I have a similar thing about that new Atrocity album, there's some bro-ish stuff going on in there and it's maybe not going to be one that stays with me, but it's really enjoyable for what it is.
Likewise, my introduction to DM was Malevolent Creation and Suffocation's classic albums. But then I hear their probable modern equivalents, the likes of Conjureth, and think it's a bit one note and boring. I'm digging this stuff that has some monster hooks and I liked that Ashen did it so convincingly.
The Privateer really caught me off guard, I had a sustained love affair with early Running Wild in the late 90's/early 00's and was surprised that this has become a genre now. I really like what The Privateer are doing, their mixture of Melodic Death with Power Metal works so well.
I'll have to check out the Immolation, following my long period of not really listening to music I find it hard to keep track of bands I used to enjoy and there's a lot to catch up on. Immolation and Incantation were up their as my favourites back when, but lost track of them after 2012. I did listen to a decent amount of newer Incantation prior to seeing them at Damnation, and Christ that last album was good.
I hear you about the last Atrocity album. And i agree with what you say about DM nowadays. Maybe it's because we were treated to some absolute gems back in the 90s, maybe our tastes have changed and we haven't fully realized it... who knows. I just think much of the modern stuff lacks any real identity. And some older bands are just recycling the same riffs over and over again. There are a lot of bands who think that just being very fast, very technical or very noisy will do the trick. Don't get me wrong, i fully enjoy Be'lakor, Ulcerate, Ne Obliviscaris (another spring release i'm looking forward to), The Black Dahlia Murder, Insomnium, Scar Symmetry, Tribulation and other post-2000 bands. But now and then (a band like) Carcass will drop (an album like) Surgical Steel and i will go full Lenny Cole with my old school ideas.
Incantation have released some interesting material over the years. Malevolent Creation... not so much. Running Wild were one of my favourite bands. For many years, we couldn't find their albums here because Rolf had messed things up with their label. About five years ago, when they became available again, i purchased their whole discography in one visit to my local record shop. The silliness of the genre doesn't bother me. I don't have any problem spinning the Alestorm albums, either. Metal can also try to sound funny and bigger than life.
I wasn't trying to be offensive to Grylte, it was just my opinion. If someone enjoys the new IF music (and judging by their success, there's lots of people), good for them. I can't be objective when it comes to Dark Tranquillity. They are in my top-10 of all time, so, as you can imagine, i love both Projector and Haven. I can admit i have a soft spot for Soilwork because i don't think that a good metal song
has to be over 7 minutes with a structure that you will be able to fully appreciate after listening to it 20 times. They know how to play, they have a more than capable vocalist and they don't take only one road to achieve their commercial sound. In the last decade, they found a great guitarist in David Andersson (who also did a tremendous job in Strid's other project, the retro/AOR band The Night Flight Orchestra) whose tone i really liked. Sadly, both as someone who had been facing depression even before the lockdowns and as a daytime doctor who had to deal with the suffering the virus caused to people, D. Andersson recently succumbed to his inner demons and is no longer with us. And despite its commercial direction, you can see in his last lyrics a man struggling.
