Stoney

Genius at historical levels... those who haven't read it, remedy that immediately!

The scene of the stoning is something genius.

New record: 217 absolutely useless comments. Now 218.

I listened to Ephel Duath and... I don’t know what to say. Imagine finding yourself in front of a guy who shows you a toilet with two bicycle pedals, and all excited explains to you how original his invention is, and when you ask, “Yeah, but what’s it for?” he answers, “Ah, what do you understand, something like this has never been invented, this is genius and intuition.” Would you get angry? Would you laugh at him? Metaphorically speaking, a band like this claims to be original just because they juxtapose two initially separate “objects” like metal and jazz, not according to any logical criterion, or in the name of some aesthetic, simply with a mere juxtaposizione. But I wonder: what could be beautiful or original in this? What’s the point? What’s the purpose of the many atonal pieces with jazz rhythms that suddenly burst in after a hyper-distorted guitar frenzy? What sense do they make? The feeling is that if after the angry piece of track 3 there had been the jazz break of track 9 and vice versa, nothing would have changed at all, nobody would have batted an eye. And even assuming that I’m the one who hasn’t grasped it (assuming there’s something to grasp), the question is: why? What necessity is there, if not the purely aesthetic one, or simply the desire to do something different at all costs? I think a band like this exploits the taste of inattentive listeners who misunderstand the very concept of “originality.” Here, the pieces don’t follow a logical thread not for some abstract reason but simply because they’re forced into a supposed sophistication that has nothing sensible but is enough to make them “seem” original. It seems to me that 90% of these bands have no valid ideas but want to astonish everyone by being extravagant, under the usual law that “if I throw in a lot of strange and seemingly random notes, someone will think I want to say something original.” Then, that many of you may like them because you find them catchy, amusing, fun, I certainly do not doubt, but this at most means that a band like this can only be appreciated if one’s personal taste allows it, just as my personal taste allows me to appreciate chocolate and mint while many others find it disgusting. There’s no interesting trait that could entice anyone to listen regardless of their taste (because an original musician is capable of astonishing everyone because they know how to communicate with everyone, regardless of genre and individual preferences).

I will also listen to these Ephel Duath, you've sparked my curiosity...

@Fjelltronen, I'm not on anyone's side. It's wrong to see things from the perspective of factions and positions. I just said that the name of the genre makes me laugh, that's all, because it genuinely does. I'm not paid by any "anti-metal party" that turns my opinions into partisan fundamentalism. I'm still free (thankfully) to laugh when something makes me laugh, and if it has to do with certain definitions and some kid-led groups, then I'd prefer a spontaneous laugh rather than a discussion about how much the group is more or less "epic." You are free to talk about "viking metal" as if it were a serious thing and be victims of definitions and containers that categorize music superficially, and I'm free to laugh; it's perfectly democratic. Regards.

There was a drummer friend of mine once, when I was 17-18 years old, who every time I met him would say things like "you know, I put together a band in a thrash/epic/power style with speed influences, crossover/industrial drum breaks and prog/fusion rhythms." I think it's a congenital disease.

"viking/epic/folk metal" AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I wonder if you come up with these fucking genre names at night instead of sleeping, or if there’s some committee, somewhere in the world, that takes it upon themselves to define the various sub-sub-sub-genres of metal and catalog them with diplomatic expertise. It’s incredible such an abuse of names; there are more genres than bands in this fucking genre. Besides, they all do the same shit, so I don’t understand why you’d bother splitting hairs over labels. Maybe I’m thinking too harshly, but to me it seems like these sterile definitions matter more than the music itself, which is often non-existent.

Ezekiel, I’m learning this from you right now, I didn’t know, but I have to say that it won’t disturb my sleep :-D

...without "apart from that"