I’m not saying your guitar riffs should suck. In fact, how you change riffs is sometimes more important than the riff itself. I believe good transitions are the key to writing good music. Did I mention transitions? Let’s talk about transitions for a second… It moves, it grooves, and transitions in all the right places. The fills, cymbals, and pauses are all perfectly placed. Chef’s kiss and rats off to ya! Not only does Matt keep it moving, but you can tell the guy is genuinely listening to the other members of the band. I should point out, this is all one big compliment towards The Donner Party’s drummer, Matt Yar. You gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. Consequently, when they decide to slow down, the rest of the band is affected by default. The drums have this innate ability to kill the momentum of any song at any time. Please, by all means, play fast until I can take no more. If what you’re playing doesn’t make me want to run in a circle, you’re doing it wrong. I’ll go one step farther than that when it comes to crossover thrash. I’ve actually heard a lot of good bands throw away some great riffs because their drummer has seemingly made the decision to play the LEAST compelling beat to accentuate that part of the song. First of all, if your drummer is a lazy oaf, I’m gonna call you on it. Be warned, if opinions are like assholes then believe me when I tell you: I’m a real asshole. I’m now going to wax poetic for a while and tell you just how I go about judging this stuff. The Donner Party is here to show you what it means to thrash, and their new album Cutting Class gives me hope for a better tomorrow. I have to ask myself, “Is this music actually bad, or is it exactly as it was before and I’m only now realizing how derivative metal music can be?” Could it be that all those non-metal heads were right when they said it all sounds the same? Am I just chasing the proverbial dragon in my quest for new music?! Nah, fuck that. I can’t do anything but criticize anything and everything. I keep going out of some sense of obligation, but the writers ran out of ideas after season 6, and now that we’re on season 23. It’s like hate-watching a once-beloved television show. As near as I can tell, the problem occurs because I’m too familiar with the subject matter. In truth, I have the attention span of a gnat, but I can’t keep holding that against every album I come across. I know they can’t just put, “Music sucks, don’t waste your time.” Somebody, somewhere will enjoy it, and as I enter middle age I am keenly aware that it’s impolite to yuck someone else’s yum. The long, overblown explanations about why a particular band is about to blow my mind drive me a little nuts. On the other hand, I get really frustrated by all the generic garbage that lands in my inbox. I stand before you now, humbled by my own back catalog, and wishing no one had the misfortune of seeing my band play prior to the 10-year mark of our career. On the one hand, I can appreciate the struggle bands go through to find their sound. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that I’m a picky bastard. There are a lot of criteria by which I judge new releases. “Why do you play so fast…to be cool?” -George Washington
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