Customer Reviews:
 Not a bad selection of modern metal, and the price is right April 7, 2010
Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia)
Amazon's March is Metal Month sampler is an interesting look at the modern metal scene. Along with some established bands (Fear Factory, Queensryche) the sampler covers a range of metal from gothic (Lacuna Coil) to thrash (Gama Bomb) to avant-garde (Isahn). Some of it is good (Isahn, Tryptikon, Fear Factory), and some is awful (Five Finger Death Punch), but I can't really complain about it when it's free. I just wish they had covered a wider array of metal, as this doesn't really hit the doom,black, progressive or power metal styles.
This kind of music isn't for everyone, but this sampler does provide a decent overview of the modern metal scene for anyone interested in checking it out. Even if there are only a few tracks that really stand out, you certainly can't beat the price.
UPDATE: March is over, and apparently so is Amazon's free offer.
A variety of metallic music March 9, 2010
Anniepoo (Indiana)
17 out of 40 found this review helpful
Caveat - I am not a heavy metal connoisseur (read, I don't much like it). It seems mostly angry, non-musical (very limited chords used, little to no melodic line or harmony, much the same throughout a track, generally angry violent attitudes expressed in a gravelly cookie-monster singing style); however, I shall try to describe these as objectively as I can so you can decide what you like. A few tracks are what I would call Rock Hard and/or Rock Metal (which I do like) and the rest what I call Metal Heavy (which I apply to songs which have the characteristics noted above). Is that Thrash Metal?
On this sampler, I found the production values generally very good - the singers could be clearly heard, and the separate instruments distinguished, even on the live tracks. Most lyrics were reasonably understandable. I shall tell you in stars what *I* rated them for my own library (which may be useful to you if you can gauge your taste against mine - oh and * means it's damaged, ** means that I don't want to hear it again...ever - though my son might be interested - maybe). Oh, and when I say 'melodic' I don't mean pop, I mean that it sounds as if one actually needs talent and is changing chords and choosing which strings to play to create different notes that a person could hum as a tune as opposed to sliding slightly up and down the frets while strumming all the strings as fast as possible.
1. Rock Metal - Has Metal Heavy sections interspersed with more melodic Rock Hard sections. Philosophical lyrics - What do you fear? Fear is your God. ****
2. Rock Metal - A great deal of cursing. Basic message, I hate your world so I'll burn it all down. The main melodic line at the beginning, I swear I have heard in several other metal-type songs (including at 3:05 of Track 4). Has some decent melodic guitar work half-way on. Mostly Metal Heavy. ***
3. Rock Metal - Another angry one. A lot of very fast guitar strumming with little variation in the melody or chords. A bit rough in the vocals, but not totally cookie monster. Mostly Metal Heavy. ***
4. Rock Hard - Self-affirming, look to yourself, you can solve it, message. Melodic guitar counterpoints against base line. Backing vocals harmonize. Fast rocker. ****
5. Rock Hard - Lyrics warn about social injustice. Good deal of melodic guitar work. Sung with emotional emphasis and moments of backing harmonizing. Medium speed. ****
6. Metal Heavy - Fast drums, guitar very repetitive of usually 4 very nearby chord groups, cookie monster lyrics, very angry. Could barely listen to this one all the way through. **
7. I don't know... Metal Rap? If this is a 'song'... um, well, nope. Might make a good alarm clock sound if you can't wake up. Certainly has energy. Band screaming Wake up & audience repeats, some instruments doing something noisy - ends very abruptly. **
8. Metal Heavy - Bass or guitar carries structure but not what I would call a melody. Lyrics sound like cookie monster with a very sore throat pretending to be a demon under a pile of dirty laundry. I didn't understand a word. Another very hard for me to listen to. But hey, many other people like this kind of thing. Medium beat. **
9. Rock Metal - Busy guitars, strong chords, some heavy 'strumming' with fast drumming. Several voices together almost harmonizing. A bit hard to understand the lyrics. Has a saxophone solo in the middle (and some synthesizer throughout). Didn't quite 'pull together' into a coherent whole for me. More like loud angry mood music? Lone singer later using cookie monster voice. ***
10. Can't Say - Strong bass opening riff joined by band and several unintelligible cookie monster voices. At 0:37, my download turned to the deep buzzing sound of heavy electronic interference and remained that way for the rest of the track. Don't know if my copy got messed up, or if this is some sort of very odd artistic statement (which is possible, as at the very end, for the last second, the sound changed to a brief, different sound in the right channel - maybe a guitar chord). In either case, the opening wasn't enough to encourage my to download it again. *
11. Alternative Folk - Totally and completely different from all the other tracks. Male & female harmonizing with an acoustic 'buzzy' steel string guitar. Pleasant melody, good voices, 'rough' guitar gives it a 'cafe' quality. **** However, this track has NO place in this collection (unless the sole qualification is metal strings on ones guitar). Did my download go nuts? Maybe?
**added - looking up these bands later to try and learn what 'genre' each is, discovered this is a well-known metal band, but this track is an acoustic version.
Well, I hope some of you find this useful in deciding where to spend your bandwidth.
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*added later - I would suggest the sampler with the most boring name first, before this one - the Amazon Metal Sampler - very interesting indeed, IMO.
 Metal July 2, 2010
Khara Onstott (College Station, TX USA)
This album was okay. Glad I got it for free, because most of the songs were lame.
 Atonal Garbage March 17, 2010
Keen Incite
2 out of 32 found this review helpful
Folks, it really takes NO talent to produce the "music"(?) on this collection. Lacuna Coil at the end makes some attempt at artistry, but the rest is hopelessly worthless. This whole genre of metal (with it's death growls, etc.) is worthless. It has ZERO redeeming characteristics. Even though it's free, just having it around me would cost too much, and therefore is not worth it.
The "musicians" on these selections need to first find a good therapist, who will teach them how to more constructively express themselves, and then attempt music again.
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