Genres

Genres and sub-genres are getting out of hand.  However, I can't help but think that they are necessary evils - to an extent.  Hardcore, Deathcore, Mathcore, Metalcore, Applecore, aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! 

When I want to know the genre of a band, I generally look them up at metal-archives.  However those pages are created by regular users sort of like wikipedia, so there are bound to be errors.

Where do you look up a band's genre?

Wikipedia mostly, but they're not always accurate. I also check band myspaces which show the genres at the top. Honestly I think some of these sub-genres need to be broken up even further. Take deathcore for instance. You have bands like The Acacia Strain and Animosity. The Acacia Strain is labeled deathcore, but really they're just a super heavy hardcore band.  And Animosity plays death metal, but the vocalist throws in hardcore vocals sometimes, and their music has a big time hardcore vibe to it, hence the deathcore label. But then you have bands like Through the Eyes of the Dead and All Shall Perish that play standard death metal complete with low growls and blast beats, but then they throw in breakdowns, and that accounts for the core part. The first two bands sound nothing at all like the other two and yet they have the same label. Hardcore is another misleading label. Hardcore is derived from punk. But I think it should be divided into hardcore punk and hardcore metal. Solidarity is a good example of a hardcore punk band. But then you have hardcore bands like Black My Heart and Suffocate Faster which have no punk sound in their music whatsoever, and definitely have metal influences. Ok, wow that was long. Sorry, I kinda got immersed into all of this genre labeling stuff.

This site: http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=30: works from time to time.

TheSlayerM:

This site: http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=30: works from time to time.

Though I love Allmusic.com (I generally agree with their reviews and they're usually very useful), I still don't go to them for figuring out a genre of a band.  They don't change the genres much on that site, so some are out of date (for example, they've still got Ulver listed as black metal, but don't mention that they've changed their sound any.  They say so on the individual album reviews, but not on the overall style)...

I myself prefer to use metal archives for simple genre labeling.

Then can someone do me a favor and label Soilent Green for me, cause I've heard them labeled different things and I'm trying to properly label them for my ipod.

sloanan:

TheSlayerM:

This site: http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=30: works from time to time.

Though I love Allmusic.com (I generally agree with their reviews and they're usually very useful), I still don't go to them for figuring out a genre of a band.  They don't change the genres much on that site, so some are out of date (for example, they've still got Ulver listed as black metal, but don't mention that they've changed their sound any.  They say so on the individual album reviews, but not on the overall style)...

I myself prefer to use metal archives for simple genre labeling.

Yeah you're quite right there. That's why I said from time to time. They have great reviews, but the thing that really bugs me sometimes is that they very often have incomplete discographies of the bands, and as I figured out recently, the wrong titles of tracks. For example, as TF pointed out, the Weakling song Cut their grains.... is named Cut their brains.... And stuff like that.

TheSlayerM:

sloanan:

TheSlayerM:

This site: http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=30: works from time to time.

Though I love Allmusic.com (I generally agree with their reviews and they're usually very useful), I still don't go to them for figuring out a genre of a band.  They don't change the genres much on that site, so some are out of date (for example, they've still got Ulver listed as black metal, but don't mention that they've changed their sound any.  They say so on the individual album reviews, but not on the overall style)...

I myself prefer to use metal archives for simple genre labeling.

Yeah you're quite right there. That's why I said from time to time. They have great reviews, but the thing that really bugs me sometimes is that they very often have incomplete discographies of the bands, and as I figured out recently, the wrong titles of tracks. For example, as TF pointed out, the Weakling song Cut their grains.... is named Cut their brains.... And stuff like that.

Yeah, I was also a bit dissapointed in the information they have about vertain albums.  Fer instance, they reviewed Moonspell's Best of album thinking that it was an all new recording.  I'm sure that reviewer felt like a genius once he looked back and saw that it was only a best-of.

But you also have to consider the staggering amount of music they go over.  It's not just a metal site, so they've got an insane amount of different styles and such on the site, so I'm not gonna hold it against them for messing up on a few albums.

Matt McMadden:

Then can someone do me a favor and label Soilent Green for me, cause I've heard them labeled different things and I'm trying to properly label them for my ipod.

What I do for things like that is label all the bands that don't clearly fit into an obvious category simply as "Metal."

Reason's Voice:

Matt McMadden:

Then can someone do me a favor and label Soilent Green for me, cause I've heard them labeled different things and I'm trying to properly label them for my ipod.

What I do for things like that is label all the bands that don't clearly fit into an obvious category simply as "Metal."

Smart thinking. I just labeled them sludge metal.

Matt McMadden:

Reason's Voice:

Matt McMadden:

Then can someone do me a favor and label Soilent Green for me, cause I've heard them labeled different things and I'm trying to properly label them for my ipod.

What I do for things like that is label all the bands that don't clearly fit into an obvious category simply as "Metal."

Smart thinking. I just labeled them sludge metal.

I put them under the tab of "why didn't I find this band sooner". Anyway, I hate labels. No offense to those of you who like to classify the music you listen to. That's cool, I just can't and don't wanna do it. It used to always end up with me missing out on some great music because someone had attached a label to a band (correctly or incorrectly). I love Between the Buried and Me. Had I listened to the advise of some (not here, mind you) and went with "they are mall-core" then I would have missed out because that label carries lots of disdain and hatred with it. I just listen and decide if I like it or not. I know what Death metal and Tech. Death are, but that's where my "knowledge" ends.

I use my ears and generally stick to very broad labels. No sense in using too many. Melechesh wants to be called "Mesopotamian Metal", eh? How about black/thrash, instead.

I generally find the band profiles on metal-archives to be very accurate (yes, people can edit them, but like Wikipedia the edits are closely monitored and any blatant error is usually fixed pretty quickly), including genre tags. Honestly though, labels can be a pretty subjective thing (what would you call Neurosis? Sceptic Flesh?) and are really just useful for finding things you think you'd like based on characteristics. It does piss me off when people say things to me like "You would love so-and-so, they're heroic progressive viking thrash metal."

I truly have no reason to look up the said sub-genre. as long as its metal w/ a solid review I will fall for that....and i tend to buy music w/o ever hearing it. websites like this allow me to never need look up a genre, as the term is only another form of metal mayhem

Metal-Archives normally does it for me. However there are the tards who label something "mallcore" when they could just put Metalcore, Deathcore or something. Too many troo kvlt ass-hats there.

elpants:

Metal-Archives normally does it for me. However there are the tards who label something "mallcore" when they could just put Metalcore, Deathcore or something. Too many troo kvlt ass-hats there.

Quality control.  Without it, there is anarchy.