Gorefest

[Some Bastard]

Busy reading your articles. Some good stuff there. Came across this question in one of the 'Hundred Questions'-interviews:

A band, let's call them Gorefest, changes their style to add more 70s rock to their death metal, and even changes their vocal style from a strong death metal growl to a singing/growling hybrid that would even make Chris Boltendahl embarrassed. The band releases a video where they perform their new style in some small club and an open-minded fellow shows his friends, clad in more traditional death metal band shirts, that it's OK for death metal fans to still enjoy and headbang to this music! How sad is this?

So:

1. What's wrong with it if a band wants to add something else to their sound?

2. Why and how would it be not OK for a death metal fan to enjoy and headbang to this music?

3. (this is the clunker ) Does anyone know the title of the Gorefest-song that's being referred to here?

[Occam's Razor]

1) nothing if they do it for honest reasons. This is actually audible in most cases: Strained and calculated incorporation of new elements is usually unmasked quickly by the listener, or why is it that you can theoretically have nothing against glam elements in your music, bu refuse to acknowledge "Cold Lake"

2) I could not connect to that, but I see that such behaviour would stem from the blinkeredness conditioned by scene-standards and rules set up within a genre, usually by those that have no life of their own.

3) I don't - ask Jim, as I have lost interest in Gorefest with "Chapter 13". I have to say that "Erase" is boring shit, and "Soul Survivor" the best, even though it is discarded in retrospect by the band itself as their guitarist's overambitioned soloalbum...nowadays, they revel in their old shit again, but they do it rather well.

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

1. What's wrong with it if a band wants to add something else to their sound?

Nothing.

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

2. Why and how would it be not OK for a death metal fan to enjoy and headbang to this music?

Oh, it's perfectly fine. My problem with the video is the entire setup just seemed to show a lack of confidence in their chosen direction and a blatant begging for fans not to leave them.

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

3. (this is the clunker ) Does anyone know the title of the Gorefest-song that's being referred to here?

Freedom, I believe. (I suspect there is a point you are making by having me state that title. Obviously best illustrated by looking like you're trapped in a wind tunnel.

So this Gorefest comeback album, I haven't heard it but I'm under the impression it's back to the death metal sound without the Freedom rock stuff. If that is correct, does that say something about the time period in question?

Sad thing is I considered buying the latest Gorefest album just so I could pursue these avenues of inquiry with the band directly.

[Some Bastard]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Oh, it's perfectly fine. My problem with the video is the entire setup just seemed to show a lack of confidence in their chosen direction and a blatant begging for fans not to leave them.

That's not how I interpreted it. Nor do I think that's what the band meant

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Freedom, I believe. (I suspect there is a point you are making by having me state that title.

*heh* That obvious huh?

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Obviously best illustrated by looking like you're trapped in a wind tunnel.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

So this Gorefest comeback album, I haven't heard it but I'm under the impression it's back to the death metal sound without the Freedom rock stuff. If that is correct, does that say something about the time period in question?

It's back to Gorefest doing what they do best

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Sad thing is I considered buying the latest Gorefest album just so I could pursue these avenues of inquiry with the band directly.

Sad? How?

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

Sad? How?

Considering the purchase of an album for no reason other than to be able to harass the band in an interview about shit they did a decade ago... pretty sad, yeah. (sure, I could have harassed the band directly anyway, but knowing the new album would make it a proper harassment or something.)

Anyway, if the band ever sees it and feels the need to clarify their intent I'd be happy to put that up on the site somewhere as well. But I remain... suspicious that there were Motives Jim Doesn't Approve Of.

”That's why I find it so amusing that the latter-day saints of our business... one, attribute to me motives that just weren't there, and two, accuse me of corrupting morality, which I wish I had the power to do. Prepare to die.”

I can imagine De Koeije showing up at my door and saying that before shooting me.

[Frank Harthoorn]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Anyway, if the band ever sees it and feels the need to clarify their intent I'd be happy to put that up on the site somewhere as well.

Allow me to do just that, then.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

(...) My problem with the video is the entire setup just seemed to show a lack of confidence in their chosen direction and a blatant begging for fans not to leave them.

I kind of see where you're coming from, but there's really no sinister motives here. The Freedom video was shot in a day, without any sort of script, but for the location and some close-up shots. The guy who 'directed' it more or less made the whole thing up as he went along, which was fine with us, we just wanted to shoot the song and leave. We did think it might be nice to have some sort of crowd there, so notices were put up in several local bars beforehand, to try and get a few people in there. Not many showed up but for a dozen or so Death Metal fans, who were interested in hearing a new Gorefest song. Most of them hated it, but stayed on just to be in a video.

I'm afraid that whole storyline you speak of is just not there. I just watched the whole sorry affair in case I might have missed something, and I really think you're reading a bit too much into these kind of things. I do remember the black girl in it being very hot indeed, but that's a whole different story.

The windtunnel thing was completely ridiculous though, I'll give you that. I think Ed even flat out refused to do that shot, and obviously for good reason. It looks even more embarassing in the finished product.

The lack of confidence you mention, to me, mainly shows in JC's vocals. He just had no idea how to approach these songs, as he's obviously not a 'rock'singer. The 'blatant begging' you mention I find slightly insulting; we've never concerned ourselves much with pleasing, or indeed having, a fanbase, and I don't think we've ever gone out of our way to state the opposite.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

But I remain... suspicious that there were Motives Jim Doesn't Approve Of.

You'd be surprised how little input bands often have in these kind of videos. Usually they're just glad someone with a camera actually shows up.

Originally Posted by Occam's Razor

(...) and "Soul Survivor" the best, even though it is discarded in retrospect by the band itself as their guitarist's overambitioned soloalbum (...)

Don't put words in my mouth. Nothing has been 'discarded', as a matter of fact I have often stated in interviews I still quite like Soul Survivor, the parts and songs that work anyway.

What amuses me the most when discussing Soul Survivor these days, is that people (not meaning O.R. here) who, upon it's release, were very vocal in stating their intense dislike for it, these days have done a 180 and regard SS as our finest moment. They can still suck my cock though.

kind regards,

Frank Harthoorn, Gorefest

[Occam's Razor]

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

Don't put words in my mouth. Nothing has been 'discarded', as a matter of fact I have often stated in interviews I still quite like Soul Survivor, the parts and songs that work anyway.
What amuses me the most when discussing Soul Survivor these days, is that people (not meaning O.R. here) who, upon it's release, were very vocal in stating their intense dislike for it, these days have done a 180 and regard SS as our finest moment. They can still suck my cock though.

kind regards,

Frank Harthoorn, Gorefest

I only repeat what Jan-Chris said in an interview with German Legacy magazine. It came across exactly like that. I think "La Muerte" is a decent album, but I feel uncomfortable knowing that BB kind of curbs himself to get the authentic death metal feel.

I initially loved Soul Survivor when it came out, but maybe that's because I had not been interested in Gorefest before and am no death metal hardliner either. Among all the sloppy and raw death'n'roll releases that popped up back then (from Xysma to Entombed), I think "Soul Survivor" shows a great way how you can combine these genres. What's wrong with a mass of guitar leads and solos in heavy music anyway? That's what makes it great!

[Frank Harthoorn]

Originally Posted by Occam's Razor

I only repeat what Jan-Chris said in an interview with German Legacy magazine. It came across exactly like that.

Ah, a JC quote, that figures. I love the guy, but his interviews can be pretty chaotic sometimes. Fact is, firstly, he doesn't necessarily speak for the rest of the band on these occasions. Secondly, even JC has some songs on Soul Survivor he'd really like to do live. Trouble is, we all disagree on which SS songs we could do. So we don't do any.

I think "La Muerte" is a decent album, but I feel uncomfortable knowing that BB kind of curbs himself to get the authentic death metal feel.

If we, or even Boudewijn himself, had the feeling he was curbing himself, he'd probably wouldn't last long in this band. The fact that he likes his 70's (and his 60's, 80's, 90's and classical stuff) doesn't mean he can't enjoy the kind of Metal we do with Gorefest. There's actually quite a bit of SS (and Ch13, for that matter) still within our sound, you just have to know where to look for it.

[Occam's Razor]

From an outside perspective, it is really not clear whether a band models its music after the preferences of its fans or because it feels natural for them...and it is even more difficult to discern whether the musicians' succeeding return to their roots is calculated or honest. I at least can see that artists want to experiment and in the process maybe realize that they want to go back to where they came from. The problem in these cases is that the public denial of a band's roots often goes along with such a change of style - this does not count for Gorefest, but if you remember Metallica or Bruce Dickinson talking about metal as a silly, hackneyed ritual of old (or something in that vein), you know what I mean. I believe these people should learn to shut up at times...I mean, when looking back at interviews they had, they should be ashamed for blathering bullshit.

Perhaps they underestimate the fans as too narrow-minded. I can perfectly accept experimentation, but it seems they believe: Well, the people won't like this anyway, so let's just trash the entire genre.

[Frank Harthoorn]

It sure would be nice to get some sort of reply to this from the other fella as well. I mean, just a simple 'bollocks' will do.

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

It sure would be nice to get some sort of reply to this from the other fella as well. I mean, just a simple 'bollocks' will do.

This isn't just chatter between board regulars, and I'd like to put some real thought and a bit of time into my reply... our home internet connection doesn't go back up til Friday so I've been sneaking in net time at libraries for the past few weeks... time to think up a decent response but not so much time to write one with care. So in less than a week,

I don't think it's bollocks though.

[DBB]

Watched the video, awhile back. Those people in the "wind tunnel" do appear to be a bit apathetic and disgruntled at first.

Here it is for the sake of the discussion that is apparently to come.

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

I kind of see where you're coming from, but there's really no sinister motives here. The Freedom video was shot in a day, without any sort of script, but for the location and some close-up shots.

No argument then that it wasn't intentional.

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

The guy who 'directed' it more or less made the whole thing up as he went along, which was fine with us, we just wanted to shoot the song and leave.

Just curious what the purpose of the whole thing was then if (as you imply) there was no preparation on the band's part, and no real enthusiasm to do it at all?

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

I'm afraid that whole storyline you speak of is just not there. I just watched the whole sorry affair in case I might have missed something, and I really think you're reading a bit too much into these kind of things.

That's always a distinct possibility. But it certainly looks like people are bored to begin with. It's not a video-long storyline or anything (and I never thought it was), but that's what I see that opening bit, people being led to accept that this band is the real deal.

Of course, there could be other interpretations. Was this Gorefest's first video? Then the exact same message could be taken from it without ever knowing about a style shift. "This is a cool new band!" sort of thing as far as Headbanger's Ball viewers are concerned or whatever.

The point of having that question in the interview wasn't to damn the band. It was to present a situation from life (and naming names just because I dislike when people hedge their bets while trying to say something) and provoke a response from people and get them to say something that could be examined and discussed. I'm neutral on Gorefest itself, as the only full album I can remember hearing in full was Chapter 13 and I don't trust my own tastes from that point. (need magic wand, erase every review written from 1998-2000 from any copies of the mag people still might have lying around, haha) My experiences with previous Gorefest was through compilation tracks and such, enough to know the general style and know there had been a shift. The responses to this question so far haven't been exactly strong either for or against so if that doesn't change in the next couple of interviews it's going to be dropped.

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

The lack of confidence you mention, to me, mainly shows in JC's vocals. He just had no idea how to approach these songs, as he's obviously not a 'rock'singer.

You're putting me into "interviewer" mode now. Did you realize this at the time? If not, when did you realize this? If you did realize this, why go ahead with the album without further refinement?

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

The 'blatant begging' you mention I find slightly insulting; we've never concerned ourselves much with pleasing, or indeed having, a fanbase, and I don't think we've ever gone out of our way to state the opposite.

While I accept that this wasn't "blatant begging" I don't think I can quite accept that a band making albums, shooting videos, and touring is not at all concerned with having a fanbase.

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

You'd be surprised how little input bands often have in these kind of videos. Usually they're just glad someone with a camera actually shows up.

No, I wouldn't be surprised that the process was like this. I am surprised that bands continuously allow these situations.

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

What amuses me the most when discussing Soul Survivor these days, is that people (not meaning O.R. here) who, upon it's release, were very vocal in stating their intense dislike for it, these days have done a 180 and regard SS as our finest moment. They can still suck my cock though.

I find this curious. I understand that a negative reaction upon release had immediate ramifications for you, but I would think that someone's long-term opinion would matter more than their immediate gut reaction. I know that I really hated things like Amorphis' Elegy, Arcturus La Masquerade Infernale, and Gorguts' Obscura when I first heard them, but have since "done a 180" and consider those among the finest albums I own. Surely you wouldn't think better of someone that loved the album upon release but now hates it?

[Frank Harthoorn]

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
I kind of see where you're coming from, but there's really no sinister motives here. The Freedom video was shot in a day, without any sort of script, but for the location and some close-up shots.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

No argument then that it wasn't intentional.

Not intended as argument, either. I know what our intentions, or indeed lack thereof, were. If you don't believe me and maintain we had a different agenda, then there's not much left for me to say that would change your mind, is there?


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
The guy who 'directed' it more or less made the whole thing up as he went along, which was fine with us, we just wanted to shoot the song and leave.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Just curious what the purpose of the whole thing was then if (as you imply) there was no preparation on the band's part, and no real enthusiasm to do it at all?

Videos seem to be a necessary evil if you want your label to take care of business. Videoshoots are long, boring, tiresome days, which nobody looks forward too. You understand why a label wants them, and it comes with the territory, but there's really no fun in doing them. We once did a video for a song called Erase which in some respects turned out even sillier then the Freedom one, and since then we've always had a kind of no nonsense approach to these things. 'Just shoot us doing the damn song, no frills please'. Little did we know that over the years, even inviting a couple of people to come over and see a Metal band would be construed as 'blatant begging'.


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
I'm afraid that whole storyline you speak of is just not there. I just watched the whole sorry affair in case I might have missed something, and I really think you're reading a bit too much into these kind of things.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

That's always a distinct possibility. But it certainly looks like people are bored to begin with. It's not a video-long storyline or anything (and I never thought it was), but that's what I see that opening bit, people being led to accept that this band is the real deal.

Like I said, I kind of see where you're coming from here, but as it was never our intention to give any meaning to this, I really can't read anything more into it other than some kids hanging around, band sets up, plugs in, hey presto: Metal!

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

The point of having that question in the interview wasn't to damn the band.

No, it also looked more like ridicule to me. Which would be fine, by the way, as we do that ourselves all the time.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

It was to present a situation from life (and naming names just because I dislike when people hedge their bets while trying to say something) and provoke a response from people and get them to say something that could be examined and discussed.

I understand that, but what you're in fact doing, is presenting my band to other people who, like yourself, aren't that familiar with us, as some kind of dim-witted, confused collective of idiots who hate Metal and have no idea what they're doing. I resent that, as nothing could be further from the truth.
Still, it got King Fowley all hot 'n bothered, that must count for something I guess.


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
The lack of confidence you mention, to me, mainly shows in JC's vocals. He just had no idea how to approach these songs, as he's obviously not a 'rock'singer.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

You're putting me into "interviewer" mode now. Did you realize this at the time?

Yes, we did.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

If you did realize this, why go ahead with the album without further refinement?

There wasn't much more 'refining' left to do, at least not within the time restraints we had. You work with the things you have, and at the end of the day, an album shows exactly where you're at, at a certain point in time. JC's vocals, as 'love them or hate them' as they are, are still an integral part of this band, and any further refining would probably have meant getting a different singer in. Which was not an option for us.


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
The 'blatant begging' you mention I find slightly insulting; we've never concerned ourselves much with pleasing, or indeed having, a fanbase, and I don't think we've ever gone out of our way to state the opposite.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

While I accept that this wasn't "blatant begging" I don't think I can quite accept that a band making albums, shooting videos, and touring is not at all concerned with having a fanbase.

As a musician, one of the things you aspire to is to be able to work fulltime on your music, not being bothered by anything else. This means, of course, you need some sort of financial backup, which is where recordlabels step in. They are there to find some people that might like your music good enough to actually buy recordings of it, or attend public performances of your band. This in turn generates the money for you to keep on doing what you love most. If there's enough revenue, you may continue. If not, it can all be over very quickly. We've always accepted that risk as part of the deal, so we'd never have to compromise our vision of the music we enjoy writing and playing between the four of us. That's what I mean by not concerning ourselves with having a fanbase; we've never written anything to please people, or done what's expected of us, and be certain of decent sales figures. In fact I think we've done quite the opposite on numerous occasions.


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
You'd be surprised how little input bands often have in these kind of videos. Usually they're just glad someone with a camera actually shows up.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

No, I wouldn't be surprised that the process was like this. I am surprised that bands continuously allow these situations.

More often than not it's complete cluelessness. 'Oh, you think this looks good? Well, let's do that than'. Or the oft-heard 'Well, let's shoot it anyway, we can always leave it out'. Which of course never happens.


Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn:
What amuses me the most when discussing Soul Survivor these days, is that people (not meaning O.R. here) who, upon it's release, were very vocal in stating their intense dislike for it, these days have done a 180 and regard SS as our finest moment. They can still suck my cock though.

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

I find this curious. I understand that a negative reaction upon release had immediate ramifications for you, but I would think that someone's long-term opinion would matter more than their immediate gut reaction. I know that I really hated things like Amorphis' Elegy, Arcturus La Masquerade Infernale, and Gorguts' Obscura when I first heard them, but have since "done a 180" and consider those among the finest albums I own. Surely you wouldn't think better of someone that loved the album upon release but now hates it?

No, I wouldn't. The amount of flak we received over Soul Survivor, however, was really quite disproportionate to what was actually on offer. If this had been a badly written, or sloppily played record, I would have been the first to join in the fun. But it wasn't. Reactions were downright vitriolic, as if we had personally offended some of these people. Now I really don't mind anyone not liking our stuff, but if you don't trust us to handle our music with the utmost care and precision, and if you can't at least hear that, then you really have no idea what you're talking about to begin with. I can't bear critics who have no idea what's actually going on, especially since most of them haven't learned anything in the past ten years. And that's why these people can still suck my cock, even if they DO hear things differently now.

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

I understand that, but what you're in fact doing, is presenting my band to other people who, like yourself, aren't that familiar with us, as some kind of dim-witted, confused collective of idiots who hate Metal and have no idea what they're doing. I resent that, as nothing could be further from the truth.

OK, what I'm going to do, for whatever it's worth, is link this thread within the question itself... I'll get that done to the few interviews with it already up sometime this weekend and for every interview with that question that goes up in the future. I don't think the type of person that would read one of those monsters would balk at clicking something saying "Gorefest's Frank Harthoorn responds...".

Originally Posted by Frank Harthoorn

No, I wouldn't. The amount of flak we received over Soul Survivor, however, was really quite disproportionate to what was actually on offer. If this had been a badly written, or sloppily played record, I would have been the first to join in the fun. But it wasn't. Reactions were downright vitriolic, as if we had personally offended some of these people.

I remember some of those reactions. Based on the public face of the album and how far the metal scene (at least in the US) had fallen, I can perfectly understand why reactions were so strong. I don't think somebody still around in the wreckage of the metal scene during that time would think too highly of a band named Gorefest singing songs like Freedom or Electric Poet no matter how it sounded. The best thing I've ever seen written about album reviews is that a "good record review describes what an album means, not what an album is." Obviously people didn't think Soul Survivor meant very many good things for heavy metal at the time...

God damn it. This makes me want to go listen to the entire Gorefest catalog for analytical purposes. Anybody got 59€ they can spare?

[Frank Harthoorn]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

OK, what I'm going to do, for whatever it's worth, is link this thread within the question itself... I'll get that done to the few interviews with it already up sometime this weekend and for every interview with that question that goes up in the future. I don't think the type of person that would read one of those monsters would balk at clicking something saying "Gorefest's Frank Harthoorn responds...".

Fair enough. Cheers.

[Occam's Razor]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

Obviously people didn't think Soul Survivor meant very many good things for heavy metal at the time...

I think the experimental phase of death metal during the late nineties was a good thing. The development of Amorphis has long since been acknowledged; before and after Soul Survivor, a lot of bands mixed rock'n'roll with death (in general not on such a high level of guitar playing though) and were successful with it; Therion - classical; Morgoth - industrial...endless examples, and remarkably many on the bigger labels like NB and CM.

Compared to some of these experiments, Soul Survivor was relatively modest, so I don't understand why it got dumped back then - The reviews I read were all quite positive.

At long last, this development was maybe ineffective, considering the gazillion blast-blast-bands that seem to never die out.

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

OK, what I'm going to do, for whatever it's worth, is link this thread within the question itself... I'll get that done to the few interviews with it already up sometime this weekend

And done.

[Some Bastard]

A simple 'Sorry, I was prejudiced and slandered a band I know next to nothing about' was too hard I guess

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

A simple 'Sorry, I was prejudiced and slandered a band I know next to nothing about' was too hard I guess

There is quite a gap between "Have not heard all of their albums in full" and "knowing next to nothing about the band."

[Some Bastard]

But we're agreed on the prejudice and the slandering?

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

So we're agreed on the prejudice and the slandering?

Any prejudice was after the fact, knowing what they did before (even if it was songs, not albums) to seeing what they did in the video, myself, not just having an opinion based on what other people said.

"I kind of see where you're coming from" ,"[JC] just had no idea how to approach these songs, as he's obviously not a 'rock'singer." While the original question may be assholish, it's not slander.

[Some Bastard]

Assholish? Presenting a band as (in Frank's words) 'some kind of dim-witted, confused collective of idiots who hate Metal and have no idea what they're doing'? A band that was already playing Metal when you were still listening to Sly Fox and Weird Al? And not even having the balls to admit you were wrong? That's not only assholish. It's downright stupid!

It's certainly not Heavy Metal

[Jim LotFP]

Originally Posted by Some Bastard

Assholish? Presenting a band as (in Frank's words) 'some kind of dim-witted, confused collective of idiots who hate Metal and have no idea what they're doing'?

I still think the video presents them this way. It's an awful piece of "promotion."

[Some Bastard]

Originally Posted by Jim LotFP

I still think the video presents them this way. It's an awful piece of "promotion."

It is (an awful piece of promotion), but the point is they're not. In fact, I think the only dim-witted, confused idiot who... well probably not exactly hates Metal but certainly disrespects it is you.

It's called musical development. Bands do that all the time. The Beatles did it, Hendrix did, Led Zeppelin....you name 'em. And hey whaddayaknow, Metal bands do it too! There's several reasons bands do this. Deliberately betraying the Heavy Metal genre need not have anything to do with it! It can be because musicians are people too. As you grow older chances are you start appreciating other kinds of music too, and these influences might appear in your band's work. Also as a musician you might want to keep things exciting for yourself. Believe it or not but there are musicians out there who do not want to play the same thing over and over again. And so a band might gradually or suddenly evolve into something else. Sometimes it works (The Gathering, Celtic Frost), sometimes it doesn't (Paradise Lost, Celtic Frost again) but the least a critic should do in the first place is judge the music for what it's worth, regardless of genre. The least you could have done is your homework, instead of assuming shit and judging a band by one stinkin' video. But of course no matter what they may say about it, Gorefest has still broken one of your sacred narrow-minded Heavy Metal rules and are therefore A WITCH!! ....er COMMIES!!....er CONFUSED METAL HATERS!! BURN 'EM!!

Like I said, you don't have a clue about playing or recording music, yet you're oh so good at telling bands what to do. How sad is that?

In fact, what's sadder: bands who take risks and are honest about it or closed-minded scenesters who feel the right to condemn them for doing do?