Luca-LJ

Damn, in the meantime you guys have written more stuff! Well, how am I supposed to respond to everyone?

I broke up the comments because the site doesn't allow exceeding a certain length (or at least it didn't before; maybe it does now, but I didn't know). For deathinaugust, who says that he will soon graduate in "history of music": well, you're not ignorant, I take note of that, but then why the hell are you bringing up Britney Spears? What made you think I'm some simpleton anti-metalhead? What are you even saying! There are metal albums that I like, it’s just that there aren’t many! Britney Spears... We're on Debaser, not on MTV's site, for crying out loud! Sorry, but I don’t think I was hasty; your comment implied that you were very closed-minded, so you asked for it. You could have spared the joke about my sister since I didn't bring your relatives into it (actually, I didn't even want to offend you! You were the ones who felt touched), but I'll let it go because getting angry from a distance is silly. I take this opportunity to invite everyone to calm down; I'll be the first to do it (but, for heaven's sake, reread my first post and tell me what I said that was politically incorrect! You all started getting agitated!). Anyway, I don’t know much about jazz and folk, but I'm not totally clueless about classical music: I think that after finishing Claudio Casini's "History of Music," I could talk about it with you without issues. In any case, your qualifications mean nothing: you said something wrong about record sales (I don’t know if it’s a subject covered in your course, I don’t think so!), and it remains wrong, period. I’ll see if I can find some data somewhere, but I think it will be tough (however, I think it’s obvious to the eye that I’m right). For Lethe: no, just because I like a few albums doesn’t mean I know only a few; that’s a syllogism you made up. The Fugazi are just one example, do you want me to change the name? You should know that I’m aware of groups that aren’t present on Debaser or Scaruffi’s site (I know you thought of that, admit it! But I’m not that kind of person! I hate those too!) and that deserve recognition! I just wanted to stick to what’s somewhat known. The Fugazi have definitely sold more, but that seems like the least they could achieve given the fanfare critics have played for them in recent years! Even Beefheart (yeah, I mention him because he’s cool!) has sold more now that he’s been made a cult artist! But when he first came out, how much did he sell? If a band sucks but isn’t an imitator of someone else, they’ll probably sell more than a less sucky band that’s just like so many others, simply because it has no competition. You all didn’t understand something: I’m not saying that metal musicians sell more! I’m saying that the metal market moves more money! A record label with 10 bands like this lives off the interest! The band itself doesn’t sell much because there’s too much competition (there are ten thousand identical bands!), but I’m saying something different: heavy metal is made up of producers who make people believe that this stuff is alternative while their record choices are meticulously studied to sell (obviously), and maybe they delve into subtleties much greater than those of pop producers (who have to spend a lot to earn a lot; in metal, instead, besides taking fewer risks when you put crap on the market, advertising works very differently, and in the end, you save a lot). Okay? "Metal is commercial" doesn’t mean "metal bands sell a lot," what the hell! You get bored reading everything I say (which you think is nonsense), but I also don’t enjoy replying to criticisms based on a distracted reading!
Fine, I surely wrote in a very confused manner too, but I have to respond to multiple people, try to understand! It’s not simple to organize my thoughts and reply to everyone! In this review, I didn’t want to flaunt anything; I even said that I let it go the first time. I expressed an opinion, hoping, I confess, to convince someone. Not to feel like a music genius, but because I see

For your information: at 14 I composed songs, and they were metal songs. Lyrics and music, and they were liked too if that's worth mentioning! Now I continue to write songs, but they are no longer metal (sometimes something resurfaces, but only as an accessory component); in any case, they are better than a lot of stuff that's out there. Considering that I'm a self-taught person who does everything alone on the computer, it’s not bad. That's precisely why I haven't published anything: I lacked the musicians (too busy copying the stereotypes imposed from above to experiment with something truly new!). Now maybe I've almost managed to assemble a band, then we’ll talk about it more… Ah, creating representative things of a musical genre is very simple: you just need to have an excellent ear or basic music knowledge. I rely on the former, and I can tell you that I've cloned bands like System Of A Down, Tool, Marilyn Manson, and Dream Theater quite well.

This is the technique of word-of-mouth that I mentioned earlier!), it's because record labels always feed you the same old stuff, because you don't know anything else and you've been programmed not to desire anything else (for record labels, it's safer to keep you in ignorance than to risk having to put themselves on the line by constantly proposing new things trying to guess what people feel). Anyway, my associations of ideas don’t count much; if I feel the urge to speak ill of Napoleon at the end of a comment on a review, I do it. When I said that those who make certain music are stupid, I obviously didn't mean it seriously; those are things said to achieve specific rhetorical effects. Don't you ever do that in your everyday speech? Certainly, if you want me to translate it, a band like that is made up of people who are either not very creative or very ignorant, disinterested in the history of music or with a strongly distorted perception of it. What about you? You're not stupid; you're simply victims of the publishers.

In metal, there aren't just a lot of cr*p; it's metal itself that's cr*p except for about thirty albums in total! Many magazines mean there's a strong demand, therefore a large number of fans. I mentioned this just to make you understand that it's not an alternative genre to pop; in fact, it's even more insidious! I never said magazines = cr*p, just as I didn't say commercial = cr*p, so don’t put words in my mouth that I didn’t say (metal is a “dump” because fans are led from above but are convinced of the opposite; that’s the point of the speech about magazines). What does all this have to do with the reviewed album and with epic? Simple: epic is a very old genre, and here it's presented with all its clichés and commonplaces. Since there are tons of albums I could listen to, why give priority (or rather, why pay attention) to a group of uninspired people who haven’t even made the slightest effort to do something new! They are simply the umpteenth group of this kind, and if people like this find space (because Debaser is also a showcase for bands, what do you think!)

For Fenrir: you delude yourself if you think record labels don’t decide for you in metal! New trends often arise spontaneously, it’s true, but then the record execs sniff out the opportunity and recruit clone bands to sell to you, and you fall for it too (“you” in a general sense). Word of mouth seems to me a far more effective advertisement than music videos on MTV for certain categories of people: every genre has its audience, and "they" know that a review on two websites and three industry magazines is enough to spread the word among enthusiasts. You despise commercial music, and that’s why they disguise it so it doesn’t seem like that; they know that in this way you’ll buy it, you’re all cut from the same mold. Is it trendy to be alternative with those who think they’re alternative? You must have just made that up; in any case, if I’m the one being alternative with those who think they’re alternative, well, you’re the one who thinks they’re alternative (which you’re not! Take a walk down the street or browse the web and see how many metalheads you find!). At a Gamma Ray concert, you’ll find hundreds of people, while at a Fugazi concert (just a random name), there are maybe forty if all goes well.

For Hellring: partly what I needed to tell you I've already mentioned above. Meanwhile, I don't understand why it should bother people that someone listens to music out of passion (and anyway, whether you believe it or not, many people genuinely listen to U2 out of passion, though the audience may not be very attentive—that's another story)? Personally, I used to be a metalhead. Of course, I listened to metal back in high school, but then I grew up and discovered truly valuable music; you evidently haven’t, and you’re still there playing metal warriors fighting against Truzzolandia (they don't even care about you, just so you know!). I bet you even laugh at silly bands like Atroci or Nanowar, and maybe you even hype yourselves up (how pathetic!). In my opinion, a person who sticks to "genres" listens to music very superficially: I can't tell you which genres are valid or non-commercial (the two don't equate; something can be valid and commercial, only valid, only commercial, or none of the above), at most, I could mention a few musicians' names to you.

90% of metal bands don’t sell more than 2000 copies, okay, but do you know how many metal bands there are? Look at the real meaning of those percentages and you’ll discover that metal sells more. People follow metal for silly reasons: they don’t know anything else apart from chart-topping pop (and you’re proving it), the world is full of frustrated individuals who find an outlet in aggressive music, and in recent years, there’s been a boom of crappy bands that combine their music with jazz, classical, psychedelic rock thinking they’re doing something original, and so the average metalhead even feels smart for appreciating certain things (they're incredibly obvious things, but you keep thinking that Ulver are experimental and that Malmsteen is like Bach!).

Pseudo-alternative markets are the safest because you know you'll always have a trusted following, no matter how small (while when you launch a new pop "star," there’s always a risk; just look at all those "musicians" who, as you yourselves said, lasted a few months and then poof! Do you remember, for example, the Venga Boys? And Lene Nystrom? Cult bands sell fewer records but make more money from merchandising and concerts. You don’t think about these things because you're lobotomized by metal). In this case, the market isn't even small; you have to be idiots not to notice the proliferation of metalheads. Damn, don’t you see how many of you there are? How can you not realize that you've been indoctrinated to buy shoddy products obtainable with no effort? It's music that goes strong because it represents a collective ideal appeal because it's so simple! Yes, now you’ll say: "but the DARKINTENEBRIS made an entire album with an orchestra!" "But the HELLSKULLDEATH have reinterpreted Hungarian folk music!" "But TIMO T’AMO studied for 500 years at the conservatory!" and other crap like that! Well, if for you this gives music more depth, then you once again demonstrate that you don't understand a damn thing about music and that you’re being fooled like fools.

Metal bands, on the other hand, are billions (what a great niche genre! Wow! I think the circle of spontaneously formed boy bands is much smaller!), and they engage in ruthless competition (metal bands usually form spontaneously, but they're then selected based on how closely they fit the stereotypes that have proven to work best), so comparing the sales of these two worlds is a mere idleness. Anyway, I wasn’t talking about this; that some people sell more is established, but when I said that metal is a commercial phenomenon, I meant that metal producers know what the awkward, pimple-faced boy wants, and they give it to him: dozens of power bands all alike, or bands with a fake dark hot girl on vocals (because it’s well known that idiots get turned on when they see a dark girl). When they don’t have a hot girl, they still dress her up like a fake dark one, and the idiots drool over her anyway, so there’s no problem. In short, everything is planned or constructed, and all the bands you see are products selected by managers (metal is a big money game; maybe a band doesn’t make as much as Britney Spears, but when you have 10 bands, you can already surpass her!).