Metal Burnout (revisited)

I can tell I'm in the same headspace as I was back in 1996. At that time I was so burned out on metal that in a 6 month period I dumped 90% of my metal albums and started digging seriously into jazz. That lasted a decade. In that timeframe their were still a small handful of metal bands I kept tabs on, but most of the stuff just got ignored.

In 2005 I got an emusic subscription and started sticking my toes back in the metal pond again, at that point it was mostly stoner & retro bands that I had missed out on during the decade I wasn't paying attention. Then once I joined Heart Of Metal and started talking about the music again it started a nostalgia wave where I went back and listened to tons of stuff I had ignored for a very long time.

It was fun...but in the long run I think it was mostly nostalgia again. During the past year and a half I've found myself uninspired by the music again...with a few exceptions (just like the first time).

At this moment Jazz is sounding fucking fantastic to me again, Prog Rock (which I've always loved since I was in my early teens) has become my #1 favorite style of music...and I've also decided to finally dig deeply into Classical, a genre of music I've always enjoyed but never really devoted any time to studying.

There will of course be certain groups that I'll continue to follow, but if I don't take a break from the music I'm going to end up hating it.

Nowadays I'm more inspired by melodies than heavy riffs.

I'm the opposite, I was heavily into melody and now more into riffs. Oddly enough, when I first got into guitar my style was melodic and bluesy with a lot of clean tones. Now my sense of melody is still there but different, more like a piano-like approach on the guitar. I have never been such a riff writer in my life until the last few months. I don't care about flashor wankery though...I still employ a lot of Middle Eastern melody and I really enjoy Celtic music along w/the Cuban, Oriental, etc styles I love. Heavy for me nowadays is Stoner/Doom and not really much of anything else. Currently I am burnt out on obscure 70s.

I can't say I'm in the same place, as I've been getting heavily back into metal in the past couple of months. I definitely see where you're coming from, though. Metal is becoming less interesting as a whole because, as far as I can tell, there's not much room left for innovation in the style.

I kind of like the idea of just listening to certain artists who you know will interest you, and forgetting the rest. I really need to start seriously getting into classical and jazz, too. So you changing gears like this might be the perfect opportunity to begin that transition.

Akeldama wrote:

Currently I am burnt out on obscure 70s.

I'm in this boat as well. I've spent the past couple years trying to dig out all the good psychedelic and progressive stuff from the 70's. I think I made a decent dent. And for a while all I'd listen to was that and early 90's hip hop, haha. So yeah, I guess I'm burnt out on Fuzzy Duck and Biggie Smalls.

I'm never really burnt out on metal, but that's because I'm not much of a metalhead to begin with. Lately the only kind of metal I've been seeking out has been (hate me if you want to) nu-metal. Just angsty-90's nostalgia I guess.

This is "my trip" I'm on, just felt like saying it out loud for some reason. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the music (in general at least), I just know that right now very little of it does anything for me, that's a sign that I need to take a break and focus my attention elsewhere.

I figured this would happen eventually, when I started going back and re-listening to the 80s and early 90s stuff I knew that it would probably be fun for awhile but eventually the same things that made me venture away from that era in the first place would manifest themselves again. I started revisiting that stuff around 2007 and I think I started to lose interest around 2010, so in the grand scheme of things it was a fun 3 years.

When I got into Porcupine Tree and in turn into Opeth it re-ignited my love for progressive music and made me realize that it was time to pay attention to artists with a broader spectrum of colors to choose from.

I've been listening to metal seriously for 30 years now (and listened to some stuff like KISS for 35 years)...so it's not like this stuff isn't permanently ingrained in my head.

I agree completely, I'm not just burnt out on things like Reggae, obscure 70s, Metal, etc. I'm burnet out on vocals for the most part b/c either thay have nothing worthwhile to say or what was worth while when I was younger means nothing to me anymore. I'm just in a different frame of mind nowadays...

I think love for various styles of music is cyclic, it comes and goes depending on your frame of mind at the time. Sometimes you just need a break from certain bands...sometimes you never come back around to them again, it's okay, I view it as part of the process.

When I started revisiting metal stuff there were tons of things I just didn't want to hear anymore, so it was a very selective process of what I wanted to expose myself to.

Going back and listening to jazz again frequently is a similar style process. I learned alot in 10 years of studying the music, I learned enough to be selective and only reach for the albums that really moved me. It's a huge genre of music that still features many things I haven't experienced, so I'm sure I'll still discover new things that will hit me...but I did a pretty good job of listening to all the different eras and styles so I know what stuff I'll listen to the most.

My approach to music now is all about being selective, reducing the sheer number of artists and albums down to only the really moving stuff...that way I'll have more time to listen to the cream of the crop.

Special Guest wrote:

Akeldama wrote:

Currently I am burnt out on obscure 70s.

I'm in this boat as well. I've spent the past couple years trying to dig out all the good psychedelic and progressive stuff from the 70's. I think I made a decent dent. And for a while all I'd listen to was that and early 90's hip hop, haha. So yeah, I guess I'm burnt out on Fuzzy Duck and Biggie Smalls.

I'm never really burnt out on metal, but that's because I'm not much of a metalhead to begin with. Lately the only kind of metal I've been seeking out has been (hate me if you want to) nu-metal. Just angsty-90's nostalgia I guess.

I'm currently burnt out on Marillion based Neo Prog.......... I really do love those floaty synths, though.

chewie wrote:

Special Guest wrote:

Akeldama wrote:

Currently I am burnt out on obscure 70s.

I'm in this boat as well. I've spent the past couple years trying to dig out all the good psychedelic and progressive stuff from the 70's. I think I made a decent dent. And for a while all I'd listen to was that and early 90's hip hop, haha. So yeah, I guess I'm burnt out on Fuzzy Duck and Biggie Smalls.

I'm never really burnt out on metal, but that's because I'm not much of a metalhead to begin with. Lately the only kind of metal I've been seeking out has been (hate me if you want to) nu-metal. Just angsty-90's nostalgia I guess.

I'm currently burnt out on Marillion based Neo Prog.......... I really do love those floaty synths, though.

Semi-related question. Do you prefer Fish era Marillion, or the Hogarth era?

Something about those first couple albums with Hogarth really appeal to me. Very moody music; while I see the material with Fish as a bit overrated. They tended to sound a lot like Gabriel-era Genesis to me, but with digital synths.

I for one prefer Hogarth and for the same reason you stated, Met.

I must be one narrow minded son of a bitch, cuz I've been listening to hard rock/metal/punk 24-7 since I was 11 years old and I've never felt much need to explore other genres. Haha.

I do get burned out on/tired of certain bands or genres from time to time, but I like to think that even within my little "window" of interest I still have enough enough variety (I own stuff by everyone from AC/DC to the Misfits to Warrant to Sepultura) to keep me occupied. If something doesn't float my boat on a particular day, I can easily find something else that does.

I wouldn't say you are narrow minded, you just like what you like and are comfortable with it, nothing wrong with that.

Metal-On-Metal wrote:

chewie wrote:

Special Guest wrote:

Akeldama wrote:

Currently I am burnt out on obscure 70s.

I'm in this boat as well. I've spent the past couple years trying to dig out all the good psychedelic and progressive stuff from the 70's. I think I made a decent dent. And for a while all I'd listen to was that and early 90's hip hop, haha. So yeah, I guess I'm burnt out on Fuzzy Duck and Biggie Smalls.

I'm never really burnt out on metal, but that's because I'm not much of a metalhead to begin with. Lately the only kind of metal I've been seeking out has been (hate me if you want to) nu-metal. Just angsty-90's nostalgia I guess.

I'm currently burnt out on Marillion based Neo Prog.......... I really do love those floaty synths, though.

Semi-related question. Do you prefer Fish era Marillion, or the Hogarth era?

Something about those first couple albums with Hogarth really appeal to me. Very moody music; while I see the material with Fish as a bit overrated. They tended to sound a lot like Gabriel-era Genesis to me, but with digital synths.

I am very much a Fish era fan, but I do like a lot of the Hogarth era stuff..... I saw them on the Marbles Tour after all. Missed this last tour due to lack of fundage and have yet to get the new album..... which I eventually will.

Seasons End thru Afraid Of Sunlight are very moody albums and find them to be stronger than subsequent albums. Most of the music for Seasons End was written with Fish, so it is an interesting transition album in that it sounds really good in spite of being "transitional".


Radiation is the album that lost me, but marillion.com brought me back, Legacy being the song that got my immediate attention. On a side note: Steven Wilson does some production work on that album. That is where I first heard of SW.

I'm kinda over finding "new" thrash bands. The retro-thrash thing was fun for awhile, but now as I go back and re-listen to some of the bands I bought (Bonded By Blood, Evile, Havok, etc.), they just aren't sparking like before.

I'll still spin the "classics" (the Big 4, Overkill, Testament, etc.) but I think I'm over this New Wave of Thrash Metal. Even a new album by Megadeth or Anthrax will give me a nostalgic feeling back to my younger days. But I have no emotional attachment to say, Hexen, so I don't see the point in searching out their material anymore.

I don't want to do anything hasty and ditch any of the newer stuff I've acquired. Who knows, I might come back to it. But I'm not searching out anything new anymore. For the time being anyway. I say that now, then go on a spending jag.