Stoney

But this isn't the theme song from Dawson's Creek? Goodness...

You said it right: for you. The same thing could be said about Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, since "millions of people" go to their concerts. Coincidentally, worldwide success is always negative except when it comes to Dream Theater.

PIT, I spent years on DeBaser explaining what I think about Dream Theater, and I don't feel like sitting here, demonstrating to you that the statement you made shows superficiality, and then repeating discussions that have already been made millions of times. Also because I've learned that people don't change their minds nor are they willing to budge an inch from their beliefs. If you're interested, in any case (but I don't believe you are), just open my page and browse the comments I've posted in the past on the DT reviews. Regards.

A review as useful as an episode of Porta a Porta on the psychological issues of Anna Maria Franzoni.

The nice thing is that at fifteen you’re into '70s rock, the bad thing is that you love Dream Theater. Bye.

Do you know what the problem is with a site like this? People don’t write reviews or rate albums thoughtfully: they write reflections and thoughts on what they like and give ratings based solely on their personal tastes, plain and simple. And up to this point, that would be normal and acceptable; what drives me crazy is seeing that there’s always a demand to give an aura of objectivity to completely personal opinions. There are people who would sell their mother just to make their personal thoughts universal, and that's very sad. No one cares to criticize or evaluate, not even to listen to what others have to say; they move and think based on absolutes: metal is niche music, pop is commercial, Metallica used to be strong but now they’ve sold out, Slayer are devastating so they’re great. I've always wondered how people can’t take a moment to think, "Did I come up with these ideas myself or do I just believe them because everyone says so?" Scrolling through DeBaser, I see a lot of desire to belong to this or that musical trend and very little to evaluate and analyze. In fact, when someone dares to make a reasoned critique that contradicts the "diktat" of common thought, suddenly everyone gets offended (and why?) and responds not with further analysis or critiques, but simply by belittling the other person: you’re against metal, you haven’t listened to anything, you’re jealous, you have prejudices. Just like in the Middle Ages, those who criticized the dogma were simply mad. It's something I hate.

"Face Of Melinda" is perhaps the most successful piece in the entire discography of Opeth. Simply stunning.

Senyaman, I know metal well, and it's not my habit to shoot down things I don’t understand. All the bands you mentioned, and I mean ALL of them, I know well, and in part I can even agree with you. A bit above, in fact, if you read carefully, I wrote a post where I talked about the artistic validity of Meshuggah, so you see, I’m not just throwing out random nonsense. I also like Opeth; I find them really valid and very expressive. Damnation, by the way, remains an album I’m deeply attached to, not to mention Blackwater Park and Still Life. I love the early works of Sepultura, especially Beneath The Remains, and I believe they are one of the few bands that have intelligently used the sonic impact of music to convey the message of social protest and rebellion that has always characterized them (unlike almost all the others, where the sonic impact exists only because it "has" to). As you can see, I'm not a narrow-minded person who scorns metal a priori: good music is welcome, where "good" means expressive, meaningful, communicative, intelligent. But we always end up in the same place: for all these bands being valid, we are far from the genius and everlasting glory that many attribute to them, and we are only talking about a handful of groups in an incredibly vast landscape, too vast, to the point that it makes me think these are just isolated and fortunate cases that have emerged for who knows what arcane reason.

Damn, what a spicy one you are, Ludovì. To quote a famous movie, with a woman like you, I wouldn't know what to do, whether to "kill her or fall in love with her"... hahahah...

Well, in the end, I don't really have anything against you, I just like to poke you a bit. That's just how I am. Especially since I'll be working on December 24th, what else do you think I should be doing? Anyway, Hell, I thought a true blackster wouldn't celebrate Christmas! Or are you preparing a nice midnight mass in reverse? :P