Heavy Metal music - new guard vs old guard

[disolitude]

@ZZetaAlec

haha...its so hard for me to argue pro new metal bands cause I used to think exactly like you. I used to love epic guitar soloing and operatic inspired vocals. I've been playing guitar for 9 years now and some of my influences are Freedman, Scolnick, Malmsteen...etc...very classical influenced music.

4 years ago, I would be the first to argue that slipknot, lamb of god, machine head, chimaira...are grabage. After all they can't solo like the great bands of the past and thier vocals are muddy and rarely clean. Worst of all, they don't make 8 minute epic songs but tend to stick to the 4 minute -verse,chorus,verse,chorus,breakdown/solo, chorus format.

However something changed in my tastes since. Slowly bands like Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, Symphony X, Metalium etc started to bore me. It started to seem like all these bands are just repeating the same shit over and over.

At the same time I started listening to newer stuff like shadows fall and Lamb of God and this music seemed much more interesting. They had the influences of the past but were doing something new with it, rather than doing the same 3 songs over and over. They also seem to be incorporating anger in their music a lot better. When I'm pissed after work or whenever, I prefer hearing a 4 minute song that gets down to it rather than a 10 minute song that takes 8 minutes to get going and get to the juicy stuff.

Today I listen to all kinds of metal and all kinds of music. If I want great vocal lines, I will pick up a christina agulera CD. If I want to hear 10 minute solos, I will listen to Joe Satriani. However when I am stuck in traffic, or getting bitched at at work...I definetly preffer Lamb of God and Slipknot over Sonata Artica and Iron Maiden.