FatherAlabaster

Matt Taibbi has a good response to the criticism. My knee-jerk reaction was to agree with Ozzy (surprisingly) but Taibbi's article makes a lot of sense.

Wow, I feel that way too a lot of the time! I know exactly what you mean!

Alice In Chains At The Drive-In Opeth TV On The Radio Soundgarden don't look at me that way I love metal too

I already posted about this in some other thread, but mine is the title of a song I wrote in 2004 about my grandfather while he was sick in the hospital. He had Parkinson's and he was so pale and thin that he looked transparent. Feeding tube, breathing tube, medication in an IV. Awful to see someone lose themselves that way. Grim.

That's more like it... I'll push my Metal on anyone, I don't give a shit! Crom laughs at your four winds!

I just finished my last Brooklyn East India Pale Ale. Now I'm sad.

Hmm. Ok. I don't believe that "the metaphysical" and "things we can't perceive" are the same thing. I think there's a lot that we'll never know or even grasp, and a lot that we can make instruments to measure and make fumbling guesses at, and then plenty of things that directly affect us on a daily basis that we're well equipped to see and understand. I'm not saying that what we can see is all there is... but my point about the "scientific method" is that it's an outgrowth of the way that we all naturally process information. It depends on what information we get and how we interpret it, but everyone does have some concrete reason for believing they're right - some childhood experience, some "mystical revelation", whatever, they were convinced. And if that makes someone else wrong in the process, so be it. I love that quote, "never try to reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into in the first place", but I think it misses the point. The most ass-backwards justification for Christianity that I ever read was in CS Lewis's "Mere Christianity" where he basically said - I paraphrase - that all of the stuff that makes people doubt god's existence is actually even more evidence for god's existence, because it seems like exactly the kind of thing a god would put there to test your faith! Really. Ugh. More like proof that if you really want to be convinced of something, you'll find a way to convince yourself. I've seen friends go through the conversion process. Some of them are even still my friends, because they didn't go all evangelical on me! Some people equate talking about science with proselytizing religion, but that's a false equivalence - like I said before, the heart of science is nothing more than asking questions. The religions I've experienced have a lot more assumptions built in from the outset. AAAnyway. Enough of my babble.

Ok, this has some potential. But you need vocals. You're basically doing variations of one theme for like five minutes. This needs some other parts, some rhythmic variation, some different guitar textures, and it should probably be shorter. And you should tweak your drum parts so they don't sound so much like preprogrammed loops. We all have computers! Make it happen. I'm not trying to be a dick, it's supposed to be constructive. Oh. This is one of those "one post wonders" I read about. I see.

I like the sound on the older album better, new one is too shiny and modern for the kind of music you guys are doing. This is well done. Not my thing, but sounds pretty pro.

I hate to say it but y'all have a lot of work to do. Tighten up your vocals. Your vocal rhythms are all over the place and it makes you sound like you lack confidence. Your kick drum sound in particular needs a lot more bass and punch. Not addressing songwriting, that's a whole different topic.

Hey, I can check your stuff out and see if I'll have anything to add. Not sure whether or not I'll like it/have time! But I'll let you know - I have my vocal recording equipment all set up so it wouldn't be that hard for me to track stuff at some point. If you want to hear what I sound like, there's a link in my sig. I do cleans as well.

Not metal: Preston Reed. I've seen other people do his "thing" since, but I still like him the best. eJYli0gE_40 Most of my favorite metal riffs are by guys who aren't necessarily technicians, and I find that a lot of technically appealing playing doesn't go hand in hand with good music. As a guitarist, I struggle with it myself - easy to go down the rabbit hole and forget how to write a song.

Hard to blame Pantera! I mean look at awful crap like Wolverine Blues... I really think it was a product of the time, marketing, zeitgiest, whatever. Something in the air. I'd sooner blame Fear Factory and Korn. Hard to believe it all coincided with some of the best old-school death metal, like Pierced From Within, Tomb Of The Mutilated, Legion.

There's a reason Sierra Nevada pale ale is the benchmark for judges when they're judging American Pale Ales! Though I think I preferred the stuff from CA - Pale Ale on the East Coast is now brewed at their new facility in NC. Still very good. Refreshing beers for hopheads: Founder's: All Day IPA and Centennial - drinking one of these right now! Maine Beer: Mo and Zoe, if you can get either of them The Alchemist: Heady Topper White Birch: Hop Session Also been digging on Fritz Briem's smoked beers and Bayerische Bahnhof's Gose - I just had this beer on draft for the first time and it's even better than a bottle. Now I'm gonna go get drunk.

Wow, that all depends on my mood, time of day, what I've had to drink. A bunch of them aren't metal, either. Here's one that always grabs me: Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb But if I'm already in a crappy mood, let's call it: Swans - Stay Here And this might sound self-involved, but honestly the songs that get to me the most are two that I wrote years ago, one for a friend that was killed, one for my grandfather as he was dying of Parkinson's. Not like they're the bestest songs evar!!! but I re-live those experiences whenever I hear them, which isn't often. I can't imagine playing them live, I would probably break down halfway through. Here's where my screen name comes from: 7cE-8FtPaSk This is NOT intended to be a shameless plug. This recording was done almost ten years ago. Still might be one of my best, and it's very hard for me to listen to.

Rate the song above you! That's good old school stuff, from back when it was about making noise. 7.5/10 n0f1gfVdXZY

Wait, really? I love death metal, black metal, grind, all kinds of whatever music I'm in the mood for, and Pantera has been one of my favorite bands for holy crap like 19 years now, because of "Vulgar" and "Far Beyond Driven". Those guitar parts, well, some of them are simple, others are really not simple at all, and the best thing about those riffs IMO is that they sound like they came straight out of his brain. Not to mention, those guys knew how to put a song together. Many albums have come and gone for me, but I still listen to that stuff, and still find it relevant. ...I'm in no way approving of Damageplan by saying this.

I was raised with an odd Eastern religion based on Hinduism, but I walked away from that a long time ago. Doing so was painful, but necessary. I've never had a good conversation about religion with monotheists. I've tried. I gave up. "Live and let live" is all great and stuff, but my favorite thing about the pursuit of the scientific method is that you can spend your life learning how to ask the right questions... The more overtly religious people seem to think they already have the answers. We use the same words but we're speaking different languages. Frustrating, yes, but it can make great fodder for song lyrics!

Also +1 to the Amorphis recommendation, I've been playing "Elegy" a lot lately though my favorite has always been "Karelian Isthmus". I'm sure OP has heard the older October Tide albums...? New one is garbage to me, but the stuff with Jonas is great.

^I'm willing to bet that quitting soda has at least as much benefit to your health as quitting smoking! That stuff is poison.

Doing vocals actually helped me quit cigarettes about ten years ago. Every time I wanted one, I'd remind myself that I had practice or a show coming up. I still have a cigar or smoke a pipe on occasion, but I can definitely feel the effects in my vocals for the next few days. Health in itself was never a good enough reason for me, I'm sorry to say.