DALLAS SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON MUSIC CRITICS
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 5:00pm by Dallas Coyle
We’re all critics in our own right. The age old adage of “Everyone’s got an opinion” has never been more true… Maybe the internet has something to do with it? *wink, wink* I don’t have a problem with critics at all. I love seeing records get shit-canned, especially when they are good records. What I don’t love seeing is critics analyze a record and act like they know exactly where a band is coming from. That shit annoys me. Whether it’s a good record or bad record, just review the songs. Don’t review the overarching idea of the album. I want to know about your thoughts about the record, not your thoughts about your presumptions about the record.
This has become a problem nowadays with the “cool” magazines and the “cool” bands. There don’t need to be reviews where people are looking up words in the thesaurus to “paint” the picture for the reader. Or fans on a message board talking about why they won’t listen to new stuff from a band because they think the band is “over the hill.” A lot of you may be wondering if I’m talking about us; yes and no. We’ve always been lucky enough for the critics to shoot God Forbid a lot of love. I guess there is media bias for GF. hehe. But, at the same time you don’t really need to look into the shit that deep. And we’re well regarded for the most part so, no, I’m not talking about us. But, yes, I am.
I’ll tell you what to look for and what to disregard as BS when looking at reviews for our new album. 1. What to look for: Look for the reviews that break down the songs using music as a reference. Look for a review that talks about how this album differs from our last and what the growth from the last record to this one is. Look for reviews that say we’re the best band ever. 2. What not to look for: Don’t look for reviews that talk about a specific emotion the album as a whole represents. Don’t look for reviews that say we’re revitalizing any genre. Don’t look for reviews that say I’m not good looking.
Earthsblood is a good record. I know it. My band knows it. The people who’ve heard it know it. We don’t need people to lick our balls for us to know we’ve written a great record. You don’t need critics in some magazine letting you know we made a great record. What you should know is that we tried to make the best album we could and that’s why it’s worth putting your cash down to support the record. We want to please the people who love the band. If we write shit records then we don’t deserve to be doing this. If we write shit records, we’ll get shit for it. Actually, that’s not true. A lot of bands write shitty records and they are fucking huge. I’m not naming names!
Stay tuned for Earthsblood Feb 24th.
I saw God Forbid play a few new songs at Fontana’s in NYC when they played the CMJ metal showcase. The new stuff sounds awesome live, which to me is the true test.
Can’t wait to BUY the album. Yes, I still buy CD’s
I’ll be at the store on the 24th with a copy of Earthsblood in my hand, no doubt.
Obama, McCain, Metallica, Nigger.
For the first time in months a blog from Dallas without any of those words incorporated. I’ll be damned.
That said, I really hope Earthsblood kicks as much ass as everyone says. I’m really looking forward to hearing this black metal influence Doc and Dallas have been mentioning.
Hopefully they’ll bring the goods, as usual, and show some progression from the last one.
I’m gonna preorder it, and then get it in my mailbox on february 16th!(woohoo, Europe baby).
Can’t wait to see God Forbid with Ill Nino in Eindhoven!
Just a thought I got, anybody have any idea when or where we’ll be able to hear their cover of Stockholm Syndrome?
” A lot of bands write shitty records and they are fucking huge. I’m not naming names! ”
WHY NOT DOGNAMMIT!! LETA PUT THEM OUT THERE! I’ll never understand why they dont put the names of the bands out there that are giving metal a bad name! SHITTY BANDS, SHITTY POSER FANS!!!
Here, I’ll start – DISTURBED or THISTURD ….
Anyways, I have to agree with you Dallas. I find it really hard to get into an article i read from lame magazines like Rolling Stone where it takes about 3 or 4 paragraphs before the tool starts talking about the music. Talking about pointless irrelevant things that has a big word thrown in there every other sentence. Just the other day I was reading an articel on Metallica from a loacl paper here in L.A., & the dumb bitch had to compensate for something because this chic was just rambling on with her big words. Not only that, she wrote a couple of things that were totally inaccurate. Details about St. Anger and things about Trujillo which were totally wrong – I wanted to d*ckl slap that c*nt.
A$$holes & Opinions… Everyone’s got 1
Music critics are some of the most pompous, asinine writers ever. I swear they just flip through dictionaries and type whatever words their fingers happen to land on.
i so want Earth’s Blood cannot wait for the 24th . and the new lamb of god comes out the same day whats better then that . thank you dallas for being a badass guitar player and back up singer keep it up see you on tour
“empire of the gun” has been playing nonstop on XM 42. It is starting to grow on me to where I may actually download this album. Well see though. Lamb of God comes out the same day I believe so I prob wont be listening to much else till Chimaira.
Can’t wait for Earthsblood, hopefully this album will catapult you guys into the next level.
I don’t post much on God Forbid because I’m not a big fan. Why? Probably because I have never focused on the band and made an attempt to hear more of their records. That’s also precisely why I’ve never criticized them and/or called them shit. On the other hand, when I heard War Of Attrition I was really diggin’ it and I’m looking forward to the new album. Until then I suppose I should at least pick up Sickness And Misery.
I think what a lot of people need to recognize more is that there are virtually no qualifications to being a music critic. If you can articulate what an album brings out in you then that’s all you need.
I understand some of what you are saying though, Dallas. Most bands and especially metal bands hate to be thought of as being easily understood which is why you see so much backlash against subgenre niche names. Those sorts of terms are almost always invented by listeners and not players, and generally don’t come into wide circulation until its printed on the internet or a magazine.
In general its good to realize that an album review is just the viewpoint of one dude and though it reflects on the magazine/website/blog he’s writing for there’s almost always differing opinions within that organization. That’s why its always good to read reviews from lots of different sources. Wait, actually what I mean is just read the MetalSucks reviews because we are on the ball 24/7. Absolutely.
I think it’s laughable for “music critics” to try and tell people what sort of emotion an album embodies. One person might think an album is rooted in anger; another, in angst; and another, in some sort of “stuff is shitty now, but it’s getting better” thing. Critics should focus on the objective (well, as objective as one can be in such a subjective setting) descriptions of the album, like Dallas said – how is it compared to earlier stuff from the band? How does it compete with other contemporary bands in the same niche? If it’s a shitty album, is it because the playing is horrid, the lyrics are pointless (or unintelligible, although around here, the more choked and less enunciated vocals are, the more brownie points an album seems to get…), or because the whole album just sort of wanders all over the place without really doing anything?
Critics need to stop telling people what to think and feel when listening to an album, and just tell them about the musical aspect of the album.
dallas is being critical about critics, reviewing is an art form, some would say and just like an album, a review has to be well rounded as well, line for line. i don’t get why you get so upset about little “BS” like this. although sometimes articles can slightly get off track, so can the same lame jackoff guitar solos which a reviewer will probably write about in the “Earthsblood” review in one of those popular magazines, i feel you are getting a little nervous about your release and make sure you keep boosting your confidence with every guitar pic throw and hair tilt
There don’t need to be reviews where people are looking up words in the thesaurus to “paint” the picture for the reader.
Unfortunately, that would include my two favorite metal magazines, Terrorizer and Decibel.
god forbid is awesome, but honestly dallas seems a bit cocky…
but i agree with most of the things he said.
I’ve had the Stockholm Syndrome MP3 for months now. But in your case maybe a purchase of the album it’s on is in order.
RayRay Says:
January 7th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
***“empire of the gun” has been playing nonstop on XM 42. It is starting to grow on me to where I may actually download this album.***
So what you’re saying is, it’s so good, you just might do the band a huge favor, and STEAL their music, man, I bet more bands wish they had fans like you.
DBR Says:
January 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am
***I understand some of what you are saying though, Dallas. Most bands and especially metal bands hate to be thought of as being easily understood which is why you see so much backlash against subgenre niche names. Those sorts of terms are almost always invented by listeners and not players, and generally don’t come into wide circulation until its printed on the internet or a magazine.***
That’s why I like metalreviews.com, they don’t create bullshit new terms, they just try to describe it a little in the genre classification, like “doomy deathy thrash metal” it’s not meant to be a sub genre of any type, it’s a brief description, or if it’s a band that has created it’s own style, they just use the bands name for the genre, like meshuggah is “meshuggah metal” or megadeth is “megadeth metal” or Opeth is “Opeth metal”. Though I got the new Slipknot album, and I like it a lot, I think it’s better than anything they’ve done, and metalreviews.com gave it a 56/100.
When a person says they’re going to “Download” an album, it doesn’t always mean that they are going to download it illegal. Sometimes that’s a person main source of purchasing music is to download it from iTunes, Amazon or wherever. Although most say “buy from iTunes” and not just simply “Download”.
I’ve liked every slipknot release…with the exception of All Hope Is Gone. The review at Metalreviews is spot on. It’s not memorable:“That’s the problem with All Hope Is Gone, ultimately; it lacks life. Chuck a few ‘Core riffs, a weird electronic/percussive bit and a big chorus into the blender, and you get the majority of the songs here, and by the time you’ve sat through them all there’s little to make you want to go back and listen to them again,” I don’t think I’ve listened to this album or any songs on it in a few months. Vol 3 used to get listened to almost every day. All hope is bland and has zero longevity. Sure it sold a shitload of copies but that doesn’t mean anything really.
Dear fellow light-skindededed guitarist-
It’d help if your band wrote good music.
LOL.
Like I said before, I’ve never got in to God Forbid. I’ve only heard a few songs here and there and it wasn’t enough o spark my interest. After seeing the and all over the place on other great metal blogs, I finally picked up Constitution Of Treason. I honestly don’t know what people bitch about, because this is a solid album. I’ve listened to it twice today (Along With PTH’s Fortress) and that rarely happens in one day. Now I’m looking forward to Earthsblood even more.
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!