Small flaws of good bands

MrKnickerbocker

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Had this thought while discussing “Lightning Strikes Twice” in the Blaze thread...

What are some small flaws of otherwise good bands? What’s that one little thing that you can objectively say could be better, even if you love a band?

I’ll start with Iron Maiden and say: their live backing vocals are incredibly lacking. Adrian does good harmonies, but they occur so infrequently that they feel slight. Any time the band does a “shout along” section it’s very weak.

Disclaimer: this is meant as a discussion of minor flaws that don’t generally affect a band’s overall quality, not a place to rant about things you just don’t like about a band, i.e. “Metallica is great, but Lars sucks!” Speaking of them, I’d put Metallica sans Jason in the same category of sub-par live backing vocals.
 
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Danko Jones. They are a very fun band with cool riffs and great hooks. But the damn auto tune. The vocals are punk influenced. It's supposed to be raw. Just leave the notes a bit flat at times. The Live at Gröna Lund gig they released on spotify is awesome. Not one bit of auto tune, some rough slightly off key singing, but it's bloody authentic and it's awesome.
 
Judas Priest when Halford goes falsetto, e.g. Screaming for Vengeance. It never fully ruins the song, but I just don't like falsetto all that much.
 
Iron maiden and those one finger keyboard sounds annoys me. It’s way overused.

I totally get that. Sometimes they're just mixed too loud. As a subtle layer, they work fine.

Judas Priest when Halford goes falsetto, e.g. Screaming for Vengeance. It never fully ruins the song, but I just don't like falsetto all that much.

So...Halford/Priest's most defining, legendary sonic characteristic? Hot take!
 
Dream Theater's love for ballads. I've never really liked those types of songs. I want more of the longer and progressive tracks.
 
Dave Ingraham's live use of clicktrack. Probably Roy drum machined the demos and Dave stayed true to that. Small flaw of Bruce Dickinson band in my book...I like my drummers grooving freely.
 
Dream Theater's love for ballads. I've never really liked those types of songs. I want more of the longer and progressive tracks.
DT's ballads are great compared to 99,9% of ballads made by other bands though. Plus they suit Labrie's current vocals well. It becomes a problem when an entire album is filled with ballads (The Astonishing).
 
Iron maiden and those one finger keyboard sounds annoys me. It’s way overused.
I don't even hear the keyboards in almost any song, I wish they were more prominent and meaningful. As of now they add nothing to the songs.
 
  • Steve Harris not giving a shit about vocal phrasing and just treating a voice like any other instrument.
  • Steve Harris circular songwriting disease.
  • Steve Harris mindless repetition disease.
  • Steve Harris “let’s pretend I’m a competent producer” disease.
  • Janick Gers “all my acoustic bits sound the same” disease.
  • Janick Gers playing solos that are so “on the edge” that they’re indistinguishable from a serious attempt by a poor guitar player.
  • Kevin Shirley’s bizarre approach to vocal harmonies.
  • Blaze Bayley’s inability to find consistent timbre or to consistently hit a note.
  • Bruce Dickinson’s sometimes excessive tremolo.
  • Roy Z.’s sometimes gratuitous fast-wanking.
  • Tom Scholz recycling the same note patterns and trills in most of his songs.
  • Geoff Tate’s bizarre hand gestures and play-acting while singing non-concept songs.
  • Kai Hansen giving up singing instead of giving up cigarettes.
 
Only thing I can think of right now is how underused Emppu is currently in Nightwish. I love that mixture of heavy riffs with big orchestral pieces, but it’s undeniable that a bit more could be seen from the guitar department (not his fault; the blame most likely lies in Tuomas). It’s not a big complaint of mine, it’s just something that could be improved upon and might be found in the upcoming album.
 
  • Steve Harris not giving a shit about vocal phrasing and just treating a voice like any other instrument.
  • Steve Harris circular songwriting disease.
  • Steve Harris mindless repetition disease.
  • Steve Harris “let’s pretend I’m a competent producer” disease.
  • Janick Gers “all my acoustic bits sound the same” disease.
  • Janick Gers playing solos that are so “on the edge” that they’re indistinguishable from a serious attempt by a poor guitar player.
  • Kevin Shirley’s bizarre approach to vocal harmonies.
  • Blaze Bayley’s inability to find consistent timbre or to consistently hit a note.
  • Bruce Dickinson’s sometimes excessive tremolo.
  • Roy Z.’s sometimes gratuitous fast-wanking.
  • Tom Scholz recycling the same note patterns and trills in most of his songs.
  • Geoff Tate’s bizarre hand gestures and play-acting while singing non-concept songs.
  • Kai Hansen giving up singing instead of giving up cigarettes.
I would like to add:
- Dave's laziness when it comes to write (solos included: I expect he records two or three improvisations AND THEN learns the solo IF he gets to play it live - at least, it sounds more and more so as years go by)
- H's use and abuse of the wah wah pedal since the reunion (also known as "the Kirk Hammett disease") - especially live
 
Dream Theater's love for ballads. I've never really liked those types of songs. I want more of the longer and progressive tracks.
Damn, I've never thought I would stumble upon something with this in written, I must say I wholeheartedly agree. Should I push the boundary and say those include ballads on albums like Metropolis Pt. 2?
 
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