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DavetheSlave View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Stratovarius
    Posted: December 03 2008 at 04:27
Hi, I've been off of the Site for a while mainly as a rebellious act due to the fact that entry of Stratovarius as a Prog related band has been refused numerous times. I know of a few people who refuse to access the Site any longer for the same reason. To my mind there is too much good here in order for that to keep me away but I still cannot understand the thinking applied to Stratovarius.
I love prog music and cannot handle mainstream popular music or mainstream metal. I own hundreds of albums and over the years I've owned thousands and have been a music lover for 40 years. My start into music was via my parents who loved the classics as in Liszt and the like.
How does a site like this put Metallica, The Who, The Rolling Stones, etc etc onto its portfolio but leave out Stratovarius - that almost sounds to me like a political and not a musical decision.
Has anyone here actually listened to their music?
 
To my mind the best prog band today are Dream Theater who are way beyond most of the other bands here in musical skills and in songwriting ability. I also enjoy early Genesis, early Yes, Jethro Tull, Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Porcupine Tree, etc etc - just to let you know that I'm not a wannabe Proghead.
Aside from that I also enjoy Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young - who admittedly could and should never be here.
 
Can we do something about my concern here?
 
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Petrovsk Mizinski View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 04:52
Metallica has a lot of a  prog traits and is a lot closer to a prog metal band than Stratovarious.
Stratovarious is just pure power metal, that simple.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 05:37
I do not agree with you and am entitled to disagree - Magnum are power metal. I can play each and every Metallica track note for note on a guitar and I'm not much of a guitarist. They are a pop metal band who have made 1 good pop metal album and a lot of junk as well. Their music is simplistic to the extreme.
Elements by Stratovarius eats Metallica for musicianship, songwriting, and anything else you care to mention and so does any other track that they've ever done.
Please just do me a favor and listen to a Stratovarius album outside of the first three.
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Mr ProgFreak View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 07:26
Originally posted by slaver slaver wrote:

I do not agree with you and am entitled to disagree - Magnum are power metal. I can play each and every Metallica track note for note on a guitar and I'm not much of a guitarist. They are a pop metal band who have made 1 good pop metal album and a lot of junk as well. Their music is simplistic to the extreme.


LOL given the choice between simplistic and arrogant, I'd always choose simplistic. But - if Metallica are simplistic, then what about Manowar?Tongue

Originally posted by slaver slaver wrote:


Elements by Stratovarius eats Metallica for musicianship, songwriting, and anything else you care to mention and so does any other track that they've ever done.
Please just do me a favor and listen to a Stratovarius album outside of the first three.


Songwriting? Sorry, but I think that that's one of the most important elements of music - and Stratovarius aren't exactly good at it. Sure, it's just my opinion, but I think that Metallica  run circles around Stratovarious in many ways, including songwriting.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 07:36
Absolutely not an authority on the band in question, but I used to listen to a lot of power metal and prog metal a couple of years ago.

Stratovarius was one of those bands, and even though they have a lot of delicacies enriching their sound and floating on top I seem to remember the underlying STRUCTURE the songs were built on and from remained quite simple and straight-forward, much in the vein of most other power metal bands. That's probably the best reason to why they aren't here, as the site focuses a lot on those qualities.

Now, it's been a while since I heard them and I don't know all their releases, so this is more for the sake of discussion Smile


Edited by LinusW - December 03 2008 at 07:37
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 08:32
I just wonder why people have to resort to threats or slurs in order to get what they want. OK,  I can understand being disappointed because a favourite band of yours is not in the DB (which doesn't really affect their musical quality or your enjoyment), but I have some trouble in coming to terms with a 'rebellious act'. In my view, if one isn't satisfied with something, they should just let it be, and find something more satisfactory - instead of trying to force their views on others, or implying all sorts of negative things. If people don't want to access PA because Stratovarius are not here, so be it - thank heavens this is still a free world, and the Internet is full of sites that may appeal more to them. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2008 at 08:51

I still don't really understand the ins and outs of why certain bands are included and certain bands are not.  It is my understanding that bands like Rhapsody and Nightwish were included before the current genre team structure was in place, and once album reviews were done, the site policy is to not remove the bands.  Metallica are included in prog related because a 45 page discussion took place regarding there relation to prog and their influence on the entirety of prog metal.  There are probably 10,000 artists that could be added to prog related, but to-date the inclusions have been kept limited not enough for some people's standards but too much for other people's standards.

In regards to Stratovarius, I don't really understand why they aren't included either.  I have seen them labelled as progressive metal in other sites, articles, etc...  I think of them as a symphonic metal band and I think of progressive rock quite simplisticly as the merging of symphony with rock or jazz with rock.  By this site's standards my definition is too inclusive.  LOL  And whether or not you agree or disagree with a certain band's inclusion or not, it is important that you realize that these decisions are not made willy nilly.  The people who make these decisions are volunteers who volunteer a lot of time to this site to evaluate whether bands are progressive or not.  They are not perfect but they really do a spectacular job.  For the time being, I would suggest that you start a Stratovarius appreciation thread in the general music discussions thread and there you can talk all that you want about Stratovarius until your heart's content.  I have done similar threads for bands like Van Halen, Judas Priest and The Police.  Not that I think Van Halen is prog, but I just wanted to discuss them with fellow music junkies.  In my mind, I have no doubt that Judas Priest belongs here, but that is an uphill battle that I'll probably never win, and I think that at the least The Police could qualify for prog-related, but they are in line with the other 10,000 bands that may or may not make the archives after all of the full-on prog bands have been added, or at least until a Special Collab or an Admin takes up their cause. Wink
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Petrovsk Mizinski View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 01:52
Originally posted by slaver slaver wrote:

I do not agree with you and am entitled to disagree - Magnum are power metal. I can play each and every Metallica track note for note on a guitar and I'm not much of a guitarist. They are a pop metal band who have made 1 good pop metal album and a lot of junk as well. Their music is simplistic to the extreme.
Elements by Stratovarius eats Metallica for musicianship, songwriting, and anything else you care to mention and so does any other track that they've ever done.
Please just do me a favor and listen to a Stratovarius album outside of the first three.


Okay, so I've heard a lot of Stratovarius, including "outside of the first 3".
Sounds like a power metal band through and through.
They were rejected by 3 members of the prog metal team (including myself) and I imagine if the other 2 members of the team vote, they will reject it too.
They were also further rejected by another 6 collabs.
By the time a band has been rejected by 9 collabs (6 of which aren't even on the Prog Metal Team, of which I know at least 4 of them were former PMT members and thus, are not even obligated to vote), I think a band's prog credentials are highly questionable.
The band has no chance of making it into a prog genre.
As for prog related, you could try, but don't get your hopes upWink


By the time someone calls Metallica a "pop metal band" and says they can play all their songs note for note despite not being "much of a guitarist", it's honestly hard to take an opinion like that seriously at all.
It may not be technical by the standards of today's Technical Death Metal (for example), but it still requires some amount of musicianship to play.
You can hear only their influence all over Images and Words, but in fact, actual elements of prog metal that Metallica helped to create.

As for "rebellion by not showing up to PA", well it's hardly rebellion, since well, we didn't even know you were rebelling in the first place.
Where as someone here that actually makes their voice heard is actually able to rebel.

I liken it to someone who constantly complains about things they don't like about their government, policies/laws etc, but just sits at home apathetically and does nothing about it.
On the other hand, we have Nelson Mandela (to use an example you will be familiar with) who put his voice out, got people's attention and wide spread support and was ACTIVELY involved in his cause.
He ended up President of the RSA for his efforts.
That's certainly a lot more than you can say about someone that never bothered to show up, never bothered to actually voice their opinion and just shied away from actually doing anything.

Well, you made the first step at least I guess of making yourself heard.

And just for a bit of trivia, my ex-girlfriend was originally from Johannesburg, hehe.




Edited by HughesJB4 - December 04 2008 at 01:55
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Mr ProgFreak View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 01:59
It's just a troll anyway. Any real guitarist would not say something like "I can play each and every Metallica track note for note on a guitar and I'm not much of a guitarist" ... a ridiculous statement. And as far as his musical expertise is concerned: "Magnum are power metal" ... yeah right.LOL
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:02

Rushfan 4 - Thank you. Hi Mr Progfreak - isn't the very basis of prog music the fact that it is more complex than mainstream pop music. Aren't we proud of the fact that a man like John Petrucci can play his instrument in a way that no pop musician can. Why do we call it instrument w**king when a musician proves what he is capable of? Isn't that what makes us different from the "pop" crowd. I say again, I can play each and every Metallica track on my guitar note for note. I cannot play a lot of Stratovarius's music because I'm not good enough. They have differing beat structures throughout their tracks, they use a lot of Symphonic instrumentation. The keyboard and guitar work within Stratovarius at times borders on stunning. A number of their tracks are long and multi - layered. Again please do me a favor and listen to them.  

Rushfan 4 - with the release of Judas Priests latest album I agree with you that they should also be here.

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:18
^ I don't even doubt that you're a good guitar player. But if you are, you should acknowledge the fact that Metallica is much more difficult to play than AC/DC, Motörhead or Manowar. Sure, Some Stratovarius songs may be even more difficult than Metallica ... but that doesn't mean they're prog. If Stratovarius are prog in your opinion, then I have no problem with that ... you seem to appreciate technical playing more than others. Long tracks ... well, they aren't automatically prog either. It depends on a number of factors, at least for me. Especially in Power Metal it's difficult to make a division between prog and non-prog ... I think you'll agree that not all Power Metal is prog, even if most of the bands feature technical playing, long tracks and symphonic instrumentation.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:21

Hi Mr Progfreak - I love Magnum's music and I have every one of their albums - they aren't even Power Metal - they border on Power Pop. They made one prog album and that was purely because of the track "Don't wake the lion".

Can you play the guitar - if you can then try to emulate Metallica - it is suprisingly easy. Try to emulate Stratovarius's track called Stratovarius.

HughesJB4 - I accept your argument although why were so few given the ability to vote for so many? I remember a past Stratovarius argument that got very heated on this site.

 
Oh yes - I fully support the fact that Nightwish is on the Site unlike many as their music is definately not pop and neither is it pure metal. I don't know whether Within Temptation is here but if they aren't they should be. I cannot understand why the Beatles are here and I seem to recall seeing the Rolling Stones as well - huh?

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:23
Originally posted by slaver slaver wrote:

Rushfan 4 - Thank you. Hi Mr Progfreak - isn't the very basis of prog music the fact that it is more complex than mainstream pop music. Aren't we proud of the fact that a man like John Petrucci can play his instrument in a way that no pop musician can. Why do we call it instrument w**king when a musician proves what he is capable of? Isn't that what makes us different from the "pop" crowd. I say again, I can play each and every Metallica track on my guitar note for note. I cannot play a lot of Stratovarius's music because I'm not good enough. They have differing beat structures throughout their tracks, they use a lot of Symphonic instrumentation. The keyboard and guitar work within Stratovarius at times borders on stunning. A number of their tracks are long and multi - layered. Again please do me a favor and listen to them.  

Rushfan 4 - with the release of Judas Priests latest album I agree with you that they should also be here.



Okay, I agree that Timo Tolkki (although according to wikipedia, he has left the band) is a vastly superior lead guitarist to Kirk Hammett.......but to be honest, that's not particularly hard either (given how sloppy Kirk Hammett is now). I would dare say my own lead guitar skills are superior to his, although I wouldn't exactly compare with Tolkki.
Yes, Symphonic instrumentation.
Like a gazillion other power metal and neo-classical metal bands.
Hell, it seems Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force was doing that before Stratovarius in the metal scene, so not exactly a pioneering move on Stratovarius' part either.

And as always, virtuosic does not necessarily=prog

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:29

Hi Mr Progfreak - I agree with you regarding Manowar - Metallica's music is however not more difficult to play than AC/DC or Motorhead - the opposite is true. I have one AC/DC album and none of the other two's in my collection although over time I have owned and gotten rid of a few. Just don't like them much.

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:32
Originally posted by slaver slaver wrote:

Hi Mr Progfreak - I love Magnum's music and I have every one of their albums - they aren't even Power Metal - they border on Power Pop. They made one prog album and that was purely because of the track "Don't wake the lion".

Can you play the guitar - if you can then try to emulate Metallica - it is suprisingly easy. Try to emulate Stratovarius's track called Stratovarius.

HughesJB4 - I accept your argument although why were so few given the ability to vote for so many? I remember a past Stratovarius argument that got very heated on this site.

 
Oh yes - I fully support the fact that Nightwish is on the Site unlike many as their music is definately not pop and neither is it pure metal. I don't know whether Within Temptation is here but if they aren't they should be. I cannot understand why the Beatles are here and I seem to recall seeing the Rolling Stones as well - huh?



Okay, but I wouldn't bother playing Stratovarius anyway since I'm really a big fan of the band.
If I want to play something more challenging than Metallica, I would probably learn some Dream Theater songs instead.
And again, I accept Timo Tolkki is a very technically proficient guitarist, much more than I am.


And why are there so few given the ability to vote?
Because collaborators are in the minority on Progarchives.
I didn't get promoted to my position on the Progressive Metal Team for nothing.

Honestly, I don't know a great deal about power metal, but I know enough to know what is power metal and what is prog metal.
If you want to talk more about classic prog metal, The T and Sleeper know their stuff.
I was promoted partly on the basis that I had a very good understanding of the nuances and style of extreme metal styles, to fill the gap of knowledge The T and Sleeper don't have in the Tech/Extreme area.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:35

Hi HughesJB4, please just go and listen to Stratovarius again - it's not simply the guitar work - it's the rest of the instrumentation as well, it's the changing and complex rythm structures within the tracks, it's the Keyboard work which is undeniably brilliant. I enjoy Kamelot's music but why are they here when Stratovarius isn't?

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:47
Look, I understand you really want to see Stratovarius here, but they have been rejected for inclusion, and I will not be changing my vote, nor will anyone else I suspect.


As I said, try for prog related, but good luck to that.

And if you want know why Kamelot is here, ask other members/past members of the Prog Metal Team that were part of the team before me (since I was only promoted 3 and a half weeks ago) why they thought it was prog enough to justify inclusion.
I have heard one Kamelot album ever, and that was once all the way through, and this was months and months ago, so I'm not familar with the band's work.

As I said before, my area of 'expertise' (to use the term lightly) lies in extreme metal.
I don't really listen to power metal much anymore, because I just don't really like the sub genre much any more.

Mr ProgFreak himself is more knowledgeable on power metal than I am, and actually realy listens to it, so I hold his opinion on this matter in high regard.

And yes, he was one the people that voted no on Stratovarius while he was a member of the Prog Metal TeamWink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 02:55
By the way I think that Dream Theater is the essence of  Prog Metal today and I love each and every one of their albums other than the "Made in Japan" copy which was abyssimal. The original by Deep Purple remains a rock classic.
Pain of Salvation is close and so are Symphony X but they don't quite have the same style in their performances and albums.
I agree that a Site like this one cannot become a free for all where everything and anything is included because that detracts from who we are and what we enjoy.
To my mind what we enjoy comes from the true masters - the Liszts, Beethovens, Mozarts - originally and we call it music today although it has been enhanced by technology and by knowlege of different techniques, cultures and nuances. I don't particularly enjoy the classics but there's no denying that that was the primary influence of what we as proggers enjoy.
 
I'm sorry but I will never see Metallica as being an influence on anything. If anything Dream Theater used a bit of the Metallica style but then they have used a bit of everyone's style at one point or another.
Pantera did the Metallica style far better than Metallica ever could and so did Anthrax. 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 03:06
"Pantera did the Metallica style far better than Metallica ever could and so did Anthrax"
At absolute best, that is laughable.

Pantera played groove metal, a sub genre derived from thrash metal.
They didn't even play thrash metal......so how could they have "dont the Metallica style better than Metallica"?
Anthrax was an East Coast thrash band more focused on melody and less complex structures than Metallica.
Anthrax did Anthrax.
They didn't do Metallica.

I have to say it, you're digging yourself into a hole here.
Each new post you make in this thread makes it harder for me to believe you know your stuff (no offense intended).

A lot of what you're said isn't really substantiated at all.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2008 at 03:58
Should have said the Thrash metal style far better than Metallica ever could - sorry.
 
I remember when Metallica's first album was reviewed by NME (who I had a lot of respect for) they basically stated that Metallica were a bunch of nobodies who looked evil who played a slow form of thrash / garage metal. Other than for the track "Nothing else matters" and much of the Black album I have never heard them surpass that analogy.
Another thing that got to me about Metallica was the veiled Satanic references in their lyrics which were a bit too overt for me. Not as overt as Manowar but overt enough. Now I am and always have been a Black Sabbath fan but their references were more fantasy than anything else whereas Metallica's lyrics didn't strike me as fantasy at all. I'm not a Bible basher at all but some things I just don't like.
I enjoyed Anthrax and Pantera for their music and for their style - Anthrax put a lot of humor into their music.
With the release of the Nothing else matters track I though that we could see a turning point in Metallica's music but each release after that proved that they were not up to it.
Needless to say I do not enjoy Slayer or Sepultra or the like. 
 
I have dabbled with Korn and would be suprised if their album "Issues" weren't considered prog. Mostly though they just go on their merry monotonous way.   
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