Predictions

Written by Mat, June 2005

eing a big metal fan hasn’t always been such a pleasure as it is today. I clearly remember the situation just some ten years ago. If you wanted a metal album back then it certainly wasn’t that much on display and only the most established bands like for instance Helloween, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Accept, Running Wild and perhaps mostly a dozen more were among those available for purchase. Furthermore, take into the equation that the normal timeframe between two albums are 1,5- 2 years and you were lucky to get a handful of new CD:s in a year. I don't know if this was a more local problem, coming from a smaller Swedish town but there were certainly fewer bands around, that's for sure.

he situation of today however is totally reversed. Every week even a full blooded metal-junkie like myself hears of a new band (and even bands) and every month there seems to be at least a handful of interesting new releases, if not more. I’ve personally been out of the loop for a couple of months now and already I’ve fallen at least 25-30 really interesting albums behind. This is of course a very pleasurable “problem” since there’s an abundance to choose from but on the other hand it’s certainly raising quite many questions and thoughts. It can’t have escaped many other metal fans that the business has seen enormous expansion and still continues to grow but are things heading towards being a bit overheated and is the whole deal also turning into something that’s too big for it’s own good? I very much fear it is...

n the positive side of things it’s of course terrific to have this enormous buffet to choose from and one can even get a bit worked up trying to grab as many of those you find interesting as possible, especially when you’re part of the staff at a webzine or magazine and the likes. With the constantly growing business you have to have a very high standard as a band to even get a record deal (some labels should perhaps raise their standards but no one named...) and this of course increases the competition and puts pressure on the more established ones which makes them try even harder and so on. On the other hand I sometimes worry that the really good and talented smaller bands and up and comers don’t get their well deserved place since making a name for yourself in this huge mass with just talent alone isn’t an easy task. And to come up with a sound unique enough to stand out in those terms is getting harder and harder since the metal genre already is quite limited and no matter how you sound today you most certainly remind of something else.

ut this is where we dedicated metallers come in. The staff of this site, metal magazines and many more with us try our very best to introduce as many readers as possible to what’s out there and all metalheads contribute in buying CD:s, going to concerts, spreading the word to friends etc.

certainly hope that this will be enough and that’s there’s room for every single band worthy the task but someday the bubble probably will burst and then we’ll see which ones that will remain on the scene in the following survival of the fittest process. I gravely fear that we’ll soon see the end of the expansion and also the start of the declining because this can’t go on much longer without sacrifices along the way. But the further away this possible scenario lies is for the better. I also of course have vague hopes of being totally and utterly wrong and that the world continues to be a stage where everyone can play but unfortunately I fear it will take more than a miracle to accomplish that. In the meantime though, I praise that things for now remain the same and go back to my waiting never-ending pile of upcoming review material.

Mat - June 2005