<p>Hey thanks, Nevermore. You and my son would get along great. He’s always getting on my case for getting genres wrong. I mean, ALL the time! He explains to me the distinction between black-metal, death-metal, melodic death metal, Gothenburg metal, etc. I’m not sure how exactly he would catagorize the older bands like JP and Metallica, but to me they are most definitely metal.</p>
<p>I’m old-school (grew up with JP and BS and Zep, etc). I can’t remember all the genres so I just go by what kind of mood it evokes in me. For example, purists insist that Cradle is not really black metal since they ‘sold out’ but personally I love their lush, melodic stuff more than their early stuff. So I don’t really care what genre it would be now, but wow, my son is really into quite precisely identifying the exact genre.</p>
<p>He’s did Ozzfest last year and didn’t like it. He went for bands like Archenemy (whom I can’t stand because of the vocals) and In Flames (whom I do like and have seen) but they were on the 2nd stage and it was just awful how they started the show before the people even had a chance to get from the other stage. Too many bands crammed in. It’s usually a better show when it’s the band you want to see and all the fans are there to see them, not just go to a festival to party.</p>
<p>We did Van’s just to see AFI but they only played 30 min (as is the norm for Van’s). Van’s, as I’m sure you know, is mostly all punk bands.</p>
<p>Anyway thanks for the clarification. I am curious how YOU define metal, btw!</p>