Is cheesy metal back in style?

[i am HOLLYWOOD]

Oh, and this isn't the only cheezy metal band doing okay
http://www.purevolume.com/theshowdown

omg, my ears.

 

[Seppo]

I'm thankful for the fact no kind of metal will ever be in style.

Me too. And this is coming from a metalhead.

I don't want the stupid masses to start interfiering with the glory that is heavy metal. The idiots would never get it! So many great bands and artists...Sabbath, Diamond Head, Maiden, Metallica, Scorpions, Priest, U.D.O, the list goes on and on....Deep Purple, Rainbow, Dio, did I mention Sabbath allready?

 

[i am HOLLYWOOD]

Idk. . Hardcore is pretty popular with the kiddies today, and it techincally is an offshot of Metal

 

[Laivasse]

The range of music people refer to when they say 'metal' is too wide to be of any kind of classificational use at all.

One guy says 'metal' and means Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, another guy says 'metal' and might mean Sabbath and Maiden, another guy might mean Morbid Angel, another means Emperor, another guy is referring to Trivium, another to Slipknot... I would be using the term 'metal' to refer to an extremely narrow cross-section of bands, equally as far removed from the aforementioned examples as they all are from eachother.

There is so little commonality between the different spheres of metal that it means that some metal genres will enjoy massive MTV-level popularity, while some won't even sell out the 100 exclusive copies that they limit their album to (and the distinction between these bands would NOT be that the latter is inferior). I can say with confidence that the metal I listen to will never be in style, and I'm glad of it.

Some people have blinkers on if they think Dragonforce aren't popular though. Where do you think they got the money for that slick vid? I saw them play live at the Underworld back when they were tiny and called 'Dragonheart', supporting Stratovarius - Herman Li tried (and failed) to flog me a copy of 'Valley of the Damned' in the queue for the cloakroom. I'm betting they've made a LOT of money out of what they do since then (and put tons more work into getting where they are than most 'stylish' bands). People all over Europe cream themselves over power metal and that type of band frequently tops all sorts of charts. I see them as a bit of harmless fun.

Also, lol at someone slagging off the guitarwork but praising the drumming...? Just because they write annoyingly cheesy crap, it doesn't lower the technical level of the guitarwork. The drumming proficiency on show here however is average/slightly-above-average at best. It really shows people's metal noobishness when they pick out a mediocre part of a bad band as the best bit.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Idk. . Hardcore is pretty popular with the kiddies today, and it techincally is an offshot of Metal

Hardcore is more of an offshoot of punk than metal. The crossover trend of the late 80s/early 90s brought a more metal sound to the punk of the day.

 

[knut]

Truth, but over here in the UK now, the kids swarm to ''hardcore metal'' bands like Azriel, Bring me the Horizion, [insert generic 'The Gun Was The...' and 'The Sunset Brought The Hanging', etc type names here] Also known as 'brutal' metal. Basically, alot of people walking around in skinny jeans, tight gore metal shirts and kra-zey hair and combat trucker hats. It's quite amusing actually.

Ask any of these kids to name more than 2 songs by Exhumed or Gorerotted and I'll bet they'll just look at you blankly.

 

[3ssence]

I see them as a bit of harmless fun.

Also, lol at someone slagging off the guitarwork but praising the drumming...? Just because they write annoyingly cheesy crap, it doesn't lower the technical level of the guitarwork.

Slightly late to join this conversation, hadn't checked the music section in a while.

The above pretty much echoes my personal thinking. I am a fan of a wide range of music, and a couple of years ago was introduced to the common cheesy variants of metal by my darling girlfriend: dragonforce, sonata arctica, nightwish, etc. I think dragonforce are good fun, although i wouldn't rate them as one of my favourite bands, but good fun nonetheless.

I've seen them live twice in London and i have to say that they are not particularly brilliant live, and as mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread, the singer can't sing live to save his life. All in all i wouldn't say that they are an amazingly talented band as a whole, but i have to disagree with the comments that Herman Li isn't talented. Just because a lot of the guitar work is fast and cheesy it doesn't take away from the fact that he is a technically gifted and talented guitarist.

Having said this, give me a good bit of Dream Theater over this any day, cue "petrucci is a wank" comments).