Sometimes I take a break from whatever middle aged man activities I’m engaged in and… (wait for it… waaaaait for it)… I think. And sometimes, when I’m in this state of grace, I think metal. To be more precise, I think about the rise and fall of metal.
I remember a time when many young talented guys released album after album of pure awesomeness, inventing new stuff every time they entered a studio, when I would listen over and over again to this and that tune wondering how the hell did they manage to put in it exactly what I wanted to hear before I even knew I wanted to hear something like that. Then, I quickly take a reality check, looking for present time equivalents of that. Granted, there still are talented bands around, and I still find new music to rock to, but it seems to me they are fewer and far between. And, to top that, I notice that the assault wave is still led by The Big Four (judging by the concert sales), Iron Maiden and other bands that pack around thirty years of music under their belts. So, decades after the initial storm, things kinda look the same… only with some gray hairs, bald spots and beer guts added.
Maybe it’s just me, my thrashier (mind the extra “h”) background could hamper my judgment, but I still don’t react to new tunes like I do to older ones. And almost every time when I listen to new stuff I get to the point where I feel like “Ummm… Everything’s been going great but why did they have to do that funny riff or that oddball drum break at this precise point?” Not to mention 27/51 time signatures, which I can enjoy for a while, until some damn solo breaks my concentration, I stop counting and get totally lost in the middle of the track… I must confess I wanted to see another Metallica, going from the gutter to the glory with some strong straightforward music (and, if applicable, without flip flops and Armani bags, thank you), but so far I haven’t, and I fear the chances of someone ever repeating that are slim at best.
I am definitely getting old. This has to be the explanation. But so are these guys, and I think I can safely say they have a bit more authority in this matter than I do. You can judge for yourself after hitting the jump.
If you don’t recognize the guy providing the vocals, that’s because he’s Brian Posehn and this is not his regular job. The instrumental lineup: Scott Ian, Joey Vera, John Tempesta, Jonathan Donais.
