It's too bad it's so normal to hate on people's music tastes. Never got why people did that. Well, I do know the actual answer, but I'll be moderated if I say it out loud.
I guess I don't hate that, for what it is. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the major issue with Nickelback (Chad Kroeger sounding like Chad Kroeger), but it beats the shit out of Photograph.
Of course, I'm a lot more forgiving of Nickelback than most. They're a bad band, but there's SOOOO much worse out there.
(also, you just opened yourself up to several long rants by our resident metalheads as to why this song isn't metal, haha)
This is exactly how I would have imagined it to sound like. They kind of sound like a shittier Breaking Benjamin. Just the most plainly produced, generic Alternative Metal.
It's kind of amazing in a way though, because this feels like something you would see and hear on VH1 or MTV in like 2005. Or maybe this sound is still prevalent and I'm just not aware.
@zevvion: i try to never shit on what people like (though i will take vocal issue with some extreme opinions). like what you like, it's cool. hating on nickleback itself, though, i am not above.
i'm sure if i forced myself to go through all their albums i could find some things to appreciate. but i only have so much time in my life, and so many better pieces of music to spend it on.
I listened to it, when does the metal start? I don't want to be the genre guy, but calling this metal is a rather large insult to anyone who actually listens to metal. This is radio rock. Hell, if you listen to the new metallica album, an abum cut by 50 year old dudes, 35 years deep into their career is way more metal than this.
The best thing about this to me is that it isn't even the first song in this genre to be named "Feed the machine". But I don't know the music industry very well, and I don't know how often songs share the same name. Also the 3D character animation is embarrassingly bad to me as a 3D artist.
The song isn't really my style, but I could see the argument of it being an improvement over their past songs.
@pixelrat: Well, Metal is included in many different sub genres. Metallica which is straight up Heavy Metal/Thrash is maybe not the most comparable. I think you could make an argument for this being Alternative Metal or maybe Post-Grunge. But whatever, everyone has their own definition on music genres nowadays so it seems futile to discuss it.
Also this sound like something WWE would licence for a PPV, and that's a bad thing. Cool for the summer welcome to my house where i cant fight the friction....
@justunfriendly:I've seen it happen plenty of times, especially if the songs have similar subject matter (see: a million songs titled Ghost/Ghosts/Ghost Of ______ ). As someone who's making music I've realized that if you're tying to make a title from song lyrics, you'll probably go insane trying to make a title that has literally never been used in history.
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More on topic, the song is whatever and it really makes me realize that I don't have any real issues with the band itself and more that I can't stand Chad Kroeger as a vocalist.
@magmamud: It's not really about comparing band to band, it's more that new metallica albums are usually labeled "not metal enough" by the metal crowd, but you'll find them played right next to nickleback on modern rock radio. My point being is, I just don't see anything that would make this a metal song. Its pretty slow, pretty straight forward composition to flow right into that mainstream rock radio sound. Sure, it has pretty heavily distorted guitars, but that is about it. Nickelback has always had amazing sounding heavy guitars on their songs, comes with money I guess. I'd liken this to something like Breaking Benjamin, it's just a heavy rock song.
The definition of heavy metal has constantly evolved, bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith were considered 'metal' in the 70's, but by today's standards that comparison probably wouldn't fly. Nickelback has actually had A LOT of songs heavier than this in their back catalog. If interested I'd go back in time and listen to some of their albums before they got noticed at all. Very much grunge influenced, more experimentation, and fairly heavy at times. I'm not crapping on Nickelback or anyone who enjoys them, I just don't feel like this is a metal song. To each their own!
@pixelrat: Sure, that's a fair point. I also compared this to a "shittier" Breaking Benjamin in my previous post, which I also think could be classified as Post-Grunge, or maybe Hard Rock.
I think you could argue either way honestly. I think there are enough heavy elements for it to be put under Alt-Metal too, but I get your point.
Honestly though, I've never tried to listen to them but I associate them with the 1st Spider-Man movie and I love that movie, so does that mean I love Nickelback? lol
Also this sound like something WWE would licence for a PPV, and that's a bad thing. Cool for the summer welcome to my house where i cant fight the friction....
This is exactily what I was thinking, but more of a b-teir or WWE Network special.
So they went from really generic rock, to really generic hard rock. This song is still painfully formulaic, and the lyrics are terrible; not seeing any improvement at all.
I'll say it, Chad Kroeger is an awesome vocalist. This song is still classic Nickelback. Fatter, darker guitar with that metal-style picking and drum rhythm but Chad is still doing the same vocal style as 10 years ago.
It's too bad it's so normal to hate on people's music tastes. Never got why people did that. Well, I do know the actual answer, but I'll be moderated if I say it out loud.
The opening riff is pretty okay I guess. The lyrics are too on the nose and bad. If you want an album about machines and shit with the same lyrical quality, but way better everything else, there is Iconoclast by Symphony X.
"Give me six minutes with the smartphone of a man with good taste in music and I'll find cause to hang him."
Nickelback was never that bad. Generic, sure, but everyone who derided them liked music as bad or worse.
In fact, the whole "you enjoy something a group of us have decided has no artistic merit" thing is absurd. If you enjoy something, enjoy it. If you don't, don't. I think the Metal Gear Solid's story is hot garbage. But I don't let that affect my esteem of people who like it. Screw anyone who tries to make you feel bad about the harmless things you like.
I liked Nickelback in early high school, when I was 13 or 14. That was about the time Photograph and Savin' Me came out. I have since stopped liking them, I find their lyrics to be bad and the music isn't anything special these days as far as I'm concerned. For the record, this isn't the first time they've gone and made something that kinda-sorta-just-barely scratches being metal - and that's probably not the first time, either.
The best thing about this to me is that it isn't even the first song in this genre to be named "Feed the machine". But I don't know the music industry very well, and I don't know how often songs share the same name. Also the 3D character animation is embarrassingly bad to me as a 3D artist.
The song isn't really my style, but I could see the argument of it being an improvement over their past songs.
At first I saw the song name and I was thinking of Black Crown Initiate's "Belie The Machine" (which is a damn fine metal song), but then I thought of another band I listened to way back in high school called Red that has a song called "Feed The Machine" (which is maybe a little closer to metal than Nickelback's attempts but it's not really what I'd call metal either).
Crazy to think that I went from listening to Nickelback to this kind of stuff in just four years of high school. I have no idea what any of these bands sound like these days, except Black Crown Initiate.
This is exactly how I would have imagined it to sound like. They kind of sound like a shittier Breaking Benjamin. Just the most plainly produced, generic Alternative Metal.
It's kind of amazing in a way though, because this feels like something you would see and hear on VH1 or MTV in like 2005. Or maybe this sound is still prevalent and I'm just not aware.
Proof that this sounds like Breaking Benjamin and also worse and also a chance to bring this back to video games:
Nickelback has always been half pop rock and half alt-metal; everyone just hears Photograph or Someday and assumes it all sounds the same. I'm not about to buy anything from Nickelback, but in a world where groups like Imagine Dragons and Twenty-One Pilots are depressingly considered "rock," Nickelback still being the model band to make fun of is just absurd. Move on people...
Sounds super half assed and generic with lyrics that come across at times like the kind of shit you hear when english phrases slip into Anime theme songs.
Not a metal guy, not a Nickleback guy, so this isn't for me. But I will say I'm incredibly tired of the Nickleback is the worst meme-it's just lazy internet comedy. I mean there is way worse music out there. There's way worse popular musicians who can't even play instruments.
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