Larrok

This album is outrageously fascinating! The soundtrack of a journey to the center of the earth and into the depths of consciousness. Their genre can nonetheless be defined as atmospheric-sludge mixed with stoner-psychedelic and alternative-doom-ambient.

Anyone can say whatever they want, yes, but if they're not providing any reasoning, can I at least ask for a justification? Just... to be enlightened, you know? And I didn't say that those who listen to commercial music understand nothing about music; I just think that those who limit themselves to consuming the ready-made stuff offered to them without even having the desire to seek out lesser-known records and artists, who are often much more important, have a decidedly limited perspective that prevents them from fully comprehending what they claim. And this has nothing to do with tastes, because one can very well be crazy about Linkin Park; I don't care. However, there is a difference between someone who has listened to 50-60 albums in their life (and mostly similar ones at that) and says that LP are the best in the world, and someone who has listened to 2000 albums (across a wide range of genres) and claims that they still like them, even though they know full well that they don't hold much value...

Disco of the highest level, mesmerising and disorienting enough to reach the sublime.

Orwell, explain to us a bit why Yes would be an unnecessary band. In fact, start by saying if you've ever listened to any of their albums from the period 1969-1974.

Well, Europe is part of the hair metal scene on the more pop side, and thus they also fall into the hard rock genre. "Out of this World" is a great album for me.

Well... Diamond Head are part of the NWOBHM, a genre quite different from that of Steelheart; within the Hair-metal realm, however, practically all the bands sound alike - Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Cinderella, WASP, Poison, Europe, Skid Row - and in fact, fans listen to them precisely for this reason. Personally, I like few bands of this genre (Tesla, Mr. Big...), but when I listen to them, I'm not looking for anything in particular; I just aim to have fun or get hyped a bit. It depends on my mood. Of course, if you switch genres, you'll definitely find better stuff even just in the hard rock realm.

Well... Diamond Head are part of the NWOBHM, a genre quite different from that of Steelheart; within the Hair-metal realm, however, practically all the bands sound alike - Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Cinderella, WASP, Poison, Europe, Skid Row - and in fact, fans listen to them precisely for this reason. Personally, I like few bands of this genre (Tesla, Mr. Big...), but when I listen to them, I'm not looking for anything in particular; I just aim to have fun or get hyped a bit. It depends on my mood. Of course, if you switch genres, you'll definitely find better stuff even just in the hard rock realm.

I didn't say it's "good music," also because I usually don't divide the world into "good music" and "shitty music." Rather, I prefer to evaluate each case individually, distinguishing between the multiple nuances that arise from various genres, considering the goal that the artist sets and the emotions they want to communicate. That said, I would say that Steelheart belongs (albeit a few years late) to the Hair-metal genre, a more commercial and static subgenre of hard rock; this genre may be liked or disliked, and it can even be seen as abject, but before judging it, one should understand what lies behind it: the total lack of pretensions for originality or innovation, indeed a repetition of stylistic elements used over and over again by most hard rock bands (blues riffs and solos, powerful and steady rhythm sections, rather cliché backing vocals, etc.). Therefore, I said that searching for any moral intent in groups like this is absurd, given that the only philosophy behind it is "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll." P.S.: still, the overly commercial hair-metal of the '80s is always better than the pop/r&b/hip-hop crap that 90% of the radio offers today.

Adriano, sorry to say this, but it seems you've discovered hot water...I mean, this group, like many others in their field, is looking for nothing more than simple fun without any pretense of creating anything original; in fact, their strength lies precisely in mimicking the stereotypes of machismo dear to '80s hard rock. Furthermore, Scaruffi is absolutely ridiculous in trying to find any moral value in their music...I mean, we're talking about hair metal, not prog or alternative!

But which AOR? This is pure hair-metal/hard glam; very simple and straightforward, certainly with all the typical and overused characteristics of the genre (Bon Jovi-style choruses, solos, panty-dropping ballads, etc...), but still packed with energy, uncompromising, and never pretentious. Now, if you don't like straightforward hard rock like Motley Crue and Whitesnake, that's another story...