DT Fans Who Dislike Metal/DT As An Introduction to Metal

[DebraKadabra]

I was into older metal and prog before I ever got to know DT, but the first time I heard Pull Me Under back in late 1992/early 1993 I was blown away.

You could say that DT was my gateway to Porcupine Tree and eventually to Opeth.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I listened to metal way before DT and unlike most here i still listen to metal alot, though i may not be up to date with everything new, because most new acts these days are pale copys of bands and genres that already exists. I need my metal fix from time to time and by that i mean music that makes me wanna through my fist in the air and scream fuckin: Hellyeah!

You know some "metal bands" these days are far less metal than my old man playing the cello! Infact that is per se more metal than most extreme bands these days.

Metal music for me, is something you feel and gets you pumpin' no matter how technical, fast, dark, brutal or evil it is, if i don't feel for the music, i could not care less.

[mike099]

Already told this in a thread I started, but caught On the backs of angels DT video after a Rush concert on TV.  The video caught my eye and I thought who is this new band. Not new!  I loved the vocals and guitar parts.  I never got into much metal before and DT is a great mix.  Of course I love some of the heavy stuff that most folks here loath.

Cannot wait to see them live.  Will have to travel unless I get lucky and they come to Nashville for the first time.

[DebraKadabra]

I listened to metal way before DT and unlike most here i still listen to metal alot, though i may not be up to date with everything new, because most new acts these days are pale copys of bands and genres that already exists. I need my metal fix from time to time and by that i mean music that makes me wanna through my fist in the air and scream fuckin: Hellyeah!

Metal music for me, is something you feel and gets you pumpin' no matter how technical, fast, dark, brutal or evil it is, if i don't feel for the music, i could not care less.

I agree with both of your paragraphs, Boom - well said, too!

[PROGdrummer]

Constant Motion was actually the song that got me into Dream Theater. I loved it because it had that aggression and energy I was looking for. And the instrumental section was jaw-dropping.

At the time I had no idea what progressive music was. Now I'm in love with every thing prog.

Even though this is kind of the opposite of what this thread is about.... for me, Dream Theater was my introduction to prog, from someone who was pretty much a straight up metal-head.

[Cedar redaC]

Before I discovered Dream Theater, I hadn't really gotten in the world of Metal yet. Sure, I had a few Killswitch Engage songs on my MP3 player, and a few songs off of Guitar Hero, but Metal as a whole hadn't yet clicked for me. At the time that I discovered Dream Theater, I was into a lot of Alternative stuff like the Foo Fighters and whatever else showed up on my college's radio station. Then I found Dream Theater and started finding all of these other metal bands that I really liked. I also got a new perspective on other genres that helped me develop my musical tastes to a broader spectrum of styles.

[7thHanyou]

It may be fair to call Iron Maiden my introduction to metal.  I first heard "Number of the Beast" in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and picked up Brave New World in 2005.  They sang stuff I could relate to--history, literature, mythology, and other things in which I invested my time.

I picked up Scenes from a Memory only a couple of weeks after Brave New World, and that solidified my enjoyment of metal.  It took me until 2008 to get into prog (Spock's Beard sealed the deal), but now I like it more, and find myself frustrated with metal at large.

My preferred genres of metal have been power, heavy, doom, and prog metal, in that order, preferably without harsh vocals or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).  I'd probably give metal more of a chance if I didn't find so many metal fans so derogatory toward my tastes.  I've heard enough times that power metal isn't real metal that I'm convinced I never really got into metal at all.

Besides, I like power metal for many of the same reasons I got into prog rock--classical influences, technical passages, etc.  Symphony X at its best (V: The Mythology Suite in particular) made some of my favorite music (I stopped being interested with Paradise Lost, though).

Suffice to say, if Iron Maiden, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, and Galneryus are metal, Dream Theater was instrumental in making me continue listening to metal.  If not, then, well, it got me into something else, and later helped me get into prog.

I should add that I've always preferred the prog aspects of Dream Theater's sound, and their heavier albums, barring Awake, are among the ones I like the least.

[philmcson]

It may be fair to call Iron Maiden my introduction to metal.  I first heard "Number of the Beast" in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and picked up Brave New World in 2005.  They sang stuff I could relate to--history, literature, mythology, and other things in which I invested my time.

I picked up Scenes from a Memory only a couple of weeks after Brave New World, and that solidified my enjoyment of metal.  It took me until 2008 to get into prog (Spock's Beard sealed the deal), but now I like it more, and find myself frustrated with metal at large.

So you in fact started your metal history by listening to IM and DT.... discovering the rest of this genre must have been pretty boring to you 

at least that was MY opinion up to the moment when people played me samples of Gojira, Symphony X, Muse, Deftones,..... 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

[MoraWintersoul]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

Yup. Some of the best metal poets I know of operate in the death metal cloud of genres. But I guess the Cannibal Corpse type of lyrics is what people usually run into first

[philmcson]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

Gojira - Global warming
Nile - The gods who.....
Amon Amarth - Under the northern sky
Opeth - April Ethereal

....just to name a few. 

Sorry, but this quote above gave me such a laugh that I had to requote it on my FB. Didn't write nor the source neither the author, though 
NHF!

[Scorpion]

I dunno, I can see how CC lyrics might be offensive, but I don't really that they're intended to be really taken that seriously.

[Cedar redaC]

I'm not too in to death metal, I just haven't had time to appreciate it. I got Blackwater Park last week and I really like that, so I have hope for my future discovery of the genre. The gratuitous gore of Cannibal Corpse and the like are total turn-offs for me though. Serious or otherwise, I just don't feel right listening to that stuff.

[Scorpion]

Yeah, it really repulsed me on my first listen too. Well, the first time I listened while reading the lyrics, it's not like you understand them anyway, especially as someone who's not used to death vocals.

I'm not the biggest expert on Death Metal, but Opeth is definitely a good start if you're coming from prog metal.

Also, BWP was my first Opeth album as well! What are your favourites?

[Cedar redaC]

Well, I only have Blackwater Park, so that.

However, Ghost Reveries does seem like the one that I should check out next if the reviews for it are any indication of it's quality.

[Scorpion]

It's definitely something that BWP fans would enjoy a lot, I think. I personally prefer Still Life, but Ghost Reveries is awesome as well.

Do you have Spotify? You could listen there before making the decision, I know I do, 'cause I don't have that much money to spend on albums.

[7thHanyou]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

Gojira - Global warming
Nile - The gods who.....
Amon Amarth - Under the northern sky
Opeth - April Ethereal

....just to name a few. 

Sorry, but this quote above gave me such a laugh that I had to requote it on my FB. Didn't write nor the source neither the author, though 
NHF!

I own and listen to Still Life, so I didn't mean ALL death metal, though it's my fault for not making that clearer.  I think it's a fair generalization of "popular" death metal, though.

The majority of death metal I have heard tends to have the same themes as slasher films, which I also dislike.

Lyrics are important to me, which is probably another reason DT's more recent output is far from my favorite material, in addition to their heavier sound being hit-or-miss for me now.

[Cedar redaC]

Lyrics are, to me at least, an absolute clincher. I think that good quality lyrics can make a great musical piece into a modern masterpiece. Bad lyrics take a potentially great song and destroy it.

[7thHanyou]

Lyrics are, to me at least, an absolute clincher. I think that good quality lyrics can make a great musical piece into a modern masterpiece. Bad lyrics take a potentially great song and destroy it.

I don't mind dumb lyrics if I know and don't mind what I'm getting into.  No one watches Conan the Barbarian for subtlety, and I certainly don't listen to Galneryus for contemplative English lyrics.

The opening of The Count of Tuscany suggests something incredibly powerful.  The lyrics say otherwise.

I think metal fans often disregard lyrics, which is another difference I have with them, though lyrics I like (2112-era Rush, for instance) are probably regarded as absurd by the majority of the public.

[Cedar redaC]

The lyrics of "The Count of Tuscany" aren't Dream Theater's best, but I think that they fit the song rather nicely.

Lyrics don't always have to be deep, thought-out, metaphorical oceans, but I do think that gratuitous violence, gore, profanity, or other themes like that are just ridiculous.

[Scorpion]

Relevant to the lyrical debate:



Isn't this the pinnacle of lyricism? If you don't think so, we are not a match.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I WILL EAT YOUR BOOBIES AND VAGINA!

[The King in Crimson]

DT and Rush were my gateways into progressive music.  PT solidified my interest.  Before them I listened to a lot of Metallica, Megadeth, thrash metal, Iron Maiden, Alice in Chains and just other random radio music.  Afterwards I started spreading out and listening to a bit more variety and less well known stuff. I guess DT could be seen as my intro to underground metal and stuff like Opeth.

[wasteland]

The lyrics of KrotchRaut are the origial set of JM lyrics of Breaking All Illusions, before JP could have a say on them 

[Sketchy]

Why did I never think of starting a song with "get the fuck off my bike"?

[Tomislav95]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

Gojira - Global warming
...

I really like lyrics in Global Warming, my favorite song by Gojira and one of the best lyrics ever

[philmcson]

or lyrics about hurting innocent people (see death metal, whose themes just disgust me to no end).

That is some major generalization you got there.

Gojira - Global warming
...

I really like lyrics in Global Warming, my favorite song by Gojira and one of the best lyrics ever

A great song, although the guitars are a bit repetitive. But lyrically, top 5! 

[Tomislav95]

DT actually got me into music. Before DT I was listening songs and now I'm listening to bands and albums. Huge difference. Unfortunately, I don't have much friends who like to to sit and listen to prog epics but few of them are metalheads. I'm more progger than metalhead but I like jazz and classic rock, too.

[lithium112]

Relevant to the lyrical debate:

<img>

Isn't this the pinnacle of lyricism? If you don't think so, we are not a match.

Keep your balls in a jar
Save 'em for Mike Portnoy!

[The Fatal Tragedy]

"KrotchRaut Thanks: ... James LaBrie,... Dream Theater,... and DTF.org for not giving a solitary fuck about us! WE LOVE YOU!"

You guys may want to read the last paragraph in this image again, because this shit is seriously in the lyric booklet! 

[PROGdrummer]

"KrotchRaut Thanks: ... James LaBrie,... Dream Theater,... and DTF.org for not giving a solitary fuck about us! WE LOVE YOU!"

You guys may want to read the last paragraph in this image again, because this shit is seriously in the lyric booklet! 

lol i noticed that too. Those guys are well aware that we all think their music is garbage 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yes i just read that! 

[jsem]

DT was my introduction to prog for real.

[jonnybaxy]

I've never even heard of this band haha, but apparently they heard of us..   

Love the balls in jar for MP line

[gilpdawg]

I liked metal long before I discovered Dream Theater, myself.  For whatever that's worth. 

Me too...and I've been a fan since Images. I think I'm older than most of the people in this thread.