puntiniCAZpuntini

Damageplan weren't that great, but they're better than Superjoint. It's not that I hate them, and it's not like they destroyed anything since bands have always broken up and will always break up (unfortunately), but I felt sorry for them. Even though they had Hank Williams' great-grandson or cousin or I don't remember playing with them. It wasn't worth as much as the relative. The only good thing Anselmo has done on his own was paying the bail for the Eyehategod singer a couple of years ago.

<< Darrell's guitar on the records is layered, probably THERE ARE REALLY 8 guitars (at least 2, if not 4). >> Check out the DVD that Grande Abbot released in memory of the late Piccolo Abbot. It's a couple of hours long, called Dimeflash, and it’s all about Piccolo Abbot in the studio, performing live, goofing off at the police station, at home, and on stage. There's not much difference between the album and live when he was playing Becoming. <<< Pantera without Anselmo would be just any (almost) metal band. >>> So why do Superjoint Ritual suck so bad? Anselmo is a great singer, but that's where it ends. He’s not a musician, and he has no musical taste whatsoever. In Down, nobody pays attention to him; he shows up at the last moment and they tell him, “just sing over it, and then leave. We’ll see you on tour” :D

Here we enter the metaphysical; I really like Drag The Waters, maybe it's because of that fucking megalithic riff and because it's perhaps one of their slightly doom-oriented tracks, alongside Domination and the Riff (just the riff) of Walk. As for Reinventing, I don't know, it's not bad, but let's just say I can never find the right moment to listen to it. When I put on PanterA, it's because I want to hear certain things that aren't in Reinventing. It's like the discussion about Load by Metallica; if that album had been made by Sparzanza, Wolfmother, or some other niche Hard Rock band, it would have been viewed positively. A more recent example is the latest from Dead Meadow: it's a nice Folk Rock album, but who remembers to put on D. Meadow when they feel like Folk Rock? You put them on when you want that muff, fuzz, wah wah sound and it really gets on your nerves to listen to the latest after you've heard Good Moanin or Drifting In Down Stream.

The only thing missing from Far Beyond Driven to make it a masterpiece of music in general, for me, is the sound of Darrel's drums. He is the only one who has remained anchored to the sounds of old metal, perhaps also due to the significantly older age than the others. Technically and rhythmically a monster, with so much creativity, but that damn Tupa-Tupa of the double bass more years go by the more it drives me crazy. Of course, there are much worse things, but hearing it under Darrel's guitar, which was six million years ahead (Becoming, my god, it sounds like 8 guitars), is bothersome. Then again, I have a thing for drums; for example, sometimes I prefer to listen to the Black Album by Metallica more willingly than the previous ones because, while being an album that is definitely inferior on all points, the sound of Lars's drums is wonderful (especially in Enter Sandman & Sad But True).

And anyway, over the years I have reevaluated this album; the sound has aged a bit. Now, I enjoy listening to The Great Southern more willingly, and of course Far Beyond Driven, which for me is their absolute peak. Nonetheless, this remains the genesis of Pantera, and thus a masterpiece. Cowboys From Hell has always meant little to me, still too speed metal, except for that wonder of Domination, which I always listen to with great pleasure (I placed it at the beginning of this album in the mp3 for the car, completely eliminating the rest of CFH).

I will believe that METAL exists, only METAL where everything goes, when someone explains to me all the common points between Dream Theater and Sunn O))). If they manage to find me the commonalities, then I'll ask them to explain the similarities between any band with Sean Malone and Electric Wizard. Then maybe they'll also explain to me why I, who own tons of records of this infamous METAL, can't stand Iron Maiden while I adore PanterA. And afterwards, they’ll explain why CPTgaio loves Iron Maiden while giving a 3 to this album that, for me, is pure gold. Then, and only then, will I believe that METAL exists. It's not that by speeding up a genre, you get METAL; you just get that genre, sped up. It's not that by slowing down a genre, you get METAL; you just get that genre, slowed down. And speeding up and slowing down are two completely opposite things. Yet, for some, it’s METAL. The most expansive musical genre in the history of music. Practically 70% of the world's population that listens to music would be heavy metal fans. Wow, what intelligent discussions. /////////// PS: it cracks me up to see someone like Yosif, who listens to Rap (like me), criticizing the violent lyrics of Metal. Rap has lyrics millions of times more violent, and often more idiotic too. Damn, the Wu-Tang Clan has been going on for 15 years about how they’re Shaolin, and then if you throw a punch at Method Man, he ends up in the clinic while RZA stays in the lurch and Ghostface Killah remains pregnant (but then, let's note the name: GHOSTFACE KILLAH).

Well, it seems to me an impossible comparison DM vs NIN, I can't find any terms of comparison. I like DM too, but not in an incredible way like I liked Reznor, enough to buy everything possible. As for the lyrics, I insist: once you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all. Just throw in a Feel (or derivatives like feelin’, felt, etc.), a Lie (and derivatives), a couple of me you us everybody, and choose three paths: the claustrophobic, the angry at the world, and the melancholic. Make three albums and various EPs. He’s one of my favorite artists, but he wrote pretty much the same lyrics all through the 90s. The meanings are always the same, the atmospheres very, very similar. And that’s the beauty of it, because you know what to expect and you enjoy the genius in finding the perfect sound every time.

The fact that Punisher likes it confirms that it's a load of biblical proportions. /// Pretty Hate Machine should have been listened to in '89 maybe; I heard it after Fixed, in '94, and it didn't say anything to me. I bought it for my collection but I never listen to it. I don't even have it on the mp3 disc with the discography I take in the car.

A biblical-sized piece of crap. Reznor has made 10,000 identical lyrics and structurally very simple songs. What set him apart (and continues to set him apart) was the immense beauty of the sounds he offered. I've heard everything, but I've never heard anything produced as well as Reznor from Broken to Things Fall Apart. If you take away the wonder of the sounds, what remains? An unbearable boredom, two balls the size of a house. The only wrong purchase I made from Reznor, along with Pretty Hate Machine. Of course, I don't buy anything from this point on; otherwise, I would have made many more mistakes. To buy this crap, it’s better to get the Maxi Singles, like Closer To God to hear Reznor doing Techno with Memorabilia, or March Of The Pigs to have All The Pigs, All Lined Up, which is a hundred times better than the original version. Or even to get the soundtrack of The Crow, which, besides its nice Joy Division cover, has many other great tracks. In short: buy everything from '91 to 2001 but not this mind-numbing crap.

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