The Future of Metal Music

[Tyr66]

Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engage, Bullet for My Valentine, Trivium, Slipknot, Greta Van Fleet and Ghost. Well, here are the names of the current major bands appeared since the early 2000s or late 90s. After having had the opportunity these bands, whether some titles or full albums. I had bought the first 2 albums of Disturbed, Slipknot's first album (very quickly sold) and listened to some albums of Killswitch Engage that bored me quickly. The Core side, most certainly.
But I'm worried about the future: nothing, absolutely nothing new, can keep the flame inside me, except for Ghost.
I'm not talking about Stoner, which is a genre apart  with this revival side I personally enjoy but is not really original. I clearly prefer listening to the Masters of this style instead of the students.
Once our famous heroes, some of whom are already tired, will be forced to retire, what will be the limit in terms of choice ? I think that the artistic choice corresponds to the audience of the moment, the 15/35 years old and I probably have difficulties to admit that I am off-topic now.
So for a few years, the more I'm getting older, the more I'm diving into the golden past and discovering, or rediscovering a real pleasure of listening some bands. But sometimes I also discover other actual styles like Synth Wave that knows how to mix 80s sounds with the electronic sound of today. But it's an exception and I'm talking about an album or just a few tracks. It's really good but not great.
A scientific study would tend to prove that "musical paralysis" would appear when we reach 30 years of age.
After that , we lose that ability to really appreciate something for a variety of reasons, and we're talking about average listeners, not die hard fans like us here.
I agree but unexpected and rare discoveries can still happen fortunately.

[Charger]

There are very few new bands that I get really excited about anymore...

The ones that I do seem to be Female lead Doom bands mostly...or bands that feature musicians that I already know from other bands.

Of those bands you listed I can't stand any of them...pretty much hate 'em in fact.


I am still open to find new bands though and I do listen to stuff that others post either here or on facebook but not a whole lot of wow factors present...if any really.

But the good thing is that because of internet it is so easy for new bands to get their music out there and it's equally easy for us to find them....with the sheer ammount of bands out there finding a great one should be just a matter of time...although usually what I find great is something that no one else (atleast around here) doesn't seem to care one damn bit...but that might say more about me than you guys though...maybe my music taste just sucks.

[Tyr66]

¨^^ You've great music taste , buddy . Proof :  You're a fan of Devil Electric !!

[Charger]

¨^^ You've great music taste , buddy . Proof :  You're a fan of Devil Electric !!

The exception that proves the point?

[Thelemech]

I Like Slipknot, Disturbed, Korn, System Of A Down, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, I even like some Five Finger Death Punch. (Hides as others throw rocks)
But none of these bands comes even close to the awesomeness that is the past giants of Rock and Metal. There is no new Black Sabbath or Metallica quality bands. That is of course my opinion.



 

[Zzzptm]

(The Stoner Rock fan waves at you all from over here)

Here's what I see as having happened: the canon is closed for rock and metal.

In the 4th Century, churchmen gathered at various synods and decided what was official - canonical - and what was out, as far as scriptures went. What's canon is what's in the Bibles of the various major branches of Christianity - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopic, Asian. That's it, no more. There's about 90% overlap between what's in each branch's Bible, so it forms a commonly accepted standard.

None of them are taking anything new.

Similar canon-closings have happened with Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. Hinduism had a revision of scriptures, but their canon was essentially closed once the oral records were committed to writing. Buddhism also closed off its canon, with different branches closing it at different times.

The point being is that people in a movement can get to the point where they say, "That's it. No more. This is what we'll study, over and over and over again and nothing will ever be as great as this stuff."

This has happened with Classic Rock. Even the bands that make up the common curriculum of Classic Rock can't have their new stuff added. The Classic Rock radio format will only play the same 1000-1200 songs, over and over and over again. No more deep cuts or new stuff - just the same old same old.

Currently active bands will continue to pack arenas, but there are no up-and-coming bands in the pipeline. No breakout bands like there used to be... like how Van Halen once opened for Kiss, or how Metallica opened for Ozzy, then each became huge in its own right. The up-and-coming stadium fillers are pop acts. There's simply no radio support for new rock and certainly not new metal.

Part of this is also to do with the massive changes in the recording industry. It's very much invested in the digital paradigm, which is back to singles sales. And what digital singles sell the best? Either those of already-established bands or those of pop sensations with loads of marketing pushing that product.

That's not to say there aren't any new rock or metal acts. Just that there aren't any that are going to be as globally popular as Led Zeppelin / Elton John / David Bowie / Judas Priest / Ozzy and so forth. They'll have they followings, on YouTube, on FaceBook, on Bandcamp, in the clubs, but they're not going to be marketed like those acts once were. There's no common cultural touchstone for the genres outside of those established acts. If you see a kid with a Metallica poster on his wall, you have a certain set of expectations. If you see a kid with a Mos Generator poster on the wall, you'll be scratching your head and wondering if it's a real band or not.

Rock and metal are now more like a local music scene where you see their stuff on YouTube and then maybe decide to buy their album on Bandcamp or Amazon because you want to play it in your car or on your phone and because you feel that buying music is the right thing to do.

[Zzzptm]

So, what bands are actually moving some significant product and are maybe at the top of the radar, at least as my "local music scene" analogy goes?

I know I'm the Stoner Rock fan, but there's plenty of stuff that's metallic enough that the stoners are putting out and they're well worth checking out. Why? Because the Stoner canon isn't closed, dude! It's still accepting new applicants and is happy to recognize acts that are making significant strides.

The two bands I would recommend most would be Mos Generator and Wo Fat.

Mos Generator is easily the most Sabbath-like of the stoner bands, and they wear that mantle well. They're not aping Sabbath as much as they continue to explore ground that was left uncovered by SBS and Sabotage. They will roam out of that band often enough to keep things interesting, and they certainly can call upon their metal chops when they need to.

Wo Fat is a powerful representative of blues-based metal with plenty of groove and Orange amps. They'll dabble in psychedelic jams, but there's always a solid bottom to those things that keeps the music well-grounded. They've got a big, mean sound that's pretty much what metal sounded like in the late 70s/early 80s, just before it got codified into a much narrower band of sound when it was commercialized in the mid 80s.