The Batlord

I gotta say I'm feeling kind of ambivalent towards the whole modern metal fan world. I'd have no place with a bunch of scary bikers, and would be far too terrified to get in a pit with them, and the antics I'm hearing seem like they would make me feel like kind of an odd man out pussy, but all of that just makes a modern metal show seem Disney-fied. I can relate to your average metal fan these days, metal/deathcore kids aside, but going to a show just doesn't have any real edge. Sure I can get in the pit, and it's always fun don't get me wrong, but it feels like a carnival ride. You pay for a ticket, you go in, you have some safe quasi-rebellion, and then you brag to your friends about how badass you are just because you got a bloody nose. And I kind of feel disappointed by the fan reactions too. I heard stories of crazy metal fans tearing out seats, completely trashing venues, and suspending themselves from balconies to form an inverted cross and yell "SLAYER!!!" long before I ever went to see a show, and when I finally get there it's mostly a bunch of people standing there and cheering like normal people. I almost feel like I'm trying too hard when I give myself a neck cramp that lasts for days from headbanging. I'd just like, at least once, to feel scared of a show, rather than just entertained by the band on stage. I get the feeling that if the mood of the scenes were so wildly different from then and now, that the decrease in energy and craziness at a modern show would also have a negative effect on the energy the band puts out too. I mean are Slayer gonna feel like wild animals on stage if they're not surrounded by people who are turning into wild animals themselves just from listening to their music?

Unless I'm making too much of what you guys are putting out there.

Oh, and about the spitting on Tom Araya thing Fred mentioned. I thought that was just supposed to be a punk thing. Spitting in general, not just on Tom Araya.

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