Okay, despite the fact that I have 3000+ songs on my iPod, I feel like I'm listening to the same things over and over and I need some fresh new music to awaken my palate. So, since folks here at RPGFan have good taste in music and can steer me to what I'm looking for, I come here.
Here's what I'm looking for:
-Something heavy, but with melody as well. I want to be able to headbang to it and hum/sing along to it when I'm doing stuff. I've heard too many songs that, while technically impressive, were just "riff salad" and unmemorable. I want something heavy and with cohesive songwriting.
-Some complexity to the music. I don't want complete technical wankery "riff salad," but I don't want simple one-note breakdowns either.
-A measure of speed/uptempo. I don't want droning, slow, monotonous sludge metal songs that put me to sleep after 1/3 of their 9 minute durations. I get bored with hardcore bands that are all breakdowns and no speed. I don't necessarily need DragonForce level speed, but I definitely want something at a good "workout" pace that makes me want to jump around, mosh, whatever. If the artist has occasional slower songs, that's fine (I do love DragonForce's ballads), but I always tend to favor faster songs.
-Dynamic vocals. I want a vocalist who doesn't just monotone bark through the whole album. I want to hear a variety of growls and screams, maybe even some skilled clean singing as well. I've heard some pretty sick music that was ruined by a monotonous vocalist.
-Bass that isn't buried in the mix. I'm a bass player, so of course I want to be able to hear the bass without having to strain to hear it or play it uncomfortably loud. Bassist doesn't have to do Primus-level acrobatics, but I want to hear and feel a good bassline since that's the pulse of the music.
-Lyrics that don't insult my intelligence. I'm not asking for super complicated verbiage that will have me scrambling for the dictionary every 12 seconds, but I certainly want something more enlightening than "sex 'n beer" and repeating the F-word all the time.
-An artist who isn't super popular/well known. I generally don't listen to bands/artists who are big, because they're already big, have plenty of fans, and make enough money. I always want to support the smaller, underground bands who are down in the trenches because they need the support and because they're in the trenches, their music feels the most genuine.
I know some of these criteria may seem both fuzzy and picky, but it's because I know what I want yet kinda don't. So feel free to interpret them as you wish so I can have a variety of stuff to check out. The more I have to listen to, the more opportunity I have to find my new favorite of the moment, ya know?
