I love the blues, but I grew up with hair metal and was into Megadeth and several other metal bands. I also listen to classical, motown, jazz, etc. The things that do it for me are melody and emotion. A song either has it or it doesn’t. A song like “Hangar 18″ is frantic, but very melodic. I’m just using Megadeth to be consistent here, but a song like “Almost Honest” is also pretty emotional.

What completely turns me off are bands that do the same thing over and over again. Anger is great, but not every song all the time. Super-distorted percussive guitar is great, but not every song all the time. We’re all human… we don’t need the same thing all the time. Personally, I don’t like barking singers or scale shredding solos over some dropped tuning. It doesn’t do it for me. Beck is extremely emotional and nuanced, so it makes total sense he’s not into it either. To each his/her own.

It is interesting to note that Jeff’s album TRUTH is somewhat regarded as the precursor or template for heavy metal music that was to come. I remember when that album came out and it was definitely something that we called heavy, but to me, it had soul along with the heaviness. I still listen to songs on that album!

Death – Voice of the Soul from the album The Sound of Perseverance
Opeth – Drapery Falls from the album Blackwater Park

I prefer Voice of the Soul (which had a mysterious vibe that kept me on the edge – I loved the acoustic mix) over Drapery Falls (which was a bit dark and a little too heavy for my personal taste). BOTH tunes have plenty of emotion and demonstrate tremendous talent. Now, I am going to go check out the rest of The Sound of Perseverance album… thanks again – rock on! -GuitarDaddy