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I've heard Yngwie live and you're right, he can both make you feel something, and dazzle you with his technical prowess, however, Eric Clapton can do the same exact thing, playing 10% of the notes. So the point is if your talent is real, and your music is from your heart, I don't care if all you're playing is major power chords, the fans will feel it. Not to imply that Clapton just plays power chords, but you get my point. The focus of modern metal seems to be entirely on technicality these days, but what about groove? How do you thrash to 240bpm 12 minute long stupidity?
While, I'm ranting, I don't get black metal. I defy anyone who hasn't read the lyrics previous to hearing the songs to recite a single line from any of it. I doubt anyone could and I'd bet my house on it. Thats the end result of metal one ups-manship, at it's finest, in the 80's death metal began because every new band had to be more satanic than the sell outs Slayer, and faster than Violence, and frankly it got to the point where it ceased being worth listening to. Atleast to me anyway. Most of metal has come to that actually, thats why you have unintelligible screaming now in most new metal acts, because they had to scream harder than the band before them to get noticed. Its crazy.

What ever happened to just listening to whatever resonated with you, and not worrying about if this band is too commercial or too insultingly simple for your educated ears? The Black Keys are getting bigger and bigger, a friend of mine was hawking them years ago, and now I see them and hear their music all over the place, and it's as simple of a music as you can get, literally 12 bar blues based..technicality is waaaay over rated.

Or... You could try not being so one sided..

#2 Metal sucks. It's uneventful, unchanged, and boring.

#3 to the guy who thinks music is better now then it has ever been.. I laugh at your stupidity. Seriously? LOL.. Take of your Sheep Goggles.

Hmm

+1

Hahaha! Oh the IRONY! Dude obviously has HUHA syndrome. ROFL!!!

I forget the source, but I recall someone observing that bands who stay together for more than 5 years are more likely to "make it" than 1 year flashes in the pan. Committment and hard work are the cornerstone to success in everything - luck is... well, right place at the right time.

The only way to set yourself apart as a metallist is to skip the double bass drum and go right to the quad bass drums with double double bass pedals.
Then tune down to a frequency which can be heard by whales in the ocean and add a slim asian man to play incendiary shred licks over the top of cookie monster vocals decrying the pitfalls of a trailerpark upbringing or the ravages of war( w/o setting foot outside mom's basement) and imagery borne of a good POV shooter game. Don't forget to add lots of bad tribal tats and make sure your mug looks as though you fell face first into my tackle box and you should be able to set your self apart from the other hessians.

Please note, that if you're offended by this, you are likely in a cookie cutter metal band. I've played with tons of bands which are guilty of this. 6-7 bands same sound, same break downs, same vocals same look.
(and yes, I know I suck or I likely wouldn't be posting here!)

LMAO!

Is this the end of metal as we know it?

(I certainly hope so!)

LMAO!

Is this the end of metal as we know it?

(I certainly hope so!)

That's just downright evil Phil.

Someone will break ground for Metal and kill the monotony sooner or later.

LMAO!

Is this the end of metal as we know it?

(I certainly hope so!)

That's just downright evil Phil.

Someone will break ground for Metal and kill the monotony sooner or later.

why does the wheel need to be reinvented every 20 or so years in order for a genre of music to be considered good anymore? Every Genre has changed AND stayed the same for so long, what do you expect metal to do? It's metal because it shares certain characteristics, change those and it ceases to be metal, Monotony is not exclusive to metal, R&B, Soul, Rock, Punk..those have all changed somewhat with the times, but they retain what made them unique..Metal is no different, and aside from some technological advances, doesn't need to change one lick.

I like most everyone I have conversed with on this site, but i have to say sadly this is a site full of musical elitists, I haven't heard a positive word about the state of any music since I've been here, and no musician or band is deemed "good" unless they re-wrote the rules of music or we're still alive when they original rules were written, or so it seems..people step off the tall horse, and remember what it was like when you got your first guitar, and what it was like the first time you heard someone with finger tapping skills, thats what music began with more people need to remember their roots...just because you are older and have learned that many of those techniques are elementary, doesn't make the feeling of excitement someone new gets when they hear techniques for the first time, any less valuable to them.

Couldn't agree more!

I don't see one band from the late 70's or 80's...that's awful. The bands you listed do not play that well at all compared to the NWOBHM and Thrash. That's when Metal ruled.

It will never be like those days again.

I could give a sh*t less when the music I like came from. These bands are pretty creative, and have their own sound. OP wants to make generic brutal music, and the bands I listed are a good starting point into making something more involved than that.

Also, Music is much better now than it ever has been, take off the nostalgia goggles.

Let's see , Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Dime Bag Darrell....beside the shredders from Dragon Force, Lamb of God,Shadows Fall or Avenge Seven Fold....I'd say good Metal died in the early 90's.
I knew good Guitar playing in Metal was dead when they tried to make Darron Malakian of S.O.A.D., West Borland of Limp Bizkt and Tom Morello of R.A.T.M. into guitar Gods.
But you have a point about people hanging on to the past for too long. So do us a favor, go out there kick some ass and prove us wrong !!!!

I knew good Guitar playing in Metal was dead when they tried to make Darron Malakian of S.O.A.D., West Borland of Limp Bizkt and Tom Morello of R.A.T.M. into guitar Gods.
But you have a point about people hanging on to the past for too long. So do us a favor, go out there kick some ass and prove us wrong !!!!

I dont know if I've ever heard of any of those guys referred to as "guitar gods", I will say they they brought the art of solo back from the grave, they may not be true masters, but they re-sparked the masses interest in the art of "lead soloing" The grunge era was horribly devoid of lead solos.

In my opinion the way they use lead solos in newer music has evolved. Me being a child of the 80's, sometimes, have a hard time relating to the music, but i can admire some of the efforts to progress the use of the instrument.

[/quote]
Let's see , Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Dime Bag Darrell....beside the shredders from Dragon Force, Lamb of God,Shadows Fall or Avenge Seven Fold....I'd say good Metal died in the early 90's.
I knew good Guitar playing in Metal was dead when they tried to make Darron Malakian of S.O.A.D., West Borland of Limp Bizkt and Tom Morello of R.A.T.M. into guitar Gods.
But you have a point about people hanging on to the past for too long. So do us a favor, go out there kick some ass and prove us wrong !!!![/quote]

What about Michael Romeo? The whole band Symphony X? Perfect example of how metal is still very much alive. And they have not been here for that long. There is no way you could say otherwise. Though I like Lamb of God, it is debatable whether they could be considered a heavy "shredder"; it really is not hard to create songs when you are playing in drop D: that practically cancels out a whole string you would otherwise have to utilize to a better extent other than the occasional hammer-on.

As far as your comment about guitar gods, I would NEVER in my life EVER consider anyone associated with Limp Bizkit a guitar god. I have never listened to Limp Bizkit on purpose, and would not even consider anything put out by him/them/they to be anything more than generic commercial bullshit like most everything else played on regular radio.

Most people simply don't want to take the time to find some bands that may or may not be out there as much; I know I wouldn't want to with all the sh*t you would have to wade through. Good metal bands are there though. The day I go to a metal concert and see screaming fangirls up front doing the "solo fingers" to a fingertap, I will pronounce metal dead myself.

True story, I actually saw a girl do that at a local battle of the bands. It was embarassing especially since the band was, you guessed it, a stupid little alternative band "recording saturday" to further clog the drainage pipe of musicianship.

I'm not trying to sound elitist but this band was so generic; my friends and I were guessing the next drum beat. Correctly.

"CANT US METALHEADS EVER GET A BREAK?"

I hear more ABOUT metal than any other music form, these days. What I DON'T seem to hear, is quality stuff in the genre.

Musicians, esp the young ones, seem to be all wrapped up in it, but not so much in other ppl.

Gimme more melody & less unwarranted rage, or at least a direction for the rage, & I might be more interested. Nothing cracks me up more than the Cookie Monster growling a love song. "Oooh, baby! Growl at me! It's so sexy!"

Substance is what is lacking, most often, in what I hear from modern metal - substance in lyric (that you could possibly understand)...substance in melody...substance in arrangement...some sort of alignment between the lyric & the presentation...you know - those things that ppl look for in music.

It's all about supply and demand. If you're supplying a product for which there is no demand, expect to have problems moving the product. It might benefit you to move to an area where your music genre is more in demand. If not, then you may need to re-eevaluate the product itself.

It seems like most heavy bands out there are all looking for the same vocalist these days. Immitating that which has been overdone. Everyone has their own taste. I don't listen to a song based on brutality. I listen to a song based on the way it makes a personal connection with my life,thoughts,or feelings. I'd rather crank up Lethal Tendancies by Hollow's Eve than listen to most the brutal bands in circulation today. Yeah, yeah, it's heavy, it's brutal, I get it. I'm not going to buy it, but I get it.

Yep, demand is pretty dry for metal right now. Few clubs will pay metal bands to play, few CDs selling, no A&R guys signing new acts, no radio play at all. If you want to "Make it in the music business" and actually get paid it's going to be a long hard dry road playing metal. I know several bands who have been working at this for 10+ years and the best they can do is pay to play. Their only fans are family and close friends. They are truly starving artists.

The metal bands I know that still manage successful Tours are Christian Metal bands Stryper and Bloodgood. They have found a niche that is working. I have known OZ and Les for a long time. They still enjoy doing what they do and their music sells.

The band that reinvents themselves with a totally new sound that draws people in will find great success. Think Chuck Berry, Elvis, Hendrix, Van Halen. At some point, people have to want to buy your music, pay to see your shows, generate demand for radio airtime. Then you won't have to go looking for Sony. Sony will come looking for you.

Take your crappy double bass pedal and insert it in your anus.

If your music sucks, that double bass beat won't save it.