Actually Mountain is one of my prouder moments, might be a technical thing more though...

SYL:

Heavy:
In The Rainy Season

City:
All Hail

SYL:
Aftermath

Alien:
Skeksis

TNB:
Almost Again

I did a little cover of Almost Again on my youtube page...but I think I played a lot of it wrong

Why is it I seem to be alone in feeling that I don't at all need to be angry to enjoy SYL?

Metal in general is never cathartic for me, I don't listen to it to vent anger or frustration, and I don't write it to do so either. I'm a pretty calm and overall happy person, always have been. I love metal for its energy, I listen to it and write it because I find it to be a really fun form of music, and I've always found it extremely puzzling why so many people seem to view it as something that you can only genuinely enjoy when you yourself are stressed or angry all the time. It really bugs me.

I agree with this post very much. A lot of SYL's music for me sounds like Cadbury's chocolate for the ears (I don't have synaesthesia but I sometimes like to think of music in terms of senses other than sound). Very sweet and sickly but delicious. But I certainly don't need to be angry to enjoy it - I like to listen to it when I'm happy and find it can energize me, a bit like listening to drum n' bass sometimes does. I do sometimes find I'm not in the mood for anything heavy though, but that's nothing to do with whether I'm angry or not, I guess sometimes I just feel like a change

e: also on the subject of songs from Terria and Deep Peace in particular (someone mentioned it being their favourite song), I don't think I have ever FULLY appreciated that song until a few days ago when I was listening to Terria. Up 'til then my favourite by far had been Earth Day, but I can't get enough of Deep Peace now!

Why is it I seem to be alone in feeling that I don't at all need to be angry to enjoy SYL?

Metal in general is never cathartic for me, I don't listen to it to vent anger or frustration, and I don't write it to do so either. I'm a pretty calm and overall happy person, always have been. I love metal for its energy, I listen to it and write it because I find it to be a really fun form of music, and I've always found it extremely puzzling why so many people seem to view it as something that you can only genuinely enjoy when you yourself are stressed or angry all the time. It really bugs me.

AppleQueso, I didn't say I couldn't listen to metal unless angry...just metal of that level of aggression. I find that music is a great mood enhancer, though, and pissed-off-loud-offensive-to-the-mainstream sound is a wonderful way for me, personally, to deal with things that piss me off. I think I'm musically pretty open minded (hell, I even have Choo Choo Soul on my iPod to get down to with my 4 yr old) but of all of it, I gravitate most to the metal. I think what I love the most about metal, in general, though, is the sheer variety of it all. There is something for everyone...I just happen to prefer the more melodic stuff - especially if it has a funky/jazzy twist to the rhythms.

That said, I didn't realise that there was so much SYL in the iTunes store - and after listening to clips, it would appear that there is a lot more of the sort of sound that I like than I had expected based on the Chaos Yrs compilation. From my (admitted) minimal exposure, and the label of "extreme", it had never seemed that accessible to me. So, thanks AQ - it was because I went looking for "Two Weeks", as you suggested, that I came across the other stuff. Yippee...new music to discover. Should hold me over until Addicted comes out.

OK...having spent the evening immersed in a couple of new SYL purchases...just 5 words:

Ohhhh, I get it now

OK...having spent the evening immersed in a couple of new SYL purchases...just 5 words:

Ohhhh, I get it now

Good for you. It has it's own kind of beauty in it all, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. There is still some of it that I just can't get my head around...music that I have found marvelous when super-angry. Instead of continuing to write most of it off as "not my thing", though, I've found rather a lot of stuff that I very much enjoy from album to album. So, thanks to the joys of iTunes, downloaded everything I like last night. It's funny, really, because my perception of SYL, in general, was that it's all this great antithesis to all of the music of Devin's that I so thoroughly enjoy. Duh...it's still Dev.

Why is it I seem to be alone in feeling that I don't at all need to be angry to enjoy SYL?

Metal in general is never cathartic for me, I don't listen to it to vent anger or frustration, and I don't write it to do so either. I'm a pretty calm and overall happy person, always have been. I love metal for its energy, I listen to it and write it because I find it to be a really fun form of music, and I've always found it extremely puzzling why so many people seem to view it as something that you can only genuinely enjoy when you yourself are stressed or angry all the time. It really bugs me.

You're not the only one, I completely agree with you. While I can and do listen to that kind of music when I'm angry and get something completely different out of it, for the most part when I listen to songs like All Hail the New Flesh, they give me a feeling of being high on life, as cheesy and cliched as that sounds. I don't think I'd still be listening to it at 29 if it made me feel angry all the time, as that's not a particularly healthy way to live your life.

For reference, All Hail the New Flesh gives me the same feeling as this does http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkOroGoF ... re=related . Yes it's got aggressive elements to it, but the overall feeling it gives me is one of happiness rather than anger or aggression. Same goes for pretty much everything on Physicist.

Oh yeah, and Mountain is pretty awesome. I love the thick vocal layers, and the combination of clean vocals and growly vocals.

You're not the only one, I completely agree with you. While I can and do listen to that kind of music when I'm angry and get something completely different out of it, for the most part when I listen to songs like All Hail the New Flesh, they give me a feeling of being high on life, as cheesy and cliched as that sounds. I don't think I'd still be listening to it at 29 if it made me feel angry all the time, as that's not a particularly healthy way to live your life.

For reference, All Hail the New Flesh gives me the same feeling as this does http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkOroGoF ... re=related . Yes it's got aggressive elements to it, but the overall feeling it gives me is one of happiness rather than anger or aggression. Same goes for pretty much everything on Physicist.

Oh yeah, and Mountain is pretty awesome. I love the thick vocal layers, and the combination of clean vocals and growly vocals.

just get away, you motherfuck
and we'll be back if you come
for what this means to me, you piece of shit
I'll see you pigs in hell
i just know that everything's going to be OK

Now, while I give you that the energy is similar to the Lab4 link, I guess where I get stuck on the whole "feeling of happiness" thing is that the song fundamentally doesn't seem to me to be a happy one. It strikes me more of a defiant, "screw you"...and I don't tend to feel like giving the world the finger when I am in a good mood. Now, while I might be 40, I don't think I feel that different to how I felt at 29. What is it that they say, though, "if it is too loud, you're too old?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the song has a happy or positive message, I'm saying that it makes me feel that way, which is something that's more to do with my personal experiences and the way I'm wired mentally than it is to do with the original intention behind the song.

I guess what I take from the song is the power and self confidence that's in there, but I don't take the anger out of it unless I'm in that particular mood.

I'm generally more motivated by the overall sound of the music rather than lyrics - but some of SYL is just such a verbal assault that I can't help but hear it as a whole. I do hear what you're saying, though. It is the same idea as the mild to moderately aggressive stuff that I like being good "psych up" music for the drive to work...I'm a nurse in a busy emergency department and certain songs just seem to mentally prepare me better to hit the ground running. Yet for pretty much all of my friends there, the stuff I listen to would do the exact opposite. Ah well. It really is interesting how different people interpret the same piece of music.

So is the beginning of 0-0 (Where Evil Dwells) by Fear Factory influenced by the song title "All Hail the New Flesh"? That's what the first line of the song says:

ALLLL
HAAAIL
THE NEW
FLESHHHH

Maybe it's some expression/saying that I don't understand haha.

So is the beginning of 0-0 (Where Evil Dwells) by Fear Factory influenced by the song title "All Hail the New Flesh"? That's what the first line of the song says:

ALLLL
HAAAIL
THE NEW
FLESHHHH

Maybe it's some expression/saying that I don't understand haha.

I always thought it was a Videodrome reference (both by Devin and Fear Factory). Or does All Hail the New Flesh come from somewhere other than Videodrome?

btw They are planning a remake of Videodrome. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Still, Croneneberg is going to remake 'The Fly' himself, so maybe he doesn't mind.