I keep hearing people who love metal music telling me that it bores them these days. It’s not the same. The market is oversaturated with Djent or Metalcore or [put overdone subgenre here]. Good news is, I’ve heard this complaint before in other genres and they’ve survived and thrived after the fact.
I have a way of approaching metal music that has nothing to do with tradition and “how things used to be.” I’m open minded because I don’t hold any preconceived notions of how a genre is supposed to sound. I understand that there are genres and subgenres, but it’s like saying this human is brown and that human is pink; therefore, they are fundamentally different species. They aren’t but that’s how humans tend to think.
I watched a change in you
It’s like you never had wings
Now you feel so alive
I watched you change
~”Change (in the House of Flies)” | Deftones | White Pony
I know that I can’t stand it when something I enjoy is discontinued or the formula is altered. Most of the times, it’s for the worst, but everything evolves. Try to remember that as something transition, we may find ourselves witnessing the chrysalis.
A chrysalis is neither the caterpillar nor the butterfly. It doesn’t look like it’s doing anything special on the outside, but inside magic is happening. Think of all the bands you’ve enjoyed and there is usually a “cocoon” of an album in there somewhere as they transition from the new band to watch into a long time player like Dream Theater or Tool.
Change is a condition of innovation. Music goes through slumps where even I despair of finding something fresh and engaging. Music also has mind-melting bursts of creativity. I’ve learned to take the good with the bad. A slump is just a marker that something amazing is about to break free and take flight.
©2014 iokirkwood.com “Change (in the House of [Butter] Flies” All rights reserved.
In between bouts of writing for metaldescent.com, blogging, and banging her head, I.O. Kirkwood is the author of “Subatomic Revolt” in Mike Lynch’s No Revolution Is Too Big series and the short story “The White Carpet,” a finalist in the Scribes Valley Publishing Fiction Contest in 2013.
I.O. Kirkwood 
Lololol……I remember hearing this same thing back in the 80’s (showing my age now). People complained about punk getting boring until Fugazi came along. They complained about hair metal until Metallica came along and on and on ever since. Its not just music either. I hear the same complaints in the world of poetry when Slam and Confessional got boring. Here’s the thing – we are all born to ride the waves of one life. Instead of bemoaning the dying swells, jump on the next one forming in its wake. All metal draws from the same sea and its all ours to enjoy. Thats the magic of metal. It binds us all together in our disfunction, rage and longings. It makes the Bullet For My Valentine and Cannibal Corpse fan of one tribe even when they hate each others bands. If metal gets boring, pull up a new Pandora or Spotify channel of something you wouldnt normally pick. Go to a show with local bands. Learn your metal history. Its a big ocean out there folks. Ride safe !
Well said!