for both, I nearly fell off my chair laughing at the Dukatalon one.

No idea about the jackets. I can testify myself playing guitar does make the temperature feel a few degrees higher. (Which has been quite helpful recently as it's been damn cold here for whatever reason.)


I missed that one, wasn't around here then (and either way I doubt I'd stumble into the thread anyway).

I can definitely see the continuity angle, as it's probably one of those cases where the band in theory could just carry on without their "signature element" or whatever, but it would probably not be the best idea to do so. Furthermore, from what I've heard, Angela herself picked her as the successor, which in my opinion makes the "omg they picked her because sexy" theory even more void.

I'm not arguing whether the album is good or bad, it's just that it seems to me that the people who disliked it found it alright to extend their bashing spree into the pretty far-fetched theory that "they can't write a good album so wanted to milk the hot vocalist thing". (And, repeating for the third time, I'm pretty sure no one would ever consider going this route if the vocalist in question was male.) Which sorry, but is hardly quality reviewing, especially that in the process it pretty much attacks her more than anyone else. I don't want to sound like I'm going to burst into tears from the injustice but I think it's not news on this site that rating the music is more important than conspiracy theories, especially if they have a poor basis. And it seems from the above posts I'm not alone thinking this.

Ever seen someone finish a set on stage without being sweaty? Playing guitar is moderate physical activity in itself. Moving around on stage and headbanging adds to that a lot. On top of that, lighting makes it really hot, or in this case, sunlight. Sleeveless shirts and ripped jeans are the way to go.

Being on stage is really hot and sweaty. I'm not really a fan of female singers nor folk metal, but I envy the ventilation of their skirts and kilts.

Poor basis? The metal-listening audience includes vastly more men than women. If you think somehow metaldom is free from the same kind of objectification that happens to female characters in video games, you're off your rocker.

Vastly? I think you-- as well as a lot of other people-- are overstating just how male-dominated the metal scene is.

That being said, I've already spoken on this site about my sentiments on the ridiculous double-standards to which female metal musicians are held, so I really oughta know better than to try again-- particularly in a thread about reviews :v

I won't have a computer for a few days here, so I'll have to stick with a short post, but a massive, hearty LOL to anybody thinking Alissa wasn't a pure marketing move. She has a lot of range but they're just making her do what Angela did. And she's clearly okay with it, because exposure and money trumps showcasing talent sometimes.

And yeah no fucking shit we wouldn't have this discussion if they chose a man. I feel like that's either trying to paint me as sexist or trying to sarcastically imply that Arch Enemy's fans aren't mostly the exact type of people who respond well to attractive frontwomen screaming like maniacs. You're completely off your rocker, Lib. You haven't changed at all.

You're kind of missing my point, which is the exact opposite and Rykov got it perfectly:

She's doing what she likes. She basically lost her long-time status in her previous main band to do this. I hardly see how there is any objectification involved, just people making retarded assumptions about a band they dislike, vastly bringing down the quality of their reviews.


I find it particularly amusing that you're treating your opinions (with basically no argumentation whatsoever) as obvious fact that's supposed to prove I'm stupid. Man, you've got some genius logic right here.

Who said I changed or that there was a need for me changing? If you need some conformists to agree with everything you say, look elsewhere. Also, you seem to be trying pretty hard to make me lose my temper. Good luck with that. You're doing as poorly as with your argumentation.

Anyway, I've explained my point well enough already, the people who are not immune to information seem to get it, so enough from me.

TheLib, I just wanna know one thing. How did you come to the conclusion that music/metal is somehow an exception for objectification of women?

How did you come to the conclusion I think that?

I just get that impression from your words. You genuinely seem to wonder why people accuse her of being there "for the sales".

And if it's not wondering then it's being annoyed by. Which leaves me wondering, don't you have better things to worry about?

No. I'm annoyed by the fact that apparently if you're a female musician you immediately have to fulfill much higher standards (and GOD/SATAN/WHATEVER DEITY FORBID you look good, then you're utterly screwed), otherwise if your band fails (at least according to some people), you're immediately accused of being successful only because of looks. Which is retarded no matter what angle you look at it from.

Obviously spending 15 minutes of my life debating this means I can't sleep over what's happening in this thread. And apparently debating whether Pallbearer are a hipster band is a more important issue than the above, I guess.

God dammit, you're thick. What everyone has been saying about Alissa and Arch Enemy is that it's a perpetuation of a admittedly sexist, vain and capitalist marketing strategy. Alissa isn't a bad vocalist by any means but her type of vocals can be viewed as unisex so instead of choosing anyone else for the job, they went and got another attractive young woman to play it safe. What's bothering me the most is that she ended up quitting her smaller (but still popular) band The Agonist to join the Swedish juggernaut like it was a huge career opportunity, fuck this shit in metal.

Arch Enemy, like Battle Beast, obviously chose a second frontwoman for marketing reasons as well as consistency - it's what sets them apart from other bands and plus, the eye-candy factor can't be totally ignored...it doesn't make them some kind of insidious plot to make money, but to act like it's all pure artistic expression and not just keeping the bands' gimmicks going, is a bit naive. It's business really. Not to say anything negative about either frontwoman either, they're probably fine artists in their own right (though The Agonist is one of the top five worst things I've ever heard in my life, but that's just me).

I dunno though, there are shitloads of women in metal who don't get any of this thrown at them, so I'm not sure what TheLib's problem is...

I'm the one who's the least thick in this whole thread, as you can see, as people don't have to repeat something 10 times for me to get the idea. And unlike some, I don't start using ad hominem attacks against those I disagree with.

And her move was more or less a similar thing that Richie Faulkner did to join Priest. From what I heard, she wanted to remain in both bands, but The Agonist kicked her out. And I'm pretty sure both of them did not think of this as "good business decision". "I CAN JOIN THIS BAND THAT I'VE ADORED ALL MY LIFE HOLY SHIT IS THIS FOR REAL" sounds more like it to me.


That's kinda my point.

Some don't, some do. Don't tell me you've never seen this before. And that it seemed to appear in every negative review of the new Arch Enemy made me facepalm.

EDIT: Either way, I give up, talking to my cat is more productive.

There's also the fact that female extreme metal vocalists may have a different style of self-expression in that medium than male frontmen in general. Even if she was sonically interchangeable with male frontment (so, who exactly? and females rarely are, though the differences are subtler than in clean vocals), a woman's style of performing might legimately be considered a selling point for the band, sexual connotations notwithstanding.

man, how/why did TheLiberation come back? I thought he'd realized that the general consensus was that he is a huge whinging vagina who was disliked by every single person on the board, but here he's back, doing the same old stuff that made him so widely disliked in the first place...

Oh, so you were just pretending to be profoundly retarded? Wow, you got us good!

I am genuinely insulted now by the comparisons after having seen what this guy really has up his sleeve...
Oh, and TheLib? You could atleast have prevented wasting our/your time by actually talking to your cat

The key to humor is to make note of an inherently humorous situation.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/V ... PDS/201166

Jiggleslinky's Maximum Overload review:

Really? And you pretend to have heard all the previous DF albums. Go check em until you find out where they did that before.

Empyreal's Maximum Overload review:

Which make less than 30% of this album.

Seriously, what's the point in writing a review based upon what you think you know about the band?

It's kind of sad the band openly confessed they don't want to write tricky elaborate stuff like Ultra Beatdown anymore because people just don't get it and want more accessible songs.

I've been listening to them for ten years. I don't get why that tidbit is suddenly damning to my credibility - did I ever say it was my main critique of the album? It was pretty much a throwaway line. And I just don't think the album is really any different from the other stuff, in the end - that was my point throughout the review. If you read the review you know I stated what was wrong with this new album very clearly and it had fuck all to do with what you just quoted.

I wouldn't put too much stock into it. When somebody starts nitpicking that finely to find reasons to discredit a review they don't agree with, you can pretty safely tuck it away knowing that you didn't really do anything wrong.

He isn't real, is he?

So apparently aesthetic genres are not only real, but you can only claim "pirate" if you sound like a Disney attraction.

Where did I say I disagree with the review? On the contrary, I agree with a lot of points in it like that the old 8 minute tracks scheme was much better than what they do now and even with the score, I'd give the album approximately the same numbers. But why saying "it's same old cheesy topics" when it's wrong? The lyrics changed pretty drastically with the departure of ZP and not in a good way, now instead of cheerful glory verses we have a shitty whining like "So why was I born Not a part of this society?". Like, seriously.

They did change, but not very much. They're singing about different things now but still using the same kinds of cliches and words that they were before - now just fit into different meanings of songs, is all. Like on "The Game" they're still singing about "praying for a brighter tomorrow/break free from this lifetime of sorrow" even though the topic of the song is atypical for them.

Complaining about that is ridiculous though. It wasn't a big part of the review and I didn't use it as a means to slag on the album, in fact it was more just a retrospect of their career - i.e. you get the same things as usual for the most part, it isn't that different. Seems incredibly nitpicky to bring it up.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/S ... Boss/97146

What do you guys think about this review? I'm not a huge Shadows Fall fan either, but I honestly don't understand how words like "faggy" or "emo" can really be applied to their music.

we don't question The Boss. he just does what The Boss does. Then, disappeared....

Uh...

I wonder why bands that did the same shit like Bolt Thrower or Dismember never tried to slap the faces of their fans by doing something completely different. Oh that's right, it didn't really matter as long as the music kicked ass. Wowzers... and since when is playing groove / alternative rock with screams being progressively interesting? A band that did that well was Swedish counterparts Blindside back on their Silence album... 12 years ago. IF are late.

"This is kluseba's sixteenth win and seventeenth nomination."

Honestly, is that Kluseba review even acceptable? I thought "ranting about elitists" had been an automatic rejection for years.



lol'd at this, was great

He uhh... never ranted about elitists?

Regardless, he is wrong. I can see his point but I always thought Grave Digger was at their best when they were just rocking the fuck out. Bordenthal's voice is much better suited to that than anything else. Hell Funeral is one of the best songs I've heard all year.

Right...if you even think In Flames make above-mediocre music you're just wrong, and that's a fact.

And he actually seems pretty proud of it.. You know, i'm very young so I couldn't care less for In Flames changing their sound as I wasn't even there to take note, but even I acknowledge that In Flames have turned into one of the most generic hard rock/alternative metal(core) bands of modern day and age, and they're not even good at what they're trying to be... I'm pretty sure i'm not alone in this, which makes the first paragraph of his review reek of projection.

Note to kluseba: Just because we don't understand your crappy taste doesn't mean we're close minded elitists, we just hate the music you like. There's a difference, you know...?

talking about the inflames review...

Oh... Diamhea somehow messed up and made Tony's quote link to the Grave Digger one as well, haha

Pre-emptively calling it, he's about to come in here and start bitching about how we're all kindergarteners and elitists because we don't coddle his shitty opinions and shittier writing like he's the messiah or something.

But yeah seriously, like whatever you want, why can't you just do a review explaining what you like about the album without METAL ELITISTS ranting? Oh right because you're insecure and deep down you know your taste is god awful.

That review was a massive load of shit. Not that I write good reviews, but seriously... Not even I, an enormous fan of In Flames, can take that thing seriously.

I was going to call Siren Charms "Passenger 2.0", but then I listened to Passenger and realized that even that was heavier and better written than Siren Charms.