Well, seeing as how I have finished with all my instrument recording for the new Hekserier demo, which I am naming "Sorcerer on the Throne", I feel the need, since it's a little past the half-way point of the year, to talk about the state of metal so far.

First, THANKFULLY, the metalcore fad seems to be dying off! *confetti* After the last few metalcore releases by the biggest names (Bleeding Through, It Dies Today, Killswitch Engage) were hated on in reviews, it seems everyone's now grabbed the idea that As I Lay Dying showed with their last album and have decided to change it up! It new It Dies Today song is actually a return to the good stuff and Bring Me The Horizon's new songs have been less breakdown-filled and focus more on their other features! The metalcore that's out there now is rarely noticed it seems due to the DISTURBING amount of auditory inbreeding that they are doing, which, as I always said, is leading to it's demise. Let's hope that when I get the new It Dies Today and Bleeding Through albums, I can sing more praises about them.

The big thing everyone in the metal community is talking about lately seems to be two things:

The first, which I was into long before them, is that black metal has legitimately been recognized along with the other genres of metal. Now, there are two categories black metal INSTANTLY falls under: unbelievably classic and unbelievably shitty. And there are MANY out there who want to take bands who, like I said above, inbreed the genre and call them kvlt and grim, but hate bands like Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon for doing something different and them get noticed. Hello?! What made black metal black metal in the first place was the want to do something different! Mayhem were grim, yes, but no one had been THAT dark before. Burzum went super slow at times to create ambiance, and it was beautiful. Darkthrone were repetitive and thin when being loud and technical was the trend. And Emperor, EMPEROR!!!, were the ones to bring out the synth in metal and turn it into an institution! It's everyone who thinks that doing a carbon copy of Darkthrone's worst songs they never wrote is going to skyrocket them to cult status that's wrong with black metal. The bands that do something new are the ones that put out the best stuff! Dimmu Borgir only get better with time, Keep of Kalessin have put out one of black metal's best releases since they did something different, Satyricon keep things interesting all the time, and Ihsahn's solo records continue to expand the realm's of songwriting! If black metal continues to GROW OUT instead of IN, better works will be around the horizon.

The second thing everyone has their minds on is one band that is being called the best band ever: Opeth! Now, granted, Opeth are a tricky band to get into. You can only hear them for the first time once and when you do, you not going to be used to what you hear, TRUST ME! Think a mix of death metal, classic rock, acoustic, and 70's progressive music all from a Swedish band! O_O Yeah. Turned ya for a loop, huh? And what's better, every album they do something to catch everyone by surprise and show their diversity! They truly are a must hear! I only hope that I can get to meet them when I go to see them this October! Here's a song so you all can become one to the greatness!

Opeth - Blackwater Park

[link]

And this brings me to my final point, which I'll make short and sweet. Slipknot's new album is the worst metal album I've heard in a LOOOONG time! Yeah, it's bad. REALLY bad! Corey, stop acting like Slipknot is Stone Sour and stop singing like that. I mean, please. Your voice is gay now, don't try and deny it. The instruments sound like sludge and they are trying to mimic metalcore breakdowns now and it's sad. And Joey's shows NO originality on this album AT ALL! Seriously, give your money to Roadrunner Records not by buying this piece of SHIT but by getting the Opeth album or, like me, getting the new Dragonforce album tomorrow!

Well, that's about it. Other than that, metal is gettin bigger and still kickin emo's ass! Let's keep the horns high and make sure it stays that way!