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Listen to heavy metal.
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Ditto! all I read in this thread.</p>
<p>Poseur and I hijacked this thread. </p>
<p>Korn and Slipknot are not welcome, in case you're wondering.</p>
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Yeah, I listen to music because it's "extreme" -- you know, I just love to feel like a badass -- not because of the technical virtuosity displayed by the musicians and the usually-laughable but high-energy and thus enjoyable (to me) nature of the lyrics.
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<p>I never implied that. I said "extreme" so that I wouldn't have to say thrash/death/black metal.</p>
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Which bands suck and are good are very subjective. We can all agree that pop music and most rap music sucks, but they seem to sell more records in recent years than any other genres.
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<p>Which bands are inspired and original isn't subjective. Which bands you like or don't like is. It's also pretty funny that you mention "most rap music sucks" when all you've probably heard is generic garbage on the local top 40 radio station.</p>
<p>To an extent, originality is subjective, too. You could take the ****tiest pop song in the world, dissect it, and find something new and original that the artist did. </p>
<p>I mean, bands that try TOO hard to be original can suck, too. Pretentious, much? The best musicians are the ones that do what they love, clich</p>
<p>chop suey.</p>
<p>Obviously originality isn't the only thing to judge music by. Originality is a great thing though, and bands who aren't original are often uninspired and make music that is boring when compared to the pioneers. </p>
<p>In the case of technical death metal, you mentioned Nile. I used to sort of like them until I realized that they were essentially the same thing as the hordes of other boring techdeath bands -- they just masquerade behind their Egyptian gimmick. Good technical death metal is groundbreaking. I'm sure that anyone can figure out the difference between a band like Atheist or Gorguts and their clones. </p>
<p>Similarly, Dimmu Borgir offers absolutely nothing new for black metal. They are simply a dumbed-down Emperor. People listen to them because they don't want to get into "real" black metal. At least nobody mentioned Cradle of Filth :/</p>
<p>Admittedly, I realize that much of the music I listen to is unoriginal, but I enjoy it anyways. <em>shrugs</em> Yeah, Nile may be rehashing other DM tricks, but that doesn't stop me from finding their music catchy and interesting. Same with DB -- sorry I find them enjoyable! </p>
<p>My Emperor repertoire is reallyyy small, but I do like what I've heard. (Of course, one of the songs I have is an Ulver cover. Any thoughts on Ulver? I love the album I have, 'Shadows of the Sun.') Any recommendations? </p>
<p>HOLY #*@&$, I just realized that your sn was 'collapsethelight.' </p>
<p>No more argument -- Porcupine Tree can be our common ground.</p>
<p>Also, note: In my first post in this thread, I was just going for shock value. I wasn't necessarily trying to post paradigms of music (or even metal) or anything of the sort. xP</p>
<p>I listen to the originals, like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. One of my favorite bands is Slayer, who influenced about 90% of all those "extreme" metal bands out there.</p>
<p>I listen to pretty much all the bands that are too obscure, as long as I enjoy the sound. I saw this one website where a guy did nothing but trash all the metal bands that are somewhat popular and supported a few really obscure bands. I listen to a lot of more or less obscure bands, but at least I have a broad taste for what I enjoy.</p>
<p>Do any of you guys enjoy folk metal? Korpiklaani is truly original since they use some folk instruments such as a violin and now they have a full time accordion player.</p>
<p>There are some examples where the copycats are actually pretty damn good, though.</p>
<p>Ulver's bm phase was alright. I like Nattens Madrigal but Bergtatt seems a bit bland. I don't particularly enjoy anything they did after Nattens.</p>
<p>I find most folk metal to be really cheesy, but there are some truly awesome bands out there too. Moonsorrow, Enslaved, Summoning (to an extent), Graveland (to an extent), Bathory (middle-period) are all great.</p>
<p>LOL Slayer. They're funny. Do not take them seriously.</p>
<p>Um, I would not say that death metal is inspirational. Maybe some of your issues, ArtOfMind, derive from the fact that you listen to angry music. Try something a little happier. </p>
<p>Inspirational stories? Chicken Noodle Soup for the Teenage Soul, lol.</p>
<p>Loveee Moonsorrow's 'Jotunheim'! I dl'd it one day randomly and listened to it like 20 times straight. Yeah, that's 400 minutes of listening. Shh. I'll research the others.</p>
<p>Slayer aren't a joke, what the hell are you talking about. They were the best thrash band. Of course they turned to complete garbage and everything after Reign in Blood is avoidable, but almost every band degrades over time anyway.</p>
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Um, I would not say that death metal is inspirational.
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<p>another interesting statement.</p>
<p>Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven were some pretty good albums.</p>
<p>At least they didn't degrade and sell out like what Metallica did.</p>