Many metal fans are scared of the word Pop. They think that any influence from popular music is untrve and unkvlt, and that metal needs to be pure. Most of those people also suck at writing songs with recognizable hooks or structure of any kind, and dress like pandas going to war, and usually post those opinions from the attic of their mom’s house.
I personally love pop music, and although I often enjoy it apart from the metal I listen to, sometimes I’m lucky enough to get two great tastes that go great together – such as when I’m listening to the transcendent Amaranthe. This band has the art of the big sexy hook down pat, and with no fewer than 3 singers onstage at once, the vocals are clearly the centerpiece of the music, just like in pop. But although the songs have a pop structure, the band is 100% metal, and their gear choices reflect that.
We met up with them before they played at the Yost Theatre in Santa Ana, California, where I was lucky enough to watch them from the comfort of a really cozy couch – if you’ve never done a concert like that before, I highly recommend that you try it. Maybe not the most metal thing in the world, but as I’m finding, sometimes metal works best when combined with other awesome things.
