Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 23:52
The future of metal, are we for real here???? Well ok then here it goes! lol
Well since it is once again at a very stagnant state, I am of the mind that it is way over due for the next progression, or evolution to occur. Now I am not a big fan of the title heavy metal exactly, and neither is Ozzy, so in my mind it either rocks or it just don't, no matter what the band may be doing, fast or slow it all works for me if its done right...
In my profile I stated that I hate it when my generation, or for that matter any generation thinks that they have to stop evolving on a musical level, that they can only listen to what was popular for them when they were in school, or during their adolescent years. That particular approach I kind of hate and I find it to be also really sad. Now don’t get me wrong loving the classics is great, but you should also be able to find yourself enjoying some of today’s more modern artists as well, you should be able to anyway if call yourself a genuine fan of rock n roll music.
I personally hate most of the early metal bands, the 80’s big hair s*** can go, and I am only amused by it in a nostalgic sense and no more than that at this age, it being almost 42 now. Of course I am not counting artists such as Ozzy, Judas Priest, or Aerosmith within that mix, and would never think to do so, so don’t panic anyone, ok?
I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to old metal, I did my fair share of listening to bands like Rat, Wasp, and even Motley Crue, but even then I knew something pertinent was missing from it, when one has Sabbath for a blueprint as a child then it was more than easy to realize that even though it wasn’t horrible exactly, well it definitely lacked something vital in its arrangement.
I am a fan of the whole thrash movement that changed the sound of rock for all time, to me when bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax hit the scene it just didn’t sound different, it became a movement! It was an obvious backlash at how rock an roll had been commercialized by the big hair bands, and that with the hair band as the ideal of what real metal was supposed to be, well most only walked away laughing because at that point & time it looked like a bad parody, only a character of itself, and note not a very good one as my memory clearly reflects???
So after the initial shock of how radically different the sound and approach was with speed metal, thrash metal, whatever you may want to entitle it, I was hooked! And even today I listen to bands such as Lamb of God, Clutch, Black Label Society, and of course System of a Down! And ya they are political an s***, and ya I don’t always agree with them, but still that band kicks much ass, no argument there with that being said, sorry…
As for the next progression of what is considered to be ultra heavy music, that I can’t imagine really, I mean how do you intensify what is already being done, how do we possibly play any faster, or any heavier bass than what we currently have at our disposal? I can’t imagine it getting any heavier, I mean how do we obtain more heaviness than a Meshuggah, or Lamb of God has manged to create?? I feel the only real show of change or evolution will be the lyrics and the construction, or arrangement of the songs, yes I can see that changing yet again. And as before it will all depend on taste as for who will get on board and who won’t for all that. For example I am 42, but not all 42 year old men love slayer, or lamb of god, so take from that what ya will.
So what ever re-embodiment of metal that comes to be I am sure I will be there for it just as I have always been with this genre of music!
Now not to be cheesy or anything, but I want to leave you with the song lyrics from an old school thrash metal band that I personally loved back in the early days, but many managed to over look somehow, Its Sacred Reich with 31 flavors!
Vanilla is smooth chocolate is kickin, strawberry is sweet all deserve a
Hearty lickin, have em all three scoops piled high, variety is the spice of
Life
Well you can have soft serve and hard sugar cones, root beer floats or my
Banana split, do you like nuts or some sticky whip crème, come lick it off
And be my dairy queen
I love the chilis freaky, uplift, mothers milk faith no more mike
Patton’s voice is smooth as silk, metallicas music makes me want to rage,
Stings lyrics have something to say, Jimi Hendrix plays guitar like a no
One else, Black Sabbath Ozzy’s voice is sick as hell, prince, fishbone,
Nwa these are the things that I like to play
Mr. bungle is so very cool so don’t be an ignorant fool, there’s so much
Music for you to choose, so don’t just be a metal dude, its cool fool!
Scape
Ozzy:"I have no regrets except that I wasn't up to keep Randy (Rhoads) from getting on that plane." (Ozzy Osbourne, Guitar World Issue 37, 2000)