Yosif

-37- setting aside the pseudo-funny yet ultimately ridiculous and somewhat dull approach (not even children who discover swear words and repeat them incessantly), avoiding to repeat my response, you will find it in comment 50, even if not addressed to you, it’s fine for your closure and your biased judgments. :)

-31-gasta. For me being musically open doesn't mean listening to and enjoying everything (impossible, as you say), it means knowing how to appreciate beyond one's own views and in different realities. You got part of it right; it means knowing how to appreciate something whether it's commercial or not, metal or not, flashy or not, sold or unsold. Few reach this total musical eclecticism, and many of those become some of the greatest experimental musicians in the world (some names: Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, 4 Hero, Robert Miles, The Future Sound of London) people who have been able to constantly renew themselves, who have been able to invent new genres FROM SCRATCH (something that, in fact, these recycled brutal bands do not do continuously) people who have produced everything, really everything! From the most outrageous tracks to the most sophisticated chill-out lounge pieces. I also bring up the example of Lukassen in your metal genre, another who has done it all, great. In short, it’s not smart to label things and be prejudiced if you don’t know them. Who tells you that Estelle is without value? It may not be the best, sure, but here we often label something as crap knowing only the single bland track pumped by the radio, or because it's black, or because there's a bias against such genres. We get fixated on this COMMERCIAL label, not knowing that it’s METAL that sells and is pumped the most globally, just after pop and country (strange to say, but in the USA it's the best-selling genre!). You can see the charts, sales data, and more. I struggle to believe that this isn’t your case, but the average metalhead is like that, and you should know it. Who said that my portrayal of a metalhead is the standard one? I wrote in the 90s, and while there may be some differences, deep down they remain the same, closed off and believing they are the bearers of some kind of truth! I largely can’t stand death metal and its ilk, yet I made an effort to listen to it; 90% of metalheads don’t do the same for the stuff they disparage. Anyway, I seriously appreciate that we can have at least a civil discussion even with differing views; someone else in your position would have already come out with "stay metal" or Maiden, etc., etc. De-saluti de-auguri!

-30- well, that's the mind-blowing pettiness typical of brutal metallers and company; giving a 5 to grindcore, brutal, etc. is pure madness. Sure, it can be enjoyable because it's a chaotic genre, but musically we're nearing zero. I also like some over-the-top stuff like noise industrial, splittercore, etc., but I would never dream of giving it a 5 because musically they remain useless genres, just like grind, brutal, and company—the most useless genre I've ever heard, with people who can’t even sing and distort their voices with the ultrapitch plug-in, making naive metallers believe they're growling in real low tones :D great observation from you.

-29- I don't snub indie at all, I've already told you that the intro was a provocative bluff (!). If you read until the first pause, it's clear, but it’s obvious that indie as a genre is sometimes WAY more commercial than this; just compare the charts. Estelle never reached number one (only in the UK), indie bands are everywhere and heavily promoted by the media, etc. What I'm telling you is that the comparison commercial = crap is wrong. It’s a completely erroneous comparison; no one said that a track pushed by MTV, radio, or whatever (therefore commercial) has to be crap. This is what most of you don't get. I don’t usually watch MTV, I repeat, but sometimes I’ve caught it briefly in stores, gyms, etc., and I’ve seen Portishead, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode, Oasis, and stuff like that pass through (the same goes for some radio stations). Are you seriously telling me they suck?!!? Of course, if you always use the same crappy benchmarks like Tokio Hotel, Britney, Gwen Stefani, and the like, then yes, commercial stuff can suck, but on that lousy channel, valid music can also come through, and since it sells, it will obviously end up there. It can be labeled as commercial for that reason, but it’s always valid music at its core… Do you get it? A recent example is Hercules & Love Affair, a really solid project that got hyped, but it’s still a great track. The same goes for this album, which, when listened to in its entirety, is a good one. I hope I’ve made myself clear. De-salutations ;)

-20- Kanye West is mediocre; he’s part of that group of fake rappers who have ruined hip hop. I hate to say it, but it’s true. He gets by as a producer, but let someone else handle the rapping. -27- You’re biased; wouldn't the Artic be shit too? They’re actually more commercial than Estelle, who, if you think about it, has only released one commercial single. -28- Did you even listen to the album to say that? Not that I care about your opinion on Estelle; she could literally perish now for all I care, but you should never judge without listening or just based on the commercial single they played (which, by the way, is the worst track on the album). To me, this is closed-mindedness.

Hey everyone, so many replies, just a moment and I’ll get back to you (:

-8- Run DMC were already doing it in '82 :D

not good

not bad

of course referring to 23 - 8)