For the most part I prefer bands that constantly try to evolve their sound. It doesn’t have to be big change, but seeing a progression or hearing something new is my preference. Certain bands just stick to a formula, and thats fine up to a point. But after awhile I move on to something else since there is a lot of good music out there, no need to dwell on a stagnate band. For example, I’m a little surprised by all the hype around both the new Slayer and new Megadeth discs. Sure, they sound a little more enthused than on some of their previous works. But there isn’t a hint of anything new or any progression at all. I’ve already heard those songs in their previous works. Both are already collecting dust on the shelf since i prefer the back catalog, back when their songs were fresh.

But then there are bands like Mastodon who keep changing. I don’t like their entire catalog, but like some bits and love Crack the Skye. I’m definitely more interested in listening to whatever they come up with next whereas I already know what slayer and megadeth will do again, I’m past the point of looking forward to their stuff.

i definitely understand what ur saying here. it really is a hit or miss type thing when it comes to altering a winning formula. its sort of a grab bag, if it works it works really well, and if not it sucks really really badly, but theres no way of knowing for sure until you put it out and get fan response to it. a7x did it, and it worked. mastodon did it, and it worked. trivium did it on the crusade and it blew, hard. so it really depends on how you do it and how much you variate from the original. but i totally understand the risk involved and why a lot of bands dont do it. thing is, for some reason KSE is different for me. i like a lot of bands that have stuck to their guns for 3-5 albums without changing things. for some reason, when KSE does it, its stale. idk why

Im just gonna say what I said on the original thread, I think killswitches new album was very uneventful and dull. Iv loved everything theyve done before this album but it just bores me. The lyrics are uninspiriing at best and there are neither high or low moments on the album. There isnt any big anthems like my last serenade, end of heartache, my curse etc that have been on other releases. I was unimpressed. Killswitch have been one of my favourite bands going through my teens but I find myself going off them just through sheer repititiion from album to album. I havent seen them live and 2/3 years ago Id have moved mountains to see them, but they came around my way on the taste of chaos tour with in flames a few weeks ago and I saved myself the £30 or however much it was, cant say I regret it either. In flames are in fact another band that I have grown tired of with age

Nope. Sounds dildos… agains.

I prefer when bands evolve.

Hatebreed, Slayer & KsE are typical examples of bands that recently put out albums that rehash their own formula to a point where they get annoying.

Killer bands like Pantera sticked to their style but brought something fresh to the table with each record and had their formula evolve over the years and put out killer records.

And A7X vs. Mastodon?….Apples to oranges, man.

I wish more bands would go outside of their comfort zones and have the balls to make something new. Take Nachtmysitum and Converge for instance: Nacht. had a saxaphone on their last album! Who the fuck saw that coming? Then theres Converge who get better with every release. Enough with the “If it aint broke, dont fix it” formula.

killswitch are gay. A7x is gay. That is all.

I really liked the new KSE album. I think it’s got some of the catchiest songs they’ve ever written (“Starting Over”, “A Light in a Darkened World”, “Take Me Away” and “Save Me”), but also some really good slower, doomier songs (“The Return” and “Lost”).

I know that KSE probably isn’t metal enough for a lot of the people on this board, but I think they’re still better than quite a bit of the bands that are promoted on this site. It’s all opinion though.

I think it’s better to experiment 90% of the time. I like Motorhead’s sound a lot, but I only listen to a few of their albums like Ace of Spades and Overkill because they’re pretty much all the same, whereas I listen to tons of albums by Frank Zappa because they’re all different. In the case of Mastodon, Remission is definitely my favorite album but I’m really glad they didn’t make that album over and over again. Their unwillingness to do the same thing twice is what keeps them constantly exciting. And in the case of A7X, the main problem there was not that the singer stopped screaming, although that was part of it. The main problem was that they went from having a really original, fresh, and dare I say, killer sound to playing whiney songs that are all derivative of other artists. I would say they didn’t experiment at all, they regressed from having a unique sound to mashing together styles that have already been done and redone.

I have no problem with a band sticking to a winning formula (I love every Slayer album), but there is a difference between that and re-hashing inferior versions of the same musical idea. With the exception of Never Again and The Return, all the songs on Killswitch Engage seemed too familiar – Howard was re-juggling phrases that he could sing to a known melody, and the riffs were generic. I’ve already got their previous albums, and I was hoping for a new chapter in their career, an album with the long-lasting appeal of Alive or Just Breathing. What I got was a lesser version of As Daylight Dies, which itself was a step down from The End of Heartache and AOJB. Yes, it is better than most of what’s out there, but from Killswitch Engage, I expect better.

True, a lot of people piss on the new Killswitch ON PRINCIPLE. The listener’s relationship with the record becomes botched by conditional acceptance where if conditions of “being groundbreaking” aren’t met, the listener’s anxiety toward digesting a non-groundbreaking album become the preventative factor to a fair, unbiased listen. That anxiety sounds something like: “oh god if I actually give this album a chance and I like it how can I look at myself knowing my music tastes aren’t the hippest shit!?!?!?!”

So basically, yes, lots of listeners don’t give the album it’s due diligence.

BUT! A lot of metal kids don’t know how to fucking say it. They invoke principles when not able to simply say “hey, this album has some moments short, some long, of exhilaration, but by the end doesn’t rise up to spectacularity or fall victim to failure. It’s just kinda mediocre.”

It’s the boring fucking truth that some music engages, some doesn’t. And, ironically, the self-titled album by the band Killswitch ENGAGE doesn’t live up to it’s name. Not on principle, but because the songs are rehashing feelings that have already seen the glory days of expression, and now are like tired old floppy-dicked dudes who are living for the past.