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SCUM SEVENTEEN: Album Titles
Album titles are another avenue of information that musicians want to use as methods of artistic expression. Heavy metal is not cute, and while it can be clever it should never use flagrant misdirection and confusion when declaring to the world what it is. Oui Avant-Garde a Chance at making sense of album titles if people just get silly with them.
Pure heavy metal album titles are very useful at identifying the noise inside. Indecent and Obscene, Pieces, and Massive Killing Capacity will give you an indication of what you're going to hear. Eaten Back to Life, Butchered at Birth, and Tomb of the Mutilated are not titles that are going to steer you wrong. Many times the title is not indicative of the sound, but rather the theme is taken to title the entire collection of songs. Min Tid Skal Komme gives absolutely no indication of what the album will sound like (well, it does indicate that you're shit out of luck understanding a fucking word even if the vocals were clear), but the idea of My Time Shall Come is clearly heavy metal.
Obviously if you have an album named Load you are going to be dealing with a most confused and unfocused form of music. What does that title tell you about what the album sounds like or what it is about? Screaming for Vengeance is clear. Jugulator is not.
Has there ever been an album title as heavy metal as Versus the World?
So Love Nation Sugarhead wasn't a betrayal or a sell-out after all. It was the most honest attempt at branding their album non-heavy metal that there could be. It is immune from all heavy metal criticism because it so plainly declares itself to not be heavy metal. You don't get in a car, turn the key, and complain it doesn't taste like crackers. That would be silly. Yet heavy metal fans buy obviously non-heavy metal music all the time, and complain that it's not heavy metal. Don't pick up an album called Love Metal and expect real heavy metal. Duh.
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December 22nd, 2005, 01:01 PM
