The Tech/Extreme Prog metal appreciation

MikeEnRegalia wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Well, I have to say that these bands fall into the same pit that some jazz-rock artists fell into before (Al DiMeola, for example). First of all, the mere name "Tech Metal" is already misleading; technique is being confused with speed here. There are lots of other instrumental techniques than mere speed, many of which can NOT be used at high speed, or at least even if they can be used they lose their effect. This seems to be something which many people forget. Listen to an acoustic guitar piece by Steve Hackett; it much more deserves to be named "technical", even if it is a lot slower. Paganini could certainly play breathtakingly fast, but he got the most "awws" when he played slowly and used some other extraordinary techniques then. Read up on him if you don't believe me. As a rule of thumb, the difficulty of any piece of music increases with speed. Therefore if you try to group pieces by technical difficulty, this group is bound to contain more fast pieces than slow ones. However, of course it is true that slow parts can also be difficult to play. Having said that, most of the bands in Tech Metal don't play fast all the time ... [QUOTE=BaldFriede]

I disagree about the rule of thumbs, Mike, and even have an excellent counter example from classical music: classical pianist Glenn Gould, whom many consider to be the greatest piano player of the 20th century, recorded Bach's Goldberg variations twice, once in his youth and once 26 years later. the second recording is much slower, but certainly not because he couldn't play fast anymore, and if you think it is less technical then you have no idea of piano playing. playing breathtakingly fast is the privilege of youth who think speed impresses; as you grow older expression impresses you a lot more.
on a side note: there do exist 4 recordings of the Goldberg variations by Gould now, but only 2 of them were published during his lifetime


Edited by BaldJean - July 09 2008 at 04:22

HughesJB4 wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: From memory, this is indeed an appreciation thread. I've went back over the thread, and people have shown nothing but love for the genre and the bands in the genre they like, until this page. The whole point of an appreciation thread is just that. APPRECIATION. I might not like some of the bands in the genre and if that's the case, I wont bash them, I'll just move on and let anyone else listen to them, because they are more than entitled do so without having to put up with anyone needlessly bashing them and/or the band. Some people might not like the genre either, which is more than fair enough, because there was a time when I didn't like it much either, but I've come to love it now. But again, an appreciation thread is to show the for Tech/Extreme Prog Metal. If people want to voice other opinions on it, it's easy just to make a thread about it. I'm talking about this in general, it seems to happen in various appreciation threads and frankly, if I have nothing nice to say about a band/genre, I'm not going to voice that opinion in an appreciation because I don't believe it's fair on the others that love it and it can start needless immature flame wars. I love Tech/Extreme Prog as a genre, for all it's virtuosity, for all it's extreme vocal styles and for the many bands taking metal to new heights and in thread. There are guys like MikeEnRegalia, Jody, and The T who throw their hearts into the genre and for that, I will show this thread all the respect and love it deserves. May I also add to this, that I think the tech/extreme prog metal fans would appreciate if this thread stays on topic rather than having a post that has literally nothing to do with the thread showing up.

well, I personally think that a thread that contains nothing but appreciation is a bit boring and borders on adulation. I think there is nothing wrong with raising a critical voice sometimes

BaldJean wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: From memory, this is indeed an appreciation thread. I've went back over the thread, and people have shown nothing but love for the genre and the bands in the genre they like, until this page. The whole point of an appreciation thread is just that. APPRECIATION. I might not like some of the bands in the genre and if that's the case, I wont bash them, I'll just move on and let anyone else listen to them, because they are more than entitled do so without having to put up with anyone needlessly bashing them and/or the band. Some people might not like the genre either, which is more than fair enough, because there was a time when I didn't like it much either, but I've come to love it now. But again, an appreciation thread is to show the for Tech/Extreme Prog Metal. If people want to voice other opinions on it, it's easy just to make a thread about it. I'm talking about this in general, it seems to happen in various appreciation threads and frankly, if I have nothing nice to say about a band/genre, I'm not going to voice that opinion in an appreciation because I don't believe it's fair on the others that love it and it can start needless immature flame wars. I love Tech/Extreme Prog as a genre, for all it's virtuosity, for all it's extreme vocal styles and for the many bands taking metal to new heights and in thread. There are guys like MikeEnRegalia, Jody, and The T who throw their hearts into the genre and for that, I will show this thread all the respect and love it deserves. May I also add to this, that I think the tech/extreme prog metal fans would appreciate if this thread stays on topic rather than having a post that has literally nothing to do with the thread showing up. well, I personally think that a thread that contains nothing but appreciation is a bit boring and borders on adulation. I think there is nothing wrong with raising a critical voice sometimes

In this case, it's trolling, completely off topic and uncalled for. All this does is stir people up, which may not bother the troll, but to everyone else it's blatantly offensive (offensive, not just annoying).
The prog lounge forum/musicians exchange exists so people can debate such things as to whether prog metal technicality is excessive or not, or whether Glenn Gould's slow playing is as/less/more technical than his slow playing.
I listen to Tech/Extreme Prog metal because it speaks to me, and there is not a right or wrong as to how we should respond emotionally to music and what we perceive as emotional or not. I like it, others don't have to and understandably wont and for those that don't, move on and let other's enjoy it.

BaldJean, I understand your point. But please: if you see the titile of this thread, is The Tech/Extreme Prog Metal APPRECIATION .... Now, if you scroll down the page before this, the "Prog Bands Artists and Genres Appreciation", you'll find two things in common: one, a lot of threads of APPRECIATION, and two, the word APPRECIATION itself in most of those threads and in the lounge's name..... So, wouldn't that give us a clue that what all these threads are for is to express APPRECIATION to bands or genres?  

Edited by The T - July 09 2008 at 23:52

People who don't know this subject should NOT post on this blog.

T i don't know how much you know about the subject, like you said there aren't many websites for thes e bands. Espada Sagrada is better that Tekel, I know after seeing them live at La concha acustica and they rocked, specially the bassist.

There is a lot of lost talent but obiouly you wouldn't be able to find it. Do you even know what talent is??

The T wrote: BaldJean, I understand your point. But please: if you see the titile of this thread, is The Tech/Extreme Prog Metal APPRECIATION .... Now, if you scroll down the page before this, the "Prog Bands Artists and Genres Appreciation", you'll find two things in common: one, a lot of threads of APPRECIATION, and two, the word APPRECIATION itself in most of those threads and in the lounge's name..... So, wouldn't that give us a clue that what all these threads are for is to express APPRECIATION to bands or genres?     I (I will have to speak of myself now, but these applies to many, many other members) never go into APPRECIATION threads for bands or genres I don't like, unless is to ask for advice (like the post rock one... I'm trying to like the genre more...) I went to the Kayo Dot one as a joke, yes, as my original review of 2006's album was kind of polemical... and I also expressed my appreciation for their better (WAY better) 2008 album... If there was a Sigur Ros APPRECIATION thread, I would LOVE to go and express my "love"... but wouldn't that be considered flaming or trolling? And wouldn't that be inmature? Can't I live knowing that other people like what I dislike?   Please... create a thread called "I hate metal" or "I can't stand double bass drumming" or "Glen Gould a much better piano player than the guy in Negura Bunget"... We have other areas where those threads would be welcomed... here, well, these are APPRECIATION threads.... please.

schizoid_man77 wrote:   While all the albums are really good (Negura Bungets OM being the best), a lot do get a little obnoxious, and dont ever tend to mellow down. Besides Alcest of course. Can any of you recomend me any black metal bands in the vein of Alcest, with mellower, almost post rockier atmospheres?

For some time i think i was one of Alcest biggest fans. In 'round 2002 (maybe late 2001) I picked up his demo tape in a second hand metal store. While it wasn't very good - terrible production and very primitive - there was something 'bout the sound which intrigued me. Then in '05 Le Secret was released, leaving me in a dazed state of euphoria, the disc was in my place constantly for a couple of months. The last album was a huge disappointment, to me there were a couple of decent tracks, the others i found to be unfocused almost as if he'd lost interest in producing a full length lp.

Anyway, over recent years, to me, there have been two notable bands employing this sound into bm.

Caina http://www.myspace.com/cainaband (I don't think the myspace samples shed the best light on the band, but the album Mourner was highly esteemed within metal circles last year. New album out this year, which is more post-y - see the sample. Again another one man project).

Fen http://www.myspace.com/fenband (a little heavier, but a similar vibe, methinks, to le secret)

This is only off the top of my head, I know there are more bands in this vain. Hope this helps.


Edited by Black Velvet - July 10 2008 at 01:36