Opinions on why some don't like prog metal?

 

It's not that dry or simple.

 

My generation, the one that invented "progressive" music and many other things, is by far one of the best when it comes to "philosophy" and many other things.

 

The issue is, that we think that "philosophy" has to be all in words. That it can never come in an instrument. That it can never come with a composer. That it can never come with King Crimson ... and in my way of thinking that is quite incorrect.

 

Times change, And different medias and mediums come around and bring out "philosophy" differently ... than a written book ... or as I used to say to a lot of new age folks ... new age always had to come by the CD, or the book or the crystal ... never by someone right in front of you saying hello or writing an article.

 

In my book, the likes of Daevid Allen, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Ryuichi Sakamoto, are the best "philosophers" of the past 50 years ... and I might add a couple of film makers like Jean Luc Godard to that mix, but to say that nothing else out there is not ... scares me!

 

It's the best representation of philosophy ever done ... except that it was never done like that before or "recorded".

 

Now it is!

 

Your call!

 

mosh has a perennial problem of taking words out of context, perhaps conveniently so as to enable him to go on his favourite rant against prog rock listeners.   Without commenting on a musician's understanding of philosophy, I would suggest that nevertheless a philosophically oriented approach, particularly if (like in prog metal) it is too verbose, can suffocate the music and divert attention from it. I prefer lyrics that communicate the emotion of the music.  My favourite pieces of lyric writing aren't even all that profound.  Something like Babylon Sisters brilliantly conveys the mood being built up in the music and, especially, is a lot of fun to sing.  Writing lyrics for a song is a whole different ballgame from understanding of poetry or philosophy, even if all those may help.

Are you suggesting that all musicians out there are uneducated and stupid and could not possibly have one iota of philosophy in their work?

 

If I have an issue with it, is that a lot of these lyrics are not intelligent enough, and many of these people are just writing "songs" yet again ... and they do not have the cultural and schooling, to do anything more than just another rock'n'roll song ...

 

But to suggest that some folks can not create anything with it ... is sad ... and is a gross generalization. There are very good writers out there, in all facets of music ... and many times they are way more philosophical than most stuff you read in the class at your local pissing hole ... ooooppppsss ... school!

I have a different take on this. I rarely relate to personal lyrics in metal because the musicianship is rarely able to evoke the nuance that may be required to convey more subtle emotions that go with personal lyrics.  As I like to say, a metal song could just as well be about Valhalla or Satan or love and it would all sound essentially the same - chugga chugga thud thud!  I think metal music is best suited to project anger or aggression, which may take either Satanic or anti-social or political hues depending on the band.  Yes, that's not exactly a diverse palate, but metal is meant to serve a relatively narrow band of expressions. Writing on topics not usually dealt with in metal doesn't by itself solve the problem.  I think Gildenlow does try to overcome that by using a lot of R&B influence in his music but his R&B based singing is not as convincing as his metal singing, so I am not completely satisfied. I do commend PoS's efforts to surmount the problem though. 

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