Stoney

But I don’t doubt that the author of this album is a good person who has worked diligently, nor do I think he has done such a large amount of work without knowing what he was doing. I know very well that making an album requires effort and dedication. And I don’t think you’re some young kid who “comes with little,” it’s just that you’ve reviewed an album getting swept up in enthusiasm. It’s not a crime, eh… we’re far from partisanship or the fanatical abominations of dreamtheaterian memory hehehe :DD But to judge a work, it isn’t enough to look at the effort; the result also matters. And simply the result here is an album identical to the other 8000 that in the past have developed the same concept and formula, maybe with different arrangements and orchestras made up of 4 elements instead of 40, but with the same substance. It’s not an accusation, it’s not finger-pointing, it’s simply an observation. And I’m sorry, but putting together a cast of people and arranging 35 instruments, in itself, are not things that require genius; perhaps effort, possibly skill, but definitely not genius. In short, the difference between “good” and “genius” is quite significant, you see. Just like the difference between “valid” and “brilliant”: there’s an entire universe in between. Am I being picky? Yes, in music, yes, it’s my flaw. No hard feelings… Bye.

I understand (with some difficulty, to be honest) that you get excited about this stuff, but come on, the word "genius," damn it, use it with a bit of awareness. Can you do us this favor? Is that asking too much? No, because it’s rightfully becoming the most overused word of modern times; at this point, anything is genius. The linked pieces in particular have nothing genius about them. This is the typical album that puts together the usual classicism baroque, epic singing, open melodies, killer solos, and then the historical-mythological-mystical theme, obviously all framed within the rock genre, under the progressive category. Because clearly, prog-rock is the classical music of our time in the third millennium. What else can I say? Ah, yes: "what a drag."

Fuck her gently...

For me personally, the problem has never been the number of notes per second, but rather what those notes are for. This guitarist is very expressive, to be fair, and although he proposes structures that have already been heard and experimented with, he certainly puts a lot of himself into it, which many others completely forget to do. In short, I don't feel the classic resentment that I would towards yet another Steve Vai clone, but I also don't shout miracles. An honest guitarist. If they were all like this, 90% of the criticism and "hate" towards solo guitarists wouldn't even exist, at least from my side.

"Take for example how they reduced the Beatles, originally good boys from Liverpool who started to fall apart as a group by going to India, smoking illegal substances, preaching universal love instead of improving their musical technique in light of the standards of the late '70s, marrying various Yoko Ono, breaking up and depriving us of their pop in the following years." No, you can't be real, you are a genetic experiment gone wrong... damn, damn, damn how much I'm laughing... oh my god...

I agree with The Punisher's opinion in comment no. 5. It's clear that those who dive into this kind of reading do it because they're searching for something they lack, something that a job or a simple fling can't provide, and honestly, I can't blame them. Of course, there are people who think society offers everything you need in the form of success and sex, and that you should just grab it without asking questions. These are perspectives; one comes from an introspective inquiry, while the other is about living life as it comes without much thought. Personally, I prefer people with problems; they are much more interesting.

"The suspicion of a market operation." THE SUSPICION. Hahahahahahaha...

Oh yes, I know that, but there I understand why... here, on the other hand, it eludes me.

Hehehe ok, but my nickname has nothing to do with being a stoner :D Having said that, I don't believe that experimentation in the field of metal is rare; in fact, for at least 20 years, there's been a flourishing of bands mixing metal with jazz, progressive, electronic music, Nordic folk songs, medieval music, Roman stornelli, mazurka, and classical music. I guess the only combination yet to be tried is metal with Gigi d'Alessio, and then we're good to go. In my opinion, this is due to the misinterpreted dogma of "needing to innovate" at all costs, which suggests that to create something new, you just need to randomly mix two ingredients simply because no one has done it before. The fact that very few bands have managed to do something interesting using this "recipe" speaks volumes. In my view, it doesn’t matter what genre you play—be it metal, jazz, electronic, blues, or Sardinian folk music—the important thing is to have imagination and a desire to play. Also, in my opinion, these Ephel Duath (a name that’s extremely borrowed from The Lord of the Rings, I don’t understand why) climb up the mirrors ostentatiously showcasing sophistication or originality when in reality their pieces are a series of loopholes one after another. Stubborn moments of percussive and guitar violence constructed without worrying about any evolution; sooner or later the jazz-infused part will crash down like a "deus ex machina" to sort things out, and vice versa. Even the jazzed-up parts don’t have an evolution other than the brutal and sudden return of distorted cacophony. After 5 minutes, you've already figured out how the rest of the album will unfold. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong... I'll give it another listen.

Indeed it is so. But as always happens in these phenomena with high media resonance, the public almost never understands nor wants to understand the underlying message, and doesn’t even consider whether there is one or not. The public is satisfied with having the clean-faced hero on whom to project their desire for protagonism, unfortunately. The era of communication? Well...