Bored To Be Wild.
I’ve always been partial to a bit of Heavy Metal. Right from the earliest days there have been some truly brilliant bands; Steppenwolf, Wishbone Ash, UFO, Nazareth, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. And then it moved along to another generation of acts; Iron Maiden, WASP, Twisted Sister and Metallica.
But after this it began to go a bit stale… I think the first signs of the rot setting in were back in the eighties and nineties. We had an epidemic of ‘Soft Metal’ ballads in the charts and a lot of Metallers were becoming increasingly disgruntled. It just wasn’t Rock’n’Roll…
Then along came a new wave of bands. These incorporated different styles into their songs and attracted far more teenage listeners as a result; Limp Bizkit (Ugh!), Korn, System of a Down and Slipknot. These all came under the title of ‘Nu Metal’. Somehow, somewhere, the ideals of true Heavy Metal had been dropped in the mud(vayne) and trodden underfoot.
And things haven’t improved much since then. I regret to say it, but the Metal scene has become increasingly bleak. Okay, so the Nu Metal thing has burnt itself out (thank goodness) but it has been replaced with hundreds of cloned bands that sound all but identical, that you can just image yuppies listening to while shopping for their luxury kitchen accessories. You have a job these days to find a Heavy Metal vocalist who doesn’t just growl his way through every song. Don’t misunderstand me; there is nothing wrong with a bit of guttural expression now and again, but it wears a little thin when it is all a singer does…
I’m really hoping that Metal will pick itself back up and move on to something a bit more interesting. But at the moment it seems that every band wants to sound exactly the same; the Metallicaesqe chugging of guitars (once so very unique) and growling/bronchial vocals. Yawn. Please, someone come up with something a bit more original!
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