Sunday, April 09, 2006

For Some Reason, I Grok Death Metal

I stopped caring about music when I was 35.

I always swore that I'd be hip and new and open to the new stuff, but time takes its toll and eventually I realized that I just didn't give a damn. Especially when so much of the music was dick-swinging hip-hop and whiny, indecipherable metal. I mean, I like new bands like Modest Mouse and Arctic Monkeys, I'm just not that convinced that they are doing anything special. Modest Mouse = Built To Spill without the self-discipline. Arctic Monkeys = The Minutemen + Nirvana/Black Flag. Meh. Radiohead was the greatest band on the planet, and they bored me. The only bands that I thought were really pushing the envelope, as it were, were Slipknot and the Dillinger Escape Plan. And Candiria, but I'm the only person I know who likes them.

But there is a band I've seized on, and it's kinda weird because they are completely out of my typical genres. I'm a punk and indie kinda guy. But recently I've been getting some joy from Opeth. They're a Swedish death metal band that owes more to King Crimson than Emperor, despite their online protestations. They make music that ranges from ambient to to grindcore, often within the same song.

And Lady kinda likes 'em. Pardon me, I have more important things to attend to. To which to attend. Whatever.

5 comments:

SarahReznor said...

I hope i never stop being addicted to music. I love slipknot, their latest fucking knocked me over. it's funny that lately I'm getting away from metal and depper into punk, even the new stuff.

Bitter Old Punk said...

I've been randomly selecting Opeth songs off of Rhapsody, so I haven't yet sat down and listened to an entire album all the way through (heresy, I know).

prettyhelmet said...

oh bitter, you're killing me!
seriously, i died a little with your "I like new bands like Modest Mouse and Arctic Monkeys, I'm just not that convinced that they are doing anything special." line. Modest Mouse has been on the indie scene since 1993 so they're not as new as you might think. they've just hit the radio and mtv and have won the hearts of all the drunk frat boys.
it's sad really. now i'm going to cry.

Bitter Old Punk said...

OK, so I'm clueless. I tuned out modern music after Cobain blew his useless depressed fatherly head off. But I was under the impression that good music was just that, whether drunk frat boys likied it or not (NRBQ). So sit and spin, beeyotch.

prettyhelmet said...

"beeyotch"?
you have no idea.