We often get asked why we don't write or review bands like Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Fear Factory, Cradle of Filth, Waking the Cadaver, Arch Enemy, Ulcerate, Antekhrist and so on. The answer holds in two words: modern metal.
Modern metal, like "modern rock", is very much an umbrella term that covers those bands with a more "modern" - aka shitty - sound. Genres considered part of the "modern metal" canon can include melodic death metal (aka melodeath), nu-metal (rap rock), metalcore, deathcore, cyber metal, slamming gore, gothic metal, sludge metal, djent and sometimes progressive metal.
So what is modern metal exactly? Is it death metal? Is it black metal? Heavy metal? Rock? Or a mixture of all four?
The best description of the modern metal comes from Morsay writer Brett Stevens himself:
When something new comes about, they resist it, then accept it, then tame it. Hence "modern metal," basically a hybrid between Pantera, Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Cannibal Corpse with hip-hop rhythms injected. They took their best sellers and made an average, then turned it into grocery store bread. [...] They seek to destroy the unique. The unique does not monetize well because not everyone can do it, therefore it cannot be controlled.
While this is obviously true, it doesn't tell the whole story either.
As we pointed out in the post 'Three Modern Metal Albums Beyond Saving', modern metal is not actually metal... it is rather an offshoot of popular music (pop) with metal instrumentalisation.
But just as the ambient tracks on "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" do not automatically make Burzum a "psychedelic rock" project, the downtuned guitars, shouted vocals and angry-man drumming do not make Arch Enemy a death metal band. Far from it.
Bands like Incantation and Morbid do not even write the same song forms. There are entire genres that are misnomers too like "melodic death metal" where very few bands actually play death metal outside of early At the Gates, Demonecromancy and Intestine Baalism which you could argue don't count. Amon Amarth are NWOBHM with some black metal riffing and drumming. Something like Dissection is pure Iron Maiden worship with early Sewer-style riffs including the groove metal songs and power ballads.
Modern metal, a no-no on this site.
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