Capitalism + Metal = A Sad Batlord
So the other day I went to the local metal/punk record store and talked with the proprieter, a true Defender of the Faith if ever there was one (shout out to Skinnies Records in Norfolk, VA!). We had a conversation about several veteran bands and their sad states. This got me to thinking about what has become of modern metal in general. Slayer was once one of the greatest metal bands that ever lived, but ever since the nineties they have been limping along with an increasingly mediocre series of albums and only showing rare glimpses of their old fire. Even when they put out something of consequence, such as
Christ Illusion, it is merely business as usual, an attempt by a tired band to keep themselves going so that they can continue to make money by touring. This isn't really surprising though, since like many bands like Exodus, Manowar, Judas Priest, etc Slayer has spent the last few decades without steady jobs and building no work skills other than playing their instruments. So, either they put out another album or they flip burgers. Perhaps the saddest part is what this business mentality has done to the band. Just recently their drummer, Dave Lombardo, was booted from the band that he helped found by band leader Kerry King when Lombardo started asking questions about the state of Slayer's finances. Reading between the lines it seems likely that Mr. King was receiving a "healthier" share than the other band members. Cause screwing your friends is what metal is all about.
The independent metal labels are even worse. Once proud and renegade labels now sign bands based on cheap fads like deathcore and some silly "thrash revival." When they're not cashing in on these questionable scene bands they're signing yet another band bowing down to outdated genre stereotypes set twenty or thirty years ago. I guess their business model is built on maintaining the illusion that sub-genres that peaked and collapsed years ago like death metal and Norwegian black metal are somehow still relevant today. They also seem to be in cahoots with the metal magazines. I used to read Metal Hammer years ago and it was filled with glorified press releases masquerading as articles giving vomit inducing praise on bands like Job for a Cowboy, Emmure, Shadows Fall, etc. Then you go to the reviews section only to see that as often as not these same bands get torn apart or at best met with indifferent contempt.
This "underground" metal industry has become nothing more than a small scale version of the mainstream record industry. It is bloated, self congratulatory, and is not to be trusted. You're expected to buy their substandard swill and then go buy their concert tickets where you get to engage in stale rebellion in the mosh pit like it was a carnival ride. Sometimes I think that it's time that metal truly "die" and everything that supports the current model (tired old bands, labels, mags, etc) be burned to the ground. Then if metal has any life left in it those few bands with the brains and the balls to make it on their own can claw their way out of the ashes by themselves. Of course none of this is particularly new, and people have been saying much the same things for years, but the whole situation is tiresome and disheartening nonetheless. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find a particularly grim and frostbitten mountain to hurl myself off of.