Most Surprising "Meh" Reactions to Recommendations

[Paste Human]

I don't remember how it came up, but a co-worker who is very into heavy metal and knows plenty of obscure bands said he had never heard of the album Slumber of Sullen Eyes by Finland's Demigod. Since I happened to have a copy in my car I offered to lend it to him. About five days later when I saw him again he basically described the album as average, which I've never heard before. In my mind the content just about perfect, but probably should have been about a 34 minute album with the rest of the material ending up on an EP. Overrated? I could agree to disagree with that argument. But average? That blew my mind. Not that I care . I've just never heard that reaction before.

[Mesarthim]

eh, people have different taste and those taste evolve as well. for the longest time I couldn't stand Demilich - now I can't get enough!

[Mesarthim]

also, thought this was going to be about youtube recommendations I listen primarily to ambient soundscapes, synthwave, black, death, and pagan metal and subscribe to a few channels that regularly post such - so usually any recs are fairly spot on. sometimes I'll still get something completely out of nowhere that makes me go "WTF?!"

[Paste Human]

For me I think part of the disconnect I have when this sort of thing happens is that I always take into account when an album was recorded and what (if anything) new it brought to the table. Obviously quality is paramount, but there are plenty of earlier metal albums that are definitely primitive and lacking in some ways, but often more than make up for that with an evident sense of spirit and sincerity because the band clearly knew they were on to something.

Fast forward to today and yes you can have a contemporary band intent on writing a throwback speed or death metal album and it will probably sound really good from a technical and sound quality standpoint, but there's almost always something lacking. I couldn't tell you how many times I've been shown something - and have wanted to like it - but ended up concluding that Immolation, Incantation, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, etc. (the usuals) already mastered all those ideas and did so much more convincingly a long time ago.

Not that I'm bothered by that. I've just never found a need to keep up with 20 bands that sound just like Bolt Thrower when I could simply listen to them. I understand that there's two sides to this story.

[jawn galliano]

slumber average? that is absolutely fucking bonkers. how is it possible to have that specific reaction to that album. it's perfect!

[zim]

slumber average? that is absolutely fucking bonkers. how is it possible to have that specific reaction to that album. it's perfect!

yeah that was a surprising reaction to me, i've always thought this was a gem

eh, people have different taste and those taste evolve as well. for the longest time I couldn't stand Demilich - now I can't get enough!

i used to go through phases of hating a band before i liked them. i really didn't like cryptopsy for the longest time but i finally heard graves of the fathers and it was game over

[Paste Human]

For what it's worth, when he returned Slumber... he also left these albums in my mailbox at work:

Horrendous - Ecdysis
Iron Reagan - Worse than Dead
Beyond Creation - The Aura
Pyrexia - Unholy Requiem

He didn't give me any explanation for why he chose those particular releases. I think it mostly had to do with newer bands that I probably haven't heard of that I might enjoy, because I don't think I've ever mentioned a band to him that formed after the year 1993

I listened to most of the Horrendous album in two 15 minute chunks on my way to and from work. I was often distracted by the feeling I kept getting that they were desperately trying to build on their influences without sounding too much like them, so they rapidly bounced from one disguised homage to the next with no rhyme or reason. Not surprisingly individual riffs caught my attention, but overall it was too incoherent for me to keep up with. Maybe it will make more sense listening from start to finish. Btw - I don't plan to give him that snobby of a run-down

[Methuselah Honeysuckle]

I don't know about that pyrexia album but I've always enjoyed sermon of mockery from those lads.

[droidspawn]

sermon of mockery is a goddamn classic.

[Methuselah Honeysuckle]