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Last Active 10-19-20 9:00 pm
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| Real Frustrations of a band changing their sound
Hi This is practically the first big article i have written on music and in general and has been lingering on my mind fo awhile. Its fucking long so | | 1 |  | Opeth
Orchid
Its always a point of contention when a band or an artist changes their sound, this is especially true within the metal sphere of music. In the metal sphere there is a lot of outrage and misconception when a band “Goes soft” or abandons the heavier aspects of their sound. The heart of the problem and the misconceived outrage is not the change in sound it is simply the approach and result in that change. | | 2 |  | Opeth
Morningrise
Now there are many reasons why a band will change their sound over the course of their career. The band themselves may be sick of being pigeon-holed into one genre or have become disillusioned with the genre they have been playing over their 10+ year careers. Perhaps the band has had a change in line-up and thus has caused new ideas or a change in the creative process or in some cases a shift to find the best course of action to survive. The third and the most thrown around reason is the band is “selling out” and simply chasing the money lets spend a bit more time on this one. This is not a bad thing as bands don’t owe us their audience anything. At the end of the day a career band is at its core a business and the flow of money is split in many ways and often leaves the band themselves with a lot less than people realise | | 3 |  | Opeth
Watershed
Opeth is a band that needs little to no introduction as titans of the progressive metal scene. The Swedish prog death metal band have created a legendary legacy and standard for themselves ranging from 1995’s “Orchid” to 2008’s “Watershed”. However, everything would shift when the band released the 2011 “Heritage” which saw Opeth abandon all traces of death metal and shift into Prog rock. Which has been an ever-present sound found throughout the bands entire career. Opeth are an excellent example of a band changing simply because the members of the band had grown tired of the genre, they had played for over a decade. At some point any artist must decide there is no more exploring that project or idea and that a change in direction is needed. | | 4 |  | Bring Me the Horizon
Sempiternal
Another more mainstream example of this exact shift in sound is Bring Me The Horizon. Love or loathe them it is hard to argue that BMTH haven’t had a profound effect on the metalcore be it for good or for bad. In the late 2000’s and early 2010’s there was a large influx of “scene core” bands that all sounded somewhat similar stylistically and aesthetically. However, the clones of Bring me the Horizon really started to become apparent with the release of their 2013 record “Sempiternal”. However, this rise in bands copying BMTH’s approach was nothing in comparison to what was to come. | | 5 |  | Bring Me the Horizon
That's the Spirit
In 2015 BMTH released “That’s the spirit” which saw the band abandon metal and shift towards a far more mainstream and poppier sound, the album itself is overall inoffensive. This complete genre shifts by the band spawned a wave to tear through the metalcore scene and that wave is still being seen today. As it showed that a previously heavy band could shift towards the mainstream market and succeed. So many bands followed in BMTH’s footsteps and so many of those bands failed to succeed or stand out following this shift in sound. | | 6 |  | Parkway Drive
Reverence
So why the outrage about this shift in sound and why did so many bands fail at this shift in sound? Creating music or any form of art is difficult and talent levels vary across the board. However, the real reason people become frustrated watching a band change their sound is not because they have changed genres not because it’s become “softer”. It’s the lack of anything interesting happening musically. We as the audience know that these bands can write interesting music, we know that they have the capacity to put a good song together. The frustration stems from when the shift in sound becomes so bland or phoned in you must wonder if the band themselves even wants to do this anymore or if they are the same people who wrote those old albums. | | 7 |  | Architects
For Those That Wish to Exist
Bands like Parkway Drive and Architects are prime examples of this sheer drop of quality as they have shifted their sound. Parkway drive went from titans of the metalcore scene to a laughingstock and being labelled “Dad rock” as they have shifted towards catering to the European arena and festival scene. Which makes sense as that’s where most of their income comes from these days. Architects’s career has been a never-ending cycle of an identity crisis this is even before the tragic loss of Tom Searle the bands lead song writer. After the loss of Tom, the band was understandably thrown off. Where do you go after you have lost a core creative piece of your band? What do you do when you have spent the last 20 years of your life as a band and not having a fall-back option? Architects followed their tried-and-true method of their early career: Follow in Bring Me the Horizons footsteps and continue the identity crisis. | | 8 |  | Opeth
In Cauda Venenum
I used Opeth as an example earlier and that’s for good reason and that’s to showcase that a change in sound will always have growing pains. Post 2010 Opeth albums have been hit or miss and muddied down by classical 70’s-80’s prog rock worship, poor production, or other reasons. In 2019 Opeth released “In Caude Verenum” which shows the band having found their footing and balancing that classical Opeth atmosphere and mixing their love for classical prog rock. Both Architects and Parkway Drive could nail these new approaches to making music they have the talent to do so. Yet their new music and sound is lacking any character or defining trait that makes them stand out in a positive light. This is where the frustration stems from when a band shifts their sound not that it become heavier or softer its that the bands creative process seemingly dies and becomes a shadow of itself. Leaving long time fans wondering what happened to the bands we loved and whether it’s worth watching their fall | |
Ectier
12.12.23 | Fuck Bring me the horizon, this fucking thing took me ages to write so be gentle | Ectier
12.12.23 | Please be gentle | el_newg
12.12.23 | are you looking for feedback? | JDubb
12.12.23 | For me, this was Incubus post S.C.I.E.N.C.E. Remember having and listening to an early copy of Make Yourself and thinking WTF! They definitely gravitated to the mainstream, along with “bland” and unchallenging content. | Ectier
12.12.23 | If there is any feedback sure. Overall was just an attempt at things | el_newg
12.12.23 | your point is basically "their music gets worse" which is not particularly insightful, nor inherently tied to an artist changing their sound. sure, sometimes doing something completely different is bad, but there are many examples of artists who drastically altered their genre and found more success and acclaim after. Pantera, Ministry, arguably Radiohead. I'd suggest trying to tackle the topic from a different angle, perhaps a more in depth analysis of why it works for some bands and not for others. | Ectier
12.12.23 | Thanks | JDubb
12.12.23 | The difference with Ministry and Pantera is that they weren’t making it (big time) with their OG sound. Prepeth went the opposite direction - Heritage was (and still is) a huge letdown. | el_newg
12.12.23 | good point. how about Ulver? | Butkuiss
12.12.23 | People are so entitled lol. Neither album is particularly my bag but people who complain about Heritage or Reverence like it’s Akerfeldt and McCall’s job to cater to their specific tastes for the entirety of their career crack me up. Artists don’t owe their fanbase stylistic consistency. If you dig what they put out, mad. If not - get a life and jog on; there are more important things to worry about! | Egarran
12.12.23 | Thanks for the article. I would like an analysis of
>In the metal sphere there is a lot of outrage and misconception when a band “Goes soft” or abandons the heavier aspects of their sound. The heart of the problem and the misconceived outrage is not the change in sound it is simply the approach and result in that change.
Is it simply change=bad or is there more? | chemicalmarriage
12.12.23 | I'm going to smoke a joint and go for a walk. Its gonna be awesome | onionbubs
12.12.23 | if all you do is slide into the sound thats big with the kids without doing literally anything to try and make it interesting then yea fuck that shit sucks
that said on paper i way prefer a band that changes it up and shows different sides of themselves over a band that does the same thing over and over | budgie
12.12.23 | hihi ih hi hi hi hi | Ectier
12.12.23 | Thanks everyone.was just a thing i wanted to try. I think i got a bit jumbled here and there as i was writing | auberginedreams
12.13.23 | I do think there should be a distinction between “not being restricted by genre labels” and “specifically making things that will be played on Sirius Octane” | Bigwill2k
12.16.23 | Yes auberginedreams, the white noise loudness of the production is obviously to fit in with popular music on the radio. I expect Sirius FM has certain conditions that need to be met to get played on their station. You have to fit the mould. The audio quality is objectively, measurably poor. That is not an artistic decision, it's commercial. The song writing is formulaic, overly broad and trying to be relevant in the current popular culture. Then you have the image change, Carter noticeably wearing more mainstream and fashionable clothing and accesories.
I can understand the wish to make good money and not live hand to mouth. They have paid their dues, having slogged it out since 2003 I believe. What I don't like is the deception that this transformation is purely based on artistic values. I think they have deceived themselves on this one. They seem to genuinely think that this is very worthy and we're knuckle draggers for denying it. This is not like Opeth's sound change, or Radiohead's. Neither of those come across like a deliberate play for rock radio.
Its impossible to ignore the elephant in the room which is Tom Searle's untimely passing. This sound change is a way to avoid being compared directly to Tom's Architects, with Holy Hell being the last vestiges of the old style and naturally an intense emotional tribute to Dan's brother. The new style for that album would have been an odd fit.
The band say they could do the old style easily. I think they took the commercial direction because they might have gradually slipped into obscurity as a pale imitation of their old selves in an ageing scene with hundreds of other copycat bands doing the same sound.
The message is now more important than the music and they have the mission to keep Tom Searle's legacy alive. That is a compelling story for the media to tell, a band overcoming tragedy. | Bigwill2k
12.16.23 | Oh damn a comment turned into an essay, again. Soz XD |
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