This Sucks

THE L MAGAZINE PROVES THEMSELVES TO BE WRITTEN EXCLUSIVELY BY A BUNCH OF SOFTIE INDIE ROCK KIDS…AGAIN

  • Kip Wingerschmidt
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From the event listings in this week’s issue of The L Magazine:

6pm In Flames, All That Remains, Gojira, 36 Crazyfists
No matter how bad a day you’re having, it can’t be worse than the day In Flames devoted themselves to earsplitting death metal, or the day Gojira decided to name themselves Gojira (that’s a STD, right?). Vampire Weekend… come back.

Now obviously this was written by someone who is anti-metal, or at least extremely un-metal — for those of you not “in the know”, Vampire Weekend is a super-buzzy indie-rock band from NYC that recently blew up (pretty sure one of their tunes is in some boppy commercial or another) — but for realz, it’s like comparing apples n oranges…the fact that a self-respecting journalistic rag could make reference to a metal show but describe under a clearly “indie” lens seems to miss the point of having show listings in the first place.

I am not only offended as a fan of aggressive music (duh), but also as a music lover and show-goer of all different genres. If I were genuinely curious about this show (and rest assured, I already have a ticket, natch), a description such as this wouldn’t help in the least.

Word to the un-wise, L Magazine: Gojira’s new album is among the best of the year, and perhaps you ought to employ a “metal” aficionado that can accurately report on “earsplitting” shows/albums. The truly hep kids know how cool and “cool” metal is, especially in our current musical climate. You also might wanna stop pretending to be anything more than a softie one-dimensional ‘zine.

After the jump, a much more reputable (and diverse) NYC publication’s blurb on the same show…

From The Village Voice:

The can’t-miss band on this hodgepodge metal bill is France’s Gojira, who released one of the year’s best discs in The Way of All Flesh. Its subtle mix of death-metal tradition and music school chops made for one of the best listens since their riff-centric breakthrough release, 2005’s From Mars to Sirius. Headliners In Flames tested their fans this year with the corny cover art on A Sense of Purpose, which is really too bad since the album pushes the oft-imitated melodic death-metal sound they pioneered even more towards euphony. With All That Remains and 36 Crazyfists.

Now that’s a thorough description I can sink my teeth into, informed and informative, whether I agree with it or not.

For shame, L Magazine…for shame.

-KW

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