IN THIS MOMENT ANYONE?

[PurpleCrayonWriter]

I'm not sure I've seen a thread about the band In This Moment. If I've missed it, I apologize.

We've seen In This Moment twice, once on the hot metal chicks tour and once with Five Finger Death Punch, a shitty band if there ever was one.

In This Moment has it. Whatever it is. They have the magic. It could be Maria Brink, who is not only a charismatic front woman and hottie but a gal with a great set of...lungs. When she's not doing her metalcore banshee screaming, she's got a very pleasant voice. And In This Moment's songs are so unbelievably catchy. Both of their albums (the instant classic debut Beautiful Tragedy and their latest, The Dream) are quite good.

Plus, Maria is an extremely nice, approachable person. I walked up to her at The Orbit Room in Grand Rapids (where she was buying a drink at the bar) and told her how much I enjoyed her music. She was all smiles and very thankful, which says a lot because she probably thought I was just another tongue-hanging-out fan.

Her MySpace blogs are always about emotional be-kind-to-one-another and thankful-to-God-for-who-I-am topics. She's a rare one in the world of metal.

In This Moment will be in Grand Rapids on February 19th. Can't wait. Theirs is an energetic, up-beat, crowd-pleasing show. If you haven't seen them, I recommend you do so.

Anyone else like In This Moment? Or am I barking up the wrong metal tree?

 

[raising_iron]

I'd say you're up the wrong metal tree here man
Yeah, she's a hottie, that's what's going for 'em, and yeah, the songs are formulaic, poppy/radio friendly mallcore to the "nines".

 

[Jibrille]

Of the two recent female fronted Century Media metalcore bands, I far prefer The Agonist.

 

[ratanda]

I would have liked them if it was 2003 or so, when the stuff they're doing now was more fresh.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I saw ITM on the tour with Lucana Coil and Within Temptation. Let's just say I'd rather watch paint dry than to sit through them again. In the looks department, I think Christina and Sharon buries what's her name on their worst days!

~Brian~

 

[Magius]

Pass

 

[PurpleCrayonWriter]

In the looks department, I think Christina and Sharon buries what's her name on their worst days!

~Brian~

Oh, I don't know. She's not exactly hideous looking.

 

[Palabra de Dios]

Barking up the wrong metal tree for me. I saw them a while back (I think opening for Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil) and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. It doesn't have to do with the frontwoman really, I think she held her own on stage, but the music was just so generic and formulaic for me....the breakdowns were predictable and the songs just didn't pop. The Agonist is similar for me. Bland. And they opened for the mighty Enslaved a couple of years ago.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

She butchers the piss outta "Run to the Hills", though. Check it out on Blabbermouth.net.

 

[Rakosh]

Not in this moment...or the next moment...or the next...

 

[adaher]

Some of their songs are really great, like Forever and All For You. Others are kinda bad. But I like this band, they have potential. I understand that the last album was a change in sound for them. So they probably are still finding themselves.

 

[General Zod]

I haven't seen them live and I haven't heard their disc. Based solely on the video on her MySpace page, they're not my thing. But to be fair, no many female fronted bands are. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a single one of which I'm a big fan of.

Zod

 

[dcowboys311]

yuck

 

[edgeofthorns]

Oh, I don't know. She's not exactly hideous looking.

She's a little too trashy looking for my taste and I stress my taste.

~Brian~

 

[General Zod]

You know, this thread kind of illustrates why I have a particular respect for women like Cristina Scabbia and Otep Shamaya. Both are beautiful women, who if anything, play down their looks. Perhaps it's an unfair double standard. However, when a band seems to be selling the front woman's sexuality, and not the music, I lose interest. And not because I find the idea reprehensible (trust me.. I'm not that evolved). I simply find it to be a quick indicator that they're unable to create anything musically that's worth my time.

Zod

 

[rushzil2112]

I think they suck big time, and I have pretty open and very wide mind to metal(modern, nu, and everything).

 

[Azrael LenGraden]

She has got a very powerful voice... I like "Forever", "Mechanical Love", and the slow one off the new CD (cant think of the name right now)... I like the latest CD but I would like to hear them diversify a little more... to many of the same tempo/key songs... not bad though...

 

[Perditions Ghost]

Gave them a listen on CD once, NOT my thing. Also paid half-attention to their Ozzfest set in 2007 (I think I was in the signing line for Nile) to see if maybe they'd be better live. I really don't care for this band live or in studio.

Also, I don't really think she's attractive at all, but that has nothing to do with the music.

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

I'm not sure I've seen a thread about the band In This Moment. If I've missed it, I apologize.

...

Anyone else like In This Moment? Or am I barking up the wrong metal tree?

I think you and I may be the only ones, Bill. I posted something about this tour on the FotV forum a little while back, but In This Moment doesn't seem to get much love from your average PP forumite.

You know, this thread kind of illustrates why I have a particular respect for women like Cristina Scabbia and Otep Shamaya. Both are beautiful women, who if anything, play down their looks. Perhaps it's an unfair double standard. However, when a band seems to be selling the front woman's sexuality, and not the music, I lose interest. And not because I find the idea reprehensible (trust me.. I'm not that evolved). I simply find it to be a quick indicator that they're unable to create anything musically that's worth my time.

Zod

Despite what some might think, I understand where you are coming from on this. (Except for the part about Cristina Scabbia playing down her sexuality. I think she's great, but are we talking about the same woman?) Lacuna Coil was one of the first bands of this type to start marketing themselves through their singer's looks.

While I love the unique qualities of a woman's voice, and the variety of styles women have come to show they are capable of in the metal genre, I get a little sick of how labels (it's not always what the band wants) use a woman's looks (not her voice/talent) as a selling point for the band. It's one the reasons I lost some interest in In This Moment for awhile, since Maria's face seemed to be everywhere. I think they are a great band, but there are plenty of other great bands that don't smut-up their singer in every magazine to sell their album. Personally I think Maria is pretty, but I don't think she's that much hotter than any other female singer that's out there right now.

I try not to pay too much attention to the "visual propaganda" that go along with a lot of bands with female singers (although I admit it can be difficult). Instead I focus on what draws me to that music in the first place -- the voice. Women who have a more unique vocal style (aka, not every female-fronted band sounds like Epica or Nightwish) will grab my attention. Initially that's why I liked In This Moment so much. I've never been a big fan of screaming in metal, but the way Maria did it mixed with her soft clean vocals on Beautiful Tragedy really pulled me in. I was really looking forward to their recent release, The Dream, and although I like the single, Forever, I wasn't as impressed with the new album as I had hoped. Ironically, because I find that it has more melodic elements and less of the metalcore elements that really stood out to me and caught my attention on the first album. (God I can't believe I just typed that. I normally detest anything involving the syllable -core.)

Point is, I know it's hard to think of these bands as more than just a passing fad, and sure, the ones who are just getting signed because their singer is hot are going to fade with time, just like their singer's looks.

The women who are in this for the love of metal - the ones with the pipes, the ambition, and the balls to work their way make it in the metal scene, the ones who choose to work with other talented musicians and promote their bandmates work just as much as their own - those bands are out there. And I'll continue to sift through the "visual propaganda" to sort out the women who just look metal, from the women who actually are metal!

 

[Rycher]

You know, this thread kind of illustrates why I have a particular respect for women like Cristina Scabbia and Otep Shamaya. Both are beautiful women, who if anything, play down their looks. Perhaps it's an unfair double standard. However, when a band seems to be selling the front woman's sexuality, and not the music, I lose interest. And not because I find the idea reprehensible (trust me.. I'm not that evolved). I simply find it to be a quick indicator that they're unable to create anything musically that's worth my time.

Zod

I didn't realize that a photo spread in Stuff magazine and/or suggestively positioned legs constitutes DOWNPLAYING sexuality....