Arsen said:
Leviathan is the type of Black Metal I don't like. It lacks the beauty of certain other bands who are more atmospheric than overly hateful and destructive. Xasthur...wow. I tried listening to one album and it sounded like the evilest sowing machine I had ever heard.
All in all, Black Metal is good when it is done right. However, if it lacks the element of beauty then it detracts from the overall atmosphere of it. Burzum, Wolves in the Throne Room, Dissection, Windir, Bathory, and many other bands all have that essential element. Gorgoroth, though good musicians, lack that beauty.
Believe me, I know Black Metal front and back. Satryicon's "Rebel Extravaganza" is one of their best albums. Emperor of course with Anthems to Welkins at Dusk...is probably THE best Black Metal album ever made. I must make that claim here.
Anthems is good but it hasn't stuck with me as much as other albums... I loved it the first while when I had it, but I rarely touch it anymore.
Black metal doesn't have to necessarily have melody in order to be good; it's not a defining trait of the music (that's why we have melodic black metal as a sub-genre after all). Of course, if you don't like it, that's fine... the whole point of Leviathan and Xasthur is to evoke feelings of intense sadness and depression through their thick production, heavily distorted vocals, droning song structures and use of dissonance in songwriting, not to offer the sort of pseudo-goth atmosphere that other more melodic bands employ.
KyleTheAngry said:
Silly, perhaps. Arrogant, having not met them i can't comment. Christian pricks? I don't see how one's faith influences one's musical abilities. As for their image, what do you mean transparent? All I see is a bunch of awesome musicians playing music they enjoy. All of their music is melodic, though perhaps slightly less progressive these days. I always felt their music was more about the instrumentals rather than the vocals (though the latter *are* fantastic).
I never said they were pricks because they were Christians, although the Christianity is a problem in its own right (I won't discuss that here as it's not particularly relevant). They're arrogant because they revel in their own talents and have been pumping out wanky, emotionless, uninspired albums for the last few years, trying to cash in on trends by going "darker and edgier" and incorporating elements from nu-metal and even rap in a couple of places (the second-last album has a lot of stuff lifted from bands like U2, as well). Just look, at the difference in band photos - the darker lighting, the leather jackets, the longer hair... they're trying their hardest to look metal and it's not working.
Look, they're extremely talented musicians, but ever since
Metropolis they've been going by the numbers and they have yet to top their second album in consistency and quality. What I'm saying is that they need to buck the stupid hardcore image they're courting younger, stupider fans with and just pick up from where they left off a few years ago. Come on, when you start writing songs with six-minute masturbation solos, you know you're running out of ideas.
. I'd say 6 minute "masturbation solos" (as you so delicately put it 
