Stoney

I personally have never tolerated him, neither as an icon nor as a musician. Honestly, I couldn't care less that he was a pioneer of rock or whatever, because as it often happens in history, the true innovators go unnoticed and remain unknown.

"Whoever hates the Pooh may not change their mind with these two lines." There you go, good job, the only right thing you've said.

@Acqualife, no offense, I'm sure you come here with the best intentions, but I believe people like you aren't here to talk about "music": people like you are here to talk about "YOUR" music, saying "how much I like this album, how much I like that one," and when someone comes along and disrupts that, suddenly they're accused of "lacking objectivity." It seems to me that for you, anyone who doesn't praise the bands you think are important "lacks objectivity." Let me tell you: objectively, SymphonyX is a technically skilled band that does nothing but play with all the clichés of 50 years of rock-metal behind them, and the more they please, the more they show they're stuck in these patterns. Those who listen to SymphonyX don't want to hear something innovative; they just want to enjoy hearing the same old things played by the book, they just want to find all the pieces of the puzzle they already know exactly where they expect them to be. Now, this can be more or less enjoyable, that's a personal thing, what can I say? It seems to me that you confuse an objective opinion from a user with insistence or an attempt to strike hard, while I honestly don't care, I'm simply trying to be critical. The problem is that you aren't asking for objectivity on my part; you're asking not to be harsh in judging a band you like, which is different. You talk about objectivity but you’d like an opinion that takes your taste into account, meaning a non-objective opinion. And don't think I'm angry or that I've lost my cool, because I'm completely calm; I certainly don't want to teach anyone anything, just clarify my position. See you.

I quote comment 56

And anyway, personally, as much as I've ever been thrilled about fantasy and full-on Blind Guardian-style rides, I've always been able to maintain that shred of critical sense to realize that the lyrics of the aforementioned Rhapsody, for example, were immense nonsense on the brink of the pathological :D

I don't think that fantasy themes are necessarily trivial; rather, it's the way they've been handled by certain metal nerds that has given them a negative reputation or made them seem like nonsense for hyperactive kids. However, this happens with everything; it's not the first time that a masterpiece of literature (or cinema, for example) has had only a couple of "engaging" elements extracted from it, completely stripped of their original context, which over time becomes a self-serving trend. Let's be careful to distinguish between things...

I DOMINE!!! Damn, who did you pull out!! My god, the DOMINE! I'm laughing like an idiot just remembering... damn what clowns, the singer was terrible... once they went on Red Ronnie's show on VideoMusic, I remember, one of the lowest moments in TV history.

@Acqualife, am I really "not objective" or do I just criticize the groups you like, and that doesn’t sit well with you? Give me your "objective" opinion on Cynic and Shadow Gallery, go ahead. I'm sure you'd come up with the usual supposedly "objective" arguments that actually just serve to hide the fact that you "like" that album and that's it, which means your opinion is much more subjective than mine. Or would you bring up the usual talk about the connection between technique and melody? Those that always end up with the historic phrase: "They are technical, BUT also melodic," uttered with the grandiosity of someone who thinks they know a lot about music but is actually just stating prepackaged banalities? Since we are not talking about geometry or mathematics, nothing can be said with precision about music; there are no standard rules for judging a work. It is certainly true, however, that music is a complex discipline and infinitely vast. Do you have any idea how insignificant groups like Cynic are in comparison to the vast ocean of world music? There are people who study for 30 years to understand something, and they can get you passionate about 40-minute pieces of popular music from New Guinea by explaining figures and meanings you would never have imagined. So just imagine how much I find it amusing the angry frustration of someone who comes to tell me that I’m "not objective" about groups like Shadow Gallery and Symphony X.

Bartle, Iron Saviour was the parallel project of Kai Hansen from Gamma Ray, who put this band together with a certain Piet Sielk (if that's how it's spelled...) and I remember they annoyed the hell out of everyone with this album in the magazines back then that I questioned whether it was complete crap. And in fact, that doubt was confirmed. However, in my opinion, the worst also includes Heimdall and Hammerfall, especially the former with the Anglo-Neapolitan pronunciation of the singer which I remember made me burst out laughing.

"numerous media conspiracies against the Dream Theater." Interesting this trend that has been strong lately, where if someone sucks, it's not them being shit, but others who, by chance, get up in the morning and all together, by chance, start talking badly about them. I've often heard this story told by a short, angry man who seems to have some relevant place in politics, it seems to me... Anyway, get used to it, especially you, splinter: if everyone is talking badly about the Dream Theater, it's because they suck big time, there's no media trend behind it, period.