned pop'... I completely agree...everything in pop is manufactured and tailored around sales. The sound is tailored to suit people's most primal instincts and reduces music down to catchiness and rhythm without any attempt to make something more complex than that. The lyrics are done in the same fashion, with fabricated dilemmas used to create a false sense of drama about something that really doesn't warrant the concern. That, or they advocate things that are ridiculously PC so they never have to face real criticism. Peace and love? Who's going to object to that? The musicians themselves, in the meantime, are put into a rapidly expanding pantheon of social deities who people look up to with no apparent justification. That's a solid set of bands to start out with. We've got a lot of death, thrash and black metal fans here, so they certainly ought to be able to help you find more bands in the same genre, and so develop your love for the music.

Re: Favourite Vocalist

Re: female metal vocalist? No one has mentioned Sharon Del Adel of Within Temptation? I think she's one of the best sopranos in metal. I agree with FreddyFruitcake, Charlotte Wessels is one of my favorite singers. Another Dutch redhead who I think sings well is Manda Ophius. Liv Kristine is also quite talented. Joanna Aaltonen of HB is a relatively unknown female singer. Sometimes she's somewhat low-pitched, and she definitely sounds better in Finnish than English, but she still has a wonderful voice, especially singing higher notes. But quite possibly my favorite female vocalist is Kaisa Jouhki of Battlelore. Her voice has always been great, and it's still awesome now. She never fails to impress, and she also has quite the range. In addition, her voice sounds good on all of the notes that she can sing.

Re: Be'lakor Well, you've got them in your signature now... I just wish they'd shorten some of these riffs, though. I think sometimes they go on for just a bit too long. The melancholy and bleakness of the music is very well accented by the album art as well. I did just look at their lyrics - I disagree entirely with their metaphysics but I can't deny they've phrased themselves pretty well. They have a pretty good grip on the temporal nature of corporeal life. "Begging now to forget who I am Emperor, your sword is useless Shattered crowns so swiftly Fragile as the scythe"

Re: Underrated or Unknown Metal

Re: Be'lakor Definitely tell AkselJ then... But MAN, these guys are good. I like that they've got more of a Dark Tranquillity feel to them, but if they had a keyboard they'd be even better. They develop the songs so that they can play a riff for a while, and right when you think it's getting a bit long, they hit you with something else.

Re: Gothic Metal Ah, good, someone else who likes Unsun... Lost Innocence is a song which was made for the biggest speaker system on earth.

Re: Underrated or Unknown Metal

Re: Your Lyrics Interesting, your idea of the potential for corruption in a free enterprise system is poignant, considering the casual attitude some have toward how their goods affect society. I suppose the title comes from the Edward Hopper painting and your lyrics are trying to get inside the mind of one of the patrons? What style is this song played in?

Re: Good folk metal bands? Not to worry, you've got a lot more analytical knowledge of the physics behind these instruments than I do...I did suspect a Celtic link to be the explanation for the bagpipes.

Re: Rate the song above you! Goody. Go ahead and check their other material then, I suspect you'd like it. Well, I think it's safe to say I lack the musical education to understand how amazing that piece was. Naturally I had hoped there would be more overdriven guitar, crunch, etc.. It's not really my style. That said, it was music I'd want to hear in a good restaurant. It's not metal, which wouldn't really suit the ambiance, but it develops and changes enough to make it interesting to listen to if the conversation at your table is lacking. I'd say 8/10. WJBBBT9uF4I My favorite American band. Not one of their best songs, but really good nonetheless.

Re: Your Artwork Glad you like them...darn picture's too blurry. The irony is that I do A LOT A LOT A LOT of drawing but not very many large-scale finished products. And those usually aren't on themes directly related to metal. Speaking of which, I have more artwork to show you still. You haven't seen any of my 18x24's.

Re: Rate the song above you! I totally agree. I live in New Mexico; we have a LOT of Spanish-speakers here, so I did the Rosetta Stone program. I still don't like the language at all, it just doesn't sound melodic. It sounds fruity. Not that it's really their fault. So now I FINALLY get to put this band on here... 4AJ_qcQVDP0 1:57 for one of the strangest lines I've ever heard.

Re: Rate the user above 8.5/10 for loving Zak Steven's vocals on Circle II Circle.

Re: The Human Abstract Well obviously the guitars and drums are absolutely amazing. The composition is good as well. But the thing I have trouble with is the vocals. I love harsh vocals but I'm very picky about the balance of guttural and vocal power. If it sounds to much like yelling and not enough gurgling beastly rage, I probably won't like it. That said, I also don't mind rasp so I listen to Dark Tranquillity and early Quo Vadis. I think the vocals were MUCH better on Digital Veil than they were for that song 'Harbinger', but they still could use work in my opinion.

Re: Rate the song above you! Wow, I only needed to hear two minutes of that and I liked it. Sound quality was a bit fuzzy so the drums probably didn't have the crispness they normally would have, and the same goes for the guitars. It also got a bit monotonous after a while. Aside from that, the intro was good and the song developed well from there. It definitely gave off the feel of a barbarian commander leading to sack of Rome... 7.5/10 _MHXtfJV9a8 Spanish power metal usually sucks, but this band is one amazing exception!

Re: Rate and Slate Rating Darksun, an amazing Spanish power metal band...slating the big-mouthed idiot who made fun of my mullet yesterday.

Re: Rate the user above 8.5/10 for being open-minded and giving Slechtvalk a listen...and for unequivocally stating that I'm not a moron or a sheep. I've enjoyed keeping up our discussions. Now what I find ironic is that black metal is not one of my favorite genres of metal even from a musical standpoint. However, I think a substantial portion of my posts have been there, simply because you've been interesting and respectful even though you're diametrically opposed to what I think. As a result, I've got a motive to continue the discussion.

Re: Anti Black Metal Heh. 'Here Comes the Sun' is usually one of those songs which makes me grind my teeth. But I actually liked this one, it seemed like Pink Floyd covering the song. It sounded eerie and unnervingly clam, so it definitely does change the atmosphere. As for them getting criticized for promoting Satanism through radio-friendly music...Who's doing that? Pop reviewers or staunch Satanists? That seems illogical on both fronts fronts. Any method by which the essence of your views may be expressed without diluting them, and which happens to open people's minds to your idea, ought to be embraced. Therefore it doesn't seem to make sense that Satanists would criticize it. Pop reviewers and the like have a lot of gumption to talk out of both sides of their mouths like that. As far as I can tell, this band isn't mincing any words about Satanism, so they are being pretty direct. But pop music is insidious. It presents rather banal ideas because its merit is based solely on groove. Because people are too lazy to evaluate the lyrics, they just blandly accept them as tenets which you tack on to the dance beat as necessary elements of being stylish. As a result I think a lot of girls just really don't mind being objectified anymore, because that's the hip thing to do. In the meantime, the boys don't mind being thought of as sex-starved apes because that's also the cool thing to believe. And that's what I like about metal. Metal has dignity and honesty. You also don't find metal bands promoting the same old thing over and over (unless maybe you listen to a lot of power metal...I do). Because the bands understand they will be judged on a variety of musical and lyrical criteria by the metal world, one gets variety assimilated to talent and none of them feel the need to stick to a set gamut of lyrical themes. The existence of Satanic black metal is simply a by-product of capitalism and democracy. because that's what these bands wanted to promote. If the thread-starter doesn't want to hear it he doesn't have to. I also suspect that most of the people who listen to to black metal are already anti-clerical or they just listen to the music and enjoy it for its melody alone, hence it's not influencing people. If it doesn't have a negative social or spiritual influence, it makes no sense for him to oppose it from his theological standpoint.