easycure

Because, as usual, Mario, you equate quality with technical ability... but the point you haven't grasped in my analysis is that, in my opinion, what they're lacking is precisely personality... from an interpretative point of view, aside from some personal stylistic exercises, they're school-like and didactic. From an arranging standpoint: horrendously devoid of any interest in a distinctive sound, totally lacking in real style (and this is where your discussion about heterogeneity applies, but only in this context) when outlining a piece. From a compositional angle: solely dedicated to rehashing some commonplaces, conservative, uncreative, pseudo-plagiarists, null. That’s the point; there is no real personal expression. This is the reason for their serious qualitative gaps.

well... too bad... in fact, I wasn't expecting much, I didn't like Riot Act... but I won't miss them live, no, I've already got tickets for Pistoia. Take that ;-)

X Pietro Gelmini: exactly what I said: it took just a good musical culture to realize the poor quality of this album... obviously it's a sufficient but not necessary condition, seeing as you liked it so much; the fact remains that for many people it was more than enough... as for the now obvious discussion that there wouldn’t even be a band that is at least partially non-derivative, that is only true in part, but in these terms it is decidedly reductive and essentially false. It is true that every band has a culture and reference tradition, meaning there is a historical continuity in every form of expression, but it is equally true that every expression, being personal, can be unique and original; otherwise, the concept of evolution, which is just as fundamental as that of tradition, would be nullified. So it’s pointless to "protect" Dream Theater with this argument that everyone would be partially derivative; it’s taken for granted and doesn’t hold up.

Yes, precisely, they are talking about that one. And clearly, it's unacceptable for them that I actually listened to it :-D and without adding anything to what has been said about this album, it absolutely disgusted me. It's a piece that is entirely conceivable, but whether it's equally executable is another matter. As far as "conceiving it" goes, there's nothing difficult in its expressiveness; it's just a bunch of clichés from Progressive music stirred together haphazardly with some palm muting and a heavy metal-like distortion, all tied together with a few jam sessions just to let the labyrinthine yet pointless structure flow... not only easily conceivable, but far too predictable.

No prejudice, guys.. Simply calling it "faith" is just ridiculous to me, for better or for worse :-D ...Giorgio, that was precisely what I meant: no musical hate or dislike (if it really needs to be emphasized), I simply consider them lacking; which, as you can see, is purely an analytical statement that doesn't involve any kind of feeling whatsoever, if anything, it's you who wants to see that.. you get it? :-D

"you have a visceral hatred and dislike for the group in question." ..and this, Giorgetto, is a huge load of crap :-) in fact, I’ve never said I feel dislike and hatred towards them, this has always been what YOU have said. it’s quite different, don’t you think? I simply find them extremely lacking from a musical standpoint... no hatred, I wouldn't see the reason for that, after all..

Here comes the usual bullshit, of course they had to throw this in: "Grunge is a genre that sucks: it's just a genre created for those who can't play and want to express some universal message through little screams and depressed words" but what are you saying... do you even know Mudhoney? Green River? Tad? Soundgarden? ...how can you say that others are closed-minded while you throw around such nonsense, completely clueless... oh well...

Of course, I completely agree with the anonymous, even though I didn’t want to press on Matt's favorite groups. However, there’s one thing that made me really laugh: "Metal is a faith, either you follow its dogmas (for better or worse), or you change religion." ahahaha, guys, you are just brilliant :-D

"Dream Theater (progressive-metal), Mr. Big (Hard-AOR), Obituary-Death-Carcass (Death), Slòayer, Metallica (Thrash) and many others... ah, (as if it matters) and you would call these 'different genres'? :-)"

(Just) what the anonymous person is trying to tell you, Matt, is that it can be much better and more objective to review NOT as a fan than as a fan.. moreover, in your "advice" you only based it on my preferred groups, let's say.. but that doesn't mean I don't know others that are closer to the band in question in the review. Also, it's not that the review is talking about Caribbean music and I'm listening to lyrical music.. it's still all about rock, unless you want to fall into the usual incredibly presumptuous argument that many metal fans (and even more so progressive metal fans) make, claiming that their genre somehow transcends all rock; seriously, rock becomes almost an insult, when it's clear that the standards, beyond quality, are always the same.