They're a hip hop group. The female of the group pissed her pants one time in concert.


I really haven't found myself falling out of musical genres, though I have been yearning for new stuff as I've listened to just about all my albums many times over. I've been on a game OST kick though.

I'm sorry, but those are terrible examples. These bands have a lot in common. I see knkwzrd (that's hard to spell)'s point, and disagree, but you just made it for him. ;) Especially for someone who's not really familiar with metal.


I liked my examples better. Tiamat, Morbid Angel, Korpiklaani, Dokken. What do they have in common? Hmmm, they have distorted guitars... that is all. ^_^ And the contrast is definitely there.

A LOT in common? I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say you've listened to virtually none of those, or aren't very musically inclined at all. A couple of them are similar in style or genre, but hardly have a lot in common other than being "power metal" or whatnot. Where do you get off saying Dragonforce and Haggard have a lot in common?

I've heard Dragonforce, Rhapsody, Sonata Arctica and Demons & Wizards - They have an insanely similar sound.

Doesn't apply to DP or Sabbath, though...

They are all power metal, but WOW. Listen to them again.

Double Post:
Anyway....for a new topic...whats everyone's favorite DragonForce song?

I like Valley of the Damned :).

:rolleyes: You missed the point. knkwzrd said metal lacked contrast. Obviously for someone who knows metal, Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica are different, but even I would agree there is not much of a contrast.
As examples of contrasting bands, you named Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, and you also named DragonForce, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody and Demons & Wizards. If you fail to see why they are poor examples of contrasting bands, and why Morbid Angel and Tiamat are, then I can't help you. That doesn't mean the bands you listed sound identical, that's not what I said at all.

The one between Valley of the Damned and Black Fire on their first album. Best one they ever made.

:P

Emperor: Battle for Dune: Harkonnen
Thunder Force: Lost Technology
F-Zero GX/AX
F-Zero X
Metal Slug 5
Guilty Gear Series

Easily the best music ever since it's guaranteed to have no timbre.

...uh....huh? What?

He's a VGM fanboy.

Yeah, I'm missing your definition of contrast, but whatever.


I think you probably mean Black Winter's Night, but that comes after Black Fire :). Those two are consecutive tracks :p. Also an amazing track though :D.

I still need to get Dragonforce's first album. I don't take the band seriously at all (probably impossible to do so) but it's definitely fun music. I agree with knkwzrd's point on contrast.

It's their best album :). I highly reccomend it.

Well....actually I'd say sonic firestorm as a whole is the best album, in terms of how its composed and how the songs are arranged...it just offers the best listening experience imo, but Valley of the Damned by far has the best songs on it :). Valley of the Damned, Black Fire, Black Winter's Night, Heart of a Dragon, and Starfire are all amazing. Revelation & Disciples of Babylon I thought were rather mediocre. I mean they are still awesome, but compared to the rest of their songs :).

Yeah, Dragonforce is fun I guess...though within a couple weeks of getting Sonic Firestorm I found myself skipping the tracks when they'd come up on my playlist...and shortly thereafter I had to get rid of them entirely. It's just rather grating music after a while.

And thanks to all for the MaSu info, that's good stuff...

Thanks for the info. I'll see if I can find the album somewhere.

*blinks* Use a dictionary? Heh.

No, I most definitely meant the track between those two. Now, look above and behind you, you see that thing going wayyyy over your head? Do you know what it is? It's a called... wait for it... a... joke! :P

v. tr.

To set in opposition in order to show or emphasize differences: an essay that contrasts city and country life; contrasted this computer with inferior models.


v. intr.

1. To show differences when compared: siblings who contrast sharply in interests and abilities; a color that contrasted clearly with the dark background.
2. Linguistics. To evince a difference that can distinguish meaning: Voiced and voiceless stops contrast in English but not in Cree.


n. (kntrst)

1.
1. The act of contrasting; a setting off of dissimilar entities or objects.
2. The state of being contrasted: red berries standing in vivid contrast against the snow.
2. A difference, especially a strong dissimilarity, between entities or objects compared: the contrast between Northern and Southern speech patterns.
3. One thing that is strikingly dissimilar to another: My new school was a welcome contrast to the one before.
4. The use of opposing elements, such as colors, forms, or lines, in proximity to produce an intensified effect in a work of art.
5. The difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture, such as a photograph or video image.
6. Linguistics. A difference between units, especially one that distinguishes meaning.

I'd definitely say according to that that Rhapsody and Dragonforce are contrasting bands, but perhaps its just a subjective thing.

lol :p i'm not sure wtf was going on then but i read that again later on & it made sense :)

Ah, DragonForce. Got to see them last Monday. Brilliant show.

Must say I've never seen anyone play on a keyboard behind their head before.

Any opinions on Necrophagist?

I used to quite dislike them (partly due to the insane praise they got just for being quite gifted on their instruments) but I guess I've kind of warmed up to them. Their precision playing does occasionally turn me off, though... but overall I guess their technicality kind of works.

Not too keen on "Epitaph" but "Onset of Putrefaction" is quite nice.

I know a lot of people get annoyed by trying to force bands into genres, and I do too, but reading this whole conversation regarding the lack of contrast in heavy metal got me thinking.

Do you guys still continue to consider certain bands metal when they started out very much so, but have changed over the years into something less? For example, In Flames, which went from awesome to horrible, or Amorphis who went from awesome to, like, almost prog. Both the bands built up a lot of cred for their earlier metal stuff, but are kind of distancing themselves from that sound with their newer releases. Are they still metal bands?

Debatable. The way I see it goes a little like this:

Lunar Strain - Boring
Jester Race - Good
Whoracle - Mediocre
Colony - Alright
Clayman - Great
Reroute To Remain - Fucking TERRIBLE
Soundtrack To Your Escape - Also fucking terrible
Come Clarity - Amazing

It's perfectly possible for a metal band to suddenly become non-metal. Ulver does it quite well (they haven't had a metal album since Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.) Plus, their new stuff is amazing.

Soilwork, on the other hand, have gone from fairly decent Gothenburg MDM to nu-metal shit.

Then again, who am I to assign genres?

That depends entirely on the band. Some example of bands whose sound majorly changed throughout their career, or evolved significantly:

- Amorphis is barely metal anymore (though the last album is a bit harder than the previous two), but still quite good. Completely different than what they used to be, but there is nothing really accessible about their new sound. Which might be why there was like 100 people at the last concert here, unlike the several hundreds at the Foufs the last two times...
- In Flames has just been progressively worse after Jester Race. I thought it couldn't get worse after Reroute, but somehow they managed to sound more and more awful. Soilwork has had a very similar pattern since The Chainheart Machine.
- Therion has changed a lot also, and are somehow as good as they ever were. It seems that writing death metal music or writing symphonic heavy metal changes nothing in the quality of their music. But then again, I *am* a bit of a Therion fangirl... still, I recognize that Deggial and Secret of the Runes are a bit of a Vovin rehash... but they still have amazing qualities, and the last double album was even better, and more trad/power metal-influenced than ever before, which is different.
- Skyclad has practically abandonned all its thrash roots since Vintage Whine, yet their last three albums are as stellar as ever. Even without Walkyier they managed to release a very solid, if a bit different, album. I thought Walkyier's loss would hurt them far more than it did, so I was pleasantly surprised.
- Behemoth has gained a lot of respect as a black metal band, and many don't care for their turn to the death metal style... but I, for one, think they're better as DM than BM.
- 'Lica, Sepultura, Slayer, Megadeth are all the most obvious examples of bands whose commercial success and/or sound change has been synonymous with utter crap, and whose classic albums are so good they are essential for fans of the genre.
- Bathory... an interesting band. He basically invented two genres. Personally I prefer the viking era, though I still enjoy Under the Sign of the Black Mark. But which "era" is more appreciated or respected in general? I wouldn't know, it seems the two have been hugely influential, possibly equally, though we do find more BM bands than viking bands now - but then again, newer BM bands are probably more influenced by Darkthrone and Burzum than Bathory nowadays. *shrugs*

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this... :D I guess, it doesn't matter if they are still metal or not, what matters is if they are GOOD or not. As I said, Amorphis barely qualifies as metal anymore, but at least they're still good. Slayer's still metal, but they suck ass now, same with Megadeth. I don't consider In Flames, 'Lica and Soilwork to be metal at all anymore.

But I've sometimes had to make a "metal band or not?" call for my website (and never stopped hating it), and when that happened, I preferred to go on an album basis. You can't change the past, and even if Ulver, Burzum or Metallica stopped being metal, their old albums are enough to let 'em in.

In my opinion, Quorthon peaked with Blood Fire Death. I have a first edition cassette tape release of Under The Sign Of The Black Mark, and I really need to update it to CD. The sound is surprisingly good for a twenty year old tape though. The sides are labelled "Side Darkness" and "Side Evil". Oh, to be returned to a time before irony.

A tape of Under the Sign of the Black Mark? Now that's necr0-kvlt. :D
I have some CD re-release with the modified tracklisting (first two tracks in one), it's a bit irritating. :|

I don't know what my favourite Bathory album is. Hmm.... Probably Blood Fire Death or Hammerheart, but I do love both Nordland albums too.

I only have the Nordland albums, but they're stellar. I should probably check out the older stuff one of these days.

YEAH, I HEARD OCTAGON WAS THE BEST BATHORY ALBUM!

Yeah, that was sarcasm. Speaking of which, has anyone ordered the "In Memory of Quorthon" boxset yet? I've never actually bought any Bathory, but I do own Quorthon's first solo album... Should be a good buy.

Also, Hammerheart rocks.