MicShazam

My two top picks would be that Belakor album: https://open.spotify.com/album/7L4x2kIuTY5CnDOQ0PzeWh

And the Tori Amos album: https://open.spotify.com/album/77Aoown5BoLvQJnZJBICPO

Then the question is simply whether you feel more like listening to metal or something more mellow. I can't vouch for the quality of the Be'Lakor album, but I've loved all of the albums that came after this one.
It's not going to get a 2nd chance any time soon, but let's say I won't refuse to listen to it again.

Trollheart

I'll give the Bekalor one a shot, but I should warn you, melodic death metal has had a bad track record with me so far. We'll see though.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

MicShazam

Here's some songs from the albums I'm most interested in getting my hands on right now:

Jinjer - Cloud Factory

From their second album which was re-issued recently. Sounds fairly close to their third and newest album and I feel like it's more or less guaranteed that it will be right up my alley. Ordered it 15 minutes ago!

Jinjer - Waltz

From their first album. Pretty difficult to find on CD these days. Was probably mostly sold in Ukraine origininally and hasn't been re-issued. It sounds kinda rough and is less complex than their newer music, but I still think I'd like it. I just need to find an affordable copy somewhere.

Ex-Fan Des Sixties - Jane Birkin (full album) 1978

I'd like to get my hands on any Jane Birkin album I don't have, so that means pretty much all of her 60's, 70's, 80's stuff. I don't know how many albums she has exactly, but they're all kinda hard to find on CD, so I'll just get whatever I find first one day. If you don't know Jane Birkin, think Francoise Hardy, basically.

Sukekiyo されど道連れ

The third album (titled "Adoratio") from Dir En Grey singer Kyo's secondary band is pretty much impossible to find ****ing anywhere. I think I'm going to have to try and see if I can import it from Japan. Not even easy to hear online, since they keep getting uploads taken down. It's as if they're trying to keep it for themselves, the bastards.

MicShazam

Medina - Forever


Got this album today and have been listening to it a bit. I really, really dig this track:

Medina - "Boring" - Official video


When it comes to pop music, I'm heavily biased towards the more dance oriented side of things. If it's got a slightly melancholy vibe to it, it's even better.

Still don't know what I think of the whole album, so this is by no means a record review. First impression is that it's a bit flatter and less exciting sounding than her first album, but it's got the hooks.

MicShazam

I've always had a sort of moth-to-the-flame relationship with bands that are looked down upon by a lot of music nerds. I think there's something interesting about trying to elevate yourself above the instinct to dismiss something maligned and instead try to really listen to it and form your own opinion. Back when it was new, I listened to Metallica's crapfest of an album LuLu, several times, even though it's 90 minutes and frankly not very good. On some level, it was still an interesting experience, since you feel all sorts of emotions and thoughts go through your head as you try and figure out how relate to the music.

These last two evenings, I've been diving into all sorts of questionable music on Spotify, listening to lots of Limp Bizkit, Korn and other bands that don't exactly enjoy a good reputation among most people who know anything about music.

Here's a few things I learned so far.



Limp Bizkit really are crap

Listening to the track "Hot Dog" off their album Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water, it was hard not to feel an impulse to turn it off immediately and go throw darts at a portrait of Fred Durst. Jesus this song is annoying. I can't for the life of me figure out why Durst is going with that annoyingly whiny vocal style so often (or at all). And the lyrics! And the album title and artwork! Oh God this is terrible. I got a few tracks into the album and then decided to listen to some songs from other albums. This disc really is one of the worst things I've ever heard/seen. No exaggeration.

Then I try and give some random selections from their 2011 album Gold Cobra a try. This was published well after everyone had stopped caring about the band and I don't think I've ever heard anything from it. Let's see if they've grown as a band.
Hmm... allright, so Durst has toned down his annoying vocal style a lot, but the lyrics are terrible as ever and there's just nothing really going on. It's basic "jump da **** up and down" nu-metal riffing with a surprising amount of mainstream rap influence (think 50 Cent, or something in that vein). People usually defend the band by saying Wes Borland is an underrated guitarist, but I didn't notice anything interesting on any of these songs.

I took a quick look at The Unquestionable Truth Part 1 as well - since it's the album that apologists often say is less dopey, more interesting. And it's sorta true, but I doubt this will convert any "haters". I caught a few brief moments with some nice riffing going on, but Durst is insufferable as always.

From now on, when I say that Limp Bizkit sucks, I know that I'm not just parroting what other people are saying or operating on habit alone. It's confirmed now: Terrible band.



Korn are harmless and dull

This was the first band I dove into and I expected to hate it. Instead what happened was that I would end up clicking from album to album, frantically searching for a song that wasn't just a variation on their usual schtick and wasn't boring.

Some of their albums are more boring (The Paradigm Shift), some of them less boring (III: Remember Who You Are), some of them somewhat annoying (Follow the Leader), but the difference frankly isn't huge.

Some of their production choices are neat and I do like how some of their better material sounds really beefy and sort of atmospheric, but I found myself a bit surprised by just how unadventurous the band is. There's a real dearth of fun riffs and Jonathan Davis - while a singer with some expressive range - tends to run through his bag of tricks very fast on every album, so he ends up feeling very one note.

I don't think Korn is a terrible band. I just think they've spent their entire career underachieving.



Butcher Babies

This is one of the more divisive and ridiculed bands in modern metal, so I thought it would be fun to take a trip past their albums as well. The two singers are both former porn stars, I think, and the visual image of the band is pretty damn corny. They also have some terrible songs here and there (Monster's ball), but I was surprised to find that the band isn't always that bad. The two singers are capable and there's some occasionally fun riffing that mixes together varying styles of modern metal, like metalcore, death core, nu-metal and melodic death metal.

Conceptually, they're such an easy band to dismiss and make fun of, but I've heard so much worse metal. Just the fact that they fairly often manage some good, catchy riffs and even the occasional catchy vocal hook places them leagues above both Limp Bizkit and Korn.

I wouldn't call myself a new born fan of this band, but I can't hate on this. They get enough of that already. I don't think they're bad, really. They've just got a terrible visual image and a stupid band name.



In This Moment
Among the sort of modern metal fans that don't listen to all sorts of esoterica,
In This Moment is actually fairly popular, but they catch a good amount of sneering from the more "learned" music nerds as well as from old-school metalheads (you know the type). The band sounds like someone threw Marilyn Manson, Korn and Lady Gaga in a blender, so it's no wonder they rub people with "good tastes" the wrong way.

The thing with this band is that they used to irritate me quite a bit. I've bumped into their music videos whenever they've put out a new album and always found them terrible. This is really the main reason why I wanted to give them a chance again: Because I knew it would be difficult to be neutral while listening. I really do think this sort of exercise is constructive, but you can call it a waste of time if you will.

After listening to half of the album Black Widow, I can conclude that this band is a bit too over the top, quite over produced and that the singer is layering on the vocal affectations to the point of silliness. Still... I... don't quite hate it? I almost like it. The chorus to "Big Bad Wolf" sounds like Guano Apes, and I like that band. After about half of this album, I think I'm actually somewhat on board with it. I turned it off and ordered it for cheap on Amazon. Gonna take a chance and see what I think of the whole thing after a few full listens.

Is this band ridiculous? Probably very - but then, so is a lot of well loved metal. Remember how I compared In This Moment to Lady Gaga?
Some songs really bring the pop hooks and I'm a sucker for a good hook. The song "Dirty Pretty" is a prime example of this band in full on Lady Gaga mode.

I'm gonna post that one and let that be it for now:

In This Moment - "Dirty Pretty" (Official Audio)

The Batlord

Then take the plunge and listen to a full ICP album. The definitive ICP album. I think it might even be different from the music I've foisted on you till now. Non-ironically my fav hip hop album. Even TH kinda liked this one...

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Frownland

Lulu's pretty good apart from Hetfield.

What's worst than Fred Durst's uh...rapping is when he tries to sing with that dumb ass cracker accent.



Korn has a cool approach to bass. Shame about the rest of it though.

Do Metal Machine Music.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

MicShazam

Both challenges accepted. I'll see if I can get to it this weekend.

MicShazam

Another night spent listening to ****ty music on purpose. Here's what I learned.

Loud Reed - Metal Machine Music


I don't know much about Lou Reed but what I remember usually being said about this album is that it is rumored to be a thinly veiled "**** you" from Lou Reed to his record label, but I don't know... The world has moved on, and the idea of an album consisting entirely of abrasive noise isn't really that outlandish or unusual anymore. Not being a fan of outright noise albums, it's hard for me to contextualize Metal Machine Music fully. I do find that the four roughly 15 minute long pieces that make up the album are mercilessly repetitive, to the point that I'm not entirely dismissive of the theory that Reed originally intended the album to be a sort of glorified ****post.

But then again, it's probably not...? He's dead, so I can't ever know for sure, but since I'm usually a believer in the "death of the author" idea, it doesn't really even matter. It is what it is, no matter what Reed intended.

It's from that perspective that I'll dare call Metal Machine Music a bad album. One hour of largely eventless, repetitive noise, that seems worryingly bereft of ideas, is not something I can get behind. I said this sort of thing isn't my home turf, but this album wouldn't even be one that I would want to return to if I started to get more into the genre. It just seems so underdeveloped. It actually is pretty unlistenable due to the repetition.



Insane Clown Posse - Riddle Box


My perspective on this band has certainly shifted, I'll say that much. Comparing this with Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water album, there's no doubt which of these two acts is the real stinker.
Limp Bizkit is just ****ing annoying on every level and they hardly ever had an idea worth a second of your attention. Insane Clown Posse on the other hand... well... their schtick is pretty daft, but there's a real feeling that they're giving it their best to entertain you and it's hard to hate them for their light hearted, goofy carnival-clowns-&-weed stories.

Riddle Box is a pretty layered album, as far as vocals and sound effects go. There's so many different voices, with all of these vocalists pulling off convincingly looney tunes-esque cartoon voices. The lyrics are dumb, but self aware. It's a lot less horrible than the tough guy posturing and whininess of Fred Durst, that's for sure.

Having listened to an entire Violent J album before, I'm not repelled by anything here as such. The thing that sinks Riddle Box is primarily that the songs are too similar in terms of tempo, beat and where the vocalist place their rhythmic emphasis. This makes the songs feel too similar and I started getting bored after a while. However, if we zoom in on a section and just look at tracks 1 and 2 put together, then that makes for a pretty fun, silly bit of comedy rap. It's dumb, but that's not always a crime. After all, one of my favorite comic strips of all time is Bud Grace's Ernie:



I'm not going to say that stupid/silly = bad.

My point is that I'm not sure I can fault ICP in any of the usual ways people dismiss them. Their music is undeniably creative, but the ireverrent, willfully goofy, violent and cartoony style is going to have to be categorized as an acquired taste. There's not a lot of musical depth here either. It's clear that they're focusing on the lyrics, the voice acting, sound effects and the general vibes created by each track. Think of their music as cinematic, rather than something that's trying to engage you through chord progressions, rhythms or melodies.

A few closing notes:

The song "Ol' Evil Eye" had some nice sounds.

Some lines were legit funny:
"But tonight, you ain't ****, now spin the ****in' wheel
Looks good, nice try
Now let's see just how ya gonna die?
Lucky, lucky, he landed on Carpenter Jed
He just pounds nails in your forehead"

Actually, that line sort of encapsulates the mindset you're either able to go along with or not. I do feel like this band is unfairly considered one of the worst things of all time, when I honestly think being boring is a much bigger crime than being somewhat tastelessly daft.

Here's a list of artists I'd insist are worse than ICP, for reasons of being just-plain-boring:

Atomic Kitten
Bryan Adams
Creed
Nickelback
Staind
Macklemore
Mumford and Sons
James Blunt
Rasmus Seebach (Danish artist. Ungodly boring.)
Coldplay

... and many more.

Am I now and ICP fan? No. But I don't hate them and shall refrain from ridiculing their music in the future. I'll still be making fun of Juggalos and that magnets incident though.

MicShazam

I'm currently binging on Britney Spears on Spotify, so that might be next in line.